AEC Buses and Coaches: Illustrated History Books & Guides

The London MB and SM Buses - A London Bus Disappointment

Purchased to replace London Transport's ageing RT fleet and to reduce staff needs through one-man operation, the MB-type buses proved deeply disappointing. Their successors, the SM-types, were even less suitable, being underpowered and unreliable.

In this volume of photographs, Jim Blake examines what became some of the least successful vehicles operated by London Transport. In service only between 1966 and 1981, most lasted no more than six or seven years.

Many of the photographs, published here for the first time, capture rare and unusual scenes, including views inside London Transport garages and Aldenham Works, themselves now long gone. Beyond the vehicles, the images also reflect London life from the vibrant 1960s to the difficult early years of the Thatcher era.

The MB and SM types were also used by London Country, but they performed no better in the suburbs than in central London. Their failure marked the end of London Transport's long connection with A.E.C. buses and stood in stark contrast to the legendary and long-lived RT, RF, and Routemaster classes.

Product details

Author:	Jim Blake
Details:	184 pages, 9.7 x 6.7 x 0.91 in (24.5 x 17 x 2.3 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	250 b&w photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Ltd (GB, 2024)
ISBN:	9781399034791

The Last Years of London's RFs and RTs - North of the Thames

The AEC Regal IVs and Regent IIIs, or to give them their class prefix letters RFs and RTs, are among the most revered buses to have served London over the years.
The RFs were maids of all work and were tailored for private hire, Green Line coach work and ordinary stage bus work in both the central and country areas. The first of the type were introduced in October 1951 and a total of 700 vehicles were built for the London Transport Executive. They replaced virtually all the other types of single-deckers then operating in the metropolis.

The RT was first introduced to service in 1939 and production ran to 151 vehicles before construction ceased in early 1942. Following the war, the Park Royal factory recommenced building the type in 1947, with the last new chassis being rolled out in 1954, taking the bonnet number RT4825.

Both types soldiered on throughout the 1970s as LTE encountered severe problems with their 'OPO' replacements before both finally bowed out within a week of each other in March/April 1979. This account charts the last years of operation of both types from the mid-1970s onward, focusing on North London.

Product details

Author:	Mike Rhodes
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.31 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 0.8 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2022)
ISBN:	9781398103504

The Last Years of London's RFs and RTs - South of the Thames

The AEC Regal IVs and Regent IIIs, or to give them their class prefix letters RFs and RTs, are among the most revered buses to have served London over the years.
The RFs were maids of all work and were tailored for private hire work, Green Line coach work and ordinary stage bus work in both the central and country areas. The first of the type were introduced in October 1951 and a total of 700 vehicles were built for the London Transport Executive. They replaced virtually all the other types of single-deckers then operating in the metropolis.

The RT was first introduced to service in 1939 and production ran to 151 vehicles before construction ceased in early 1942. Following the war the Park Royal factory recommenced building the type in 1947 with the last new chassis being rolled out in 1954, taking the bonnet number RT4825.
Both types soldiered on throughout the 1970s as LTE encountered severe problems with their 'OPO' replacements before both finally bowed out within a week of each other in March/April 1979.

This account charts the last years of operation of both types from the mid-1970s onward, focusing on South London.

Product details

Author:	Mike Rhodes
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.31 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 0.8 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2021)
ISBN:	9781398103542

AEC Regents in Service - The Late 1960s and 1970s

From 1967 to the late 1970s author David Christie visited many towns and cities in Britain, photographing the remaining traditional buses in service. This book concentrates on one marque - the AEC Regent, which was to be found generally in its Mk III variant and more so in the southern counties. 'Up North' was generally Leyland country, and a companion book covers the PD Leylands.

Travelling from Romford in Essex, the author's home town, and starting with a brief LT selection, we call in along the South Coast before heading north to the Midlands and the Isle of Man, then on to Scotland, where the author relocated in 1973.
All the photographs are in colour, originally in slide form, from which they have been digitally restored.

Product details

Author:	David Christie
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.47 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 1.2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2019)
ISBN:	9781445689548

AEC Double-Deckers

Even though it is nearly 40 years since the last vehicles left the Southall factory, the products of the Associated Equipment Company, more commonly known as AEC, are still synonymous with quality and reliability.

AEC were known as 'the builders of London's buses' and produced such iconic models as the RT and the Routemaster - the familiar red buses that symbolise London to people across the world, but there was much more to AEC than this.
Regents, Renowns and Bridgemasters all contributed to making AEC the byword for reliability in the PSV world.

In this, the second of a series of two books, Howard Berry sets out to give a pictorial overview of the bus chassis manufactured in the last years of double-deck bus production by AEC. With 180 informatively captioned photographs, almost all in colour, and all taken when these fine vehicles were in their operating heyday, this book is sure to appeal to enthusiasts of the AEC marque and the layman alike.

Product details

Author:	Howard Berry
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.67 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 1.7 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2018)
ISBN:	9781445677590

AEC Single-Deckers

Even though it is nearly 40 years since the last vehicles left the Southall factory, the products of the Associated Equipment Company, more commonly known as AEC, are still synonymous with quality and reliability.

In this, the first of a series of two books, Howard Berry sets out to give a pictorial overview of the singledeck bus and coach chassis produced by AEC in the post-war years.

AEC vehicles were operated worldwide, and in this book the author presents photographs showing vehicles not only in service in the UK, but also abroad, mostly bodied locally, and these provide a contrast to the home-grown bodywork such as Plaxton and Duple that those in the UK will be more familiar with.
Vehicles such as the Regal, Reliance, Swift and Sabre are all detailed, with over 180 black and white and colour pictures, all with informative text.

Product details

Author:	Howard Berry
Details:	96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.47 in (23.5 x 16.5 x 1.2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	180 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2018)
ISBN:	9781445676722

AEC Buses - Since 1955

This wonderful large format all-colour album explores the great variety of buses and coaches manufactured by AEC - the Builder of London's Buses from the mid-1950s until production ceased in the late 1970s. As with many of the leading bus and coach manufacturers in Britain, AEC built a wide range of vehicles from the much-loved and familiar, Routemaster and Regent V, to several lesser known types.
All these types are illuminated and brought to life with a wide selection of rare photographs portraying AEC's bus and coach production from the mid-1950s until the disappearance of the marque in 1977.

Product details

Author:	Stewart J. Brown
Details:	96 pages, 9.8 x 8.7 in (25 x 22 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	many color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Ian Allan Publishing (GB, 2013)
ISBN:	9780711036512

The AEC Story - from the Regent to the Monarch

From 1929 until 1979, a succession of buses and trucks trundled out of the AEC works in Southall, Middlesex. The company was responsible for the successful Routemaster double-decker buses, used by London Transport, as well as numerous other bus and lorry designs. In this volume Brian Thackray examines in some detail the AEC's passenger and commercial vehicle designs of the early and middle 1930s.

The spotlight also falls on the development of the high-speed oil engine and the less familiar military and off-road designs as well as the railcars built for the Great Western Railway. This is a book of interest to people who once worked in the factory, which closed down in 1979, and to those with an interest in British buses and commercial vehicles.

Product details

Author:	Brian Thackray
Details:	256 pages, 9.7 x 6.9 x 0.67 in (24.5 x 17.5 x 1.7 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	152 photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing (GB, 2012)
ISBN:	9781445603902

The London ST

Though all STs were based on the AEC Regent chassis, the buses comprised a varied fleet. This book covers the full story of STs up to the end of the STs in passenger service.

Product details

Author:	Ken Blacker
Details:	208 pages, 11 x 8.7 x 0.94 in (28 x 22 x 2.4 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	English
Publisher:	Capital Transport Publishing (GB, 2012)
ISBN:	9781854143631

AEC Regent V

The AEC Regent V was a front-engined double-deck bus manufactured by the Associated Equipment Company between 1954 and 1969, when, as a result of the introduction of the Bus Grant in 1968 (designed to encourage the purchase of rear-engined buses in order to foster one-man operation), production of front-engined buses ceased.
The Regent V was the successor to the Regent III and was fitted with AEC's own design of concealed radiator and was supplied generally with either an AEC or Gardner engine. Produced contemporaneously with the Routemaster, the AEC Regent V found a ready market amongst British municipal operators, with examples seeing service in fleets nationwide, and with BET-group companies.

Apart from the domestic market, the chassis was also widely exported; 210, for example, being sold to Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong. Examples of the Regent V survived in service until the 1980s and a significant number survive in preservation.
This book includes descriptive text alongside hundreds of evocative colour illustrations.

Product details

Author:	Stewart J. Brown
Details:	96 pages, 11.2 x 8.7 x 0.47 in (28.5 x 22 x 1.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	many color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Ian Allan Publishing (GB, 2011)
ISBN:	9780711035393