Delivered in 1957, MRD146 is the second to last AEC Regent III built. It belongs to the 6812A series, which means it has the AEC A173 7.7-litre engine, 4-speed "crash" (non-syncromesh) gearbox and vacuum assisted brakes, and is 27ft long. Its Park Royal body is of lowbridge design, so the gangway upstairs is on the offside and sunken, protruding into the lower deck, while the four-in-a-row seats upstairs are on the nearside.
The crash gearbox made a loud clonk when a gear was engaged at a halt, and it whined equally loud at all gears except the 4th gear which is direct drive, so it seemed like straight-cut gears are used all around the gearbox. Starting from rest in 2nd gear could be rough, and pulling away in 1st gear (5:43) made the whole bus rock brutally!
Thank you for watching!
31 дек 2016
