AEC Q-type

Last updated

AEC Q-type
Q 83 in red.jpg
AEC Q-type
Overview
Manufacturer AEC
Body and chassis
Class Commercial vehicle
Body style Single- or Double-decker
Doors1 door
Floor type Step entrance

The AEC Q-type is an AEC-built, side-mounted-engine, single- and double-decker bus that was launched in 1932.

Contents

It was designed by G. J. Rackham, an employee of the American firm Yellow Coach from 1922 to 1926. It was on a visit to America in the late 1920s that Rackham noted the success of the 1927 Fageol Twin Coach which had won large sales to American operators. The result was Rackham returned to the AEC works in Southall with the idea of implementing the American practice of side-mounted engines in British bus production. [1]

Design

Although based on the Twin Coach, the Q had many differences as compared to it, the most noticeable being whilst the Twin Coach had two engines, hence the name, the AEC Q only had one. This overcame the many complications arising from the need for a second engine.

The London General Omnibus Company received the first Q-type vehicle with a crash gearbox, although all subsequent vehicles had the pre-select version. The engine was available in either petrol or diesel versions and was located longitudinally behind the front axle, intended to be hidden by the staircase in the double-decker version. In order to fit into the space, the engine was tilted to one side and the crankshaft rotated anti-clockwise. [2] This allowed the driver's cab to be located on the front overhang, with the entrance opposite, even though some body builders didn't use this facility and had a centre entrance. Its modern, full-frontal design, made it look very similar to buses built in the 1950s and 1960s.

History

The Q failed to attract the attention of the British operators and failed to find a market in the UK, unlike Fageol in the US. One of the reasons was the Q's susceptibility to problems, the most worrying being that the carburettors on the petrol-engined models caught fire. [1] The recommended solution was just as worrying ... increasing the revs until the fire went out! However, the vehicle was just too revolutionary for the conservative-minded bus industry, with the result was that the Q did not obtain the popularity of the other AEC models, so the project was dropped, last appearing in the 1937 catalogue.

However, London Transport did find the single-deck model useful for its needs and, accordingly, bought over 200 of the diesel-engined version as its first standard bus for Country Bus services. They had centre entrances with sliding passenger doors fitted. [3] They led full service lives.

One version that was an oddity was the AEC 761T trolleybus version, of which only five were built. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AEC Routemaster</span> British double-decker bus

The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyland Motors</span> Lorry and bus manufacturer

Leyland Motors Limited was an English vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1967, respectively. It gave its name to the British Leyland Motor Corporation, formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, to become British Leyland after being nationalised. British Leyland later changed its name to simply BL, then in 1986 to Rover Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Associated Equipment Company</span> British vehicle manufacturer

Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead, it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. During World War One, AEC was the most prolific British lorry manufacturer, after building London's buses before the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fageol</span> American vehicle manufacturer

Fageol Motors was a United States manufacturer of buses, trucks and farm tractors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seddon Atkinson</span> Company

Seddon Atkinson Vehicles Limited, was a manufacturer of large goods vehicles based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, was formed after the acquisition in 1970 of Atkinson Vehicles Limited of Preston by Seddon Diesel Vehicles Limited of Oldham. In 1974, the firm was acquired by International Harvester, which sold it in March 1984 to the Spanish group Enasa which made it a subsidiary of Pegaso. In 1990, it became part of Iveco which used the brand for various types of specialised vehicles in the United Kingdom. The range of models produced included EuroMover, Pacer and Strato, which are aimed at refuse collection, recycling and construction operators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albion Motors</span> Former Scottish vehicle manufacturer

Albion Motors was a Scottish automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford R series</span> Motor vehicle

The Ford R series was a range of single-decker bus and single-decker coach chassis, built by Ford that evolved from designs made by Thames Trader until the mid-1960s. A number of components were shared with the D-series lorry, including the engine which was mounted vertically at the front of the vehicle, ahead of the front axle so as to provide a passenger entrance opposite the driver. The original R192 and longer R226 models later became the R1014 and R1114 variants which with constant revision and upgrading had become R1015 and R1115 by the mid-1980s. In an attempt to lower the floor height of the vehicle, the turbocharged diesel engine was tilted over to one side around 1978. Synchromesh transmission was fitted as standard but some later examples were equipped with Allison automatic gearboxes to ease the driver's workload in urban areas. It ceased production in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcan (motor vehicles)</span> Early 20th century car maker

The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Company Limited, of Southport, England, made cars from 1902 until 1928 and commercial vehicles from 1914 until 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyland Titan (front-engined double-decker)</span> British double-decker chassis with front-mounted engine

The Leyland Titan was a forward-control chassis with a front-mounted engine designed to carry double-decker bus bodywork. It was built mainly for the United Kingdom market between 1927 and 1942, and between 1945 and 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles H. Roe</span> British bus manufacturing company

Charles H Roe was a Yorkshire coachbuilding company. It was for most of its life based at Crossgates Carriage Works, in Leeds.

A lowbridge double-deck bus is a double-decker bus that has an asymmetric interior layout, enabling the overall height of the vehicle to be reduced compared to that of a conventional double-decker bus. The upper-deck gangway is offset to one side of the vehicle, normally the offside, and is sunken into the lower-deck passenger saloon. Low railway bridges and overpasses are the main reason that a reduced height is desired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barton Transport</span>

Barton Transport was a bus company that operated in Nottinghamshire from 1908 until 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daimler Fleetline</span> British rear-engined double-decker bus chassis

The Daimler Fleetline is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maudslay Motor Company</span> British automobile manufacturer

The Maudslay Motor Company was a British vehicle maker based in Coventry. It was founded in 1901 and continued until 1948 when it was taken over by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and along with Crossley Motors the new group was renamed Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV) Ltd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daimler Roadliner</span> Motor vehicle

The Daimler Roadliner was a single-decker bus and 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. It was very technologically advanced, offering step-free access some 20 years before other buses; as a coach, it was felt by industry commentators to be in advance of contemporary UK designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daimler Freeline</span> Motor vehicle

The Daimler Freeline was an underfloor-engined bus chassis built by Daimler between 1951 and 1964. It was a very poor seller in the UK market for an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis, but became a substantial export success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyland Tiger (front-engined)</span> Motor vehicle

The Leyland Tiger was a heavyweight half-cab single-decker bus and coach chassis built by Leyland Motors between 1927 and 1968, except the period of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Corporation Transport</span> Operator of trams and buses in Coventry, Warwickshire

Coventry Corporation Transport was the operator of trams and motorbuses in Coventry, Warwickshire from 1912 to 1974. The operations of Coventry Corporation Transport passed to West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in the local government reorganisation of 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AEC Renown</span> Double decker bus manufactured by AEC (1952-1967)

The AEC Renown was a front-engined low-height double-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC. It superseded the AEC Bridgemaster around 1962.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ward, Rod (2007). AEC Album Part One: to 1945. Zeteo Publishing. p. 23. OCLC   1014414977.
  2. Bower, David (2021). Our Buses. Brooklands: London Bus Preservation Trust. p. 17.
  3. Taylor, Sheila, ed. (2001). The Moving Metropolis. London: Lawrence King Publishing. p. 232. ISBN   1 85669 326 0.