The Leyland National: A Very Unstandard Standard Bus.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ย. 2024
- The Leyland National is the standard bus of the National Bus Company that we all know and love. But did you know that during the 1970's, British Leyland were looking at ways to increase the appeal of their new bus by offering very unstandard spin offs. This video looks at these official British Leyland factory spin offs.
Everything from executive coaches to diesel multiple units, the Leyland National is all that and some more in between.
Please remember this is just a potted history and only features the conversions made in or with the blessings of the Leyland National factory in Workington in Cumbria. The Greenway project will be the subject of a future video.
I hope you enjoy this video, if so please like and share it. Also please subscribe to my channel to make sure you receive notifications about my future releases. And don't forget to check out my other bus related content on TH-cam.
#leylandnational #britishleyland #busvideo #vintagebus #nationalbuscompany #history #britishrail #pacers #class142
Pacers and Nationals were the ‘soundtrack’ of my childhood… So I have a massive soft spot for them. Many a childhood and teenage adventure started on National and/or pacer!
Many outlasted what followed them! Brilliant machines! 💪
@@jonmilligan8069 I think a lot of us grew up with that soundtrack Jon
I do have a soft spot for a National and recently saw Lev 1 on display at the Locomotion museum. We had one in our fleet as a advert for coach holidays and interior fitted out as a mobile display information centre and booking office.
I remember fondly travelling on leyland nationals as a child, especially the dual entrance version (love a ‘2 door bus’ 😁). I always had to sit towards the back though otherwise I couldn’t see out of the window!!
It was thought that the ‘bendy bus’ was a national with a trailer, but it was a true articulated bus. Obviously, closely related to the national, it was easier to maintain.
@@unclenolly3207 I had the same issue when I was little. Couldn't see out the window and wasn't allowed to sit in the smoking bit up the back!
As a classic truck man I stumbled on your video I really enjoy watching your video I've always been interested in the makes and models of buses
@@scottwhitehouse1128 Thanks Scott. Glad you liked the video 👍🏼
Excellent video 👍👍👍
Very interesting indeed, all the different varieties of the National... Keep up the good work. 👌
@@craigsibley8161 Thanks Craig. Glad you enjoyed the video.
👍👌
Had them many years ago at Bexleyheath bus garage when bexleybus. Great drive in the dry, but in the wet and cornering, the back end was inclined to overtake the front end and driver 🤣🤣
@@deanrampling9532 They were a bit alarming eh Dean? Coupled to the non centering steering....
LOL! I like this
@@NextSound170 Thanks
Very interesting video!! About LEV-1 and LEV-2: Officials from the US Dept. of Transportation were visiting the UK for ideas on new generations of passenger trains. One of the officials noticed LEV-1 on a side track, and said..."THAT'S IT" and requested that the vehicle be shipped to the US for testing. UK rail officials obliged, and LEV-1 was tested in the northeastern US. It didn't fare too well, and was sent back within a few months, I believe.
LEV-2 spent its life in the US until its demise. It was tested by several transit agencies for light branchline work, but they all rejected the railbus. It passed through several owners, until it was traded to the Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut. And there it stayed for a number of years, unrestored and exposed to the elements. The trolley museum didn't see any value in it, and needing as much track space as possible, the museum had LEV-2 scrapped - about 6 or 7 years ago. There was an attempt to repatriate it to the UK before scrapping, but an agreement could not be reached, unfortunately.
@@JeffreyOrnstein Thanks Jeffrey. That's a shame that LEV-2 bit the dust but in the past similar things have happened over here in the UK - in fact still happens. In the UK it tends to be multiple units that get scrapped or certain coaches from multiple units.
Re: the Airport Bus drawings with doors either side. I work at Manchesterb Airport and we had a small fleet of National 2s in this configuration until around the early 2000s!
@@islaws4589 very nice.
Nice to see my B21 featured. (There’s more details about it on my own channel). Ulsterbus/Citybus had six and Ipswich four, though Ipswich acquired the other six later. The Ipswich four were amongst the last chassis built at the Bristol factory, but are mostly National and registered as Leyland.
@@richardwalker_ I will certainly check out your video. It's a fine looking bus Richard.
Many happy memories travelling on the Nationals however the Class141 less so , I recall a journey from Sheffield to York (not that far really) that was probably the most uncomfortable I have experienced on any train ever .
@@garrymartin6474 it's a shame they didn't fit them with two axle bogeys at each end of the carriages. I think it would have improved the ride a bit.
Hi Jake, great video. Dad always love's the sound of a National. He had a soft spot for LN7 the LCBS infobus. Which he would take for unofficial test drives at HH/GR open days and having a lucas spad key in his pocket helped matters.
@@jadeboswell-rz2ly Hi Jade. I loved the NPD batch of London Country Nationals too. We had a few of them in East Kent land on the Dover docks contracts.
@@JakeSCOC Dad just said that the only problem with LN's and early SNB's was complaints from passengers getting hot water drops on there head's when sitting In right back seat, which is one reasons that leyland revised the heater matrix. Dads glad hear you enjoyed them, HH called them (nipped(7) as in the bud.
@@jadeboswell-rz2ly The older ones used to roll too as I don't think they had dampers on the suspension. A rolling National and vynal seating could have interesting results...
@@JakeSCOC oh that's got dad going. Something about chucking buses around corners. Pedestals and air bags and he's gone to at look at some manuals.
We've calmed dad down with pint of ale, ho ho. But he's found paperwork from NBC which he says "was the first re-engined National". Which went through nbc garages as a trail vehicle and was fitted with the Gardener 6hxlb by Eastern Counties(DPW781T/LG781) and the front mk2 radiator.
I know I’m biased but my favourite bus was definitely the Alexander Y Type Leyland Leopard
@@johnmontgomery9149 nothing wrong with a Leopard John. Lovely buses and even better sound effects.
Yes I too like the class 142 and marmite 😂,wasn’t the class 155/153 based on national parts ie the panels and leyland built an experimental coach using a mk1 under frame ,it was used on the London midland. We had some nationals at the brook but I never got to drive them 😢,my favourite is the national 2 seen new on the red arrow they looked superb. Funny how even then leyland would’nt 😊paint the front doors yellow and LT had to get it done before they entered service and they used straub moquette instead of the then standard yellow ,orange brown ,black cloth ,really enjoyed that Jake thank you
All the best
Mark 😊😊
@@marksinthehouse1968 Hi Mark. Glad you liked it. Yes, you're right about the carriage. In fact, if I recall, it used to house a model railway at the East Kent Light Railway in Shepherds Well near Dover. It's now disappeared so I hope it's being given some love somewhere.
I actually like the Straub moquette. When clean it's so bright and fresh looking - although it seemed to wear quickly.
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel.
Jake 👍🏼
I remember riding in the Leyland National rebodied Mk 1 carriage, and it really wasn't very good. The seats were not as good as standard railway seats, and the ride wasn't good compared with a BR Mk 2 coach.
I always thought that the class 155s were not as good as the 156s. The conversion of some of them to class 153 single units made them worse (especially if one turned up on the Doncaster - Lincoln service when the Lincoln Christmas Market was on, and consequently it was packed like a tin of sardines).
@@jerry2357 When I saw the carriage it was seat less and being used to house a model railway.
Only just warming to the National, because back around 1973 Nationals replaced my beloved AEC Reliances on the 7 route from Herne Bay, a sad time indeed.
@@michaelkeen5010 Totally understandable Michael
i love the TVS ident music 😀
@@andrewbeadle9168 Thanks Andrew. Part of my childhood.
The most famous thing about the National to me?
Clack....Clack...Clack..Clack.ClackClackClackClack..Brumm....
They weren't nicknamed the "ClackClacks" for nothing!
@@robertwilloughby8050 That and the smoke screen!
those articulated nationals still exist in a north devon bus dealers/ storers, and a rally was held there yearly, don't know if it still happens. In a place called winkleigh, these 2 artics are in a state of disrepair and have been for many years.
@@lucythemoggy1970 Thanks for the update. They would be a massive restoration job I would think.
Anyone else sit in a modern bus at the bus station thinking what noises a National would be making as you pull out?
(....and sometimes quietly making them to yourself)
Just me then! 😢
@@PaddyWV 😂 I sit in the bus station wondering why everything looks and sounds the same now.
@@JakeSCOC I'm trying to learn any differences, but it's tricky!
@@PaddyWV They all look and sound the same!
@@JakeSCOC Are there fewer bus builders now? Fleets seem to be either Alexander Dennis or Wright bus. Optare barely seems to get a look in for fleets, as when Wilts and Dorset and Eastbourne bus used them.
@@PaddyWV There is much less manufacturers than there was. Although historically, most manufacturers were under the Leyland umbrella hence MCW ending up building the Metrobus and Dennis introducing the Dominator. Now there's ADL which includes Plaxton, Dennis and Alexander. Optare are still going as are Wright who are now owned by JCB.
Awesome video as always these were my school bus 😂
@@LadySophieofHougunManor7325 Thank you. I'm glad you liked it and it brought back some good memories. I also went to school on Nationals but at primary school had to sit in the forward section with the higher window line. Needless to say young Jake couldn't see out the window and wasn't impressed!
Class 142/3's. Lasted longer than the first generation dmu's they replaced.
@@russb2286 Very true. Nice to see them now on preserved railings too.
I never liked driving them, especially in the wet! The Bristol RE was a much better bus all round in my opinion.
@@WOLFIE-96B-UK Between the two the RE is my favourite too.
The Alexander-bodied Pacers (classes 143 and 144) were always a cut above the class 142s, in my opinion.
@@jerry2357 They were a little more pleasing to the eye.
@@JakeSCOC They were better finished, too. I rode on a 144 on Saturday at the KWVR, it still looks good.
@@jerry2357 I was hoping to get there last week when I was up there but we were so busy - despite being a holiday! Went on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway instead.
@@JakeSCOC On the KWVR, for a couple of weeks only DMUs are running, between Keighley and Haworth only, while they replace an underbridge at Haworth. I was there on Saturday to watch the new prefabricated span being lifted into place by a BIG crane.
@@jerry2357 I thought they were keeping it now?
Ambitious but rubbish according to Jeremy Clarkson on British engineering. However. These have more character than say a “modern” bus. Please do the MCW Metrobus as a historical video. A bus that paved the way for my interest into buses
@@NextSound170 Aww he's anti bus isn't he? Yes the Metrobus was meant to be this episode but I got distracted by the National I'm afraid. The Metrobus is in the pipeline and is the reason I've done the Metro Scania and the Metropolitan.