Very many congratulations on your 90K Ian well done indeed Happy memories of going to and from school and to college on a national,green liveried Bristol Bus Company Watched this twice second time with headphones so I could appreciate the sound of that engine.
"Should we make a better head gasket?" "Sod that, thats exactly what they are expecting! No, instead, get rid of the head altogether!" Ah, British Leyland, never change.... (And they never did?) (Dont take the above to harshly, love this one, a wonderful machine indeed)
@@jongmans38 I often wondered what the maintenance of these engines must've entailed. Going by what I've read, many fleets found the rigmarole too hard/ time consuming so essential maintenance was skipped - no wonder Nationals belched so much smoke, chewed so much diesel and got a reputation for unreliability.
Slightly surreal moment when I realised you just drove past the end of my road..I remember you saying you were making a video in North Lincolnshire, well done negotiating the tight bend in front of Keadby Bridge, those barriers have collected some paint over the years. Great video. Congratulations on 90 k subs.
A big congrats on 90k! I reckon the best compromise of a vehicle for 100k would be a Winnebago camper. The full size ones, not the small tiiiny UK sized ones. Ideally in the US, but that might be a bit expensive. Having said that, I suppose it should really be something Citroen, and/or shambolic yet charismatic.
"Car drivers can drive a bus so long as it's over 30 years old and carrying less than 8 passengers" says Ian who's carrying 90,000 UA-cam passengers 😂 Well done Mr HubNut, very well deserved milestone! On the subject of Nationals, these had all disappeared from the fleet by the time I started my apprenticeship at a bus depot in 2002. We still had a hefty fleet of Leyland Tigers and Leyland Olympians though (both with either full or semi automatic gearboxes IIRC). I am told that the last of our Nationals were Volvo converted, and apparently they'd easily exceed the 80MPH at the top end of the speedo before speed limiters were installed on them 😂 With TL11 and Gardner engines being a feature of my early apprenticeship, it's a surprise I can still breathe 😂😂😂
I used to drive a Volvo engined Leyland National in service in Surrey. When you floor it, the front lifts, and away it goes and hits the speed limiter far quicker than those with Leyland engines. Having said that, the one Leyland engined National specifically for disability use had no speed limiter or gearbox lock out. This thing would do well over 80mph!! We sometimes had it as a crew shuttle bus. Kingston to Leatherhead took about 10 minutes less than the other Nationals. Great memories!
@@tonycalow708 we had a Volvo engined Leyland Tiger at my depot, it was a very late Tiger from 1992, and it was a flying machine once you got it wound up. Like your National, this Tiger had no speed limiter, so it would readily crack 80MPH (on a private test track of course, officer 😇). None of your modern Euro 6 junk can do that - many of them can barely reach 40MPH, never mind 80!
90,000 wow well done Ian. Loved the sounds of the bus makes me remember times gone by. Been a Hubnutter now for nearly 3 years. Enjoy it so much. Thank you again.
Ahh the sound of my childhood. The racket of the National and the boomy exhaust note of the National 2 - and with the Atlanteans I'm amazed we came out of childhood without hearing damage. When the Metrobuses arrived around 1984 complete with their digital destination boards, they felt almost space age! Congrats on the 90k!
Thanks Craig, thanks Ian for this awesome bus ride. My school buses in Germany were - no surprise - Mercedes, MAN and Setra. The ZF museum owns some buses with their automatic gearboxes. It's not far away from my home...
I drove 1989 MAN SL202s in Sydney with a Voith gearbox. They were my favourite in the fleet. Slow to take off but very smooth. I had a drive of a Leyland National one day before doing my shift in a MAN. The MAN was so much better.
I love that these special projects still survive and that it has fallen into the hands of someone who will ensure it continues in life as built. On a totally different note, I love the idea of a series where Ian goes back, potentially in this bus, to the places where he used to spend nights out in his youth. He could call it Clubnut. Congrats on the 90k. It's a brilliant achievement but easy to see how it happened.
I'm so happy to see one of these beauties preserved! Very interesting design the Super National, I don't think we had any of these up here in Finland. We did, however, have some Leopards on locally built aluminium bodies. My dad was a bus mechanic so I got to see the Leopards up close from a very young age and the very distinct whining sound of the drivetrain is something I still remember very well. Later I also rode one of the Leopards to school for a few years. It had seats with proper leopard fur velour, but I'm not sure if those were supplied by Leyland or if the coachbuilder just decided those would be a good fit... Anyway, congratulations for 90,000 subs and thank you for yet another excellent video!
I've seen at least one of the Dutch Nationals at BLNederland, where my father worked at the time. Still have a brochure somewhere, must dig that up soon - was it a Mk I or a Mk II? Also I had the opportunity to drive a coach recently. That was a lot harder than I expected, mainly because you're sitting so far forward of the axle so you have to wait a bit longer with steering into a bend than in a car. But not too long...
This was a timeless bus design - it didn't conform to styling cues from other contemporary vehicles, but made much of the fact it was an integral vehicle. I so agree about the rear pod, as it perfectly balances the overall shape. A great review - many thanks!
Very nicely driven - a well mastered pneumo-cyclic is truly an art! As a kid I'd watch (and listen) to the oh, so relaxed, smooth gear changing of the excellent professional drivers on United Bristol RELH's, operating the long Newcastle to London route. Such a difference to many of the Newcastle Atlantean drivers who slammed the lever through the changes. Would love to see a video of you in an RELH - another soundtrack you 'could listen to all day!'
Nice video Ian. The bus of my childhood was very much the Alexander bodied Leyland Tiger with the Gardner 6HLX back in Northern Ireland. Happy to see that they have dedicated preservation clubs for them too.
As someone who has followed you from the very beginning, I am truly chuffed for you, as you reach 90000 subs. 100000 won't be long coming. I watch a lot of YT channels...and yours is still one of the ones I go to first. Keep up the good work Ian.
You looked like you were having a lot of fun Ian. I drove buses for many years back in NZ. When I started, the fleet still included a few AEC's and a lot of Leyland Leopards, both running the pneumo-electric gearbox. That video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting.
18:25 to 18:50 so reminded me of the bus trip to school in the early 1980s. That noise of the engine was so distinctive. Almost made me want to reach for the grab poles they had with the bell on them. Wasn't it a square button with PRESS or PUSH on it?
There was only one route in the 80s that I could guarantee a Leyland National being on, and that was the 745 from Consett to Newcastle... Incredible memories!
I drove one of the first Leyland National buses for the Northern bus Company based at Winlaton Depot. They were a breath of fresh air after driving the old style buses with crash boxes. They were great to drive, light controls and easy to handle. Great buses. The happiest days of my life.
Great video! I love the sound of the Leyland National with the original 510 engine fitted. The idle clatter and whirring of the turbo and running gear are very distinctive. I have happy memories of riding of Eastern Counties Nationals out of Lowestoft bus station. They were mostly R reg or S reg and had the "Mk2" roof pod and indicator stalk off a late Triumph Spitfire if I recall correctly. I was always taken on how well the bus interior design was so coherent on these buses. Eastern Counties also had an early National with a long roof pod. The interior wasn't quite as well designed I felt (I was only about 11 or 12 years old).
Well done on reaching 90,000! I'm not sure these are necessarily great buses but they hold a lot of memories for me because when I was growing up, taking the bus into town it was always a Leyland National and when I went to college I used to take one every day. It was sort of the point that I just associated a bus with always being a Leyland National because that's the only type of bus I ever went on. They were certainly characterful with that distinctive noise and smoky engine. We later got the "Greenway" (I think it was called....) modernised version so they continued to run in my area until quite late on. So they were a big part of my growing up, so I have rather fond memories of them. As you say many of the same components were used for the "Pacer" class of trains (especially Class 141, which even looked very similar) and these were still in service until a year or so ago. I think the Class 153 trains are still in use in Wales and Scotland are also Leyland and internally some fittings (such as the lights) at least look pretty much like the Leyland National.
I’m new to your channel thanks to @Pete and his bus! Have a big appreciation of the Leyland National .. living in High Wycombe both London Country (who had the biggest fleet of these in the country) and Alder Valley had various versions of both 11.3 & 10.3m long Series 1 Nationals & after the break up of the NBC.. the then Wycombe Bus (what was left of Alder Valley) had some ex Brighton LN2’s. London Country had some of those very early 11.3m Nationals & they appeared on the famous Green Line Routes .. my local garage HE had some designated LNC (Leyland National Coach) .. but the only coach like concession was the two tone livery of Leaf Green lower with white roof & window surrounds .. the interior was standard bus layout with green plastic seating.. not so good for the passengers travelling the 2 & 1/2 hours through London all the way to Reigate & back (which I did many times) .. these were soon replaced by 10.3m SNC’s with mochette high back coach seating .. and they lasted on Route 711 right through until 30/09/77 when sadly HE closed & the Route was taken off .. being replaced by a new Route 790 to London operated out of Amersham [MA] Garage using leased duple bodied AEC Reliance coaches.
The Leyland Tiger was the bus of my childhood. I still remember the sound of the diesel engines in it, as well as seeing the driver going through the pre-selector gearbox.
They weren't preselected. The driver simply changed gears with the gear stick like a clutchless manual. Preselect had a third pedal (where the clutch goes) that activated the gear that was chosen beforehand with the gear stick.
To be correct National Bus did not take over the municipal Bus companies, these instead were instead absorbed into regional transport authorities, for example the Birmingham, Coventry etc Corporation Bus companies were merged into West Midlands Transport. National Bus was formed by the nationalisation and merger of the private regional bus companies, such as Midland Red. Sad as Midland Red built some really nice buses and coaches in their own works including the M1 motorway coaches that could go toe to toe with Diesels on the WCML in the 60s in races along the newley opened M1, topping 100mph with favourable gradient and wind and because of both serviceability as well as production issues at British Leyland the Midland Red motorway coaches lasted into the 70s and the local service single dockers lasted into the 80s.
always used to like driving nationals on service work .fairly quick and comfortable .what i remember most is that the steering would not auto return to straight ahead after going round a corner, you had to manually return it ,to ahead .
I have driven a mk 2 National , drove great. DO YOUHAVE a pcv license, saying Buses are easy to drive now , I'd like to see you pass a pcv test and get a cpc then drive in service, then say its easy . I DRIVE a coach myself
I remember going to school on these in the early 80s and you're bang on the money as these buses just don't seem right when not making "that noise", bit like the Intercity 125 trains whenever they upgraded those glorious screaming Paxman Valenta engines for more boring refinement.
Brilliant video Ian, this too is the bus of my childhood, going to school. My transport was usually a Bristol RELL with a Gardner engine and the National was so modern, the noise of the turbo, the hiss of the air compressor venting off. I used to make Lego ones and imitate the noises pushing them around the carpet. Thank you for doing this and congrats on 90K.
What an excellent video, Ian. Childhood sound effects for me too, especially on the 658 route between Hinckley & Leicester (spent my early childhood in the former). Did you know they had Nationals in France too? In Dijon & St Etienne. Nos felicitations pour avoir atteint 90,000 adhérents!!!
As I was reminded by one of the comments, there's an NBC training video on UA-cam with a comprehensive look at how to drive a National and how not to, including interesting views of the gearbox. I can't post links directly on my Device, but it's entitled "They don't grow on trees" for anyone who might want to look it up
Headless worked very well for the Offenhauser race engines, they were basically able to handle unlimited boost because there were no head studs to stretch!
Yay - don't hear of Offenhauser very often nowadays! I still remember my Scalextric model being a favourite - strangely, even a little electric Offenhauser model had it's own distinctive sound.
Even in the mid 90s we used to have these as school buses. Apart from the characteristic sound, I remember cold start ups in winter were accompanied by a massive amount of white smoke. It's a shame that modern single decker buses are shaped like a box.
I used to ride the John fishwick 109s to Preston and Chorley when I was a kid in the 80s with mi mum and nanna back then. Nanna used to go to the back and smoke some craven a cigs ( you could back then ) . Health and safety laws must be a lot stricter now ,because some of those fishwicks used to drive fast - especially onto Preston bus station apron ! When I was really young I got the sensation the bus was going to go over on its side on a corner ! Great memories but alas now a different world
Being Scottish, we didn’t see a lot of Nationals. Tigers and Leopards were the norm up here. I recall when a local independent bought a stack of them from Stagecoach Cumberland to compete with the dominant former SBC operator. Seemed so exotic.
Great drivetrain sounds! Especially good on headphones 😊 I remember that type of gear selector from the (very) old double decker I went to school on, it fascinated me even then! Pneumatic wipers, love it! 😂
90,000 that's fantastic! A massive congratulations, well deserved! Thanks for great channel that saw me through months of furlough/lockdown. I watched several but have stuck with Hubnut because it has a good mix of vehicles, facts , tips and humour. Keep it up!
Lovely Jubbly, a really interesting video Mr HubNut. I think Crosville buses used these when I was a child, you never forget the noise of engine, gearbox and rattles over unever roads.
I loved the Nationals when they first came to London Country in my childhood. The roof mounted whatever it is (you'll probably explain later in the video!), plus the fan which you were also fascinated by and the rear lamp clusters which reminded me of the then very trendy Mk1 Range Rover rear lights 🙂 To my childhood eyes, these buses did look bizarrely sporty - Can a bus look sporty? Clearly yes!
The National looks contemporary even today. If it had a step-free entrance it would be a thoroughly modern bus. Those chunky, rectangular rear lights are clearly part of the design - so much neater than the off-the-shelf, random-parts-bin lights fitted to buses now. It's still possible to travel on a Leyland National on the railways. Transport for Wales has quite a large fleet of Class 153 units, the most sophisticated variant of the National-derived trains. Cummins NT855R5 engines, and hydraulic transmission - which means acceleration requires all the revs!
Congratulations on 90K! In my youth there were also Leyland buses in the Netherlands, probably chassis and engine from Leyland with a Dutch construction such as "Den Oudsten" which I remember.
Congratulations on your latest subs milestone! Remember the Leyland National bus well - used to watch them milling in and out of Stourbridge bus (or ‘buzz’ as we call them round these parts) garage. Always found them attractive looking buses.
I have no idea why I've suddenly been shown this video but I'm so happy. Since being a young girl I always wanted to become a Bus Driver for what was just Trent Buses back in the day. I even had the name of the chap at Langley Mill Depot for who to contact but I was always happy in my job at the time so didn't contact him, and then my BF at the time became a driver at the Ilkeston depot and I moved away. I'm now 51 and still to this day wish I'd gone to Trent and got my PSV. I still remember the particular routes which the Nationals were put on.
From Sydney , Australia, in 1969 my parents bought a house in Roseville , on the North Shore in Sydney . The privately owned bus company Forest Coach Lines serviced a large area , most of the suburbs on the high tableland above the beach suburbs where the TV show Home & away is filmed then over the far end of Middle Harbour over the Roseville bridge & to Chatswood . Forest Coach Lines were immaculately kept in pure white with a large dark green waist band , and the company name in unusual red lettering , very smart . They owned a fleet of Leyland's, AEC's , Albion's from the mid to late 1960's . Then in 1971 they received a strange new Leyland with a "modular" not coach built body the seating was staggered/stepped so the person sitting next to the aisleway seat was 6 inches rearward of the person in the window seat. I asked one of their older drivers what type of Leyland that it was & he said a pre production new National. Forest coach lines had the biggest privately owned fleet of Leyland group busses so they had been GIVEN this one for free and to keep after assessing its performance. Then during 1972 their new fleet of Nationals turned up . Forest Coach Lines kept them lovingly looked after and in service for years and years well into my adult life & yes "-Hub-Nut-" Nationals do have their own unique sound . Strangely at this time the Sydney government bus service that had a fleet of 1,000 plus Royal Leyland Tigers and double deck Leyland Atlanteans decided to buy Mercedes Benz busses as a replacement. A friend of my Grand-dads that was the chief mechanic at the Brookvale Government bus depot said the Leyland Tigers were way way better than as he called them the "rotten bloody merc's" . Frequently you would see a fairly new dead Mercedes Bus at kerbside with a whole bunch of passengers awaiting a replacement bus to collect them. For my 6 year of high school I had phase one of my 12 mile journey in a Forrest coachlines Leyland , then phase two of my daily trip in a Green Sydney Gov't transport Royal Leyland Tiger in 6 years of schooling not once did one break down . After years of service Forest Coach Lines swapped to a fleet of Volvo busses instead .
The six or so Nationals they got were bought about 1976 and were all Sydney assembled Australian length models using the front half of an 11.3m model with the rear of a 10.3m to create an intermediate 10.9m length model. They were directly replaced by Mercedes 0305s! The plates were even transferred over. Those Royal Tigers and Worldmasters of the government were a very good bus but Nick Greiner campaigned to get rid of them when in opposition! His actions were likely responsible for their earlier than planned demise. They had many years left in them. If anything, the mark 1 Leopards should have gone first! BTW, regards the government Mercedes 0305s, workshop staff were deliberately sabotaging them because their unprecedented reliability was seen as a threat to their jobs! They were utterly state of the art machines, extremely robust mechanically, especially the engines. They had unprecedented performance and ease of operation by the driver. STA bought an even more reliable small batch of buses by MAN which were mechanically almost identical to the 0305s but with many small differences. They were better on fuel and broke down less. Not popular fit drivers as they didn't accelerate as fast as the Benz and had a firm ride but were probably the most cost effective full size bus the NSW government buses had ever run.
I too, was a bus driver from the 1970's to the late 1990's, and Nationals were as much a part of working life as Bristol VR deckers, AEC Renowns, Olympians, etc..not forgetting the marvellous Bristol RE, & REL that United used to operate. Once worn [ -out?] Nationals were a bit of a pain really, from a driver's viewpoint. Things I hated, were the ultra thin steering wheels of the earlier Nationals [the later one's, in my experience, pod-less, had thicker rimmed steering wheels. Far better if the power steering became iffy, or the air leaked out faster than the compressor could replace it.] Air-powered gearchanges reached their ultimate in tardy delays [again, in my experience]....with the Leyland Leopards. Companies I worked for often used Leopard coaches in stage carriage mode. [Dual purpose...later using Tigers in such a mode as well] The gear changers were a quite knobby lever in a 'box sprouting out of the floor...and I recall being able to count to 4, between slipping it into neutral prior to finding the next gear...and the previous gear actually disengaging! Bus drivers had to really be multi-dextrous in those days....Getting out of a Bristol VR, with its left hand gear change, and into a Tiger or National, with their right hand gear change, was commonplace. The National was also notable for having a 'low step'....unlike the more hairy-backsided predecessors [REs had low steps too]....Ever wondered why bus drivers, when pulling up at 'stops', never really seemed to halt, parallel to the kerb? This was to get the step 'over' the kerb for the grannies and grandads to get on & off more easily. If grandma had less height to lift her feet, she got on or off far more quickly, thus saving time at 'stops.' This tendency for a driver to skew the bus at 'stops' to get the step nearer or over the kerb, lead to many ordinary motorists often thinking bus drivers simply indicated, and moved away simultaneously. when, in reality, the driver, having skewed the bus at the 'stop', then couldn't see properly behind via the off-side mirror, so would gently 'ease' the bus round, to bring the road behind 'into view'.....Cars approaching from behind would see the indicator, and the 'easy' movement of the bus [the driver swinging the rear into view], and slam all on, thinking the bus was simply driving off...which wouldn't be the intention of the bus driver at all...But, seeing cars stopping, the bus driver would consider it trite not to then accelerate away, ta, very much! Hence, what seemed to others less in-the-know like one continuous movement, wasn't really at all...The longer Nationals also had a poor turning circle, as I recall, compared to shorter wheelbase buses... Bus driving was a great job, if it wasn't for the passengers....
That was probably the first large scale production turbocharged bus engine. And probably at least one of the first to use pneumatics for everything - suspension, brakes, doors, gearchange. Quite a number survived until the turn of the century, over 20 years old, with the original engine (or at least the original type of engine)
Around here it was still common to see these in daily service past the year 2000. Tatty, battered and smoking so much you could hardly see behind them but still running.
The problem was the Fixed head headless wonder was doomed before it was produced the designer wanted it to 11,000 to 12,000 cc this was reduced to 8.3 litres or 501 cubic inches and that was the main problem but it was very advanced for it’s time timing gears on the back of the engine and overhead Camshaft as per usual if British Leyland had developed it more it could have been an absolutely ground breaking engine
Was that why it was turbo, to make up for the capacity? It would have made a replacement for the lumpy 0680 if they had made it 11 litre or so and given it more development time. They run smooth and operate well considering their issues.
@@jamesfrench7299 the 0680’was a fantastic engine so good in fact that DAF either bought or copied the design and that became the engine that powered all the big DAFs from the late 70s to the 1990s early 2000s
There are genuinely nostalgic mechanical noises - if you lived near a UK airport in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s it was the turboprop whine from 4 RR Dart engines as a Viscount flew over, then on 1970s/80s roads there's the Leyland National as the engine revs climbed and dropped plus the 'pwaaassh' of the air pressure release valve opening. The huge fan at the back must've convinced gullible children that the National was a Blower Bus that was part jet-propelled... Magic! Congratulations on a fascinating video and on reaching 90,000 subs, Ian.
I don't understand why you can drive these old buses on a car licence makes no sense. I'm not complaining Its something I'd like to convert in the future but seems crazy.
Excellent, well done Fella. Midland Red had these crawling all over Stafford in my youth. Only went on one once, my school run was on everything but a National. Ranging from the luxury of a massive 3 axle Neoplan, down to some very rattly Leylands, single and double deckers. Diesel fumes and driver's cigarette smoke, the smells of my youth. 🤣
The original long roof pod wasn't just a styling statement, it was designed to accommodate air-conditioning equipment which it was thought would be required in export markets. In the event few Nationals were exported, and the home market didn't require aircon, hence the pod was first reduced in size and later eliminated altogether on the B-Series and National 2.
What a great way to celebrate the 90,000 subs, I remember that engine sound well growing up in North Wales, except most of my bus journeys were done on Leyland Leopards which also had their own sound, a lot of it being the baritone exhaust note. It’s nice to see a National with its original engine, you think of a Leyland National and that sound comes to mind, a very nostalgic ride, thanks Ian.👍
Absolutely loved this Ian, as you mentioned all the sounds bring back memories of times gone by. Sounds that kids these days simply won't remember given the quieter nature of modern buses, and the fact they sit with their headphones in all the time.
Such an evocative noise from that engine. I can remember these appearing on my school bus route in the 70s, and being excited to be on such a modern vehicle after the old Crosville buses they replaced.
Very well done on your 90k subs, been a subscriber for a good while now and always look forward to your videos. The variety of topics and subjects keeps interest keen. So keep up the excellent work and hopefully one day you’ll celebrate 100k subs.
Leyland also killed off Eastern Coachworks (Lowestoft). After the takeover, Leyland decided to build the National elsewhere, thus ending many years of Coachwork building.
Wow! Leyland National! I also remember being fascinated by that rather visible fan on the rear! And remember often sitting behind the driver and looking at that funny little handbrake lever! We had automatic Nationals on my local bus route, but another nearby one had Leyland Tigers with the epicyclic gearboxes and the tiny little gear lever! Oh and congratulations on the 90k subs too! Well done! 😀
That noise is iconic, it brings back so many childhood memories. The road I grew up on was on a bus route and I must have heard these thousands of times growing up. Ours were in the orange and white livery of SELNEC. Congrats on the 90K subscribers. Used by the BBC in the 70s??!! I bet that bus has got some secrets to tell ;-)
YES! - Another wonderful sound from my youth! Such a contrast too, with the almost turbine-like whine from the Gearbox and Turbocharger, to the 1 2 3 4 5 6 'Diesel Knock' when it was ticking-over! I believe that Chase Buses in Cannock were one of the last operators of the National, in any sort of volume. Surprisingly, they were all Mk1 Nationals with the 510 Engine.
Fantastic bus, interesting vid on the history of these buses and of course big congrats on 90k! Thanks Ian, Team HubNut, and all your friends for all the great content you put out. Been following your channel for about 3-4 years now and it's still probably my favourite. Onward to 100k!
A fitting video to commemorate 90k subs. Well done and thanks to you for such a tremendous body of videos. They are all gems. Hope that 100k arrives v.soon!
@18:54 Volvo may have been involved at various stages, but it was DAF who (eventually) bought out Leyland (Truck & Bus) after a decades-long association (DAB, the DAF DK1160 which was a development of the Leyland 0.680)
Buy the T-shirt in this video at hubnut.fws.store - I love AU!
Yours or Craig's 🤣 yes I know you said the "I love AU" bit
Very many congratulations on your 90K Ian well done indeed
Happy memories of going to and from school and to college on a national,green liveried Bristol Bus Company
Watched this twice second time with headphones so I could appreciate the sound of that engine.
well, great, but that's enough subs for you, I don't think you can handle much more money and fame :)
Ian in full anorak mode! Perfect Friday evening entertainment. 😉👍 Thanks!
"Should we make a better head gasket?"
"Sod that, thats exactly what they are expecting! No, instead, get rid of the head altogether!"
Ah, British Leyland, never change.... (And they never did?)
(Dont take the above to harshly, love this one, a wonderful machine indeed)
@@jongmans38 I often wondered what the maintenance of these engines must've entailed. Going by what I've read, many fleets found the rigmarole too hard/ time consuming so essential maintenance was skipped - no wonder Nationals belched so much smoke, chewed so much diesel and got a reputation for unreliability.
Rumour has it another suggestion was to make the engine all head gasket.
Slightly surreal moment when I realised you just drove past the end of my road..I remember you saying you were making a video in North Lincolnshire, well done negotiating the tight bend in front of Keadby Bridge, those barriers have collected some paint over the years. Great video. Congratulations on 90 k subs.
A big congrats on 90k!
I reckon the best compromise of a vehicle for 100k would be a Winnebago camper. The full size ones, not the small tiiiny UK sized ones. Ideally in the US, but that might be a bit expensive. Having said that, I suppose it should really be something Citroen, and/or shambolic yet charismatic.
"Car drivers can drive a bus so long as it's over 30 years old and carrying less than 8 passengers" says Ian who's carrying 90,000 UA-cam passengers 😂 Well done Mr HubNut, very well deserved milestone!
On the subject of Nationals, these had all disappeared from the fleet by the time I started my apprenticeship at a bus depot in 2002. We still had a hefty fleet of Leyland Tigers and Leyland Olympians though (both with either full or semi automatic gearboxes IIRC). I am told that the last of our Nationals were Volvo converted, and apparently they'd easily exceed the 80MPH at the top end of the speedo before speed limiters were installed on them 😂
With TL11 and Gardner engines being a feature of my early apprenticeship, it's a surprise I can still breathe 😂😂😂
I used to drive a Volvo engined Leyland National in service in Surrey. When you floor it, the front lifts, and away it goes and hits the speed limiter far quicker than those with Leyland engines. Having said that, the one Leyland engined National specifically for disability use had no speed limiter or gearbox lock out. This thing would do well over 80mph!! We sometimes had it as a crew shuttle bus. Kingston to Leatherhead took about 10 minutes less than the other Nationals.
Great memories!
@@tonycalow708 we had a Volvo engined Leyland Tiger at my depot, it was a very late Tiger from 1992, and it was a flying machine once you got it wound up. Like your National, this Tiger had no speed limiter, so it would readily crack 80MPH (on a private test track of course, officer 😇). None of your modern Euro 6 junk can do that - many of them can barely reach 40MPH, never mind 80!
Very cool. I'm sure many of us have spent time on one of those beasties in the past.
It's got a fantastic story
The sounds are fantastic
And of course the memories (your childhood memories - and in general) make it even better
The bus would be nice as a camper
When do we get HubNut Leyland National Merch?
That’d be swell. Idk be up for that.
Yes please!!!
You wait for the merch then 2 packages will turn up at the same time
Good question
I'll get the condoms.
90,000 wow well done Ian. Loved the sounds of the bus makes me remember times gone by. Been a Hubnutter now for nearly 3 years. Enjoy it so much. Thank you again.
Ahh the sound of my childhood. The racket of the National and the boomy exhaust note of the National 2 - and with the Atlanteans I'm amazed we came out of childhood without hearing damage. When the Metrobuses arrived around 1984 complete with their digital destination boards, they felt almost space age! Congrats on the 90k!
I love the smell of unburnt diesel fumes in the bus station in the morning...
Thanks Craig, thanks Ian for this awesome bus ride. My school buses in Germany were - no surprise - Mercedes, MAN and Setra. The ZF museum owns some buses with their automatic gearboxes. It's not far away from my home...
I drove 1989 MAN SL202s in Sydney with a Voith gearbox. They were my favourite in the fleet. Slow to take off but very smooth. I had a drive of a Leyland National one day before doing my shift in a MAN. The MAN was so much better.
I love the sound of a "Clack Clack"! (What? I was a little kid when these were about, so I nicknamed them after the sound).
I remember these buses from my childhood and love the sound of the engine. Thanks for sharing 😊
Congratulations and well done Ian!
It's been a pleasure to watch your videos!
I love that these special projects still survive and that it has fallen into the hands of someone who will ensure it continues in life as built.
On a totally different note, I love the idea of a series where Ian goes back, potentially in this bus, to the places where he used to spend nights out in his youth. He could call it Clubnut.
Congrats on the 90k. It's a brilliant achievement but easy to see how it happened.
Leyland national my favourite bus in my childhood . That lovely musical engine I loved and still do . So glad these are being preserved .
I'm so happy to see one of these beauties preserved! Very interesting design the Super National, I don't think we had any of these up here in Finland. We did, however, have some Leopards on locally built aluminium bodies. My dad was a bus mechanic so I got to see the Leopards up close from a very young age and the very distinct whining sound of the drivetrain is something I still remember very well. Later I also rode one of the Leopards to school for a few years. It had seats with proper leopard fur velour, but I'm not sure if those were supplied by Leyland or if the coachbuilder just decided those would be a good fit...
Anyway, congratulations for 90,000 subs and thank you for yet another excellent video!
Selvä
I've seen at least one of the Dutch Nationals at BLNederland, where my father worked at the time. Still have a brochure somewhere, must dig that up soon - was it a Mk I or a Mk II? Also I had the opportunity to drive a coach recently. That was a lot harder than I expected, mainly because you're sitting so far forward of the axle so you have to wait a bit longer with steering into a bend than in a car. But not too long...
That's why you use the mirrors.
This was a timeless bus design - it didn't conform to styling cues from other contemporary vehicles, but made much of the fact it was an integral vehicle. I so agree about the rear pod, as it perfectly balances the overall shape. A great review - many thanks!
Very nicely driven - a well mastered pneumo-cyclic is truly an art! As a kid I'd watch (and listen) to the oh, so relaxed, smooth gear changing of the excellent professional drivers on United Bristol RELH's, operating the long Newcastle to London route. Such a difference to many of the Newcastle Atlantean drivers who slammed the lever through the changes. Would love to see a video of you in an RELH - another soundtrack you 'could listen to all day!'
I loved this bus as a child, they were ahead of their time ( a bit noisy) and a great suspension, this example looks amazing.
Nice video Ian. The bus of my childhood was very much the Alexander bodied Leyland Tiger with the Gardner 6HLX back in Northern Ireland. Happy to see that they have dedicated preservation clubs for them too.
As someone who has followed you from the very beginning, I am truly chuffed for you, as you reach 90000 subs. 100000 won't be long coming. I watch a lot of YT channels...and yours is still one of the ones I go to first. Keep up the good work Ian.
I produced and fitted all of the vinyl graphics on that! :)
Congrats on 90k!
I'm not particularly into buses, but that is nice looking bus. Fantastic livery.
A Pacer for the road 😁
Simply superb Ian you just get better as time moves on. Documentary / history vids are a real strong point for you.
Add 40 odd screaming/ swearing school kids, fog and rain with all the windows steamed up and a stop 1/2 mile.
Respect to the drivers.
You looked like you were having a lot of fun Ian. I drove buses for many years back in NZ. When I started, the fleet still included a few AEC's and a lot of Leyland Leopards, both running the pneumo-electric gearbox. That video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting.
18:25 to 18:50 so reminded me of the bus trip to school in the early 1980s. That noise of the engine was so distinctive. Almost made me want to reach for the grab poles they had with the bell on them. Wasn't it a square button with PRESS or PUSH on it?
There was only one route in the 80s that I could guarantee a Leyland National being on, and that was the 745 from Consett to Newcastle... Incredible memories!
I lived on that route!!! (Rowlands Gill)
@@johno4521 I also lived in Rowlands Gill!
I'll not be posh, I lived in Highfield for a time, my dad worked at the Spen depot 😂
Used to go on these all the time as a kid! The noise brought all the memories back!
The noise brought all the headaches back 😂
The sound and bus of my childhood when getting around my local area with my Mam & Dad. Happy days.
I drove one of the first Leyland National buses for the Northern bus Company based at Winlaton Depot. They were a breath of fresh air after driving the old style buses with crash boxes. They were great to drive, light controls and easy to handle. Great buses. The happiest days of my life.
Great video! I love the sound of the Leyland National with the original 510 engine fitted. The idle clatter and whirring of the turbo and running gear are very distinctive. I have happy memories of riding of Eastern Counties Nationals out of Lowestoft bus station. They were mostly R reg or S reg and had the "Mk2" roof pod and indicator stalk off a late Triumph Spitfire if I recall correctly. I was always taken on how well the bus interior design was so coherent on these buses. Eastern Counties also had an early National with a long roof pod. The interior wasn't quite as well designed I felt (I was only about 11 or 12 years old).
Well done on reaching 90,000! I'm not sure these are necessarily great buses but they hold a lot of memories for me because when I was growing up, taking the bus into town it was always a Leyland National and when I went to college I used to take one every day. It was sort of the point that I just associated a bus with always being a Leyland National because that's the only type of bus I ever went on. They were certainly characterful with that distinctive noise and smoky engine. We later got the "Greenway" (I think it was called....) modernised version so they continued to run in my area until quite late on. So they were a big part of my growing up, so I have rather fond memories of them.
As you say many of the same components were used for the "Pacer" class of trains (especially Class 141, which even looked very similar) and these were still in service until a year or so ago. I think the Class 153 trains are still in use in Wales and Scotland are also Leyland and internally some fittings (such as the lights) at least look pretty much like the Leyland National.
90,000 subs well done Ian great memories of these National buses my Dad loved working at the Workington Lillyhall factory for 20 years
Massive factory sadly reduced to storing tins of beans for logistics..
I’m new to your channel thanks to @Pete and his bus!
Have a big appreciation of the Leyland National .. living in High Wycombe both London Country (who had the biggest fleet of these in the country) and Alder Valley had various versions of both 11.3 & 10.3m long Series 1 Nationals & after the break up of the NBC.. the then Wycombe Bus (what was left of Alder Valley) had some ex Brighton LN2’s. London Country had some of those very early 11.3m Nationals & they appeared on the famous Green Line Routes .. my local garage HE had some designated LNC (Leyland National Coach) .. but the only coach like concession was the two tone livery of Leaf Green lower with white roof & window surrounds .. the interior was standard bus layout with green plastic seating.. not so good for the passengers travelling the 2 & 1/2 hours through London all the way to Reigate & back (which I did many times) .. these were soon replaced by 10.3m SNC’s with mochette high back coach seating .. and they lasted on Route 711 right through until 30/09/77 when sadly HE closed & the Route was taken off .. being replaced by a new Route 790 to London operated out of Amersham [MA] Garage using leased duple bodied AEC Reliance coaches.
The Leyland Tiger was the bus of my childhood. I still remember the sound of the diesel engines in it, as well as seeing the driver going through the pre-selector gearbox.
They weren't preselected. The driver simply changed gears with the gear stick like a clutchless manual. Preselect had a third pedal (where the clutch goes) that activated the gear that was chosen beforehand with the gear stick.
To be correct National Bus did not take over the municipal Bus companies, these instead were instead absorbed into regional transport authorities, for example the Birmingham, Coventry etc Corporation Bus companies were merged into West Midlands Transport. National Bus was formed by the nationalisation and merger of the private regional bus companies, such as Midland Red. Sad as Midland Red built some really nice buses and coaches in their own works including the M1 motorway coaches that could go toe to toe with Diesels on the WCML in the 60s in races along the newley opened M1, topping 100mph with favourable gradient and wind and because of both serviceability as well as production issues at British Leyland the Midland Red motorway coaches lasted into the 70s and the local service single dockers lasted into the 80s.
always used to like driving nationals on service work .fairly quick and comfortable .what i remember most is that the steering would not auto return to straight ahead after going round a corner, you had to manually return it ,to ahead .
I have driven a mk 2 National , drove great. DO YOUHAVE a pcv license, saying Buses are easy to drive now , I'd like to see you pass a pcv test and get a cpc then drive in service, then say its easy . I DRIVE a coach myself
I remember going to school on these in the early 80s and you're bang on the money as these buses just don't seem right when not making "that noise", bit like the Intercity 125 trains whenever they upgraded those glorious screaming Paxman Valenta engines for more boring refinement.
Brilliant video Ian, this too is the bus of my childhood, going to school. My transport was usually a Bristol RELL with a Gardner engine and the National was so modern, the noise of the turbo, the hiss of the air compressor venting off. I used to make Lego ones and imitate the noises pushing them around the carpet. Thank you for doing this and congrats on 90K.
What an excellent video, Ian. Childhood sound effects for me too, especially on the 658 route between Hinckley & Leicester (spent my early childhood in the former). Did you know they had Nationals in France too? In Dijon & St Etienne. Nos felicitations pour avoir atteint 90,000 adhérents!!!
Only in penny numbers. Venuezuela had 450.
A Dutch municipal operator had 25.
Great video, you drove her very well. Bombardier KD with the Detroit Diesel 6V71 used in Dublin needs to go on your list!
As I was reminded by one of the comments, there's an NBC training video on UA-cam with a comprehensive look at how to drive a National and how not to, including interesting views of the gearbox. I can't post links directly on my Device, but it's entitled "They don't grow on trees" for anyone who might want to look it up
.Well done reaching 90,000, no surprise either, your channel has a particular allure....
What a fabulous bus; always liked the Leyland National, but my favourite would be an RF.
An upside down HubNut sticker has perhaps even more HubNut power
Headless worked very well for the Offenhauser race engines, they were basically able to handle unlimited boost because there were no head studs to stretch!
Yay - don't hear of Offenhauser very often nowadays! I still remember my Scalextric model being a favourite - strangely, even a little electric Offenhauser model had it's own distinctive sound.
Well done on 90k subs the national takes me back to growing up in Edinburgh, our last nationals went out of service in the 2000s.
Even in the mid 90s we used to have these as school buses. Apart from the characteristic sound, I remember cold start ups in winter were accompanied by a massive amount of white smoke. It's a shame that modern single decker buses are shaped like a box.
I used to ride the John fishwick 109s to Preston and Chorley when I was a kid in the 80s with mi mum and nanna back then. Nanna used to go to the back and smoke some craven a cigs ( you could back then ) . Health and safety laws must be a lot stricter now ,because some of those fishwicks used to drive fast - especially onto Preston bus station apron ! When I was really young I got the sensation the bus was going to go over on its side on a corner ! Great memories but alas now a different world
Being Scottish, we didn’t see a lot of Nationals. Tigers and Leopards were the norm up here. I recall when a local independent bought a stack of them from Stagecoach Cumberland to compete with the dominant former SBC operator. Seemed so exotic.
Great drivetrain sounds! Especially good on headphones 😊 I remember that type of gear selector from the (very) old double decker I went to school on, it fascinated me even then! Pneumatic wipers, love it! 😂
90,000 that's fantastic!
A massive congratulations, well deserved!
Thanks for great channel that saw me through months of furlough/lockdown. I watched several but have stuck with Hubnut because it has a good mix of vehicles, facts , tips and humour. Keep it up!
Lovely Jubbly, a really interesting video Mr HubNut. I think Crosville buses used these when I was a child, you never forget the noise of engine, gearbox and rattles over unever roads.
I hope u have carefully watched the "they don't grow on trees" video before u drove them.
I loved the Nationals when they first came to London Country in my childhood. The roof mounted whatever it is (you'll probably explain later in the video!), plus the fan which you were also fascinated by and the rear lamp clusters which reminded me of the then very trendy Mk1 Range Rover rear lights 🙂 To my childhood eyes, these buses did look bizarrely sporty - Can a bus look sporty? Clearly yes!
The National looks contemporary even today. If it had a step-free entrance it would be a thoroughly modern bus. Those chunky, rectangular rear lights are clearly part of the design - so much neater than the off-the-shelf, random-parts-bin lights fitted to buses now. It's still possible to travel on a Leyland National on the railways. Transport for Wales has quite a large fleet of Class 153 units, the most sophisticated variant of the National-derived trains. Cummins NT855R5 engines, and hydraulic transmission - which means acceleration requires all the revs!
Single step is not bad! I was always impressed by that.
In its day it was very-advanced ,ahead of its time & set the standards of single-decker buses.
Congratulations on 90K! In my youth there were also Leyland buses in the Netherlands, probably chassis and engine from Leyland with a Dutch construction such as "Den Oudsten" which I remember.
Congratulations on your latest subs milestone! Remember the Leyland National bus well - used to watch them milling in and out of Stourbridge bus (or ‘buzz’ as we call them round these parts) garage. Always found them attractive looking buses.
I have no idea why I've suddenly been shown this video but I'm so happy.
Since being a young girl I always wanted to become a Bus Driver for what was just Trent Buses back in the day.
I even had the name of the chap at Langley Mill Depot for who to contact but I was always happy in my job at the time so didn't contact him, and then my BF at the time became a driver at the Ilkeston depot and I moved away.
I'm now 51 and still to this day wish I'd gone to Trent and got my PSV. I still remember the particular routes which the Nationals were put on.
Loved this, and it got even better seeing you buzzing around my hometown, especially enjoyed you finessing it over Keadby bridge!
I never got to drive one of these in Huddersfield around 2002. 1343/4, 1355/6 had already left for Barnsley PSV scrap I'm guessing.
From Sydney , Australia, in 1969 my parents bought a house in Roseville , on the North Shore in Sydney . The privately owned bus company Forest Coach Lines serviced a large area , most of the suburbs on the high tableland above the beach suburbs where the TV show Home & away is filmed then over the far end of Middle Harbour over the Roseville bridge & to Chatswood . Forest Coach Lines were immaculately kept in pure white with a large dark green waist band , and the company name in unusual red lettering , very smart . They owned a fleet of Leyland's, AEC's , Albion's from the mid to late 1960's . Then in 1971 they received a strange new Leyland with a "modular" not coach built body the seating was staggered/stepped so the person sitting next to the aisleway seat was 6 inches rearward of the person in the window seat. I asked one of their older drivers what type of Leyland that it was & he said a pre production new National. Forest coach lines had the biggest privately owned fleet of Leyland group busses so they had been GIVEN this one for free and to keep after assessing its performance. Then during 1972 their new fleet of Nationals turned up . Forest Coach Lines kept them lovingly looked after and in service for years and years well into my adult life & yes "-Hub-Nut-" Nationals do have their own unique sound .
Strangely at this time the Sydney government bus service that had a fleet of 1,000 plus Royal Leyland Tigers and double deck Leyland Atlanteans decided to buy Mercedes Benz busses as a replacement. A friend of my Grand-dads that was the chief mechanic at the Brookvale Government bus depot said the Leyland Tigers were way way better than as he called them the "rotten bloody merc's" . Frequently you would see a fairly new dead Mercedes Bus at kerbside with a whole bunch of passengers awaiting a replacement bus to collect them. For my 6 year of high school I had phase one of my 12 mile journey in a Forrest coachlines Leyland , then phase two of my daily trip in a Green Sydney Gov't transport Royal Leyland Tiger in 6 years of schooling not once did one break down .
After years of service Forest Coach Lines swapped to a fleet of Volvo busses instead .
The six or so Nationals they got were bought about 1976 and were all Sydney assembled Australian length models using the front half of an 11.3m model with the rear of a 10.3m to create an intermediate 10.9m length model.
They were directly replaced by Mercedes 0305s! The plates were even transferred over.
Those Royal Tigers and Worldmasters of the government were a very good bus but Nick Greiner campaigned to get rid of them when in opposition! His actions were likely responsible for their earlier than planned demise. They had many years left in them. If anything, the mark 1 Leopards should have gone first!
BTW, regards the government Mercedes 0305s, workshop staff were deliberately sabotaging them because their unprecedented reliability was seen as a threat to their jobs! They were utterly state of the art machines, extremely robust mechanically, especially the engines. They had unprecedented performance and ease of operation by the driver.
STA bought an even more reliable small batch of buses by MAN which were mechanically almost identical to the 0305s but with many small differences. They were better on fuel and broke down less. Not popular fit drivers as they didn't accelerate as fast as the Benz and had a firm ride but were probably the most cost effective full size bus the NSW government buses had ever run.
I too, was a bus driver from the 1970's to the late 1990's, and Nationals were as much a part of working life as Bristol VR deckers, AEC Renowns, Olympians, etc..not forgetting the marvellous Bristol RE, & REL that United used to operate. Once worn [ -out?] Nationals were a bit of a pain really, from a driver's viewpoint. Things I hated, were the ultra thin steering wheels of the earlier Nationals [the later one's, in my experience, pod-less, had thicker rimmed steering wheels. Far better if the power steering became iffy, or the air leaked out faster than the compressor could replace it.] Air-powered gearchanges reached their ultimate in tardy delays [again, in my experience]....with the Leyland Leopards. Companies I worked for often used Leopard coaches in stage carriage mode. [Dual purpose...later using Tigers in such a mode as well] The gear changers were a quite knobby lever in a 'box sprouting out of the floor...and I recall being able to count to 4, between slipping it into neutral prior to finding the next gear...and the previous gear actually disengaging! Bus drivers had to really be multi-dextrous in those days....Getting out of a Bristol VR, with its left hand gear change, and into a Tiger or National, with their right hand gear change, was commonplace. The National was also notable for having a 'low step'....unlike the more hairy-backsided predecessors [REs had low steps too]....Ever wondered why bus drivers, when pulling up at 'stops', never really seemed to halt, parallel to the kerb? This was to get the step 'over' the kerb for the grannies and grandads to get on & off more easily. If grandma had less height to lift her feet, she got on or off far more quickly, thus saving time at 'stops.' This tendency for a driver to skew the bus at 'stops' to get the step nearer or over the kerb, lead to many ordinary motorists often thinking bus drivers simply indicated, and moved away simultaneously. when, in reality, the driver, having skewed the bus at the 'stop', then couldn't see properly behind via the off-side mirror, so would gently 'ease' the bus round, to bring the road behind 'into view'.....Cars approaching from behind would see the indicator, and the 'easy' movement of the bus [the driver swinging the rear into view], and slam all on, thinking the bus was simply driving off...which wouldn't be the intention of the bus driver at all...But, seeing cars stopping, the bus driver would consider it trite not to then accelerate away, ta, very much! Hence, what seemed to others less in-the-know like one continuous movement, wasn't really at all...The longer Nationals also had a poor turning circle, as I recall, compared to shorter wheelbase buses... Bus driving was a great job, if it wasn't for the passengers....
Remember seeing this at wythall in perelli livery, glad it's survived and restored to almost original condition
That was probably the first large scale production turbocharged bus engine. And probably at least one of the first to use pneumatics for everything - suspension, brakes, doors, gearchange. Quite a number survived until the turn of the century, over 20 years old, with the original engine (or at least the original type of engine)
Around here it was still common to see these in daily service past the year 2000. Tatty, battered and smoking so much you could hardly see behind them but still running.
The problem was the Fixed head headless wonder was doomed before it was produced the designer wanted it to 11,000 to 12,000 cc this was reduced to 8.3 litres or 501 cubic inches and that was the main problem but it was very advanced for it’s time timing gears on the back of the engine and overhead Camshaft as per usual if British Leyland had developed it more it could have been an absolutely ground breaking engine
Was that why it was turbo, to make up for the capacity?
It would have made a replacement for the lumpy 0680 if they had made it 11 litre or so and given it more development time. They run smooth and operate well considering their issues.
@@jamesfrench7299 the 0680’was a fantastic engine so good in fact that DAF either bought or copied the design and that became the engine that powered all the big DAFs from the late 70s to the 1990s early 2000s
DAF did what Leyland should have with the 0680 and made them into powerful modem refined engines, superior to the TL11.
Drove these in the 80's when I was a bus driver in Glasgow. Great video, brought back a lot of happy memories!
There are genuinely nostalgic mechanical noises - if you lived near a UK airport in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s it was the turboprop whine from 4 RR Dart engines as a Viscount flew over, then on 1970s/80s roads there's the Leyland National as the engine revs climbed and dropped plus the 'pwaaassh' of the air pressure release valve opening. The huge fan at the back must've convinced gullible children that the National was a Blower Bus that was part jet-propelled... Magic! Congratulations on a fascinating video and on reaching 90,000 subs, Ian.
The pod on the roof and the vacuum cleaner noise at full sing really made it feel state of the art even in 1980.
I don't understand why you can drive these old buses on a car licence makes no sense. I'm not complaining Its something I'd like to convert in the future but seems crazy.
I agree. Those air brakes and the reliance on mirrors.
Excellent, well done Fella. Midland Red had these crawling all over Stafford in my youth. Only went on one once, my school run was on everything but a National. Ranging from the luxury of a massive 3 axle Neoplan, down to some very rattly Leylands, single and double deckers. Diesel fumes and driver's cigarette smoke, the smells of my youth. 🤣
The original long roof pod wasn't just a styling statement, it was designed to accommodate air-conditioning equipment which it was thought would be required in export markets. In the event few Nationals were exported, and the home market didn't require aircon, hence the pod was first reduced in size and later eliminated altogether on the B-Series and National 2.
Ahh, I came here to ask if that was the case. I see roof pods on buses in Australia and New Zealand, where air conditioning is definitely needed.
The pod wasn't eliminated on the National 2, it remained an option right till the end of production.
That is actually my childhood dreams playing our driving a national thank you man
What a great way to celebrate the 90,000 subs, I remember that engine sound well growing up in North Wales, except most of my bus journeys were done on Leyland Leopards which also had their own sound, a lot of it being the baritone exhaust note.
It’s nice to see a National with its original engine, you think of a Leyland National and that sound comes to mind, a very nostalgic ride, thanks Ian.👍
Absolutely loved this Ian, as you mentioned all the sounds bring back memories of times gone by. Sounds that kids these days simply won't remember given the quieter nature of modern buses, and the fact they sit with their headphones in all the time.
Such an evocative noise from that engine. I can remember these appearing on my school bus route in the 70s, and being excited to be on such a modern vehicle after the old Crosville buses they replaced.
My dad was a bus driver. Bee Line Bus company. I would often go out on the rounds with him during school holidays. Many memories
Very well done on your 90k subs, been a subscriber for a good while now and always look forward to your videos. The variety of topics and subjects keeps interest keen. So keep up the excellent work and hopefully one day you’ll celebrate 100k subs.
Enroute to 100K!🚍🚌
Even as a non Brit I remember this engine sound/music from my holidays in the UK. Thank you and congratulations Ian.
Exactly how a bus should sound. Marvellous video! I do miss those Nationals.
Superb Ian!
Congratulations on the 90k subs
Drove these daily in the mid-‘90s, can’t beat that sound
I’ve given it a like even before the video has started 😂
Yep me too, having worked on Leyland Nationals
Same
Oh I bet you really, really enjoyed that!
Another superb video Ian, although I might be very biased on this one!
Thanks so much for this chance! A true gent.
The noise of the engine takes me back to 1981 1982 in Leamington Spa getting the bus to school, operated by Midland Red, Love it!
Leyland also killed off Eastern Coachworks (Lowestoft). After the takeover, Leyland decided to build the National elsewhere, thus ending many years of Coachwork building.
All but one of the Nationals were built in Workington. The exception was one that had the underframe bodied at ECW as an experiment.
Who else noticed the bus number? 👍
Wow! Leyland National! I also remember being fascinated by that rather visible fan on the rear! And remember often sitting behind the driver and looking at that funny little handbrake lever! We had automatic Nationals on my local bus route, but another nearby one had Leyland Tigers with the epicyclic gearboxes and the tiny little gear lever! Oh and congratulations on the 90k subs too! Well done! 😀
That noise is iconic, it brings back so many childhood memories. The road I grew up on was on a bus route and I must have heard these thousands of times growing up. Ours were in the orange and white livery of SELNEC. Congrats on the 90K subscribers.
Used by the BBC in the 70s??!! I bet that bus has got some secrets to tell ;-)
Now then, Now then.
My favorite all time bus
Congratulations on the subscribers, what a machine, wonderful, the sound of the 51, Craig has done a fantastic job
YES! - Another wonderful sound from my youth! Such a contrast too, with the almost turbine-like whine from the Gearbox and Turbocharger, to the 1 2 3 4 5 6 'Diesel Knock' when it was ticking-over! I believe that Chase Buses in Cannock were one of the last operators of the National, in any sort of volume. Surprisingly, they were all Mk1 Nationals with the 510 Engine.
One had an 0680.
Fantastic bus, interesting vid on the history of these buses and of course big congrats on 90k! Thanks Ian, Team HubNut, and all your friends for all the great content you put out. Been following your channel for about 3-4 years now and it's still probably my favourite. Onward to 100k!
A fitting video to commemorate 90k subs. Well done and thanks to you for such a tremendous body of videos. They are all gems. Hope that 100k arrives v.soon!
@18:54 Volvo may have been involved at various stages, but it was DAF who (eventually) bought out Leyland (Truck & Bus) after a decades-long association (DAB, the DAF DK1160 which was a development of the Leyland 0.680)
DAF made Leyland's own engine better than they could have dreamt.
@@jamesfrench7299 More's the pity
Great video, brings back memories of driving Nationals hundreds of miles, they were one of my favourite buses to drive.
Leyland including these buses, were a common site in South Africa.
Beautiful buses....