Thank goodness this Regent III was saved as it was a rare 9612A crash box type as opposed to the more common 9612E or 0961. Liverpool had 9613As (A757-806) but didn't sound like this Newcastle bus because they were actually 9613S (synchromesh) with 9613A chassis numbers. A757-806, A1-100 ( which WERE 9613S types) and A101-292 (Regent V D3RV) all sounded the same.
Music! The grunt and growl of that 9.6 litre AEC is superb. No Leyland can get anywhere near it for aural effects, or I suspect performance? Certainly from a driving point, I always found London's AEC engined Routemasters superior.
Wonderful. Reminds me of going to school on this very bus when it used to work the D12 Town Service - Musgrave Gardens to Whitesmocks to Bede Avenue to Blackie Boy to Musgrave Gardens
Did you ever drive an Olympian on the number 10 up to Torphin out of interest? I was always very passionate about the Olympians when I was growing up in the 80s.
I used to drive TL11 245 Olys in service in Yorkshire, and they had high speed diffs.Acceleration wasnt great but top speed was insane for a service bus..30765 would do 70 with ease
Thank you, djcvitesse. It's great to hear the TL11 again. Great sound and clear video showing the clean pale gray interior and red seats from before Lothian went all harlequin and glaring primary colours. Good on yer, sport.
Great buses. More advanced than the Olympians. I probably drove this very bus at some point. At Marine depot in the 90s we had some 600s and 700s like this. The first one, 667, was different from the rest as it had an electronic destination screen, the only one the company ever owned. An unusual feature about them was the number disply system, you had to dial in a code for each number or letter, all letters in the alphabet were permitted. Oxo was my favoutite word.
Absolutely so do I! They were great buses and a great deal more reliable than the ones Lothian Buses have now unfortunately! I loved the ECW Leyland Olympians. Love to get my hands on one too!
