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 is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-decker buses are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and Asia, the best-known example being the red London bus, namely the AEC Routemaster.
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.
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 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.
Selkent is a bus company operating in central and south London and some parts of north-west Kent. It is a subsidiary brand of Stagecoach London and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The brand is not publicly used since 2010 as all buses are branded as Stagecoach, but it exists as a legal entity.
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.
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.
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' and 36' 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 version of AEC Regent series double-decker 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-MCW Olympic was an underfloor-engined single-deck bus manufactured for at least eighteen countries from 1949 to 1971. 3,564 Olympics were built at four factories from 1949 to 1971, with 1,299 Olympics (36%) built as right hand drive and 2,265 (64%) as left hand drive. It was a very durable heavy-duty bus which ran in arduous conditions for longer periods than ever envisaged by its designers.
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.
