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Your favourite-sounding bus?

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CN04NRJ

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For me it has to be a Cummins L10 / ZF Lynx. Not many videos floating about but this was my favourite one at Cardiff Bus before they were withdrawn in 2007, born just a few years too late to drive them as I started working for them in 2011. I've been fortunate to drive preserved 267 a few times but the gearbox is very muted compared to this one.

 
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From my time driving Lynxes (mainly on the service 1 in Bristol) they weren't particularly well put together. The throttle was very sensitive, there wasn’t much modulation, from idle to full revs didn’t take much foot movement; almost a binary ‘on/off’ arrangement, which needed careful handling in the Bristol peak hour. The retarders weren’t very effective either.

I can recall an instance of an inspector getting on my (double-deck) bus heading towards Lawrence Hill, he was clutching the nearside rear lens cluster from a Lynx. When I enquired about it being accident debris he said “No, just fell off”...

.. but that Cummins engine certainly had some grunt.
 

PG

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The throttle was very sensitive, there wasn’t much modulation, from idle to full revs didn’t take much foot movement; almost a binary ‘on/off’ arrangement, which needed careful handling in the Bristol peak hour.
Ah yes, I can still recall my first encounter with the Lynx, which was in Bristol in 1989 when they were brand new. I was last to board so naturally the driver got going as soon as I'd paid my fare, which wasn't unexpected (none of this waiting till folk sat down nonsense). I more or less flew down the gangway and thought Wow these things have got electric acceleration! Sounds like drivers didn't have much say in the matter if that was how the accelerator pedal worked.

Never driven a Lynx, did they have the same tiny square accelerator pedal as Nationals?
 

JonathanH

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The Lynx is a very underrated bus imo. It's a shame that the name of Leyland had been so degraded in the public mind by the time it was produced that, like its near contemporary the Titan, it never stood a chance of true analysis in bus engineering circles because, as we know, it's not the engineers that have the final (or, indeed, any) say but 'management' which at the time was bound up with political placemen in many cases.
It also had the misfortune to be on the market at the same time as the "bread van" revolution and during the time of bus deregulation when few operators were buying extensive fleets of full size single deckers. Then, the somewhat smaller Dart found its niche as the replacement for the late 1970s Nationals.

It does make quite a "smooth" and solid noise which is quite distinctive.
 

GusB

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It has taken me a while to reply here, mainly because it has taken me so long to decide which is my favourite. If I had to pick one, it would have to be a Leyland Tiger/TL11. Our primary school had an arrangement with Lossiemouth High School to use their swimming pool in the afternoons and for a time that particular journey (the outbound one at least) was allocated an off-duty Citylink coach. It was usually a standard Duple Dominant II, but occasionally we'd get one of the "new" Alexander TC Tigers. On one occasion we had one of the "NLTs" (London Tigers with Goldliner III bodies). I had been used to Leopards, Nationals and Fords but the Tigers had a sound that I loved.

The best sounding Tiger I've been on was one with a 6-speed ZF manual and it fairly romped along.
 

CN04NRJ

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It has taken me a while to reply here, mainly because it has taken me so long to decide which is my favourite. If I had to pick one, it would have to be a Leyland Tiger/TL11. Our primary school had an arrangement with Lossiemouth High School to use their swimming pool in the afternoons and for a time that particular journey (the outbound one at least) was allocated an off-duty Citylink coach. It was usually a standard Duple Dominant II, but occasionally we'd get one of the "new" Alexander TC Tigers. On one occasion we had one of the "NLTs" (London Tigers with Goldliner III bodies). I had been used to Leopards, Nationals and Fords but the Tigers had a sound that I loved.

The best sounding Tiger I've been on was one with a 6-speed ZF manual and it fairly romped along.

A long time ago, but I've got a video of me driving a manual Tiger / TL11 - they were certainly a challenge. Clutch was like an on/off switch!

 

Eyersey468

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Gardner engined Bristol VR or Leyland Olympian, going a bit more modern the Cummins engines used in Darts from about 2002 and the current generation ADL range
 
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Never driven a Lynx, did they have the same tiny square accelerator pedal as Nationals?
The Lynxes I drove had quite a large pedal, though not quite the ‘manhole covers’ of some earlier vehicle types. It was just very difficult to ‘feather’ them to get the revs required.

Those small pedals, or at least a descendant of them, appeared on the Cummins-engined, Palatine II-bodied Olympians in the fleet. Now they really were on/off in their effect on acceleration!
 

Romsey

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Yes I can understand the Bristol RELL's of various forms. The predecessor of that sound affect was the few Leyland engined semi automatic gear box fitted Bristol FLF's used by Hants and Dorset. Loud, fast and tuneful. It got my young ears attuned to different bus sounds beyond Bristol or Gardner or the underpowered AEC's of Southampton City.
 

gimmea50anyday

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Uniteds MAN engined Optare Vecta. That high perched rear bench seat above the engine always gave a lively ride.
Double decker you can't beat the Cummins powered Leyland Olympians as used by OK Travel (F105/6/7UEF K108/9/10YVN) as they we absolute flying machines and used to leave United/Northern examples for dust on the A167!
Coach, toss up between OK Travels Duple DAF MB230 or Scania 113/Van Hool as operated by Durham Travel on as they both sounded very beefy and used to rocket over the Moors between Whitby and Middlesbrough
 

Stevoj3026

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For me it has to be Tees (Later Arriva North East) ZF Boxed Mercedes Benz 0.405 Optare Prismas! They sounded absolutely gorgeous at full tilt!
 

cjohnsonjohnso

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Hi. It is said that the buses that you grew up with are your favorite ones. I grew up with London RTs which I could still enjoy (before Covid) on the London Bus Company run Epping Ongar Railway feeder service from Epping Station to North Weald and Ongar. I also enjoyed the sound of RFs, which they also have and Leyland Atlanteans with Leyland Engines.
 

Mikey C

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Hi. It is said that the buses that you grew up with are your favorite ones. I grew up with London RTs which I could still enjoy (before Covid) on the London Bus Company run Epping Ongar Railway feeder service from Epping Station to North Weald and Ongar. I also enjoyed the sound of RFs, which they also have and Leyland Atlanteans with Leyland Engines.
The best sounding bus isn't necessarily the same as your favourite bus though. While I love the sound of the London Ms, I much prefer the RMs or indeed the more modern B9/Gemini 2 or E400MMC!
 

GusB

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Hi. It is said that the buses that you grew up with are your favorite ones. I grew up with London RTs which I could still enjoy (before Covid) on the London Bus Company run Epping Ongar Railway feeder service from Epping Station to North Weald and Ongar. I also enjoyed the sound of RFs, which they also have and Leyland Atlanteans with Leyland Engines.

Welcome to the forum :)

I believe the Atlantean was only ever available with a Leyland engine (O600/O680/O690), though no doubt someone somewhere in the world will have tried to fit something different.
Leyland wasn't awfully keen on letting operators buy other manufacturer's engines however, when they acquired Daimler, they had customers who required both a low-height chassis and Gardner engines. There were some Fleetlines which had Daimler's own engines, but they were few in number. As far as I can recall, the Fleetline was re-engineered to take the O.680 at this point, and the low-height Atlantean was discontinued.

Leyland's obstinacy was more or less chucked out when they realised that some customers would not buy their products unless there was a Gardner engine option available. Hence, the Titan, Olympian, Tiger, and National 2 (eventually) allowed some choice.
 

L401CJF

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Cummins L10/ZF Volvo Olympian for me, the MTL Wirral batch of Palatine IIs were some of the best around in their day. Comfy seats, double glazed windows, interior radio, LED info displays. Very posh.


 

JModulo

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Never driven a Lynx, did they have the same tiny square accelerator pedal as Nationals?
Yes, same setup with air throttle.
I believe the Atlantean was only ever available with a Leyland engine (O600/O680/O690), though no doubt someone somewhere in the world will have tried to fit something different.
The late ones, certainly the GSC-X batch for Lothian, had the Leyland L11.
 

PG

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Yes, same setup with air throttle.
Hmm interesting... Maybe something in the arrangement on the Lynx made it more 'binary' than the National?
EDIT: thinking about it, maybe the National's turbo lag compensated for the on/off nature of the air throtle?
The late ones, certainly the GSC-X batch for Lothian, had the Leyland L11.
Ah thanks, I'm duly enlightened :idea:
 

JModulo

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Hmm interesting... Maybe something in the arrangement on the Lynx made it more 'binary' than the National?
EDIT: thinking about it, maybe the National's turbo lag compensated for the on/off nature of the air throtle?
May be down to the lynx having the reduction hub axle. Obviously it would limit top speed but improve torque and acceleration.
 
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