Leyland Atlantean History

[Statto]

Merseyside PTE had it's heart set on Atlanteans [seeing as it's predecessor had the first one] so never brought many Olympians, apart from the evaluation fleet, Merseybus bought a batch of 70 Olympians in 88/89 first 15 & last few of the batch went to Laird Street.

GMPTE though, went with Olympians on NC body from early on, with a revised destination blind compared with the other GMPE types

 

[A0wen]

Merseyside PTE had it's heart set on Atlanteans [seeing as it's predecessor had the first one] so never brought many Olympians, apart from the evaluation fleet, Merseybus brought a batch of 70 Olympians in 88/89 first 15 & last few of the batch went to Laird Street.

GMPTE though, went with Olympians on NC body from early on, with a revised destination blind compared with the other GMPE types

Presumably GMPTE needed new vehicles where Merseyside didn't?

GMPTE also wanted Titans but don't think they ever got their full order.

Probably the most seamless transition from Atlantean to Olympian was London Country who got their last Atlantean in Feb 1981 (W reg) and their first Olympian in April 1982 (X reg).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Presumably GMPTE needed new vehicles where Merseyside didn't?

GMPTE also wanted Titans but don't think they ever got their full order.

Probably the most seamless transition from Atlantean to Olympian was London Country who got their last Atlantean in Feb 1981 (W reg) and their first Olympian in April 1982 (X reg).

Northern General received Atlanteans in Dec 1980 and their first Atlanteans in Aug 1981.

However, Ribble had pre-production Olympians before receiving their last Atlanteans but keeping to production examples, the last Atlanteans arrived in Jan 1981 with Olympians arriving in Jun 81.

 

[DunsBus]

Lothian took its last Atlanteans between August and November 1981, then its first Olympians in March 1982. The Olympians were replacements for two Titans which were ordered and subsequently cancelled.

 

[jammy36]

Plymouth were a loyal Leyland customer who took some 254 Atlanteans between June 1960 and December 1981 when their last Atlantean arrived (TTT171X). Three Olympians were then delivered in March 1982 (TTT172-174X with body numbers running consecutively from the Atlanteans) and then no more. The three Olympians only lasted a handful of years in Plymouth before being sold on. In fact one of the original 1960 batch of Atlanteans TCO537 would outlive the Olympians, being retained in ancillary use at Plymouth until 1989.

 

[GusB]

I am somewhat concerned that the scope of this thread may be a little too broad and feel that perhaps the Atlantean and the Olympian are worthy of separate discussions and shouldn't be lumped together simply because they are both Leyland products. I appreciate that while operators who had traditionally ordered the Atlantean would naturally progress onto the Olympian, others would have taken on the latter having previously ordered Fleetlines or Bristol VRs.

I've started a new thread to discuss the Olympian here:

Leyland Olympian History

Merseyside PTE had it's heart set on Atlanteans [seeing as it's predecessor had the first one] so never brought many Olympians, apart from the evaluation fleet, Merseybus bought a batch of 70 Olympians in 88/89 first 15 & last few of the batch went to Laird Street. GMPTE though, went with...

www.railforums.co.uk

Please use this thread to continue discussion of the Atlantean.

 

[Geordie driver]

There is a magazine called " Britain's Buses" for those who are interested, I don't think it's monthly, more an occasional one off, which had an issue devoted to rear engined buses, well worth a read. Plenty in there about the Atlantean.

 

[DunsBus]

GMPTE also wanted Titans but don't think they ever got their full order.

They got 15 Titans out of an order for 190: less than one-tenth!