East Lancs Myllennium

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East Lancs Myllennium
Arriva North West 2458 Y458KBU (8759441798).jpg
Arriva North West East Lancs Myllennium bodied DAF SB220 in Liverpool in May 2013
Overview
Manufacturer East Lancashire Coachbuilders
Production1999 - 2006
Assembly Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Body and chassis
Doors1 or 2
Floor type Low floor
High-floor
Chassis DAF SB220
Dennis Dart SLF
MAN 14.220
Scania N94UB (Omnitown)
Related East Lancs Myllennium Lolyne
East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander
East Lancs Myllennium Nordic
East Lancs Myllennium Vyking
Powertrain
Engine DAF GS160M (DAF SB220)
Cummins B Series (Dennis Dart SLF)
MAN (MAN 14.220)
Scania DC09 (Scania N94UB)
Transmission Voith, ZF, Allison
Dimensions
Length8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) – 13.9 m (45 ft 7 in) [1]
11 m (36 ft 1 in) – 12 m (39 ft 4 in) (Hyline) [2]
Width2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) – 2.53 m (8 ft 4 in)
Height3.1 m (10 ft 2 in)
3.41 m (11 ft 2 in) (Hyline)
3.0 m (9 ft 10 in) (Omnitown)
Chronology
Successor East Lancs Esteem

The East Lancs Myllennium was a type of single-decker bus body manufactured by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on DAF SB220, Dennis Dart SLF, MAN 14.220 and Scania N94UB chassis. It was superseded by the East Lancs Esteem in 2006. [3]

Contents

Operators

United Kingdom

The Myllenium was designed in 1999 as a bus for Millennium Dome shuttle services M1 and M2 operated by London Central, with 17 in total on DAF SB220 chassis delivered for the services, three of which were LPG gas-powered. The buses were equipped with air conditioning and an electronic guidance system designed by Alstom for driverless running on a 0.8 miles (1.3 km) section of guided busway linking the Millennium Dome with Charlton and Greenwich railway stations. [4] The buses never ran in passenger-carrying service on the M1 service using the guidance system, and London Buses would later admit in 2000 that the guidance system was not yet ready for deployment on the planned 'Millennium Busway'. The Myllenniums would eventually be downgraded to regular service buses for use on London Buses route 486, the M1's successor, which commenced operations from 24 February 2001. [5]

Soon after, the Myllennium became available for other operators, with the majority of orders coming from Arriva North West and First Berkshire & The Thames Valley. 22 were bought between 2005 and 2007 by Surrey County Council for contract use, initially for school contracts before moving onto park and ride routes. Enterprise had also bought two for contract use with Red Funnel in 2005, with them being handed down to Go South Coast division Bluestar once the contract with them was finished.

In line with previous East Lancs products, the Myllennium bodywork was also used to body less standard buses than public service vehicles. Notable examples include Myllenniums modified as outside broadcasting vehicles that were delivered to various regional BBC Radio stations across the United Kingdom.

Guernsey

CT Plus' buses.gg operation took delivery of around 30 short-width Myllenniums on Dennis Dart SLF chassis between 2004 and 2005. These were later phased out in 2018 with thr delivery of new Wright StreetVibes. [6]

Hyline

Tiger Line Myllennium Hyline bodied Leyland Tiger in Chesham in October 2008 Tiger Line.jpg
Tiger Line Myllennium Hyline bodied Leyland Tiger in Chesham in October 2008

The Hyline body was designed to re-body reconditioned Leyland Tiger and Volvo B10M chassis. The bus itself could seat up to 67 passengers. [2]

Six Leyland Tigers were rebodied in 2000 as Myllennium Hylines for Strathtay. [7] Two further orders were placed, both for Volvo B10M chassis. Looking rather different from the Strathtay examples, the Volvos was built with bonded glazing and had the emergency exit located at the very rear off side. [2] The concept was not a great success, as a result no further orders followed - the Hylines representing the end in the United Kingdom of rebodying for the bus industry. It was built like the Myllennium single-decker but for high-floor buses and thus, it could not be ordered with any new, low floor chassis. The body was discontinued in 2002. [note 1]

See also

Notes

  1. December 2002 was the last time it was ever featured on the page to be advertised for purchase. See Link

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References

  1. "Myllennium body specification". East Lancashire Coachbuilders. 13 March 2005. Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hyline body specification". East Lancashire Coachbuilders. 24 November 2002. Archived from the original on 24 November 2002. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. Rooney, Steve (13 April 2006). "First images of East Lancs new Esteem". Bus & Coach Professional. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  4. "All aboard the new Myllennium special". Lancashire Telegraph . Blackburn. 25 November 1999. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  5. Jukes, David (30 December 2016). "London's first busway". Buses . No. 742. Stamford: Key Publishing. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  6. Pouteaux, Juliet (8 December 2020). "Old green and yellow buses could be phased out". Guernsey Press. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  7. "1984 Leyland Tiger A127ESG / VLT93 / MUI808". Angus Transport Group. Retrieved 19 August 2018.