The mighty Leyland Olympian LMM Drives Episode 33. 

When I was in school we used to get everyone on the top deck and the bus driver would flick in round the roundabout 😂😂 the driver said he got it on two wheels one day. 100+ school boys upstairs, can confirm they’re hard to tip

Proper buses. Takes me back to going to school on these in the 90s and on weekends and holidays going to the nearby towns shopping with my mum. I miss going up the steps to get in the bus and that weird fusty smell they had.

used to drive olympian's on service years ago, we used to call them o limpalongs. not a bad bus but my favourite was the old school bristol vr.

As an old bus driver in the 80s in Yorkshire, the Olmypian bus was elite of the fleet, and yes they did make a coach built where the seats were more plush, many mile on fare stage express ... yet the the poor driver still sat on the hard rock seat, pleased you had a eye opener lol

I used to drive an AEC Reliance, it was the first coach I drove. The fuel gauge was on the tank. There was a circular hole in the panel so you could see the gauge. You will have been told to pause between the gears, I used to drive the Leyland buses with semiautomatic transmission. Most buses and coaches are automatic nowadays. I have driven buses and coaches for 35years now.

Doesn't feel heavy like an HGV? Brakes very sensitive and sharp? Get yourself 80 passengers in there then see how it feels :)

"The Leyland of car channels", not quite a T-shirt, but I feel you Matt.

That engine makes a lovely sound. Nice to know the controls are so light. Sweet.

Matt rejected taking the bus driven by lawie good way to go

Man Lawrie your like the living embodiment of every bcc vehicle documentary

I used to take a school for 7 years along 5 miles of steep hills in Plymouth. Plymouth Citybus had hundreds of Atlanteans, however towards the end of my school days, probably 1982 onwards, my route normally got one of the new Olympians. Wow what a difference! Smooth. Quiet. And so much faster, especially up the steep Plymouth hills. I guess having air suspension was a major difference from old. May have been the first bus with moquette rather than vinyl seats too.

My mummy used to drive a Leyland Olympian 700 series with cummins engine when she used to work for Keighley & District back in the early 90's. Happy days.

Your enthusiasm for driving a bus and the details of the bus is every bit as good as the gorgeous Fenland landscape you were driving through. What a lovely video. Thank you!

I remember these busses back in the day. I recognize where you're driving round. Guyhirn near to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.

Nice one. Cross gates is in Leeds. I used to work for Yorkshire Rider. The seats for the driver on these were so hard on your bum and back, especially when operated over poorly maintained or bad roads. l loved these busses, foot off accelerator, wait for revs to drop and then change gear off like a rocket. No jerking. One of these converted (the roof was lowered) went all the way to Samarkand. Showing private on the destination should stop any uncertainty. Great video.

Having grew up in Hong Kong the only Leylands that we know of are the couple thousand Olympians in tri-axle configuration running around the tiny territory. They were amazing workhorses that still have a lot of life in them when they reached their scheduled retirement age of 17 years, so much so that some of them even come back home to UK for a second life as coaches and touring buses etc. The reputation of Leyland was a real shock to me when I arrived in the UK - I genuinely thought they were THE good stuff.

That's the sight and sound of my childhood right there! I used to stare at the driver down the periscope at the front of the upper deck.

More buses please. Lovely stuff.

So many memories of riding these to and from school, great fun. The gearbox is presumably just the original with manual control over the gear solenoids, to stop it shifting up when trying to get up hills and suchlike.

The typical Leyland bus for me is PD1 or PD2, especially those with Roberts bodywork that used to do the London Wood Green to Southend bus service operated by the City Coach Company. They were so comfortable especially on the upper deck that one could easily fall asleep and go past one's stop!

We have a few preserved examples here in Singapore and we also have the honour of taking the last Leyland, also an Olympian (SBS9168S/L888 SBS), ever built. In 2013, she was repatriated back to after retiring from her operator SBS Transit and was bought by a collector in Warwickshire.

I remember going on the first Atlantean buses in Wallasey & Liverpool ,& also one of the last trams in Liverpool .I would consider that bus to be very modern in the scheme of things .

Growing up in Leeds in the late 90s-early 00s these things were ubiquitous in the legendary orange, red and white Leeds City Link livery! As a child the Olympians - along with the Atlanteans - used to absolutely terrify me, the stature of the vehicles, the size of the wheels, the groans and growls of the engines and lastly the ominous feeling of insecurity exacerbated by the consistent rattling and smell of diesel fumes. However, just like a roller-coaster ride, all of these fears were tantamount to unbridled thrills and excitement to a child. During the early 2000s, the Olympians would be summoned to fill in on virtually any bus route within the network whenever the modern deckers (Alexander Royales, ALX400) had let everybody down - otherwise, they would be found in regular service on the odds 'n' sods routes such as the 38 or the 91 - both of which had terrifying inclines to overcome between Kirkstall and Bramley which were always heart in the mouth moments. However, they always managed to overcome any obstacles, both had life cycles of around 30 years respectively and I honestly cannot ever remember seeing one breakdown. These were reliable powerhouses and the streets of West Yorkshire will never be the same without them! Also, I absolutely loved the yellow, black and brown checked upholstery and would love to be able to purchase an original bench from one of these buses just to have in my house 😂

in 2002 when i started driving for lothian buses in edinburgh they still had these in the fleet albeit the auto ones

A sometimes contested point but what became the Leyland Olympian, started as Project B45 was designed and built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles, who Leyland had a 50% share (the other 50% was owned by the National Bus Company), which Leyland ultimately closed in 1983. Production moved to Workington and then in 1986 to Farrington works. The body was project B46, which saw Roe and ECW build their own versions of this body, which look similar but are different under the skin. But overall a good video. If you drive other classic buses you will find they are quite different in character.

Good ol' Leyland Olympian! In Singapore they were the backbone for one of our transport operator double decker's fleet, alongside the Volvo Olympian. Really robust bus, enjoyable one to drive too! Too bad they were scrapped in 2015 I believe, but the very last Olympian chassis that Leyland had built is thankfully preserved in the UK, with the reg L888 SBS.

I started with a Daimler Fleetline but after driving Leyland Atlanteans, Volvo Ailsas, Bristol VR, Scanias and a few odd balls my favourite was the Metrobus. Nick name for the Olympian was limp a long... says it all! Glad you had fun - now drive it through London in a pre-covid rush hour.

I may have travelled on that at some point in my school days. Nice to see it's still around!

That bus would make a fantastic motorhome !.... Us Hippies love stuff like this LOL 👍👍👍

Yes please, more bus reviews 🚌

Hong Kong was a huge user of the Leyland and Volvo Olympian and some of these West Yorkshire PTE Olympians were sold there too.

4:00 Somone must have got the sack at BL, For making something that works.

Oh yeah, more buses please. Nice to see the Fens again. My home for 10 years or so before we moved to a sunny island in the Indian ocean. Brilliant guys, thanks.

As a 16 year old I joined London Transport in 1971 as an engineering garage trainee. I was very fortunate at that time to work with old hands, who saw the brand new Routemasters into service in 1959. We had a small allocation of Titan buses, in our garage in East London. Many of these vehicles were brand new direct from Chiswick bus works. My colleagues and I found that the Titan bus, with its transverse engine and gearbox, was problematical and not so easy to work on as the old Routemaster. Many service drivers experienced a number of frightening situations when the roads were icy (or raining) The Titans could be unforgivable, because of the weight of the engine/gearbox at the rear. For us engineers, we were compelled to get to grips with this new bus type. You certainly couldn't change the engine on a Titan in a day like the RM. Plus the fact that many LT garages were having problems with spare parts. All in all, it was all part of the job. Thanks for sharing your interesting film, and if I may suggest that should you drive one of these buses in the wet, keep your speed down especially when cornering. Cheers.👍

The Leyland Olympian was the first double decker I ever drove and is still one of the best. Midland Fox had 14 semi auto and more full auto. At the end of there working service life, they were sold off. Confidence got a lot of them, I expect a later semi auto bus broke and was used as parts, with its gearbox ending up in this bus. Great Video. 👍👍👍

This is fantastic! Thanks for the nostalgia trip! I followed an Olympian run by Confidence coaches of Leicester just this afternoon! I’m late 20’s and travelled to school and college on Olympians run by Ausden Clarke. A large piece of the ceiling of one with a light fitting in it once dropped down on my head! They were always smashing into trees as the bus route was on tight Leicestershire country roads. We did go on the Confidence Olympians a couple of times for school trips too, maybe even this bus!

The Leyland Atlanteans and National's were also great busses.

I grew up with these buses in West Yorkshire. They sounded really nice I have to say. There were two at Bradford that were fitted with Voith transmission. They sounded like an MCW.

It's a good looking bus, Mind you everything from the 80s is good looking! Especially the DeLorean 😃

This brings back memories. I used to drive these in Scotland over 30 years ago for Bluebird Northern, later to be Stagecoach. It was just like in this video because we had very few passengers in the far north and the routes were massively subsidised. We only had deckers then because we needed them for school duties.

I can feel the itchy orange seats and smell the hot diesel fumes that infused the lower deck back seat just watching this. The thunk of those windows, the smokers all bundling upstairs, the fogged up windows on rainy winter nights.... ah, nostalgia. It seemed that every single bus I rode on up until the end of the 90s was one of these with their distinctive engine note and loping gait.

To be fair the first time you drive a decker is pretty strange. Especially since I trained in a Dennis Dart. I drove things like this for 12 and a half years so I found this highly amusing. It's absolutely true what you say about every bump being like you're about to bottom out but wait til you encounter high winds... Plus in Brighton we had some that were 41 feet long... The other "Good" vehicles British Leyland produced were things like the Leyland National, the Atlantean and the Leyland Leopard coach And of course the Titan. the white one at Tinkers Park was a Leyland Titan PD3 "Queen Mary"

Recently got my PSV license and have to say I'm now tempted to buy a heritage bus. I only really do city driving with rural driving only really when I'm out of service and running to a terminus or something. Great video Lawrie, hope to see more like this.

Loving the "Cambus" vinyls on UWW. A fantastic bus indeed 👌

Ha! - I used to get the 64 Bus to Leeds years ago... What a coincidence!

Southern Vectis had these as a staple vehicle and utilised them until the early 200O's. In my younger days on the Isle of Wight, I would finish a drink in Ryde and jump on the 'Nightclubber' bus from Ryde Bus Station because I was cold. God rest his soul, 'Ken' would drive the long circuit, taking sozzled revellers back to their home towns. Ken was a salt-of-the-earth bloke, and his only comment to me was 'hang on kid.' Running light, the vehicle would procede from Ryde, then be absolutely caned faster than I realised the things could go, along a stretch of road called Beaper Shute. I was always impressed with the turn of speed you could get from these beasts, if they were allowed a head of steam!! I seem to recall two different versions of engines, one of which would absolutely scream if revved hard! Duly arriving via Brading into Sandown, the main pick-up was from Coloney Bogey's nightclub on Sandown front, and then taking dishevelled revellers back via Ryde again, Wootton, East Cowes (where I was living) and ultimately finishing at Newport Bus Station some time after 3am. On one stupid evening, I'd supped more than I intended, and got nice and warm sat in my seat on this bus. I was woken up at about 3.30pm by Ken, at Newport, at which point he apologised to me that he'd not seen me when stopping in East Cowes, and I was obliged to then walk home. I think I got indoors via an hour-and-a-halfs' walk about 4.45am! It might be rose-tinted spectacles, but to my mind, Olympians were far better than the current machines we have on the Isle of Wight, be they ageing Scania Omnicitys, or the relatively newer Enviro 400's, which make up the staple of the Isle of Wight double decker fleet now. They were build more solidly and their suspension soaked up the poor quality road more efficiently. It was a more comfortable ride, and those things could really motor when needed. An added bonus was that if you were sat at the back, the hot-running motor caused the rear firewall/shield to be very hot; you wanted to be at the back! There was nothing wrong with the Olympians at all, they just aged out when apparently more efficient and lighter vehicles became available. Great video, dredged up memories of my early-mid twenties when there were plenty of nightspots and the Island was more interesting!

Nice to see you drive and feature a bus on your channel again

Haha my daily commute is on a double decker across a cliff top feet away from the edge doing 50mph in any wind swerving over 2 lanes. Thanks for the video gents!

I cut my teeth bus driving Olympians out of King's Lynn in the early 2000s.... You should try driving one in the dark and snow through Sandringham ;p I also drove for Norfolk Green through Gyhurn and Murrow where you filmed this, boy do I have some stories about those days too! XD

My late mother’s Austin Allegro was a great little car. And it was another vehicle from British Leyland!!

Buses was one of the things I worked on when I started serving my apprenticeship in 1976. They used to suffer with Transmission problems because Drivers used to change gear too fast. The next Brake band would be locking up, before the previous one had released, Nightmare. My Mate worked in the Transmission shop, it was a much sought place to get sent to because there was always loads of overtime 🚌😂.

That was an excellent bus to showcase. It got me to click and I really like your presentation. A lot of the features of the Olympian, Titan and the mid mount engined Tiger single decker bus and coach chassis were inherited from the development of the itegral single decker National bus in the late 1960s and released in 1972. The driver's dash and controls, as well as the steering and air throttle are lifted from the Leyland National. The Titan was developed during the 70s and was an integral bus as well and was quite sophisticated which is what put other operators off buying them, so the simplified Olympian chassis was born which enabled bus companies to have modern features of the Titan but with more traditional construction and simpler mechanical layout. London ended up ordering their own batch of Olympians in 1987, their last official bus type before full privatisation. They had some differences over other Olympians that were specified for the London Buses order. Engine options were the Gardner 6LXB like this one, the Cummins L10 and Leyland's own TL11 11 litre turbo charged diesel. Gearbox options were the Hydracyclic, an automatic version of the gearbox shown here, Voith automatic and the ZF Ecomat auto. Other buses you should try out is the Leyland National and National II an updated version released in 1979. Make sure the first National has it's unique 510 Leyland diesel as many got Volvo, Gardner and DAF engines fitted later in their lives. The National II got the Leyland 680, Gardner and TL11 as options from new. Another decker I'd love you to take out is the MCW Metrobus which came mainly with Gardner, but some got Cummins L10s and one London example got a Rolls Royce Eagle engine! All came with Voith 3 or 4 speed DIWA transmissions.

Thank you Lawrie and Matt for taking us along for the ride.

I was a bus driver in the 80's and drove mostly the Atlanteans, which had the same type of semi-auto box - a gear shift but no clutch. But the council-owned bus company, who were always the stingiest when it came to replacing anything, bought in a couple of used Olympians with the auto boxes and they were very jerky. Neither drivers nor passengers liked them much for that, so my guess is that's why it was changed. I have to say though I've had a lot of cars since and currently own a Jag, but there's just nothing like driving a Leyland bus. Satisfying somehow, I can't really explain why. It wasn't the salary that's for sure!

I remember these buses well with the Yorkshire Rider livery along with some serious bone shakers, I don't miss my head hitting the ceiling as the bus went over many potholes

I love these buses. They were the icon of Baghdad, Iraq in the good old days. Iraq is the only country in the Middle East that used to operate these buses. It took me 36 years back and by coincidence number 64 was passing through the neighborhood we lived in, what a coincidence ...........

You need to get a Routemaster bus on LMM Drives

On The Buses with Lawrie and Matt. Great video and I love the old school you show and talk about ;)

Yesterday I accidentally found this channel and now I’m instantly attached

Eastern bus enthusiasts brought me here. Great channel. Thanks for the video.

You don't need anything as fancy as a fuel gauge. They just top it up when they get back to the depot. Now if the adblue gauge were to fail on a modern bus, they would have to fix it as the engine would be put into limp mode to keep emissions down as it thinks its run out. Great video guys. How about a Bristol VR or a Leyland National next? Buses I remember from my youth. Maybe Laurie could find a railway with a preserved Pacer to compare with the Leyland National that gave its body to build the prototype rail bus.

16:58 love this bit, a Disney reference to George of the jungle. (even my old man use to be a bus driver, once apon a time)

Now I am envious! I'd love to drive a Mercedes O407, which was my school bus. I also recall the driver driving through the countryside with the doors opened on a summer day. Those were the days... I'd love to see more bus content, Lawrie!

Lawrie and Matt, great video . Thanks for sharing. A very interesting subject of the double decker bus and a great explanation of the workings going on. Not something we see in the US .

The bus on rails you are talking about is my favourite train the pacer trains. They are an icon of the railway.

This bus looks like a Confidence bus livery. Our school used these back in the days. Confidence have a massive amount of heritage buses and the depot is round the corner from where I live.

loved the pre-select gear box buses, I used to drive a Leyland tiger here in Australia.

I'm pretty sure I had one of those as my school bus. It was yellow and the top deck had more holes in the floor than Swiss cheese lol. Anyway another great video lawrie.

Nice. Ex bus driver here. Drove Leyland and Volvo Olympians as well as much newer stuff in my time. The old stuff was always better to drive I reckon. It's been a good few years since I've driven one, I must admit I'm, feeling a little nostalgic for the bus days. Get your hands on a Volvo B10 or a Leyland National if you can - awesome buses.

Very interesting video you have produced Lawrie. Bristol Commercial Vehicles were 50% by Leyland & 50 % by the National Bus Company. Charles H Roe was also owned by the Leyland Group.

loved this video used to have these for school the company had at least 4, the back seats used to get hot and started smoking good times haha

Hi Lawrie thoroughly enjoyed the Leyland Olympian review video and I would love to see another video

Wow a decker! Few years ago I was marshalling at an IAM event on a race circuit, knew the bus trainer in attendance and got a drive in an Ulsterbus Irzar coach round the circuit! Single decker though so Lawrie trumps me with a decker! 😭 Made my day

We had these as coaches on various school trips. They shake a lot, they smoke a lot and they're quite noisy, but for a 30 year old machine which has been used for decades everyday,, it's quite impressive I suppose

That model of Leyland bus was so successful due to that option of a Gardner diesel engine, I've known them do over a million and a half miles(not km's) without being touched apart for routine servicing of course, what did surprise me though was watching the oil being checked while the engine was running and oil warm, having run Gardner's for over 40 years I have never heard of that, but if it works why not. When Volvo took over there engines were being rebuilt after 300,000 if you were lucky and they used double the fuel of a Gardner but didn't get round any faster for it.

This was brilliant! Thank you guys! :-)

The pacer I.e the bus train still existed in the north until very recently used quite a lot as well

What a wonderful film. As always.

Thanks Lawrie, enjoyed this!

Funny how i get in this type of bus to school and its in the same livery 🤣

I really enjoyed that! Looking forward to more buses

Well done on this vid, great presentation style, really enjoyed this. Loved these buses, 1984, school trip, missed the bus, next bus (late for school assembly) Leyland National.

Our local operator had two of these they used to run round our area to service the two different high schools, all the way up untill around 2013-2014

Can definitely tell its an ex Yorkshire bus. Not least from the destination board, but that seat fabric brings back memories

Loved the video and would love to see more bus vids!

I drove a X reg bristol olympian with ECW body gardner semi auto on school runs for about 3 years. Lovely rattly thing, with the rear engine and front radiator it never got up to operating temperature in the winter and as a result I had to wear thermal underwear in the winter as there was no heating in the cab. The cab heater was useless. Fill it with 77 people and you would be fighting with a very heavy thing. :)

I’ve absolutely loved it ! I hope to see more!

I've been on this very bus when it was based in Peterborough probably mid to late 80s. A real treat after the tedious Bristol VRs that shook your fillings out.

My lovely share in that bus will miss it thanks for making me happy to see her running again such a lovely bus 10x was best bus I had the joy to see

I used to maintain that very bus, at confidence buses. Nice to see it's still going

‘Mighty’ & ‘Olympian’ are not 2 words I’ve ever seen together! I own a Leyland National, which is sort of an Olympian without the extra 6ft on the roof. So I know what troubles they cause! Rusty skirt struts and back window pans are main problems. As are airbags. Run it as often as possible, they don’t like being left for a long time. If you’ve got a Gardner you’ll be ok. They’re bullet proof. Keep an eye on the oils & all’s well. I’ve got a DAF 1160.

this video was a lot of fun. thank you.

Loved this! My new favourite expression for oil is now "Liquid Dinosaur"!

My name is Matthew so when you said "Hello Matt, want to come for a ride" It felt very strange...

Never seen a Layland bus before and their COOL!!!

You should try a proper bus Lawrie - the original Routemaster. Automatic with manual overide, power steering, dual hydraulic brakes, independent rear suspension. They will run rings around modern buses if maintained properly. Wheels up front so if you stick them round the corner, the back follows without having to worry about the overhang at the front. We used to drive them by starting off in automatic second (you never use first unless you are on a steep hill), which is actually in the 4th position on the column. When you feel it change up to third, push the lever through to the 3rd position instead of letting it change automatically, you can then get the most out of 3rd before pulling back to 4th/top. Great fun to drive. If want a real challenge, try driving a crash gearbox Bristol FLF. I only had an automatic licence on LT because of the RM's so I had to upgrade to a manual when I joined Wilts & Dorset in Poole. That makes your leg ache double declutching and no power steering either. The instructor also showed us how to change gear without using the clutch just by listening to the engine revs.

Lawrie, grab one of those, and turn it into a caravan! bedrooms upstairs, kitchen and dining/sitting room downstairs!

Got to love a Olympian, maybe you could try get this ones sister from confidence since your such a fan.

Thanks for sharing. 😎👌🏼

I left school in 2014 and there was multiple of these running. The company still runs one now in 2021.