New in May 1965, RM 2208 was one of the many AEC Routemasters new to London Transport whilst as well as the rest of the fleet, this bus was initially painted into the traditional London Transport red livery when new.
But in later years the bus didn't stay in those colours as it had a very eventful life. RM 2208 was later repainted into the very smart green/cream/red Shillibeer Omnibus livery. Soon the bus would at some point be repainted back into red although would not be staying in London as the bus would later find favour with Clydeside who were also working a few Routemasters already. Whilst at Clydeside the bus would be repainted again but into the new owners red/yellow livery.
Sadly RM 2208's time in service came to an end but would end up getting saved, so the bus once under new ownership would be repainted back into the Shillibeer Omnibus livery again whilst owned by the Big Red Bus Company.
Today RM 2208 still exists but now is sporting her original red livery.
Although in a way sad that the bus no longer wears the Shillibeer livery as the livery looked really eye catching and seemed to suit the lines of the Routemaster very well the livery still exists on a Daimler DMS no.2646 owned by Ensignbus and also in October 2011 RM 2208 was modelled by Corgi in OO (1:76 scale) carrying the Shillibeer Omnibus livery with a choice of two destinations with 2B to Victoria or Crystal Place. The model also features adverts for North Thames Gas as seen in or around the 70s. A similar model is planned to be released by Oxford Diecast for 2025 but the model will depict sister vehicle RM 2191 in TT 1:120 scale.
Shillibeer Omnibus dates back to 1829 set up by George Shillibeer as the company worked horse drawn buses. Sadly no buses from that era exist to this day however a replica has been built and resides at the Covent Garden Museum of Transport.
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