Leyland Double-decker Buses: Books - History

The London Leylands : The Last Years of RTL and RTW Operation in London

London's famous RT-type buses were an iconic symbol of the Capital city in the 1950s, before being superseded by the Routemasters. Most were built between 1947 and 1954 to replace worn-out pre-war and wartime buses, as well as the remaining trams.
More than 7,000 were built in all and although London Transport favoured A.E.C. chassis, which the first batches of RTs had, so pressing was the need for new buses that not enough could be supplied by that manufacturer to match demand.
Therefore Leyland Motors were contracted to adapt their Leyland "Titan" PD2 chassis to fit bodies that, for the most part, were identical with those on RTs. The result was the 1,631-strong RTL class, together with the 500 RTWs, which had bodies also built by Leyland to the same general design, were built between 1948 and 1954.

Always in a minority compared to the 4,825-strong RT class, these Leyland buses had a character all of their own, perhaps personified by their louder engine note. They also had a reputation for being heavier on their steering than the RTs, making them unpopular with staff, and therefore general withdrawal of them commenced in 1958, taking almost ten years to complete (in November 1968), whereas the RTs soldiered on until April 1979.

During the RTL and RTW class buses' final years, Jim Blake was out and about photographing them throughout London. A selection of his photographs of them, most previously unpublished, is presented here.

Leyland PD Titans in Service - The Late 1960s and 1970s

This book covers many variants of the long-lived Leyland PD marque, photographed throughout Britain from 1967 into the seventies. Coming from the south, the author was more familiar with the AEC and the more throaty sound of a PD2, even from London's RTLs, was a touch exotic.

The author documents buses from East Anglia down to the South Coast, before travelling up to the Midlands, then into true Leyland territory of Lancashire and Yorkshire, to finish up in Scotland.
The author was born in Romford, Essex, in 1943 but relocated to Scotland in 1973. All photographs are in colour from the original slides, which have been digitally restored.

Last Years of the London Titan

Already depleted by withdrawals in the London Buses Ltd era, the Leyland Titan fleet of T class was divided upon privatisation between three new companies; London Central, Stagecoach East London and Stagecoach Selkent.

Together with a host of smaller companies operating second-hand acquisitions, the Titans' declining years between 1998 and 2003 are explored in this pictorial account that encompasses both standard day-to-day routes, emergency deployments and rail replacement services.
Only small numbers remained to usher out the type altogether at the end of 2005, when step-entrance double-deckers as a whole were banished from the capital.

London Transport's Last Buses : Leyland Olympians L1-263

The Olympian was Leyland's answer to the competition that was threatening to take custom away from its second-generation OMO double-deck products. Simpler than the London Transport Titan but, unlike that integral model, able to respond to the market by being offered as a chassis for bodying by the bodybuilder of the customer's choice, the Olympian was an immediate success and soon replaced both the Atlantean and Bristol VRT as the standard double-decker of the NBC.

It wasn't until 1984 that London Transport itself dabbled with the model, taking three for evaluation alongside trios of contemporary double-deckers. The resulting L class spawned an order for 260 more in 1986, featuring accessibility advancements developed by LT in concert with the Ogle design consultancy, but the rapid changes engulfing the organisation meant that no more were ordered.

During the 1990s company ownerships shifted repeatedly as the ethos of competition gave way to the cold reality of big business, an unstable situation which even saw London's bus operations broken up. The L class was split between three new companies, but the backlog of older vehicles to replace once corporate interests released funding ensured the buses up to a further decade in service.
Finally, as low-floor buses swept into the capital at the turn of the century, Olympian operation at last declined, and the final examples operated early in 2006.

This profusely illustrated book describes the diversity of liveries, ownerships and deployments that characterised the London Leyland Olympians' two decades of service.