Wikipedia

Leyland Olympian

For the 1950s built Leyland/MCW integral bus, see Leyland-MCW Olympian.

The Leyland Olympian is a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis that was manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production.

Leyland Olympian
Preserved NBC Bristol Omnibus Company Roe-bodied Leyland Olympian in Brislington, August 2011
Overview
ManufacturerLeyland
Production1980–1993
Assembly
Body and chassis
Doors1, 2 or 3
Floor typeStep entrance
Powertrain
Engine
Transmission
Dimensions
Length
2-axle
9.56 m (31 ft 4 in)
10.25 m (33 ft 8 in)
11 m (36 ft 1 in)
3-axle
10.4 m (34 ft 1 in)
11 m (36 ft 1 in)
11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Width2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Height4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Chronology
Predecessor
SuccessorVolvo Olympian

Construction

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Preserved Greater Manchester Transport prototype Leyland Olympian with Northern Counties bodywork at the Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester in March 2013

The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as the Leyland Titan integral double deck bus which was ordered in large numbers by London Transport. At the time there was a demand for non-integral vehicles, because operators wished to have the chassis bodied by other manufacturers. Thus Leyland created the B45 project, which was named Olympian, in 1979. This was in many ways an update of the popular Bristol VRT (Bristol Commercial Vehicles merged with Leyland in 1965), with many VR customers choosing Olympians. Later the Olympian also replaced the Leyland Atlantean.

The Olympian was unveiled at the 1980 Commercial Motor Show.[1] It was available in two lengths, 9.56m and 10.25m. The engine was either the Leyland TL11 unit (a development of the Leyland O.680: both were of 11.1 litre capacity) or the Gardner 6LXB or 6LXCT. Some later Olympians had Cummins L10 engines. One Olympian had a 5LXCT.

For the export market a three-axle version was built with lengths of 10.4m, 11.32m and 11.95m. This was very popular with operators such as Kowloon Motor Bus. In 1988, Leyland developed an air-conditioned version of the Olympian, with the refrigerant compressor driven by the main engine instead of a separate engine.

Between 1979 and 1981, nine demonstrators were built, before the first production Olympian entered service with Ribble Motor Services in August 1981.[2]

The Olympian was initially manufactured at the former Bristol factory in Brislington with the first thousand completed here. In 1983, production transferred to Leyland's Farington and Workington plants. The last was completed for Singapore Bus Service in March 1994.

Bodies

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The Leyland Olympian was built with a wide variety of body types:

Leyland Olympian body styles

Operators

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United Kingdom

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The Leyland Olympian was highly popular in the United Kingdom, with orders from operators both before and after privatisation. It was purchased by many National Bus Company subsidiaries.

Although London Buses primarily purchased the Leyland Titan, in 1984 it took delivery of three Olympians.[3] Between 1987 and 1992, a further 350 Olympians were purchased. The last were withdrawn in 2005, although some were converted to open top buses and remained in use with The Original Tour.[4] London Country purchased 102.[5]

Lothian Buses purchased over 200, but all were withdrawn by 2009.[6]

South Wales Transport ordered 7 of these in 1985 registered C901-C907 FCY.[clarification needed] These remained in service with First Cymru until 2005.

The last remaining Leyland Olympians in regular revenue-earning service were withdrawn by Rotala-owned Preston Bus in December 2016.[7] Both the Leyland Olympian and its Volvo successor were withdrawn by public service operators ahead of a 1 January 2017 deadline set by the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR), which mandated that all public double-decker buses in the United Kingdom had a step-free entrance and at least one wheelchair space available.[8]

Exports

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Greece

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The state-owned Urban Transport Company (Greek: Επιχείρηση Αστικών Συγκοινωνιών [el], ΕΑΣ) of Athens received 20 Leyland Olympians in 1983, with one being a demonstrator model delivered to the operator for trials in 1982.[9] These were all withdrawn by 1 October 1994; one of them is preserved.

Hong Kong

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Citybus Alexander bodied Leyland Olympian in Hong Kong in August 2008

Between 1981 and 1993, Kowloon Motor Bus purchased 906 Olympians, with all but four having Alexander bodywork.[10][11] Some were later repatriated to the United Kingdom, including 22 converted to open top configuration by The Big Bus Company.

China Motor Bus purchased 37 Olympians between 1981 and 1993.[12][13] All 35 three-axle Olympians passed to New World First Bus, with the entire batch of ten non-air-conditioned buses being sold to FirstGroup who repatriated them to the United Kingdom for use at their East Counties, Glasgow, Manchester and PMT subsidiaries.

Citybus purchased 294 new Leyland Olympians including 2-axle Olympians (#7, #12, #14, #15, #17, #18).[14] In 1990, the Citybus fleet numbering system was changed to remove the prefixes. In the early to mid 1990s, selected 2-axle Leyland Olympians were converted to open-top for use on private hire services, complementing the operator's AEC Routemasters, however these were withdrawn gradually after 2001. #7 was the last 2-axle Leyland Olympian in Hong Kong, where it was retired in 2009 and eventually scrapped. In 2003, 54 were repatriated to the United Kingdom to operate express services for Megabus.

All Hong Kong franchised Olympians had been withdrawn by October 2011. The non-franchised, open-topped, air-conditioned double deckers and private hire buses were withdrawn by 2015 due to their non-compliance with Hong Kong's emission regulations. Citybus #391 was the last Leyland Olympian to ever run in Hong Kong.[citation needed]

Ireland

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Dublin Bus Alexander bodied Leyland Olympian on O'Connell Street in March 1994

Dublin Bus purchased a total of 175 Alexander-bodied Leyland Olympians from 1990 until the end of Leyland production in 1993, these being the first double-deckers to be built at Alexander's Belfast plant since 1975.[15] The Leyland Olympians were classed as the 'RH' type in Dublin Bus fleet.[16][17]

North America

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Gray Line Olympian in New York City in May 2008

In 1984, an Eastern Coach Works bodied left hand drive Olympian was sent to the United States as a demonstrator. It was used as a shuttle bus at Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It then entered service on Gray Line tours in Victoria. It was later sold to Brampton Transit.

Grosvenor Coach Lines (Gray Line) of San Francisco received 10 Eastern Coach Works bodied three-axle Leyland Olympians in 1986 for sightseeing purposes.[18][19] Seven were later transferred to New York City and the other three to Seattle. After a period in store, the three Seattle units were repowered with Detroit Diesel engines in Los Angeles and returned to Gray Line duties in San Francisco in 2015.[20]

Singapore

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Singapore Bus Services (SBS) received a single Leyland Olympian B45 for evaluation in 1981. It was displayed at the 1980 Commercial Motor Show in the UK and was described as a "Far Eastern" prototype. It had a 3+2 transverse seating arrangement unseen in Singapore but common in Hong Kong then with a seating capacity of 97, but was eventually refitted to the standard 2+2 transverse seating arrangement before export. When registered, it bore a unique demonstration livery with the company's 1978 corporate logo not unlike a Leyland Leopard demonstrator also with SBS then. It was deployed on route 162 until its withdrawal in late 1982. It was subsequently repatriated to the UK where it worked with City of Oxford Motor Services afterwards.[21]

Satisfied with the trial, SBS ordered 200 Leyland Olympian 2-Axles fitted with Alexander R bodywork of which they were SBS's last Leyland engined buses. Registered between 1986 and 1988, these buses were deployed to Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and Jurong bus depots. In the late 1990s, they were massively redeployed to serve routes mainly in the industrial and suburban regions as most routes plying downtown were transitioning to a fully air-conditioned fleet. At the same time, some of these buses had 3 pairs of seats removed on the offside to create a standee area, while others were refitted with Allison gearboxes and new seat upholsterers. When SBS was renamed as SBS Transit in late 2001, none of these units received the SBS Transit livery as they were nearing the end of their statutory lifespan. All units were withdrawn between 2001 and 2003.

In 1992, SBS ordered another 200 Leyland Olympians, all of which were fitted with the then all new Walter Alexander Royale bodywork. Registered between 1993 and 1994, they were Singapore's first air-conditioned and tri-axle double deck buses and hence nicknamed the "Superbus" owing to their length at the time. They were also the last Leylands to be built globally. Originally deployed to all SBS depots islandwide, they were consolidated into Ang Mo Kio, Braddell Bus Park, and Soon Lee bus depots in the mid 2000s. Unlike their 2-axle counterparts and Volvo Olympians, none of these units received a standee area on the off-side as the air-conditioning filter was right above the seats. Withdrawal of these buses began in 2010, and the last buses were retired in April 2013.

SBS9168S, the last Leyland Olympian built, was repatriated to England in 2013 and is currently preserved by Dave Rogers and re-registered as L888 SBS.[22]

Leyland sale

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The last Leyland Olympian produced, a Singapore Bus Services Alexander bodied tri-axle

In 1988, Leyland was purchased by Volvo, who only continued with the Olympian and Lynx due to the vast number of outstanding orders. More buses also went to Dublin Bus, London Transport, China Motor Bus and Hong Kong Citybus.

The completion of the final orders from a fire-stricken Strathclyde Buses,[23][24] Dublin Bus, China Motor Bus, Citybus and Singapore Bus Services saw the discontinuation of the Leyland Olympian, with the last delivered to Singapore Bus Services and the plant in Workington closed in 1993.[25]

The Leyland Olympian was superseded by the Volvo Olympian, with the existing chassis retained and a Volvo TD102KF engine replacing the Gardner engine option.[26][27] The Volvo Olympian remained in production until 2000.

References

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  1. ^ "Olympian launch at last". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 4 October 1980. p. 26. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  2. ^ "2101 Leyland Olympian". Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  3. ^ "LT's off-the-peg buses". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 30 July 1983. p. 16. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  4. ^ Smith, Ian (12 June 2005). "The London Olympians: L Class". Ian's Bus Stop. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via busspotter.com.
  5. ^ Smith, Ian (8 August 2002). "The London Country Olympians: LR Class". Ian's Bus Stop. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via busspotter.com.
  6. ^ "Double century". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 15 June 1989. p. 18. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  7. ^ "Preston's farewell Olympian service". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  8. ^ "The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  9. ^ Sheriff, Iain (20 November 1982). "Double-deck success for Leyland in Athens". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. p. 23. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  10. ^ "Hong Kong buys". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 4 April 1987. p. 20. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Kowloon Motor Bus Leyland Olympian". Gakei. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  12. ^ "China Motor Bus Leyland Olympian (Air-Conditioned)". Gakei. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  13. ^ "China Motor Bus Leyland Olympian (Non Air-Conditioned)". Gakei. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  14. ^ "Citybus Leyland Olympian". Gakei. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  15. ^ "Nap hand for Dublin Bus". Coachmart. No. 589. Peterborough: Response Publishing. 24 May 1990. p. 54.
  16. ^ "Dublin delivery". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 16 August 1990. p. 18. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  17. ^ Hall, Darren (March 2013). "The Dublin Olympian". Buses. No. 696. Stamford: Key Publishing. pp. 52–55.
  18. ^ "Leyland Bus gets US order". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 14 September 1985. p. 17. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  19. ^ "Newsbrief". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 14 June 1986. p. 20. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  20. ^ "US Olympians repowered for return in San Francisco". Buses. No. 724. Stamford: Key Publishing. July 2015. p. 24.
  21. ^ "Leyland Olympian". Land Transport Guru. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Last Leyland Olympian Built". The Leyland Society. 11 November 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  23. ^ "SBL takes on last Leylands". Coach & Bus Week. No. 81. Peterborough: Emap. 4 September 1993.
  24. ^ Booth, Gavin (8 July 1994). "Strathclyde celebrations". Bus & Coach Buyer. No. 263. Spalding. pp. 11–13. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  25. ^ Simpson, Richard (26 September 1992). "Workington reprieved by 200 Olympian order". Coach & Bus Week. No. 32. Peterborough: Emap. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  26. ^ "Volvo power for Olympian". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 27 February 1992. p. 18. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  27. ^ "Volvo opens bus lines in Irvine". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 1 April 1993. p. 10. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
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