@@JeffreyOrnstein Thank you Sir for your always excellent videos. DX2437 shown in your video is the one currently preserved by KMB (Hong Kong). It is believed to be the world’s first air-conditioned public transit double-decker which achieved commercial success, with the air con compressor driven directly ( belt drive ?) by the bus main engine.
Great video. These were all over West Yorkshire during the 1980s through to the early 2000s. It was a very interesting time as they ran alongside many different types. All opperators had large numbers of Olympians and other types which they had had from new and more than a dozen different types of second hand buses. When waiting for a bus in Halifax, Leeds or Bradford during the 1990s one never knew which type would turn up.
I never knew those Volvos were also called Olympian. The more ye know! Limpylongs were actually pretty good fun to drive I thought, although the Volvo iteration was f'king boiling hot in the summer with auxiliary radiator right by your knees! Never ceases to amaze me that a guy in the US knows so much about British bus history. Keep it rolling, pal!
Olympians were nice from the passenger's perspective: good performers, reasonably quiet & comfortable, and presumably reliable because they had a tendency to turn up on time! I had the impression that the Olympian had more in common with the VRT than with the Atlantean or the Fleetline.
Gotta wonder how many of the drivers gave up looking at what they had to drive since they seem to be rotated out alot in the 60s and 70s, thumbs up great video
@@jeffclark2725 In my (rather limited) experience, bus drivers tended to be rather opinionated about the vehicles they were asked to drive. They certainly had favourite types, and indeed pet hates.
Good to hear your experience with the Olympians! It's probably true that the Olympian was more of a descendent of a VRT than the other types, but I couldn't find a reference stating that specifically, unfortunately. Thanks very much for watching!
Off the many buses I've driven the Leyland Olympian was my favourite, to the point that my boss would be dismayed when I would come in and have the whole fleet to choose from to drive and I always chose a Leyland Olympian despite all the more modern buses and Volvo B10M's etc... I found them so smooth to drive, the Gardner engine made a nice noise and the ones fitted with Alexander bodies were almost undestructible, mind you brakes were apparently an option, and one that nobody ever took up... (lol) One's fitted with a Gardner 6LXCT and a coach differential would happily plod along at 70mph... The ECW bodied coaches were possibly the most comfortable vehicles every made (in my opinion...). E502LFL which you featured in the video was a lovely drive. On a different note, as much as I like your videos the combination of pictures, info graphics, talking and music made it all too much to concentrate. For me the simpler the better would be good. 😀
Hello! Thanks very much for relaying your experience with the Olympians! And thanks for the feedback - I guess I need to calm it down in the next video, LOL! Thanks very much for watching!
I've driven a couple of preserved Leyland Olympians; examples with Underframes built in Bristol, Leyland and Workington. The most challenging was the long wheelbase coach version- ex Invictaway- which I wanted to drive since I travelled on one as a child! I drove Volvo Olympians in service whenever possible. I may have swapped running numbers to make it possible. All versions were excellent to be honest, but as a Leyland Man, my favourite was the Olympian Coach. 🤓
Hello! Wow, you have a very beautiful bus! When I was looking for a picture of an Atlantean in Creative Commons, that one really stood out to me as a great looking and unique bus! Thank you very much for watching!!
I remember as a result of an accident that the police couldn't believe the story of the driver from how quick he traveled from point a to impact, so they returned with an automatic senator and closed the road to recreate the scene and then had a drag race and the bus won. Then as a result all the Volvo Olympians with Cummins L10 engines and ZF transmissions where all booked into Hargreaves the local Leyland DAF dealer to have first gear removed or isolated so they pulled away in second gear,. Even still drove well and responsive at junctions a very comfortable ride and a very warm place to sit on a shift. Easy to drive point and steer rather than shifting gears
I would think in reality the Olympian was the successor to the VRT rather than the Fleetline or the Atlantean. It was designed at Bristol, had the code B45 (B for Bristol?) and the first iteration B45.01 clearly had a VRT front end (see 5:10). Furthermore Bristol adherents such as my local Southern Vectis moved wholesale to the Olympian when VRT production ended. Interestingly Southern Vectis may also be partly responsible for the coach version of the Olympian as early on they converted two standard versions to coach operations by changing the interiors to make them more comfortable and upgrading the engines to handle long distance motorway work.
B was a Leyland prototype coding system for buses: the National had been B5: The Titan TN was B15 The quiet pack Fleetlines for LT had been B20, The Tiger TR was B43 and the National 2 was B44 to give you a few. It was to replace the VRT first, by the time it was announced the Fleetline had already been dropped. Building it at Bristol made sense when the NBC owned that factory (and Lillyhall in Workington) jointly with BL as it guasranteed NBC would take them. The 11m coach was not a particular sucess, as for long distance UK work MCW had developed the tri-axle 12m Metroliner from HK spec Metorbuses. For overseas work the Neoplan and Setra vehicles made more sense with their 4m overall height. Only ADD50Y had the toilet accomodation and walk in luggage compartment, all the later examples were fully seated and used on commuter runs into London.
Thanks for the additional information on the Olympian and VRT! Yes, I think I saw pictures of the upgraded Southern Vectis Olympian with better interiors. Thanks very much for watching!
Yes, E pluribus unum is the motto of the POTUS. Nice pictures of GM buses, in orange and white livery. The 1980s were a terrible time for buses in the UK, with falling passenger numbers, a recession, then deregulation, which meant a drastic fall in the number of new buses being purchased, as bus operators couldn't afford to replace ageing models. The bus market took years to recover from this, as many UK bus manufacturing companies went to the wall or downsized and suddenly buses were being imported into the UK, whereas previously they'd nearly all been manufactured in the UK. Nowadays, 100% electric buses come kitted out with the driving train (electric motor) fitted to the chassis (all manufactured in China), then the panels, floors etc are then added in the UK to complete its construction. Great video Jeffrey, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the added info on the 1980s bus situation - even though a somewhat bad time for buses, it does sound quite interesting for a video! Thank you very much for watching!!
The first Leyland bus I drove was LRT's E319MSG (sister to the one in your video) with Cummins L10/ZF, the steering felt like they were alive - lovely machines. You also feature a photo of A80RRP, this later came to Edinburgh when it joined the SMT (later First, originally Eastern Scottish) fleet in a similar livery to the Alexander RL bodied drawing at the start of the video.
I remember the Olympians very well. Growing up, I saw the Lodekka replaced by the VR and the VR slowly replaced by the Olympian. The VR really hung on in service, in slowly reducing numbers, for a long time. This probably had a lot to do with the VR being a very reliable and easily maintained design, though they could be a bit bouncy and rattly compared to the Olympians. The situation which had existed, with multiple models being made to do the same job, reflected a similar scenario in the car industry. Formerly competing companies had been merged to form a single company.
Another excellent video Jeffrey, I remember in mid 90s myself and some friends were considering buying a VR (unfortunately nothing came of it) but was coming back from a night out one evening and the bus was late, when I turned up it was an olympian. I got talking to the driver and told him of our plan. He said if I had a VR tonight you'd be home by now. He didn't seem to rate it. Drivers seem to love VRs. From someone outside the bus industry an olympian with Leyland or ECW is an excellent looking bus Cheers Russ
@JeffreyOrnstein not sure if you know about british railways But a lot of drivers like myself love class 37s for most work. I miss them massively had 37 years on them Far better than modern stuff
I’ve been a passenger on many of these with west riding buses which was then taken over in 1996 by arriva serving Yorkshire. Once again a most anticipated video to which I requested. Thankyou for obliging Jeffrey. I knew it was a popular bus but didn’t know that nearly 10k units was built during Leyland / Volvo era.
B45.03 was sadly destroyed on 18 May 1992 when an old works building of Strathclyde’s Buses (successor to SPTE) Larkfield depot was destroyed by fire in which Strathclyde’s Buses lost 60 buses to make up for the loss Strathclyde’s Buses had to lease several demonstrator buses also lease Volvo Ailsas from Tayside, Leyland Atlanteans from Newcastle & Nottingham and some Mancunians from Manchester and 2nd hand Mancunians from Western Scottish that was until Strathclyde’s Buses bought a large order of Alexander bodied Olympians and bought some Atlanteans from Newcastle & Nottingham. Strathclyde’s Buses also bought some 2nd hand Olympian coaches after Strathclyde’s Buses acquisition of Kelvin Central Buses.
Thanks for the very interesting info - that's very unfortunate to hear about B45.03 and all the other buses that were lost! Thanks very much for watching!
A pity the Leyland Olympian didn’t make it to the Australian market due to deckers falling out of favour by the time it came out. The underfloor Tiger, the Leopard’s successor, sold well, Ventura Bus Lines Melbourne had the country’s largest fleet of 60 which is large for a family operation. A few second hand Volvo Olympians made it as well as an ex Hong Kong Leyland unit shipped over to Sydney by a preservationist which I’ve ridden. Also rode a London L class or two when in London.
I remember going up to Alexander Belfast to see the first one's being bodied for Dublin Bus. Dublin bus used to enter one in the Irish Transport Trust rally on the end off April every year. I travelled on them in the rally and in Dublin. Irbus did a very nice model off them in different Dublin bus livery the dash panel was different from other Alexander R bodies.
@JeffreyOrnstein your programmes are the best on the TV/phone. It was strange to see a frame off a double decker bus one side off it sitting against a wall or something.
i started my career in 1998, with stagecoach east midlands, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire England. and a volvo olympian was the desired vehicle at the time, you could feel it was a quality item, and great to drive and operate, unfortunatly leyland models where getting old and getting sold on, but were stil better than (or seemed so at the time ) more up to date than bristols and nationals, which were ok, but hammered by the time my career was kicking off, and the b6 and b10, where like rocket ships compared, after being a leyland fleet, for ever, it became a volvo fleet at what seemed overnight, i also drove titans at the time and remember taking one to the chesterfield depot after it had finished it service for the very last time, and bringing a brand new b6 service bus back, out with the old i guess,,,,,
Yeah no problem, the Volvo was more powerful, everyone commented on it at the time, later I drove the titans and there previous busses, Bristol vr, as well, at a school bus company, very nice vintage busses now of course
Thanks again Jeffrey, always love your informative and excellently presented videos, please keep up your hard work, such a welcomed and much needed escape from negativity and criticism so prevalent on many channels, you truly are a ray of sunshine Sir.
Hello Paul! Thank you so much for your compliment - I truly appreciate it! I will try to keep going with my bus videos! Thank you very much for watching!!
Olympian is one of a must, my favorite bus as they had over 1000 buses in Hong Kong with different bus operators during 1980 -90's, most of them in 3-axle form with Alexander R body either 11 or 12m, they were one of the bus type grew up with me together beside Dennis Dragon / Condor and MCW Metrobus. Olympian also made a record that the first successful operate air-conditioned double-decker bus with the air-condition unit run by the main engine in KMB known as AL1 in fleet number, and it marked the revolution of the public bus service of the city, and the bus companies started to introduce more air-conditioned double-decker buses to improve the service quality and provide the passengers more comfortable ride during the city's hot and humidity weather condition since then. With its such popular and Volvo even keep the name and continue to produce Olympian for both UK and Hong Kong Market after Volvo acquired Leyland Bus, without doubt Olympian is such a legend bus type!
Hello! Thanks for all of the interesting information experience on the Hong Kong Olympians - very interesting indeed!! Thank you very much for watching again!!
Another great video, Jeffrey! Lothian Buses used Olympians for my route to work when I moved to Edinburgh, back in the early 1990s. Pretty sure I would have hopped on that number 7 featured in your video a few times!
The original Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 had a normal rear axle. The inherited Daimler Fleetline had a drop centre rear axle and was more poular. The Bristol VR put the radiator at the front, which is where it should be. The B15 Titan was a unitary bus, after the fashion of the Routemaster, which confounded the traditional coach-builders. The Olympian took the Titan back to a bus with a separate chassis, which pleased the customers.
Follow-up, because you piqued an interest. The Olympian was used in 3 axle (longer bus) form in Hong Kong. It continued there with a transverse engine which drove the rear-most axle. A competitor there was the Dennis (Duple Metsec) Trident, which also had 3 axles and a front radiator, but with a longitudinally mounted engine which drove the middle axle.
The more I learn about the buses of the UK, there more I realize I don’t know much about them. See what you started Jeffery? I mean that as a compliment.
Growing up in London & being a London bus driver, I remember the Volvo Olympians quite well, Stockwell depot had some that were underfloor engined rather than rear engined, they may have been 'Coach spec'
The Underfloor Engine Volvo would have been the Volvo B10M Citybus variant. There was a variant of the Olympian called Leyland UTIC B52 in the early '80's. The front and centre Underframe modules were pure Olympian. The rear module contained a horizontal underfloor Leyland TL11 and Leyland Semi-automatic transmission. I've got a brochure for this interesting single deck bus. 🤓
Been lucky to have driven both leyland and Volvo Olympians the Volvo just had to edge ,driving an Olympian on a late running 237 towards the bush I soon made up time they were fast b…gers 😊😊 Great video All the best Mark 😊😊
Pretty slick. 😮 You da Fonzerello. Ollies were the stalwart GMPTE. Unfortunately the Gardner site in Salford is no more. As is Northern Counties. C198 YBA- 3198 my personal favourite. Had a Singapore Airlines livery. But insiders said it was a slow bugger. 😮
Loved the pictures of the row of not quite finished or registered Atlanteans, in their shiny new SELNEC (South East Lancashire - North East Cheshire) livery, and their North West Counties bodies. Also, the Leyland Olympian with North West Counties body which was totally foreshadowing the Volvo Alexander to come. TFL even cheated on a few Routemasters, by slapping new Volvo engines in them, I think? Can somebody answer me a question made from a daft observation please? In the row of brand-new Orange and White Atlanteans at the beginning of the video, there's an odd one out. The bus to the far right (7313) has one big vent on the front top deck. The others all have two thin slat vents instead. Does anybody know why this happened, and did the big vent, or the two thin ones continue in future? Thanks for another great video Jeffrey.
Hello Steven! Glad you liked the video!! Good question about the Atlanteans - wonder if anyone will have an answer!? Thanks very much for watching again!
Thank you for making this video. Very interesting and enjoyable. South Yorkshire PTE had a few but not many. Where I was brought up, I mainly used to see these getting operated by Yorkshire Traction and East Midland which were both part of National Bus Company.
SYPTE had only 2 Olympians … think they were 501 and 502 … (except for the latter coach version for their Coachline service) and diverted from WYPTE … they ended up with Chesterfield Transport and didn’t stay with SYPTE too long with preference towards the Dominator which they designed jointly with Hestair Dennis.
@@SocialFoxUK thanks for that. I knew one of them had a fleet number of 501. I didn’t realise they had only two in total though. I have seen a photo of one in Sheffield Mainline colours but not sure if it’s a mock up. But yeah, by that time SYPTE were buying the Dennis and also a few MCWs as well.
I have a feeling that West Midlands Transport bought metrobuses as the MCW (Metropolitan Cammel Weymann) was in Washwood Heath, near Birminham. Strangely the first two London Olympians had ECW bodies but the remainder were Leyland, perhpaps they were demonstrators that were built before ECW was closed and kept by London. If you haven't done it before, are you going to do the single deck Leyland Lynx bus?
Hard life of the most successful bus amidst dying brand i suspect. impressive insight into the past and dramatic fall off from even being sovereign company. Never ridden nor seen one in fle- hmmm aluminium i suppose never seen one in aluminium but it dose have that classic UK subtle style over wild lines - prefering to reserve its creativity to where it counts, within. i enjoy so i say i like it.
The Titan was only a reasonable success in London as they were almost forced to support it. It wasn't designed by LT, but instead by Leyland who thought they knew better about what was needed. LT's policies were shifted by government meddling meaning they had to buy off the shelf rather than their own designs. The delays in deliveries meant fewer and fewer orders for Leyland products. LT had wanted to shift over almost entirely to the Metrobus.
@@JeffreyOrnstein Their take over of AEC was purely as they were unable to compete with the quality and loyalty to AEC products shown by many. MCW had between 1973 and 1978 produced the Metropolitan with Scania as a partner, this was before they produced the Metrobus on their own. Optare than took on the designs and turned what would have been the Mk. III Metrobus into the Spectra.
9:56 this image was Darlington uk during what was known as the bus wars when too many companies were competing within a small town causing some bus companies to pull the plug, none of the busses in that image exist today although the bus thats focued on was not built by leyland it was built by cummins which supplied layland with its engines these bus types were known to the locals as the blue diamind range that were cummins experimental busses since the factory was already in the town & only a few were made sadly the bus company that owned them was the first casualty that went out of buisness becuse of the competition the daimler range which you dont see in this image still exist in museums & private ownerships long after the bus buisness went under
Thank you for this information on the "Bus Wars!" Seems like it was a very interesting time, but maybe not ideal! Perhaps a good idea for a future video! Thank you very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein does sound like a great follow up but the bus wars ran for little over a year back in the 90's when the towns council allowed multiple companies to set up which is all i can tell you as i took to cycling & walking everywhere during all the mayhem
The buses in the picture were a MCW Metrorider, which was operated by Darlington Transport Company, which was formerly Darlington Corporation Transport, the bus behind was a Mercedes Benz 608D with a Reeve Burgess body, (these were converted vans) operated by United Automobile Services and were given the name of RoadRangers and the rear of the other bus was an Iveco Daily (another converted van) and was operated by a company called YourBus. At the time the picture was taken, I was driving for United, and previously for Darlington Corporation Transport. Hope this helps.
@@JeffreyOrnsteinwhat amazes me how many operators bought early leopards cheaply or accident damaged and got them rebodied with a different coach work to suit there application.
It seems Leyland did not design a nice badge- like for the Atlantean or the earlier Leyland-MCW Olympic for the Olympian. A new utilitarian era where such badges were forgotten but an old style name was used- a Greek god would have been great. A missed opportunity but we live in a time where despite the fact that everything has to be designed with marketing pizzazz at its core, the older approach had merit. It's all so very fancy pants, these days and as for the liveries- "mobile eyesores" describes them to me.
Oh yes, I agree - I guess not designing a badge for the Olympian could have been a small cost-cutting measure. Who knows. Or maybe by the time the 1980s arrived, it was no longer "chic" to do that. Who knows... Thanks very much for watching!
I found this video to be up to your usual standard as regards info but that the choice and volume of the music to be a bit intrusive. Hope you take this as the constructive feedback it is meant as.
Thanks for the feedback! I will take it into consideration for the next video. I try to improve something in every video, but sometimes it doesn't always go as planned! Thanks very much for watching!
I worked for Leyland Bus your video is full of mistakes, Leyland chassis production ceased in June 1993, the last Volvo Olympian was built in October 1999
in late70/s hull corporationblueandwhite using mcw metrobusand leylandatlantean and east yorkshire motor services red and white bristol vrt and leyland aatlantean
When I see busses that low to the ground, I cringe. At this point, the word is c o m p a r e. Many American busses shine. They stand high off the ground like Jeeps. Most tourbusses are aluminum, and sometimes with fluted stainless covered luggage doors beneath the passenger level, and the driver sits pretty high. A low level? Some will kneel the entrance corner when you activate the droop. I got yelled at by a driver when I leaped from a Gillig Christina's floor deck. He didn't realize my landing gear is pretty rugged. The only double deckers I have ever seen are open top British tourist busses in Manhattan. They are lower and more stable than covered British busses. The novelty wears off. We had ancient Bristol's. The British government did no favors with the kooky rules and specifications. Do you want to see a solid light chassis? Gillig Lowbusses had a picture of the welded box members martensic stainless frame common to many models. MCI, Pevost, GM, Grumman, Gillig, Flxible. England can only drool. The one thing American busses lack is a good Rollstart Automatic transmission. Volvo builds class 8 trucks in Maryland. From the service to complexity and bad steel materials, Volvo is J U N K .
@@ronmccullock1407 I apologize if I used pictures you posted from the marketing material. Just for info, pictures of the red Ribble B45 are also on brochures I downloaded from a non-attributable source. Two of the three chassis pictures are from the same. In the future, if I want to use pictures that you have posted, I will ask you first, if that's ok with you with credit to you. I have this arrangement with a couple of other photographers. I try to find images that are part of Creative Commons, but it's not always possible to find what I want. I can also add to the video description that you are credited with the other marketing photos that were not in the brochure(s) I downloaded. Thank you for your cooperation.
Superb, Jeffrey, as always! Thank-you!
Lots of research put in the video, gotta wonder did any of these coaches built for the royal family as a luxury machine?
Really glady you liked it, John! And thanks very much for watching again!!
I love three door Leyland Olympian and world First A/C models, which Kowloon Motor Bus keeps it as a historic collection.
Great to hear that KMB has kept an Olympian for historic preservation! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Thank you Sir for your always excellent videos.
DX2437 shown in your video is the one currently preserved by KMB (Hong Kong). It is believed to be the world’s first air-conditioned public transit double-decker which achieved commercial success, with the air con compressor driven directly ( belt drive ?) by the bus main engine.
I grew up with the olympians, very comfortable and exciting.
“Hiiiii…. this is Jeffery “. Gets me every time ! Another great video on a bus from my youth !
Hello! I'm so glad you liked the video and my opening, LOL! Thank you very much for watching!!
Great video. These were all over West Yorkshire during the 1980s through to the early 2000s. It was a very interesting time as they ran alongside many different types. All opperators had large numbers of Olympians and other types which they had had from new and more than a dozen different types of second hand buses. When waiting for a bus in Halifax, Leeds or Bradford during the 1990s one never knew which type would turn up.
Really glad you liked the video! Interesting to hear about riding the buses in those cities you mentioned! Thanks very much for watching!
I never knew those Volvos were also called Olympian. The more ye know!
Limpylongs were actually pretty good fun to drive I thought, although the Volvo iteration was f'king boiling hot in the summer with auxiliary radiator right by your knees!
Never ceases to amaze me that a guy in the US knows so much about British bus history. Keep it rolling, pal!
Really happy you liked the video!!! Interesting to hear about your experience with the Olympians! Thanks very much for watching!
Loving your content...
Really glad you liked the video!!! Thanks very much for watching!
The sound of my School days....
Driven lots of Olympians, both the Leyland and Volvo versions, I found them to be comfortable and smooth
Good to hear they were good to drive! Thanks very much for watching!
Olympians were nice from the passenger's perspective: good performers, reasonably quiet & comfortable, and presumably reliable because they had a tendency to turn up on time!
I had the impression that the Olympian had more in common with the VRT than with the Atlantean or the Fleetline.
Gotta wonder how many of the drivers gave up looking at what they had to drive since they seem to be rotated out alot in the 60s and 70s, thumbs up great video
@@jeffclark2725 In my (rather limited) experience, bus drivers tended to be rather opinionated about the vehicles they were asked to drive. They certainly had favourite types, and indeed pet hates.
Good to hear your experience with the Olympians! It's probably true that the Olympian was more of a descendent of a VRT than the other types, but I couldn't find a reference stating that specifically, unfortunately. Thanks very much for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Being produced in Bristol was a bit of a giveaway. Steering wheel, like Titan, based on the Leyland National.
Off the many buses I've driven the Leyland Olympian was my favourite, to the point that my boss would be dismayed when I would come in and have the whole fleet to choose from to drive and I always chose a Leyland Olympian despite all the more modern buses and Volvo B10M's etc... I found them so smooth to drive, the Gardner engine made a nice noise and the ones fitted with Alexander bodies were almost undestructible, mind you brakes were apparently an option, and one that nobody ever took up... (lol) One's fitted with a Gardner 6LXCT and a coach differential would happily plod along at 70mph... The ECW bodied coaches were possibly the most comfortable vehicles every made (in my opinion...). E502LFL which you featured in the video was a lovely drive.
On a different note, as much as I like your videos the combination of pictures, info graphics, talking and music made it all too much to concentrate. For me the simpler the better would be good. 😀
Hello! Thanks very much for relaying your experience with the Olympians! And thanks for the feedback - I guess I need to calm it down in the next video, LOL! Thanks very much for watching!
I've driven a couple of preserved Leyland Olympians; examples with Underframes built in Bristol, Leyland and Workington.
The most challenging was the long wheelbase coach version- ex Invictaway- which I wanted to drive since I travelled on one as a child!
I drove Volvo Olympians in service whenever possible. I may have swapped running numbers to make it possible.
All versions were excellent to be honest, but as a Leyland Man, my favourite was the Olympian Coach.
🤓
Hello! Thanks for your relaying your experience with the Olympians - very interesting to read! Thank you very much for watching!!
Hi Jeffrey, thank you for using a picture of my restored Atlantean GBB 516K. I was very happy to see that 😃
Hello! Wow, you have a very beautiful bus! When I was looking for a picture of an Atlantean in Creative Commons, that one really stood out to me as a great looking and unique bus! Thank you very much for watching!!
I remember as a result of an accident that the police couldn't believe the story of the driver from how quick he traveled from point a to impact, so they returned with an automatic senator and closed the road to recreate the scene and then had a drag race and the bus won. Then as a result all the Volvo Olympians with Cummins L10 engines and ZF transmissions where all booked into Hargreaves the local Leyland DAF dealer to have first gear removed or isolated so they pulled away in second gear,. Even still drove well and responsive at junctions a very comfortable ride and a very warm place to sit on a shift. Easy to drive point and steer rather than shifting gears
Wow, that's very interesting to hear!! Wish that race was caught on video!! Thank you very much for watching!!
May as well have installed a Voith instead if they’re going to do that.
Wouldn’t it strain the transmission?
I would think in reality the Olympian was the successor to the VRT rather than the Fleetline or the Atlantean. It was designed at Bristol, had the code B45 (B for Bristol?) and the first iteration B45.01 clearly had a VRT front end (see 5:10). Furthermore Bristol adherents such as my local Southern Vectis moved wholesale to the Olympian when VRT production ended.
Interestingly Southern Vectis may also be partly responsible for the coach version of the Olympian as early on they converted two standard versions to coach operations by changing the interiors to make them more comfortable and upgrading the engines to handle long distance motorway work.
B was a Leyland prototype coding system for buses: the National had been B5: The Titan TN was B15 The quiet pack Fleetlines for LT had been B20, The Tiger TR was B43 and the National 2 was B44 to give you a few. It was to replace the VRT first, by the time it was announced the Fleetline had already been dropped. Building it at Bristol made sense when the NBC owned that factory (and Lillyhall in Workington) jointly with BL as it guasranteed NBC would take them.
The 11m coach was not a particular sucess, as for long distance UK work MCW had developed the tri-axle 12m Metroliner from HK spec Metorbuses. For overseas work the Neoplan and Setra vehicles made more sense with their 4m overall height. Only ADD50Y had the toilet accomodation and walk in luggage compartment, all the later examples were fully seated and used on commuter runs into London.
Thanks for the additional information on the Olympian and VRT! Yes, I think I saw pictures of the upgraded Southern Vectis Olympian with better interiors. Thanks very much for watching!
Yes, E pluribus unum is the motto of the POTUS. Nice pictures of GM buses, in orange and white livery. The 1980s were a terrible time for buses in the UK, with falling passenger numbers, a recession, then deregulation, which meant a drastic fall in the number of new buses being purchased, as bus operators couldn't afford to replace ageing models. The bus market took years to recover from this, as many UK bus manufacturing companies went to the wall or downsized and suddenly buses were being imported into the UK, whereas previously they'd nearly all been manufactured in the UK. Nowadays, 100% electric buses come kitted out with the driving train (electric motor) fitted to the chassis (all manufactured in China), then the panels, floors etc are then added in the UK to complete its construction. Great video Jeffrey, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the added info on the 1980s bus situation - even though a somewhat bad time for buses, it does sound quite interesting for a video! Thank you very much for watching!!
hi, i remember the Atlanteans in the 60's with the Leyland 0.680 engines in the rear. great sound,
Best bus I ever drove. (In London General Service). Period.
Thanks agin Jeffrey, another story well told.
Thank you, Stephen!! Thanks very much for watching again!
love the sound effects
Very glad you liked the video, and thanks very much for watching!
Rode on many an Olympian when I worked in Newcastle during the late 90s and early 2000s!
Great to hear and thanks for watching!!
The first Leyland bus I drove was LRT's E319MSG (sister to the one in your video) with Cummins L10/ZF, the steering felt like they were alive - lovely machines. You also feature a photo of A80RRP, this later came to Edinburgh when it joined the SMT (later First, originally Eastern Scottish) fleet in a similar livery to the Alexander RL bodied drawing at the start of the video.
Interesting to hear your experience with the Olympians!!! Thanks very much for watching!!
I remember the Olympians very well. Growing up, I saw the Lodekka replaced by the VR and the VR slowly replaced by the Olympian. The VR really hung on in service, in slowly reducing numbers, for a long time. This probably had a lot to do with the VR being a very reliable and easily maintained design, though they could be a bit bouncy and rattly compared to the Olympians. The situation which had existed, with multiple models being made to do the same job, reflected a similar scenario in the car industry. Formerly competing companies had been merged to form a single company.
Must have been interesting to see the various generations of buses succeed each other! Thanks very much for watching!
Another excellent video Jeffrey, I remember in mid 90s myself and some friends were considering buying a VR (unfortunately nothing came of it) but was coming back from a night out one evening and the bus was late, when I turned up it was an olympian. I got talking to the driver and told him of our plan. He said if I had a VR tonight you'd be home by now. He didn't seem to rate it. Drivers seem to love VRs. From someone outside the bus industry an olympian with Leyland or ECW is an excellent looking bus
Cheers Russ
Hello Russ! Thanks for that interesting encounter - sounds like that driver thought very highly of the VR! Thanks very much for watching again!
@JeffreyOrnstein not sure if you know about british railways
But a lot of drivers like myself love class 37s for most work.
I miss them massively had 37 years on them
Far better than modern stuff
I’ve been a passenger on many of these with west riding buses which was then taken over in 1996 by arriva serving Yorkshire.
Once again a most anticipated video to which I requested. Thankyou for obliging Jeffrey.
I knew it was a popular bus but didn’t know that nearly 10k units was built during Leyland / Volvo era.
Hello! I'm really happy you liked the video - yes, the Olympian is one video that needed to be done!!! Thank you very much for watching again!!
B45.03 was sadly destroyed on 18 May 1992 when an old works building of Strathclyde’s Buses (successor to SPTE) Larkfield depot was destroyed by fire in which Strathclyde’s Buses lost 60 buses to make up for the loss Strathclyde’s Buses had to lease several demonstrator buses also lease Volvo Ailsas from Tayside, Leyland Atlanteans from Newcastle & Nottingham and some Mancunians from Manchester and 2nd hand Mancunians from Western Scottish that was until Strathclyde’s Buses bought a large order of Alexander bodied Olympians and bought some Atlanteans from Newcastle & Nottingham. Strathclyde’s Buses also bought some 2nd hand Olympian coaches after Strathclyde’s Buses acquisition of Kelvin Central Buses.
Thanks for the very interesting info - that's very unfortunate to hear about B45.03 and all the other buses that were lost! Thanks very much for watching!
A pity the Leyland Olympian didn’t make it to the Australian market due to deckers falling out of favour by the time it came out. The underfloor Tiger, the Leopard’s successor, sold well, Ventura Bus Lines Melbourne had the country’s largest fleet of 60 which is large for a family operation.
A few second hand Volvo Olympians made it as well as an ex Hong Kong Leyland unit shipped over to Sydney by a preservationist which I’ve ridden. Also rode a London L class or two when in London.
Yes, I wondered myself why the Olympian didn't make it to Australia as new buses! Thanks very much for watching again!
Top video Jeffrey 👍👍🇦🇺
Thank you for your compliment! And thank you very much for watching!!
I remember going up to Alexander Belfast to see the first one's being bodied for Dublin Bus. Dublin bus used to enter one in the Irish Transport Trust rally on the end off April every year. I travelled on them in the rally and in Dublin. Irbus did a very nice model off them in different Dublin bus livery the dash panel was different from other Alexander R bodies.
Must have been great to see those Olympians for Dublin being bodied! Thanks very much for watching!
@JeffreyOrnstein your programmes are the best on the TV/phone. It was strange to see a frame off a double decker bus one side off it sitting against a wall or something.
i started my career in 1998, with stagecoach east midlands, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire England. and a volvo olympian was the desired vehicle at the time, you could feel it was a quality item, and great to drive and operate, unfortunatly leyland models where getting old and getting sold on, but were stil better than (or seemed so at the time ) more up to date than bristols and nationals, which were ok, but hammered by the time my career was kicking off, and the b6 and b10, where like rocket ships compared, after being a leyland fleet, for ever, it became a volvo fleet at what seemed overnight, i also drove titans at the time and remember taking one to the chesterfield depot after it had finished it service for the very last time, and bringing a brand new b6 service bus back, out with the old i guess,,,,,
Thanks for relaying your experience with these buses and thanks very much for watching!!
Yeah no problem, the Volvo was more powerful, everyone commented on it at the time, later I drove the titans and there previous busses, Bristol vr, as well, at a school bus company, very nice vintage busses now of course
Thanks again Jeffrey, always love your informative and excellently presented videos, please keep up your hard work, such a welcomed and much needed escape from negativity and criticism so prevalent on many channels, you truly are a ray of sunshine Sir.
Hello Paul! Thank you so much for your compliment - I truly appreciate it! I will try to keep going with my bus videos! Thank you very much for watching!!
Olympian is one of a must, my favorite bus as they had over 1000 buses in Hong Kong with different bus operators during 1980 -90's, most of them in 3-axle form with Alexander R body either 11 or 12m, they were one of the bus type grew up with me together beside Dennis Dragon / Condor and MCW Metrobus. Olympian also made a record that the first successful operate air-conditioned double-decker bus with the air-condition unit run by the main engine in KMB known as AL1 in fleet number, and it marked the revolution of the public bus service of the city, and the bus companies started to introduce more air-conditioned double-decker buses to improve the service quality and provide the passengers more comfortable ride during the city's hot and humidity weather condition since then. With its such popular and Volvo even keep the name and continue to produce Olympian for both UK and Hong Kong Market after Volvo acquired Leyland Bus, without doubt Olympian is such a legend bus type!
Hello! Thanks for all of the interesting information experience on the Hong Kong Olympians - very interesting indeed!! Thank you very much for watching again!!
Another great video, Jeffrey! Lothian Buses used Olympians for my route to work when I moved to Edinburgh, back in the early 1990s. Pretty sure I would have hopped on that number 7 featured in your video a few times!
Hello! Oh, that Lothian Olympian is just beautiful! Great bodywork! Thank you very much for watching!!
Another fabulous video! Thank you Jeffrey!
Thanks so much for the compliment, I truly appreciate it! Thank you very much for watching again!!
The original Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 had a normal rear axle. The inherited Daimler Fleetline had a drop centre rear axle and was more poular. The Bristol VR put the radiator at the front, which is where it should be. The B15 Titan was a unitary bus, after the fashion of the Routemaster, which confounded the traditional coach-builders. The Olympian took the Titan back to a bus with a separate chassis, which pleased the customers.
Very interesting analysis on the Titan! Thanks very much for watching!
Follow-up, because you piqued an interest. The Olympian was used in 3 axle (longer bus) form in Hong Kong. It continued there with a transverse engine which drove the rear-most axle. A competitor there was the Dennis (Duple Metsec) Trident, which also had 3 axles and a front radiator, but with a longitudinally mounted engine which drove the middle axle.
Good video..drove all of them...happy days
Glad you liked the video!! Thank you very much for watching!!
The more I learn about the buses of the UK, there more I realize I don’t know much about them. See what you started Jeffery?
I mean that as a compliment.
Hello! I'm really glad you liked the video and that it's educational, too! Thanks very much for watching again and for the compliment!
Very interesting story. My favourite design was the Singapore demonstrator at 5:30
Glad you found the video interesting! Yes, that Singapore Olympian was...quite the big bus! Thank you very much for watching!!
Growing up in London & being a London bus driver, I remember the Volvo Olympians quite well, Stockwell depot had some that were underfloor engined rather than rear engined, they may have been 'Coach spec'
That's very interesting - if those Olympians were actually built to coach specifications!
Thanks very much for watching!
@JeffreyOrnstein Just double checked, the buses I was thinking of were Volvo Citibuses, built on Volvo B10M coach chassis
The Underfloor Engine Volvo would have been the Volvo B10M Citybus variant.
There was a variant of the Olympian called Leyland UTIC B52 in the early '80's.
The front and centre Underframe modules were pure Olympian. The rear module contained a horizontal underfloor Leyland TL11 and Leyland Semi-automatic transmission.
I've got a brochure for this interesting single deck bus. 🤓
Been lucky to have driven both leyland and Volvo Olympians the Volvo just had to edge ,driving an Olympian on a late running 237 towards the bush I soon made up time they were fast b…gers 😊😊
Great video
All the best
Mark 😊😊
Great to hear you drive both Olympians! Thanks very much for watching!
Pretty slick. 😮 You da Fonzerello. Ollies were the stalwart GMPTE. Unfortunately the Gardner site in Salford is no more. As is Northern Counties. C198 YBA- 3198 my personal favourite. Had a Singapore Airlines livery. But insiders said it was a slow bugger. 😮
Really glad you liked the video! Good to hear about your favorite Olympian! Thanks very much for watching!
Excellent video Jeffrey. In my opinion, it would be even better without the piano music in the background.
Thanks for the feedback! I will take that into consideration for the next video. Thank you very much for watching!!
Loved the pictures of the row of not quite finished or registered Atlanteans, in their shiny new SELNEC (South East Lancashire - North East Cheshire) livery, and their North West Counties bodies. Also, the Leyland Olympian with North West Counties body which was totally foreshadowing the Volvo Alexander to come. TFL even cheated on a few Routemasters, by slapping new Volvo engines in them, I think? Can somebody answer me a question made from a daft observation please? In the row of brand-new Orange and White Atlanteans at the beginning of the video, there's an odd one out. The bus to the far right (7313) has one big vent on the front top deck. The others all have two thin slat vents instead. Does anybody know why this happened, and did the big vent, or the two thin ones continue in future? Thanks for another great video Jeffrey.
Hello Steven! Glad you liked the video!! Good question about the Atlanteans - wonder if anyone will have an answer!? Thanks very much for watching again!
Grt buses.
Yes, the were great! Thank you very much for watching!!
Thank you for making this video. Very interesting and enjoyable.
South Yorkshire PTE had a few but not many. Where I was brought up, I mainly used to see these getting operated by Yorkshire Traction and East Midland which were both part of National Bus Company.
SYPTE had only 2 Olympians … think they were 501 and 502 … (except for the latter coach version for their Coachline service) and diverted from WYPTE … they ended up with Chesterfield Transport and didn’t stay with SYPTE too long with preference towards the Dominator which they designed jointly with Hestair Dennis.
@@SocialFoxUK thanks for that. I knew one of them had a fleet number of 501. I didn’t realise they had only two in total though. I have seen a photo of one in Sheffield Mainline colours but not sure if it’s a mock up. But yeah, by that time SYPTE were buying the Dennis and also a few MCWs as well.
Hello! Glad enjoyed the video and thanks for the info about SYPTE! Thanks very much for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnstein I’ve shared your video to some Facebook groups I’m in. They get a lot of praise. Keep up the good work old friend.
@adamlee3772 Thank you! I appreciate it very much!
Dennis Dominator next!
I keep asking for that. My favourite bus. SYITE had a massive fleet of them.
Hello! Will look into the Dennis Dominator!! Thanks very much for watching!
@ you’ll have to mention SYPTE a lot in a video of the Dominator. 😃
And don’t forget the one they turned in to an electric trolleybus 🚎
Jake SCOC posted one literally yesterday!
I have a feeling that West Midlands Transport bought metrobuses as the MCW (Metropolitan Cammel Weymann) was in Washwood Heath, near Birminham. Strangely the first two London Olympians had ECW bodies but the remainder were Leyland, perhpaps they were demonstrators that were built before ECW was closed and kept by London.
If you haven't done it before, are you going to do the single deck Leyland Lynx bus?
Hello! I already did a video on the Leyland Lynx (B60). You can find it here: ua-cam.com/video/KxU7vlow4qw/v-deo.html
Thanks for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Thanks, I couldn't find it in your video list when I looked.
I finally weakened and subscribed.
Thank you! Very much appreciated, and thank you for watching!!!
👍
Really happy you liked the video! Thank you very much for watching!!
😊❤👍
Glad you liked it! Thank you very much for watching again!!
Hard life of the most successful bus amidst dying brand i suspect.
impressive insight into the past and dramatic fall off from even being sovereign company.
Never ridden nor seen one in fle- hmmm aluminium i suppose never seen one in aluminium but it dose have that classic UK subtle style over wild lines - prefering to reserve its creativity to where it counts, within. i enjoy so i say i like it.
Glad you liked the video and thanks very much for watching!
Dublin Bus had a large fleet also ,Alexander Belfast bodied
The Titan was only a reasonable success in London as they were almost forced to support it. It wasn't designed by LT, but instead by Leyland who thought they knew better about what was needed. LT's policies were shifted by government meddling meaning they had to buy off the shelf rather than their own designs. The delays in deliveries meant fewer and fewer orders for Leyland products. LT had wanted to shift over almost entirely to the Metrobus.
Very interesting! It's as if Leyland almost designed their own demise! Thanks very much for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Their take over of AEC was purely as they were unable to compete with the quality and loyalty to AEC products shown by many.
MCW had between 1973 and 1978 produced the Metropolitan with Scania as a partner, this was before they produced the Metrobus on their own.
Optare than took on the designs and turned what would have been the Mk. III Metrobus into the Spectra.
9:56 this image was Darlington uk during what was known as the bus wars when too many companies were competing within a small town causing some bus companies to pull the plug, none of the busses in that image exist today although the bus thats focued on was not built by leyland it was built by cummins which supplied layland with its engines these bus types were known to the locals as the blue diamind range that were cummins experimental busses since the factory was already in the town & only a few were made sadly the bus company that owned them was the first casualty that went out of buisness becuse of the competition the daimler range which you dont see in this image still exist in museums & private ownerships long after the bus buisness went under
Thank you for this information on the "Bus Wars!" Seems like it was a very interesting time, but maybe not ideal! Perhaps a good idea for a future video! Thank you very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein does sound like a great follow up but the bus wars ran for little over a year back in the 90's when the towns council allowed multiple companies to set up which is all i can tell you as i took to cycling & walking everywhere during all the mayhem
The buses in the picture were a MCW Metrorider, which was operated by Darlington Transport Company, which was formerly Darlington Corporation Transport, the bus behind was a Mercedes Benz 608D with a Reeve Burgess body, (these were converted vans) operated by United Automobile Services and were given the name of RoadRangers and the rear of the other bus was an Iveco Daily (another converted van) and was operated by a company called YourBus. At the time the picture was taken, I was driving for United, and previously for Darlington Corporation Transport. Hope this helps.
Could you do a video on the leyland leopard please!
I will look into the Leopard! Thanks very much for watching!
@@JeffreyOrnsteinwhat amazes me how many operators bought early leopards cheaply or accident damaged and got them rebodied with a different coach work to suit there application.
It seems Leyland did not design a nice badge- like for the Atlantean or the earlier Leyland-MCW Olympic for the Olympian. A new utilitarian era where such badges were forgotten but an old style name was used- a Greek god would have been great. A missed opportunity but we live in a time where despite the fact that everything has to be designed with marketing pizzazz at its core, the older approach had merit. It's all so very fancy pants, these days and as for the liveries- "mobile eyesores" describes them to me.
Oh yes, I agree - I guess not designing a badge for the Olympian could have been a small cost-cutting measure. Who knows. Or maybe by the time the 1980s arrived, it was no longer "chic" to do that. Who knows... Thanks very much for watching!
I found this video to be up to your usual standard as regards info but that the choice and volume of the music to be a bit intrusive. Hope you take this as the constructive feedback it is meant as.
By contrast, I loved the music. Jeffrey: couuld you prove a link for it? Thanks, John
Thanks for the feedback! I will take it into consideration for the next video. I try to improve something in every video, but sometimes it doesn't always go as planned! Thanks very much for watching!
I worked for Leyland Bus your video is full of mistakes, Leyland chassis production ceased in June 1993, the last Volvo Olympian was built in October 1999
Who me?
in late70/s hull corporationblueandwhite using mcw metrobusand leylandatlantean and east yorkshire motor services red and white bristol vrt and leyland aatlantean
Thanks for that info, I really liked the old Hull blue and white! Thanks very much for watching!
When I see busses that low to the ground, I cringe. At this point, the word is c o m p a r e. Many American busses shine. They stand high off the ground like Jeeps. Most tourbusses are aluminum, and sometimes with fluted stainless covered luggage doors beneath the passenger level, and the driver sits pretty high. A low level? Some will kneel the entrance corner when you activate the droop. I got yelled at by a driver when I leaped from a Gillig Christina's floor deck. He didn't realize my landing gear is pretty rugged. The only double deckers I have ever seen are open top British tourist busses in Manhattan. They are lower and more stable than covered British busses. The novelty wears off. We had ancient Bristol's. The British government did no favors with the kooky rules and specifications. Do you want to see a solid light chassis? Gillig Lowbusses had a picture of the welded box members martensic stainless frame common to many models. MCI, Pevost, GM, Grumman, Gillig, Flxible. England can only drool. The one thing American busses lack is a good Rollstart Automatic transmission. Volvo builds class 8 trucks in Maryland. From the service to complexity and bad steel materials, Volvo is J U N K .
Oh, I do wish there were still high-floor transit buses in the USA! Didn't know Volvo was that bad! Thank you very much for watching!!
@JeffreyOrnstein Volvo isn't bad. They're worse. Committed to a bad product and service. My pleasure
Sorry Jeffrey the music detracts from your usual great content, and as another comment says its intrusive.
Otherwise a great video as always.
Thanks for the feedback! I will take it into consideration in the next video and glad you liked it otherwise! Thanks very much for watching!
I notice you are using a lot of Leyland publicity photos from my Flickr account
Which ones? The Leyland Olympian brochures are out there (not Flickr) if you look for them, and they are available for download in PDF format.
@JeffreyOrnstein the ones of the chassis and the prototype B45 buses
@@ronmccullock1407 I apologize if I used pictures you posted from the marketing material. Just for info, pictures of the red Ribble B45 are also on brochures I downloaded from a non-attributable source. Two of the three chassis pictures are from the same.
In the future, if I want to use pictures that you have posted, I will ask you first, if that's ok with you with credit to you.
I have this arrangement with a couple of other photographers. I try to find images that are part of Creative Commons, but it's not always possible to find what I want.
I can also add to the video description that you are credited with the other marketing photos that were not in the brochure(s) I downloaded.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Another superb video! Thanks, Jeffrey!
Thank you so much for your very nice comment!!! Thank you very much for watching again!!
Could you do a video on the leyland leopard please!