The RLH classes' existence could be put down to good fortune rather than planning. Midland General had ordered thirty low bridge Weymann bodied AEC Regent III's but found that they only actually needed 10 of the buses for their operational requirements, thus London Transport snapped up the remaining 20 to replace some of its aging fleet of ST & STL lowbridge vehicles. The new vehicles RLH1-20 (KYY 501-520) entered service during the summer of 1950 and all were painted green for use in the Country Area where they were allocated to three garages Godstone, Addlestone & Amersham.

The vehicles were considered a success and a further batch of 56 vehicles RLH21-76 (MXX221-276) were ordered by London Transport and delivered during the last three months of 1952. Although these RLH2 type were very similar to the first 20 (RLH1 type) they had a number of minor detailing changes which included the removal of the prominent roof ventilators and the use of polished aluminium instead of chrome on the radiator surround.
On the rear there was the addition of arrow type indicators above the number plate and a used ticket box on the platform bulkhead. The original batch of 20 were fitted Routemaster style rear light clusters later in their life.

The second batch were split between the central and country divisions with 24 red and 32 green examples, these were put to work on remaining lowbridge routes replacing all the remaining lowbridge ST & STL class vehicles. A list of the RLH routes can be found below.

Between 1955 & 1959 eight green examples were repainted red and passed to the central area for two new routes the 178 and 248, however the red allocation was tight and during overhaul cycles green examples were often loaned to Dalston, Hornchurch and Harrow Weald to cover for their red sisters.

The end of the RLH era started in 1964 when the country area 410 route was diverted to avoid the low bridge in Oxted and converted to RT. Other routes were converted to single deck operation as passenger numbers reduced. The 230 route became the first of the red routes to disappear being replaced by AEC Merlin operated route H1 in 1969.

17 green RLH buses were transferred to London Country in January 1970 but these only remained in service for a further seven months before being replaced on mass by new single deck AEC Swifts. The last red RLHs were withdrawn from route 178 in April 1971 beginning to an end 21 years of LT service service.

The cast off RLHs proved popular however, their low height design making them particularly ideal for use in the USA which was eventually the new home for nearly half of the class.
Several examples have been preserved in the UK in both the red & green livery, a number of vehicles have also been used as heritage vehicles with both Timebus & Ensignbus operating red examples.

A more detailed history of the RLH class complete with individual vehicle histories can be found at Ian's Bus Stop.

   The model is clearly based on the later second batch of vehicles and lacks the roof vents found on the first 20 vehicles.
The models construction is classic EFE and uses the now familiar internal poles, the upper and lower deck body are die-cast while the chassis and front mudguards are plastic as are the platform bulkhead and internal seating components.