The DAB 12-1200B was a high-floor city bus built by Dansk Automobil Byggeri in Silkeborg, Denmark, in the 1980s and 1990s. Part of what the maker called the series 12, it had an aluminium body frame, air-operated folding doors and air brakes, and it was sold to Danish operators and exported to Poland, where eleven buses were assembled from 1994.
DAB 12-1200B at a glance
| Maker | Dansk Automobil Byggeri (DAB), Silkeborg, Denmark |
|---|---|
| Built | 1980s and 1990s, Silkeborg and Koszalin |
| Class | series 12, high-floor city bus, 12 m |
| Floor height | 760 mm |
| Engine | Leyland at first, later DAF LT195 of 265 hp |
| Gearboxes | semi-automatic at first, later ZF 4HP500 and ZF 5HP500 |
| Dimensions | 12,000 × 2,500 × 3,220 mm |
| Wheelbase | 5,750 mm |
| Gross weight | 17,000 kg |
| Capacity | 86 passengers, 24 seated |
| Doors | two or three, in five layouts |
| Brakes | air brakes, ABS and ASR on some buses |
There is no English Wikipedia article on the 12-1200B; the model is described on Polish Wikipedia, and the history of the maker comes from the Danish article on DAB. Based on one source for the model itself.
History of the DAB 12-1200B
The series 12 bus
The 12-1200B belonged to DAB’s series 12, a family of city buses produced in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a high-floor MAXI-class bus of 12 metres with a floor 760 mm above the road, an aluminium body frame and air-operated folding doors and brakes. Later buses of the type received photocells above the doors and protection against passengers being caught by a closing door.
Leyland first, DAF later
Early buses were delivered with a Leyland engine and a semi-automatic gearbox. In later production the Leyland engine gave way to a modern DAF unit, the LT195 of 265 hp, and the semi-automatic gearbox was replaced by ZF automatics, mainly with four, five or six ratios; the 4HP500 and 5HP500 are the units listed for the model. The door arrangement varied widely, from two doors in a 2-2-0 layout to three doors in 2-2-2 form, and ABS and ASR were fitted to some buses only.
A Polish chapter
The 12-1200B was among the DAB models exported to Poland at the beginning of the 1990s. From April 1994 the bus was also assembled in Poland, at the depot of the Koszalin operator MZK Koszalin, from parts supplied by Silkeborg. The first Koszalin-assembled bus was finished and presented a year later. Eleven buses were put together this way: two for Koszalin itself and the rest for operators in cities such as Gliwice and Olsztyn.
The end of DAB
DAB had been building buses since 1912, when it was founded in Silkeborg by the German J.W. Darr; it started with lorries and moved to bus bodies on Audi, Krupp and Büssing-NAG chassis, worked with Leyland from 1953 and supplied Copenhagen with a standardised bus in seven models from 1964. Scania took over the factory in 1995, the name changed to Scania A/B, Silkeborg in 1997, and DAB’s own models were dropped in 1999. The factory was sold in 2002 and the DAB name disappeared.
Design and features
- Aluminium frame: most of the body structure was made of aluminium, in the tradition of DAB’s modular buses.
- High floor: 760 mm above the road, with air-operated folding doors.
- Five door layouts: two- and three-door bodies with different arrangements for town work.
- Safety details: photocells above the doors and anti-trap protection on later buses.
- Engine change: from Leyland power with a semi-automatic gearbox to DAF power with ZF automatics.
DAB 12-1200B versions
- 2-2-0 and 2-2-1: two-door buses with two or three double doors.
- 2-2-2: the three-door layout.
- 2-0-1 and 2-0-2: bodies with a single door in the middle or at the rear.
- Leyland-engined buses: early production with a semi-automatic gearbox.
- DAF-engined buses: later production with the LT195 and ZF 4HP500 or 5HP500.
- Koszalin-assembled buses: eleven examples built in Poland from 1994.
The 12-1200B was joined in the range by the low-floor DAB 15-1200C of the 1990s. More Danish buses are in the DAB collection.
Video: MZK Koszalin DAB 12 -1200B
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- DAB 12-1200B, Polish Wikipedia: history, body, engines, Polish assembly, specifications
- Dansk Automobil Byggeri, Danish Wikipedia: company history, Leyland and Scania years
