| AEC Regent III | |
|---|---|
 City of Oxford Motor Services Regent III | |
| Body and chassis | |
| Doors | 1 cab door, open platform at rear |
| Floor type | Step entrance |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | AEC |
| Dimensions | |
| Height | 13 ft 5+3⁄4 in (4.11 m) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | AEC Regent II |
| Successor | AEC Routemaster AEC Regent V |
The AEC Regent III (also known as Regent 3 or Regent Mark III) was a type of double-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC.
The Regent III was mainly built for operation outside London and overseas. It could be fitted with AEC's 9.6-litre diesel engine (except a minority with 7.7-litre ones), 'Wilson' preselective epicyclic gearbox (except for a minority with crash gearboxes; a synchromesh option also became available in the early 1950s) and air-pressure operated brakes (except a minority with vacuum brakes). The Regent III was available with bodies from a number of manufacturers including Park Royal, Metro Cammell Weymann and Charles H. Roe.
AEC Regent III was superseded by the AEC Regent V, not the AEC Regent IV underfloor-engined double decker which existed as a one-off prototype only. The last Regent IIIs were supplied to Reading Corporation in 1956.
London Transport acquired 76 AEC Regent III buses with Weymann lowbridge bodywork. They were numbered as the RLH-class (Regent Low Height) and were used by London Transport from 1950 until 1971.
The first 20 RLHs were built in 1950 and were almost identical to 10 vehicles sold to Midland General who had originally ordered the vehicles. In 1952 a further batch of 56 buses was purchased which had minor differences. The fleet operated from various garages around both the Central area (painted red) and the Country area (painted green) of London Transport, usually where a low railway bridge over the road would otherwise cause a problem.
Many RLHs were sold for further use after London Transport. Due to their lower height of 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m), about 1 foot (0.3 m) lower than standard double-decker buses, a significant number found their way to other countries especially in Europe and the USA where maximum vehicle height restrictions allowed them to operate.
The AEC Regent III RT (RT-type) was first built in 1939 and was designed for and by London Transport. It was the standard red London bus during the 1950s, with a total of 4,825 buses built for London Transport. Although not all were in service at the same time.
Some RT-type buses were built for operation outside London, such as for St Helens Transport.
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.
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sight-seeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They appear in many places around the world but are presently most commonly used as mass transport in cities of Britain, in Ireland, in Hong Kong, and in Singapore.
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.
The East Anglia Transport Museum is an open-air transport museum, with numerous historic public transport vehicles. It is located in Carlton Colville a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk. It is the only museum in the country where visitors can ride on buses, trams and trolleybuses, as well as a narrow-gauge railway.
A preselector gearbox is a type of manual transmission mostly used on passenger cars and racing cars in the 1930s, in buses from 1940–1960 and in armoured vehicles from the 1930s to the 1970s. The defining characteristic of a preselector gearbox is that the gear shift lever allowed the driver to "pre-select" the next gear, usually with the transmission remaining in the current gear until the driver pressed the "gear change pedal" at the desired time.
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.
The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new.
The AEC Q-type is an AEC-built, side-mounted-engine, single- and double-decker bus that was launched in 1932.
The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus in the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better-known Routemaster throughout the 1960s.
The AEC Regent II was a front-engined double-decker bus built by AEC from 1945 to 1947. Despite officially being a new type it was very similar to the 1929 Regent. The Regent IIs were all documented as being new with the A173 engine and a four speed sliding mesh gearbox. The only vehicles that were not standard were the 100 purchased by B.M.M.O., which were classified as O661/20 as the front had to be re-designed so they could carry similar bonnets and radiator grilles that B.M.M.O. had designed for the double deckers they built themselves.
London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme.
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.
The AEC Swift was a rear-engined step entrance single-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC between 1964 and 1980. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther. It was available in 33-foot (10 m) and 36-foot (11 m) lengths, with an AEC AH505 or AH691 engine.
The AEC Regent V was a front-engined double-decker bus built by the Associated Equipment Company between 1954 and 1969. It was the last AEC Regent series double-decker model, and was the successor to the AEC Regent III.
The Leyland Tiger Cub was a lightweight underfloor-engined chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1952 and 1970.
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.
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.
The London Bus Museum is a purpose-built transport museum, open daily to the public and located at Brooklands in Weybridge, England. Entry is on a joint basis with Brooklands Museum.
The Albion Lowlander was a Scottish-built low-height double-decker bus.
The AEC Renown was the name given to three distinct forward control bus chassis manufactured by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) at different periods between 1925 and 1967. All were of the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The first and third types had two axles, the second had three. Each was intended to be fitted with bodywork by an outside coachbuilder – single deck for the first type, double deck for the third, whilst the second could be bodied in either form.
