Daimler Fleetline: the rear-engined double-decker

The Daimler Fleetline was the second rear-engined double-decker bus chassis from a British maker, following Leyland’s Atlantean of 1958. Built from 1960 to 1983 and sold as the Leyland Fleetline from about 1975, it was one of the three Daimler bus chassis with a name as well as a code, together with the Freeline and the Roadliner.

Daimler Fleetline at a glance

History of the Daimler Fleetline

A low-floor double-decker

The Fleetline was the second rear-engined double-decker chassis from a British manufacturer, after Leyland launched the Atlantean in 1958. It had a drop-centre rear axle from the start, which let bodybuilders fit low-height bodywork without the awkward seating upstairs that early Atlanteans suffered; Leyland answered by offering a drop-centre axle as an option and dropped it once the two companies came under the same ownership in 1968. The prototype, shown in December 1960, had a Daimler engine, but production cars were offered only with Gardner 6LX or 6LW engines; Gardner’s more powerful 6LXB became an option in 1968 and Leyland’s O.680 in 1970. Gardner engines were valued for reliability and economy, Leyland engines were livelier but thirstier, and most customers preferred Gardner, although Leyland’s became popular when Gardner could not meet demand in the 1970s.

In the late 1960s Daimler developed a 36-foot double-deck Fleetline with a longitudinally mounted Cummins V6 at the rear offside corner, the same engine as the single-deck Roadliner. It was meant mainly for export, and one was built for Walsall Corporation Transport. In the mid-1970s Leyland produced a quieter version, the B20, with a Leyland O.690 engine and air cowls above the engine compartment on both sides; all of them went to London Transport. Chassis were built in Coventry until 1973 and then at Farington.

Codes and lengths

Chassis designations began with CR, where C is variously reported as Coventry or Commercial and R stands for rear-engined; single-deckers became SR, except the earliest examples, which kept the CR code. An engine code followed: D6 for the Daimler six used in prototypes, G6 for Gardner (usually written G6LW, G6LX or G6LXB), L6 for Leyland and C6 for Cummins. The standard length was 30 feet, with 33 and 36-foot versions sometimes marked by a -33 or -36 suffix. Later Leyland chassis used a different system: FE for Fleetline, then 30 or 33 for the length, A for air brakes, G or L for the engine and R for right-hand drive.

London and after

London Transport was the largest British customer, buying 2,646 between 1970 and 1978, the last 400 as B20s, after an earlier class of eight XF buses used from 1965 to compare the Fleetline with the Atlantean. London’s cars had Park Royal or MCW bodies and were classed DMS, for Daimler Mono-Standee or Daimler Multi-Standee, though at delivery in December 1970 they were advertised as “The Londoner Bus” to avoid confusion with the Fleet Line of the Underground then under construction. The first entered service on 2 January 1971 on routes 95 and 220; the first batch had Gardner engines but most London cars were Leyland-engined, and nearly 200 B20s received Iveco engines in the 1980s.

The type proved unpopular in London, mainly because boarding was slower than on the open-platform Routemasters. A coin-operated turnstile system, AFC, was tried and abandoned on 27 May 1979 when it was producing only 4 per cent of revenue and proving unreliable. Maintenance was another problem, as parts failed sooner and a rear-engined, front-entrance bus could not be split from its body for modular overhaul, while a 50 per cent government grant made replacement cheaper than overhaul at the first seven-year recertification. Withdrawals began in February 1979 as Leyland Titans and MCW Metrobuses arrived, and some Fleetlines were scrapped before ten years old, though hundreds were bought second-hand by operators across Britain from 1979 and through the 1980s. In Germany the type is remembered for exports to Portugal, South Africa and Hong Kong, and London’s last Fleetline, DMS 2438, finished its route on 2 January 1993.

Design and features

• Drop-centre rear axle: low-height bodies without an awkward upper-deck layout.
• Gardner or Leyland power: 6LX, 6LW, 6LXB, O.680 and finally the quiet B20.
• Named chassis: one of three Daimler bus chassis with a name as well as a code, with the Freeline and Roadliner.
• Long London service: 2,646 buses, the biggest British fleet.
• Second-hand career: hundreds sold on to other operators after London withdrawal.

Daimler Fleetline versions

• Fleetline CR: the standard 30-foot double-decker chassis.
• CR-33 and CR-36: longer chassis, the 36-foot car with a Cummins V6.
• SR: single-deck version of the chassis.
• B20: quiet Leyland-engined version for London Transport.
• Leyland Fleetline: the name used from about 1975.

The Fleetline sat alongside the single-deck Freeline and the Roadliner in Daimler’s bus range. More vehicles are in the Daimler collection.

Sources

• Daimler Fleetline, English Wikipedia: design, engines, codes, London Transport history
• Daimler Fleetline, German Wikipedia: production years, engine outputs, export markets, London dates