Daimler Fleetline
Encyclopedia
The Daimler
Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from c.1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus
chassis
built between 1960 and 1973 in Coventry
, Warwickshire
, England
, and from 1973 until 1980 in Farington
, Lancashire
, England
. However, the last complete vehicle did not enter service until 1983. It was superseded by the Leyland Olympian
.
The Fleetline was built mainly for the United Kingdom
market, but a number of Fleetlines had been exported to Portugal
, South Africa
and Hong Kong
.
It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric identity code. The other two were the Freeline
and the Roadliner
.
in 1958. From the outset, the Fleetline had a drop-centre rear axle fitted as standard, enabling low-height bodywork to be fitted without necessitating an inconvenient seating layout in part of the upper deck, as was the case with early Atlanteans. Leyland responded by offering a drop-centre rear axle as an option on the Atlantean, but after the two companies came under joint ownership
in 1968, the low-height Atlantean option was discontinued.
The prototype Fleetline was fitted with a Daimler engine, but when production started only the Gardner 6LX or 6LW engines were offered. By 1968 Gardner's new and more powerful 6LXB was also an option, and in 1970 Leyland's 0.680 engine became available. Gardner engines had an excellent reputation for reliability and economy while Leyland engines were more lively and more thirsty. Most Fleetline customers preferred Gardner engines, but the Leyland engine became popular - particularly for a period in the 1970s when Gardner could not meet demand.
In late 1960s, Daimler developed the longer 36' double-deck Fleetline which was based on the single-deck Roadliner
chassis. This chassis had a longitudinally-mounted Cummins engine at the rear offside corner. It was designed mainly for export, but one was built for Walsall Corporation Transport.
In mid-1970s, Leyland developed a special version of the Fleetline, known as the B20, with Leyland 0.690 engine, chimneys on both sides above the engine compartment and reduced noise levels. All of these went to London Transport.
As with many British bus chassis, the bodywork is supplied separately by a range of different companies to their own designs, as with the comparable Leyland Atlantean, meaning it can be difficult to identify the chassis. Some, but not all, vehicles have a manufacturers badge on the rear. A notable difference is that the front of the engine cover, towards the rear of the lower deck, is sloped at about 10 degrees on the Daimler, but is vertical, with a notch at the top, on the Leyland.
This was followed by a code to indicate the engine fitted: D6 (Daimler 6-cylinder, prototypes only); G6 (Gardner 6-cylinder, more often than not this was expanded to the more specific G6LW, G6LX or G6LXB); L6 (Leyland 6-cylinder); C6 (Cummins 6-cylinder).
The standard length of the Fleetline was 30' but lengths of 33' and 36' were also available, which were sometimes (though not consistently) identified by a suffix of -33 or -36 (sometimes with an oblique stroke in place of the hyphen).
Later Leyland Fleetline chassis designations were different: FE for Fleetline, followed by 30 or 33 (length in feet); A (if applicable) for automatic transmission; G for Gardner or L for Leyland engine; R for Right-hand drive.
London Transport
was the largest British Fleetline operator, whose DMS and DM classes totalled 2,646 vehicles (the last 400 were built as B20s), in addition to the earlier XF (eXperimental Fleetline) class of eight buses.
The DMS and DM-class vehicles were fitted with either Park Royal
and MCW
bodywork, and were given fleet numbers (DMS 1 - DM 2646) under the drivers' window on the offside and at the rear of the nearside of the vehicle.
The first vehicle into service was DMS 1 at 0454 on 2 January 1971 from Shepherds Bush Garage on route 220. However, celebrations at the garage meant that the bus left two minutes late and thus DMS 31 at Brixton Garage actually entered first at 0455 on route 95. The last vehicle was DMS 2438 also on 2 January, in 1993, returning home in the dark at 1845. This bus operated a farewell tour between Croydon Garage, Chipstead Valley and Hammond Street, London on special one-day only route 459.
A total of 60 garages operated DMSs in London. The smallest allocation was at Willesden where just 10 vehicles in total ever operated, and the largest at Croydon with a huge allocation total of 417 spanning a period of twenty years from 1973. In the Croydon example, an allocation could be as short as two months or as long as ten years. Croydon were the last garage to operate the type in normal passenger service in what became known as DMS heartland principally because of the other large operational garages at Brixton, Merton, Sutton, Catford and Thornton Heath.
The first batch of London Fleetlines had Gardner engines, but Leyland engined the majority. The final type of DMS, the B20, appears to have been the least reliable and several were fitted with Iveco engines during the 1980s.
DMSs proved unpopular in London, mainly due to the slow boarding times compared to those of the open-backed Routemaster
class and the speed at which parts became defective. Withdrawal commenced in 1979 with the early vehicles being the first to go, the first to leave the fleet in this way being DMS 251 in February 1979, quickly departing for bus breaker Wombwell Diesels in Yorkshire. The very first vehicle to leave the fleet was DMS 1248 which was completely destroyed by fire whilst in service on route 280A from Sutton Garage in August 1978. In London, the successors of the DMS/DM buses were the Leyland Titan
and MCW Metrobus
.
Many of the sold Fleetlines were sent to Ensignbus
in Purfleet
as a dealer for onward sale or spare parts. So many vehicles were despatched there between 1979 and 1983 that the yards became known as the 'DMS graveyards' as not enough buyers could be sought. Often vehicles could not be brought out and so rotted away where they sat.
However, hundreds of London Fleetlines proved popular secondhand purchases for operators throughout Britain from 1979 and during the 1980s, including the aftermath of bus deregulation
. There were also a number of DMS/DM buses sold for export, many departing for the far east in Hong Kong. In addition, nearly 50 vehicles found operations in the USA for open-top sightseeing work.
Few vehicles have entered preservation, DMS 1 being with the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden
, DMS 132, 999, 1051, 1052, 1515, 1601, 1868, 2375, 2456 and appropriately DM 2646 with the Ensign Bus Museum. DM 2646 has been preserved in the Shillibeer livery which it carried back in 1979. DMS1515 is still in its Supercar incarnation, from when the Travelcard was instigated. 2008 saw a resurgence of fleetlines being bought for preservation and DMSs 115, 550, 1002, 1911, 2216, and 2357 also reached cherished status, albeit work-in-progress. April 2010 saw DMS2127 enter the ranks of preserved DMSs, fresh from service at Whipsnade Sarafi Park.
Corporation and its successor West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
with well over 1,000 buses, including the first single-deck Fleetlines in 1965. Other constituent municipal fleets - and Midland Red - also contributed Fleetlines to the WMPTE Fleetline fleet to boost the number to over 2,100. The Daimler factory in Coventry was, of course, in the WMPTE area.
West Midlands PTE preferred the Gardner engine, but received 220 Fleetlines with Leyland engines during 1974-76 when Gardners were hard to obtain. However, the Leylands were found to be less reliable, particularly in the hilly Black Country, and most received Gardner engines during the early 1980s. The 700 or so Fleetlines inherited by West Midlands Travel in 1986 all had Gardner engines, and the type lasted with WMT until 1997.
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
purchased over 500 Fleetlines in addition to a similar number inherited from its constituents (although even in such numbers they were still outnumbered by Atlanteans). One of these, numbered 583 (BCB 613V) of the Lancashire United (subsidiary of GMPTE) was sold to Chester City Transport in 1992, numbered 79. It remained in regular service until May 2007 and it is now preserved in the Chester City Transport livery that it carried when withdrawn from service. It regularly attends rallies and when withdrawn was believed to have been the last closed top Fleetline in regular stage carriage service in the UK.
South Yorkshire PTE (SYPTE) operated a significant number of Fleetlines during the late 1960s and 1970s. Some were quite short lived although one example '1515' OKW515R saw service in London and Sheffield, then onto private operator Andrews of Sheffield where it served in competition to SYPTE for many years. Preserved in the late 1990s, the vehicle is said to be under local restoration for future bus preservation rally duties.
Another preserved fleetline from SYPTE 'WWJ754M' is owned by the Sheffield Transport Group and housed at Sandtoft, a museum near Doncaster. The vehicle was widely applauded as one of the best designs of double decker bus from the 1970s and is a centerpiece of local rallies. Using Sheffield Transport livery, it is said to be one of the last remaining examples of its type.
SYPTE also saw a number of inherited 1973 'L' registered Fleetlines from Doncaster independents. These were operational on the popular Rotherham to Sheffield route 69 for almost 15 years boasting low floors, large luggage and buggy storage plus blue coloured interior lighting near the cab area.
Most notably though, SYPTE fitted all its vehicles with comfortable sprung leather or fabric seats.
Ending their life with the PTE in the early 1990s, the remaining Fleetlines were placed on short duties between Rotherham bus station and the nearby Asda supermarket formerly at the Eastwood Trading Estate. Upon re-location of the supermarket, the dwindling remaining members of the fleet were sent to Ipswich and Scarborough with the SYPTE choosing Dennis Dominator
s as replacement across the whole county.
Other English PTEs, plus many fleets in the municipal
, such as Cardiff Bus
with 90 examples, BET Group
, Scottish Bus Group
and independent sectors purchased Fleetlines.
Corporation specified some non-standard short-wheelbase Fleetlines, the first of which, 1 UDH http://www.flickr.com/photos/54957550@N00/384166514/http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/2334860070/, was only 25 ft 7 in long, had no front overhang and had its entrance behind the front axle. The next 29 vehicles were 27 ft 6 in long with a short front overhang and again only an entrance behind the front axle. The remaining 69 were 28 ft 6 in long, with a narrow entrance in the usual position along with the entrance behind the front axle. 1 UDH had Northern Counties bodywork with wrap-around windscreens on both decks, similar to that specified by Barton Transport
on AEC Regents and a Dennis Loline
.
Several operators purchased single-deck Fleetlines (Birmingham was the first, in 1965). Rotherham Corporation purchased two 33' single deck fleetlines with 45 seat Willowbrook
dual purpose bodies, nos 169 and 170. Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company
ordered 3 similar vehicles with Marshall
bodywork for White Rose Express services. However they were delivered as Yorkshire Traction
228-230 following the takeover in October 1969. In late 1970, Yorkshire Traction
purchased nine 36' Fleetlines with dual door Walter Alexander
W type bodywork, nos 357-365.
Walsall Corporation purchased one 36' double-deck Fleetline CRC6 in 1968, which is now preserved.
Unusual engines temporarily fitted by operators in Fleetlines in the 1960s included a Perkins V8 installed in Walsall 8, and a BMMO 10.5 litre unit in Midland Red 5261. Most remarkably, in 1972 a Rolls Royce LPG engine was fitted in Teesside Municipal Transport (ex-Middlesbrough) S470.
(CMB) introduced 336 Fleetlines between 1972 and 1980, and Kowloon Motor Bus
(KMB) also introduced 450 between 1974 and 1979, these Fleetlines were mainly deployed to Cross-Harbour Tunnel
routes. CMB adopted the word "Jumbo" (originated from "Jumbo Jet", which was the nickname of the Boeing 747
) to describe the large capacity of its Fleetlines, so in Hong Kong, the Fleetlines were commonly known as the "Jumbo" .
In 1980s both CMB and KMB purchased ex-London Transport DMS/DM-class Fleetlines. Citybus
and Argos Bus, operators of non-franchised routes and private hire services in Hong Kong, also purchased secondhand Fleetlines (including ex-London Transport DMS/DM-class Fleetlines).
Many of the Daimler/Leyland Fleetlines in Hong Kong were delivered to China for further service after being withdrawn in 1980s/1990s.
Daimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from c.1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
built between 1960 and 1973 in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and from 1973 until 1980 in Farington
Farington
Farington is a small village and civil parish in the South Ribble local government district of Lancashire, England.-Geography:Situated to the immediate north of Leyland, Farington consists of villages, farms and mossland, modern residential development and an industrial area around the Leyland...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. However, the last complete vehicle did not enter service until 1983. It was superseded by the Leyland Olympian
Leyland Olympian
The Leyland Olympian was a double-decker bus built by British Leyland/Leyland Bus in the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production before the demise of Leyland Bus.-Construction:...
.
The Fleetline was built mainly for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
market, but a number of Fleetlines had been exported to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric identity code. The other two were the Freeline
Daimler Freeline
The Daimler Freeline is an underfloor-engined bus chassis built by Daimler between 1951 and 1964. It was a very poor seller in the UK market for underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis but became a substantial export success....
and the Roadliner
Daimler Roadliner
The Daimler Roadliner was a single deck bus or coach chassis built by Daimler between 1962 and 1972. Notoriously unreliable, it topped the 1993 poll by readers of Classic Bus as the worst bus type ever, beating the Guy Wulfrunian into second place...
.
Design
The Fleetline was the second rear-engined chassis to be launched by a UK manufacturer, following Leyland's introduction of the AtlanteanLeyland Atlantean
The Leyland Atlantean is a model of double-decker bus built by Leyland in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1986....
in 1958. From the outset, the Fleetline had a drop-centre rear axle fitted as standard, enabling low-height bodywork to be fitted without necessitating an inconvenient seating layout in part of the upper deck, as was the case with early Atlanteans. Leyland responded by offering a drop-centre rear axle as an option on the Atlantean, but after the two companies came under joint ownership
British Leyland Motor Corporation
British Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd in 1978...
in 1968, the low-height Atlantean option was discontinued.
The prototype Fleetline was fitted with a Daimler engine, but when production started only the Gardner 6LX or 6LW engines were offered. By 1968 Gardner's new and more powerful 6LXB was also an option, and in 1970 Leyland's 0.680 engine became available. Gardner engines had an excellent reputation for reliability and economy while Leyland engines were more lively and more thirsty. Most Fleetline customers preferred Gardner engines, but the Leyland engine became popular - particularly for a period in the 1970s when Gardner could not meet demand.
In late 1960s, Daimler developed the longer 36' double-deck Fleetline which was based on the single-deck Roadliner
Roadliner
Roadliner can mean:* Daimler Roadliner - a single deck bus or coach chassis built by Daimler between 1962 and 1972* Yamaha XV1900A motorcycle, also called Star Roadliner , Star Stratoliner or Yamaha Midnight Star...
chassis. This chassis had a longitudinally-mounted Cummins engine at the rear offside corner. It was designed mainly for export, but one was built for Walsall Corporation Transport.
In mid-1970s, Leyland developed a special version of the Fleetline, known as the B20, with Leyland 0.690 engine, chimneys on both sides above the engine compartment and reduced noise levels. All of these went to London Transport.
As with many British bus chassis, the bodywork is supplied separately by a range of different companies to their own designs, as with the comparable Leyland Atlantean, meaning it can be difficult to identify the chassis. Some, but not all, vehicles have a manufacturers badge on the rear. A notable difference is that the front of the engine cover, towards the rear of the lower deck, is sloped at about 10 degrees on the Daimler, but is vertical, with a notch at the top, on the Leyland.
Designations
Daimler Fleetline chassis designations started with the letters CR, of which the C is variously reported to stand for Coventry or Commercial, and the R stands for Rear-engined. For single-deckers this became SR (although not on the earliest examples which were referred to with the standard CR).This was followed by a code to indicate the engine fitted: D6 (Daimler 6-cylinder, prototypes only); G6 (Gardner 6-cylinder, more often than not this was expanded to the more specific G6LW, G6LX or G6LXB); L6 (Leyland 6-cylinder); C6 (Cummins 6-cylinder).
The standard length of the Fleetline was 30' but lengths of 33' and 36' were also available, which were sometimes (though not consistently) identified by a suffix of -33 or -36 (sometimes with an oblique stroke in place of the hyphen).
Later Leyland Fleetline chassis designations were different: FE for Fleetline, followed by 30 or 33 (length in feet); A (if applicable) for automatic transmission; G for Gardner or L for Leyland engine; R for Right-hand drive.
London
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
was the largest British Fleetline operator, whose DMS and DM classes totalled 2,646 vehicles (the last 400 were built as B20s), in addition to the earlier XF (eXperimental Fleetline) class of eight buses.
The DMS and DM-class vehicles were fitted with either Park Royal
Park Royal Vehicles
Dating its origins back to 1889, Park Royal Vehicles along with its Leeds-based subsidiary Charles H. Roe was one of Britain's leading coachbuilders and bus manufacturers based at Park Royal, west London, UK.-Associated Commercial Vehicles:...
and MCW
Metro Cammell Weymann
Metro Cammell Weymann was once a major player in transportation manufacturing in the UK and Europe. It was formed in 1932 by Weymann Motor Bodies Ltd and Metro Cammell's bus bodybuilding division to produce bus bodies....
bodywork, and were given fleet numbers (DMS 1 - DM 2646) under the drivers' window on the offside and at the rear of the nearside of the vehicle.
The first vehicle into service was DMS 1 at 0454 on 2 January 1971 from Shepherds Bush Garage on route 220. However, celebrations at the garage meant that the bus left two minutes late and thus DMS 31 at Brixton Garage actually entered first at 0455 on route 95. The last vehicle was DMS 2438 also on 2 January, in 1993, returning home in the dark at 1845. This bus operated a farewell tour between Croydon Garage, Chipstead Valley and Hammond Street, London on special one-day only route 459.
A total of 60 garages operated DMSs in London. The smallest allocation was at Willesden where just 10 vehicles in total ever operated, and the largest at Croydon with a huge allocation total of 417 spanning a period of twenty years from 1973. In the Croydon example, an allocation could be as short as two months or as long as ten years. Croydon were the last garage to operate the type in normal passenger service in what became known as DMS heartland principally because of the other large operational garages at Brixton, Merton, Sutton, Catford and Thornton Heath.
The first batch of London Fleetlines had Gardner engines, but Leyland engined the majority. The final type of DMS, the B20, appears to have been the least reliable and several were fitted with Iveco engines during the 1980s.
DMSs proved unpopular in London, mainly due to the slow boarding times compared to those of the open-backed Routemaster
Routemaster
The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was built by Associated Equipment Company in 1954 and produced until 1968. Primarily front-engined, rear open-platform buses, a small number of variants were produced with doors and/or front entrances...
class and the speed at which parts became defective. Withdrawal commenced in 1979 with the early vehicles being the first to go, the first to leave the fleet in this way being DMS 251 in February 1979, quickly departing for bus breaker Wombwell Diesels in Yorkshire. The very first vehicle to leave the fleet was DMS 1248 which was completely destroyed by fire whilst in service on route 280A from Sutton Garage in August 1978. In London, the successors of the DMS/DM buses were the Leyland Titan
Leyland Titan (B15)
The Leyland Titan was a model of double-decker bus produced by the Leyland Truck & Bus division of British Leyland from 1977 until 1984, almost exclusively for London Transport.-Development:...
and MCW Metrobus
MCW Metrobus
The MCW Metrobus is a double decker bus model manufactured by MCW from 1977 until 1989, with over 4,000 examples built. The original MkI model was superseded by the MkII model in 1981/1982, although production of the original MkI continued for London Transport until 1985...
.
Many of the sold Fleetlines were sent to Ensignbus
Ensignbus
Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has amassed 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a ....
in Purfleet
Purfleet
Purfleet is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England. It is situated south of the A13 road on the River Thames and within the easterly bounds of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. It was within the traditional Church of England parish of West Thurrock...
as a dealer for onward sale or spare parts. So many vehicles were despatched there between 1979 and 1983 that the yards became known as the 'DMS graveyards' as not enough buyers could be sought. Often vehicles could not be brought out and so rotted away where they sat.
However, hundreds of London Fleetlines proved popular secondhand purchases for operators throughout Britain from 1979 and during the 1980s, including the aftermath of bus deregulation
Bus deregulation
Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...
. There were also a number of DMS/DM buses sold for export, many departing for the far east in Hong Kong. In addition, nearly 50 vehicles found operations in the USA for open-top sightseeing work.
Few vehicles have entered preservation, DMS 1 being with the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, DMS 132, 999, 1051, 1052, 1515, 1601, 1868, 2375, 2456 and appropriately DM 2646 with the Ensign Bus Museum. DM 2646 has been preserved in the Shillibeer livery which it carried back in 1979. DMS1515 is still in its Supercar incarnation, from when the Travelcard was instigated. 2008 saw a resurgence of fleetlines being bought for preservation and DMSs 115, 550, 1002, 1911, 2216, and 2357 also reached cherished status, albeit work-in-progress. April 2010 saw DMS2127 enter the ranks of preserved DMSs, fresh from service at Whipsnade Sarafi Park.
Outside London
Second in fleet size was BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
Corporation and its successor West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive , sometimes known as Centro, is a local government organisation responsible for certain transport services in the West Midlands county in England....
with well over 1,000 buses, including the first single-deck Fleetlines in 1965. Other constituent municipal fleets - and Midland Red - also contributed Fleetlines to the WMPTE Fleetline fleet to boost the number to over 2,100. The Daimler factory in Coventry was, of course, in the WMPTE area.
West Midlands PTE preferred the Gardner engine, but received 220 Fleetlines with Leyland engines during 1974-76 when Gardners were hard to obtain. However, the Leylands were found to be less reliable, particularly in the hilly Black Country, and most received Gardner engines during the early 1980s. The 700 or so Fleetlines inherited by West Midlands Travel in 1986 all had Gardner engines, and the type lasted with WMT until 1997.
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...
purchased over 500 Fleetlines in addition to a similar number inherited from its constituents (although even in such numbers they were still outnumbered by Atlanteans). One of these, numbered 583 (BCB 613V) of the Lancashire United (subsidiary of GMPTE) was sold to Chester City Transport in 1992, numbered 79. It remained in regular service until May 2007 and it is now preserved in the Chester City Transport livery that it carried when withdrawn from service. It regularly attends rallies and when withdrawn was believed to have been the last closed top Fleetline in regular stage carriage service in the UK.
South Yorkshire PTE (SYPTE) operated a significant number of Fleetlines during the late 1960s and 1970s. Some were quite short lived although one example '1515' OKW515R saw service in London and Sheffield, then onto private operator Andrews of Sheffield where it served in competition to SYPTE for many years. Preserved in the late 1990s, the vehicle is said to be under local restoration for future bus preservation rally duties.
Another preserved fleetline from SYPTE 'WWJ754M' is owned by the Sheffield Transport Group and housed at Sandtoft, a museum near Doncaster. The vehicle was widely applauded as one of the best designs of double decker bus from the 1970s and is a centerpiece of local rallies. Using Sheffield Transport livery, it is said to be one of the last remaining examples of its type.
SYPTE also saw a number of inherited 1973 'L' registered Fleetlines from Doncaster independents. These were operational on the popular Rotherham to Sheffield route 69 for almost 15 years boasting low floors, large luggage and buggy storage plus blue coloured interior lighting near the cab area.
Most notably though, SYPTE fitted all its vehicles with comfortable sprung leather or fabric seats.
Ending their life with the PTE in the early 1990s, the remaining Fleetlines were placed on short duties between Rotherham bus station and the nearby Asda supermarket formerly at the Eastwood Trading Estate. Upon re-location of the supermarket, the dwindling remaining members of the fleet were sent to Ipswich and Scarborough with the SYPTE choosing Dennis Dominator
Dennis Dominator
The Dennis Dominator was Dennis's first rear-engined double-decker bus chassis, it was launched in 1977. Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the last Lolines were produced in 1967. The Dominator was described as bespoke, with numerous options...
s as replacement across the whole county.
Other English PTEs, plus many fleets in the municipal
Municipal bus companies
A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. This article lists all current municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom....
, such as Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. Its hub is Cardiff central bus station...
with 90 examples, BET Group
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
, Scottish Bus Group
Scottish Bus Group
The Scottish Bus Group was a state-owned Scottish holding company that included a number of bus operators covering the whole of Scotland. The group was formed in 1961 as Scottish Omnibuses Group Ltd, to take control of the British Transport Commission's bus operating subsidiaries in Scotland...
and independent sectors purchased Fleetlines.
Unusual Fleetlines
WalsallWalsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
Corporation specified some non-standard short-wheelbase Fleetlines, the first of which, 1 UDH http://www.flickr.com/photos/54957550@N00/384166514/http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/2334860070/, was only 25 ft 7 in long, had no front overhang and had its entrance behind the front axle. The next 29 vehicles were 27 ft 6 in long with a short front overhang and again only an entrance behind the front axle. The remaining 69 were 28 ft 6 in long, with a narrow entrance in the usual position along with the entrance behind the front axle. 1 UDH had Northern Counties bodywork with wrap-around windscreens on both decks, similar to that specified by Barton Transport
Barton Transport
Barton Transport plc was a British bus and coach operator based in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire. It commenced its first service in 1908. Its fleet and operations were sold to Wellglade in 1989, and the combined operations later became Trent Barton...
on AEC Regents and a Dennis Loline
Dennis Loline
The Dennis Loline is a double-decker bus built by Dennis between 1958 and 1967. It is essentially the same as the Bristol Lodekka but has an upgraded Dennis chassis.Aldershot and District Traction was the largest operator of the Dennis Loline....
.
Several operators purchased single-deck Fleetlines (Birmingham was the first, in 1965). Rotherham Corporation purchased two 33' single deck fleetlines with 45 seat Willowbrook
Willowbrook
Willowbrook may refer to some places in the United States:An institution or building* The John Sweek House in Tualatin, Oregon* Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois...
dual purpose bodies, nos 169 and 170. Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company
Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company
The Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company was the name adopted by the Mexborough & Swinton Tramways Company in 1929 following the introduction of trolleybuses on all its routes...
ordered 3 similar vehicles with Marshall
Marshall Bus
Marshall Bus was a British bus manufacturer between 1992 and 2002. The company's most popular product was the Marshall Capital, which was a single-decker bus body built between 1997 and 2003...
bodywork for White Rose Express services. However they were delivered as Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire. Between 1986 and 2005 it was a key part of the Traction Group. In December 2005 it was sold to the Stagecoach Group.-History:...
228-230 following the takeover in October 1969. In late 1970, Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire. Between 1986 and 2005 it was a key part of the Traction Group. In December 2005 it was sold to the Stagecoach Group.-History:...
purchased nine 36' Fleetlines with dual door Walter Alexander
Walter Alexander
Walter Alexander can refer to:Companies:* Walter Alexander Coachbuilders, Scottish bus coachbuilderPeople:* Walter G. Alexander , African American physician and politician from New Jersey...
W type bodywork, nos 357-365.
Walsall Corporation purchased one 36' double-deck Fleetline CRC6 in 1968, which is now preserved.
Unusual engines temporarily fitted by operators in Fleetlines in the 1960s included a Perkins V8 installed in Walsall 8, and a BMMO 10.5 litre unit in Midland Red 5261. Most remarkably, in 1972 a Rolls Royce LPG engine was fitted in Teesside Municipal Transport (ex-Middlesbrough) S470.
Hong Kong
China Motor BusChina Motor Bus
China Motor Bus Company Ltd. , often abbreviated as CMB, was the first motor bus company in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction of double-decker buses to Hong Kong Island....
(CMB) introduced 336 Fleetlines between 1972 and 1980, and Kowloon Motor Bus
Kowloon Motor Bus
The Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited , a company of the Transport International Holdings Limited, is the largest franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, and one of the largest privately owned public bus operators in the world...
(KMB) also introduced 450 between 1974 and 1979, these Fleetlines were mainly deployed to Cross-Harbour Tunnel
Cross-Harbour Tunnel
The Cross-Harbour Tunnel is the first tunnel in Hong Kong built underwater. It has become one of the most congested roads in Hong Kong and the world...
routes. CMB adopted the word "Jumbo" (originated from "Jumbo Jet", which was the nickname of the Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
) to describe the large capacity of its Fleetlines, so in Hong Kong, the Fleetlines were commonly known as the "Jumbo" .
In 1980s both CMB and KMB purchased ex-London Transport DMS/DM-class Fleetlines. Citybus
Citybus (Hong Kong)
Citybus Limited is one of the three major bus operators in Hong Kong. It provides both franchised and non-franchised bus service. The franchised route network serves mainly Hong Kong Island, cross-harbour routes , Ocean Park, North Lantau and Hong Kong International Airport...
and Argos Bus, operators of non-franchised routes and private hire services in Hong Kong, also purchased secondhand Fleetlines (including ex-London Transport DMS/DM-class Fleetlines).
Many of the Daimler/Leyland Fleetlines in Hong Kong were delivered to China for further service after being withdrawn in 1980s/1990s.
Trivia
- The first and last Fleetlines built were both destroyed by fire. Former demonstrator 7000 HP, which had passed to Blue Bus Services (Tailby & George) of Willington and later to Derby Borough Transport, was destroyed in a fire at the Willington depot on 5 January 1976. The last-built chassis, former South NottsSouth Notts Bus CompanyThe South Notts Bus Company Ltd was a British bus operator based in Gotham, Nottinghamshire. It commenced service in 1926 and became a limited company in 1929...
ECW-bodied SCH 117X, was destroyed in a fire at the Nottingham Transport Heritage CentreNottingham Transport Heritage CentreThe Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre is a heritage centre based at Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, the terminus of the northern section of the Great Central Railway . The site includes locomotive and rolling stock workshops , as well as cafeteria and shops...
on 21 February 2007 after it had been bought for preservation. - In late 1990s Guangzhou Cityview Bus Installation Co., Ltd. (now known as Guangzhou Suijing Bus Co., Ltd.) rebuilt some of the ex-Hong Kong Daimler/Leyland Fleetlines in China with provision of new bodies, these Fleetlines became known as the "Eagle Fleetline" . A number of the "Eagle Fleetlines" were sold for service in ShenzhenShenzhenShenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, with the last bus being withdrawn in October 2008. Images of "Eagle Fleetline" (Traditional Chinese)