Love the Leyland nationals, what a bus.! It takes me back to the 80s using the crosville livery ones in Cheshire. The sound of that engine never leaves you.! Heaven.
@@jamesfrench7299 You can't, believe me. The Leyland Olympian 700 series comes a close second but the sound of the Leylandiai National is orgasm on wheels. lol :)
@@charlesedwards4160 someone used that description for a Leopard with a Voith fitted in Sydney during the 1980s to evaluate the box. Is imagine Melbourne's Nationals fitted with a 2 speed ZF automatic was as well.
As a bus driver myself these days, I'm not fortunate enough to drive Nationals as you were. Great video. These Nationals pick up speed well, don't they. And that sound, is certainly to die for. I've been driving buses since 2001 and had a four and a half year break from it and soon as I went back to it, it didn't take long for me to get back into the sing of it. You never forget and once it's in the blood, that's it.
I must admit to being a bit envious....i haven't driven one of these since the 80's..at least !! I have to say that they handled pretty well in Bristol.....in heavy snow on challenging estate roads...surprised me at the time. My all time favourite is The National 2.....just love the sound of that 0.680 engine....magic......great video...Steve.
You're lucky, I despirately want a shot of a National, I've driven most other Leyland products, Leopards, Atlanteans, Tigers, Olympians, but I've never driven a National and I so want to!
themanmaschine I have sampled two very tired ones and their performance is nothing to write home about. As seen in the video, you have to wait an eternity for the revs to drop between gears, and you lose much needed performance that way. I drove a 1989 MAN SL202 with Voith transmission the same day as my first sample behind the wheel of a National and it was a big step up in both performance and drivability and THEY were considered sluggish by drivers.
Been on some long runs on them in the early 1980's with United,runs they generally used a coach style bus on but sometimes substituted other buses ,like Newcastle Berwick upon Tweed, Middlesbrough Scarborough and Newcastle Carlisle.
Nice film. I've watched it at least 5 times. I loved riding in the Nationals when they first arrived in my home area, c. 1973. It was 5p by National Bus or 2p by Corporation service, so a gross extravagance, but worth it!
Used to maintain,and drive the mk1 Nationals, they were very quick in their day as they were turbo charged, which in 1972 when they came out was quite something for a bus to be turbo, the mk2 was a naturally asperated engine
It was obvious as soon as he drove off that he had driven them a lot in service - us service drivers have a different style to those who only drive as a hobby ( did I say rather more forcefully!) but he knows how to use the gearbox properly.I only drove one Mk1 before they were withdrawn at Lincolnshire RoadCar, but a good few Mk2s and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. They were far better designed than many modern vehicles, I'm never as comfortable in a Volvo B12B etc as I was in these or Tigers.
That windscreen looks so panoramic in this video. You took to it like a bike pretty quickly. I drove Mercedes Benz 0305s until 2004. I hope I get to have another drive by 2026!
I remember the mark 2's. They engine made more of a growl than a whine of the mark 1's which were screaming at 40mph. I also remember the mark 2's were very hot in the cab. I think in Worthing the fleet numbers were 128 to 132, so nowhere near as many as mark 1's in use.
When I worked for First, they had about 30 odd mk2 Nationals still in regular service up until the latter part of 2002. I managed to get a few goes on them in service. I just loved the roar of the 680 engine although I prefer the mk1 by a long shot and at the time, First still had one mk1, but it went before the others as it blew its gearbox so sadly never got a go on it. Also, it wasn't totally original as it had a Volvo engine fitted and not the screaming 510. Those were the days.
he started his shift in his 50's and finished his shift in his late 20's lol. if only you could go back in time I did this year in a way when I went on a mk1 Leyland national. in Derbyshire.ex chase bus OJD868R. my first ride in a national for 15 years.
All I can add was that as a passenger, I missed my stops more times in Nationals than I can remember. I cannot remember any other bus whose engine note made me fall asleep! How drivers coped I really don't know!
I'm a bus driver myself and all the buses I drive are automatic. However, I'm getting on a bit now and have had a PCV licence for quite some time now so in the past drove National mk2s with semi-auto and Ivecos with manual gearboxes. I often look at my younger colleagues and feel superior because I have a manual PCV licence and they only have an auto entitlement. When I worked for a small bus firm, I was one of the few people that could drive their manual minibus because the others had an auto.
When I worked for United Counties, we had two National Mk2's, all the rest were Mk1's. I can't say I liked the Mk2's, with the Gardener engines. They were slower and didn't have the scream of the 510's which you associate with a National. I don't think any other bus has been so controversial, you either love them or hate them.
I wonder if 1100HondaCBs mk1 National with the Volvo engine was ex-People's Provincial from when they got taken over by First. Apparently the boys at People's Provincial Hoeford depot were the first to try converting mk1 Nationals to Volvo power due to the fact that parts for the Leyland engine were getting scarce and they were finding that when they were old they were quite prone to failing in a major and dramatic way. I don't know if anyone else tried the conversion but I remember from riding on that bus that the conversion worked well (for the passengers anyway) as it made the bus much quieter and it also seemed to be significantly quicker than the other mk1 Nationals that they still had at the time. The converted bus was a late mk1 National DPV (single door at the front and coach-type seats and luggage racks.) I think this was the only one they converted, certainly it is the only one I remember, and it is in preservation now as I recently saw it at a show looking exactly the same as I remember. I wonder if this will provoke any other memories...
The Volvo converted mk1 was EEL893V. I started as a driver in mid 2001 and it was the only mk1 on the fleet. We also had 32 mk2 Nationals. EEL 893V was scrapped because the gearbox started to loose 1st gear then 5th gear and then finally reverse gear. The engine was so powerful, it was easy for passengers to be on their back if one was to accelerate away before they were seated.
1100HondaCB Thank you for that. Yes, the Volvo engine certainly gave the old National get up and go that I can't remember standard Nationals having, though I'm not really old ;enough to remember them when they were brand new so maybe they were similarly sprightly when they had fresh engines in them. I remember the mk2s being introduced, they seemed a lot more modern and certainly had a very different sound to the original but they also seemed to get scruffy and rusty faster than the originals too. I didn't realise the Volvo converted bus had been scrapped, I thought it had been sold into preservation from the fleet...
gosportjamie If you look on a video on RUclips called 'Portsmouth buses 1996', EEL893V is seen passing through Commercial Road. The bus was in use for several years with the Volvo engine fitted.
Have you ever driven any Daf SB220's, I love being a passenger on one of those old girls, they're so loud and make so much fuss and noise wherever they go but they seem to be so dependable, they are sluggish off the line but once they get going they're like a tank, you can't stop them. Check out my videos on S710 KFT, it's one of the better maintained SB220's of Arriva North East's, it was actually nicknamed the tank by a few passengers I met, I still love the old beauty though
Oh dear, looks like I might be the odd one out here. I hated Leyland Nationals. I worked on London Country when we got the first ones back in 1972 (L reg). They were absolute rubbish. Dangerous due to uneven weight distribution and slow release brake actuators, making them very worrying in wet weather. Fly ON parking brakes, not like the later, pull on, ones. Your hand could touch the brake lever when you put them in 5th gear, and make it fly on, making an embarrassing unplanned emergency stop. Even the mechanics hated them. The huge fishtail exhaust had a propensity to fall off. All the London Country ones were removed from service for loads of modifications after a few accidents. We went back to the ever reliable and more comfortable RF`s for a while on the Green Lines. When they came back they were a bit better, but still had their plastic seats. The later ones were a bit of an improvement, in particular the Suburban SNC`s, but still rattled like mad. I even liked the Swifts and Merlins better. In my 40 years of driving all types of PSV`s from all manufacturers, the National was the worst. Sorry. Nice video though.
nww69 they aren't preselect, just straight semi automatic gear change. They use the same type of gear box though. With preselect you move the gear selector in the next gear you think you will use next, then activate it with a third pedal. The National is the only English bus I know of with right side gear changer, all others are on the left hand side, though the Volvo B58, which was sold in the UK market, had the semi automatic selector on the right.
We had leyland national 1 and 2 buses in trinidad those were the best buses I ever rode on, the only problem was that trinidad has a tropical climate and the buses were not air conditioned and the original windows were like this bus .
The leyland Nationals in trinidad didnt show rust , but like i said the only issue with those buses were the fact that they did'nt come with air conditioning
I was raised in Caracas, Venezuela and in the mid seventies a massive bus fleet renewal program took place and hundreds of new buses were acquired: from the US, REOs, from Germany Mercedes O317s, Hungarian Ikarus and from the UK at least 250 Leyland Nationals. They were magnificent and the most modern of the lot. I haven't been there in years, but five years ago, the Leylands, re-engined with DAF were still earning a living as Metrobus trainers. The Mercedes were the toughest of the lot, some of them are still running, and a few REOs are still back in the countryside. The Ikarus were the first to die though, no match for a hilly city, but Leyland and Mercedes earned a place of honor.
Why on earth did the bus companies take these beauties out of commission apart from the age of them. They were more reliable than the buses that are used today. Bring them back into service they'd certainly show these younger buses athing or two.
They were extremely finnicky and the engines weren't very durable. Parts depleted long ago for both the mechanicals and stamped body panels. They were never meant to be used much beyond 10 years.
Going to Newcastle on a Go Ahead Northern Leyland National...that engine noise. Brings back many happy memories.
Love the Leyland nationals, what a bus.! It takes me back to the 80s using the crosville livery ones in Cheshire.
The sound of that engine never leaves you.! Heaven.
OMG the sound of the engine takes me back. I can almost smell the cigarette smoke and feel the damp cold of the condensation covered windows.
My thoughts exactly.! 👍
You cannot beat the sound of a Leyland National.
Thanks for sharing.
You can but it's the most unique.
@@jamesfrench7299 You can't, believe me. The Leyland Olympian 700 series comes a close second but the sound of the Leylandiai National is orgasm on wheels. lol :)
@@charlesedwards4160 someone used that description for a Leopard with a Voith fitted in Sydney during the 1980s to evaluate the box.
Is imagine Melbourne's Nationals fitted with a 2 speed ZF automatic was as well.
Nice one, you took to the wheel as if it was yesterday. As they say its like riding a bike, you never forget.
The design and look of the National will never age. In my humble opinion, it remains fresh and up to date looking to this day.
Completely agree. 👍
Interior looks abit 1970s now. It's like they tried to make it space age at the time and eventually time overtook it.
As a bus driver myself these days, I'm not fortunate enough to drive Nationals as you were. Great video. These Nationals pick up speed well, don't they. And that sound, is certainly to die for. I've been driving buses since 2001 and had a four and a half year break from it and soon as I went back to it, it didn't take long for me to get back into the sing of it. You never forget and once it's in the blood, that's it.
I must admit to being a bit envious....i haven't driven one of these since the 80's..at least !! I have to say that they handled pretty well in Bristol.....in heavy snow on challenging estate roads...surprised me at the time. My all time favourite is The National 2.....just love the sound of that 0.680 engine....magic......great video...Steve.
I am so jealous! I haven't driven a National since 1995. They were my favourite vehicles ever. Once you have driven them you are totally addicted.
I was a bus driver until about 10 years ago, I liked the national (apart from the demisters which were rubbish) I would love to drive one again.
Those seats! I remember those seats on a hot day.
You're lucky, I despirately want a shot of a National, I've driven most other Leyland products, Leopards, Atlanteans, Tigers, Olympians, but I've never driven a National and I so want to!
Make sure it's not raining, otherwise you might find yourself going in a direction you didn't intend. I always disliked the things.
themanmaschine I have sampled two very tired ones and their performance is nothing to write home about. As seen in the video, you have to wait an eternity for the revs to drop between gears, and you lose much needed performance that way.
I drove a 1989 MAN SL202 with Voith transmission the same day as my first sample behind the wheel of a National and it was a big step up in both performance and drivability and THEY were considered sluggish by drivers.
that Leyland national sounds very sweet.wood love to have ride.
I miss driving these so much
Been on some long runs on them in the early 1980's with United,runs they generally used a coach style bus on but sometimes substituted other buses ,like Newcastle Berwick upon Tweed, Middlesbrough Scarborough and Newcastle Carlisle.
Nice film. I've watched it at least 5 times. I loved riding in the Nationals when they first arrived in my home area, c. 1973. It was 5p by National Bus or 2p by Corporation service, so a gross extravagance, but worth it!
Used to maintain,and drive the mk1 Nationals, they were very quick in their day as they were turbo charged, which in 1972 when they came out was quite something for a bus to be turbo, the mk2 was a naturally asperated engine
The mk2s had an extra 3 litres of capacity. The mk1s were quick and a few of the ex LT ones we had in Portsmouth were really quick.
It was obvious as soon as he drove off that he had driven them a lot in service - us service drivers have a different style to those who only drive as a hobby ( did I say rather more forcefully!) but he knows how to use the gearbox properly.I only drove one Mk1 before they were withdrawn at Lincolnshire RoadCar, but a good few Mk2s and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. They were far better designed than many modern vehicles, I'm never as comfortable in a Volvo B12B etc as I was in these or Tigers.
That windscreen looks so panoramic in this video.
You took to it like a bike pretty quickly.
I drove Mercedes Benz 0305s until 2004.
I hope I get to have another drive by 2026!
You never forget. Once it's in the blood!
Many drivers use to hate the mk2s in the summer as the cab use to get very hot because of the radiator up front. I prefer the mk1 in every aspect.
Proper gear changes too unlike some who jerk all the passengers around the bus!
I remember the mark 2's. They engine made more of a growl than a whine of the mark 1's which were screaming at 40mph. I also remember the mark 2's were very hot in the cab. I think in Worthing the fleet numbers were 128 to 132, so nowhere near as many as mark 1's in use.
When I worked for First, they had about 30 odd mk2 Nationals still in regular service up until the latter part of 2002. I managed to get a few goes on them in service. I just loved the roar of the 680 engine although I prefer the mk1 by a long shot and at the time, First still had one mk1, but it went before the others as it blew its gearbox so sadly never got a go on it. Also, it wasn't totally original as it had a Volvo engine fitted and not the screaming 510. Those were the days.
510 has a unique sound to this bus that they're so associated. Volvos and others just sound wrong put into that body.
that is sooo cool i am impressed with it all
The 510 engine picks up speed quite well.
he started his shift in his 50's and finished his shift in his late 20's lol. if only you could go back in time I did this year in a way when I went on a mk1 Leyland national. in Derbyshire.ex chase bus OJD868R. my first ride in a national for 15 years.
I used to work for Southdown at Havant depot, loved the Nationals and the Atlanteans
And an Almex ticket machine, what a blast from the past
Lucky you, I had a Setright. Not sure who had the better deal!
All I can add was that as a passenger, I missed my stops more times in Nationals than I can remember. I cannot remember any other bus whose engine note made me fall asleep! How drivers coped I really don't know!
I'm a bus driver myself and all the buses I drive are automatic. However, I'm getting on a bit now and have had a PCV licence for quite some time now so in the past drove National mk2s with semi-auto and Ivecos with manual gearboxes. I often look at my younger colleagues and feel superior because I have a manual PCV licence and they only have an auto entitlement. When I worked for a small bus firm, I was one of the few people that could drive their manual minibus because the others had an auto.
I took my PSV test on a Bristol LD lodekka (rear open platform), double declutch on all gears. Was a few years ago!
Like a duck to water. it all came back to him :-)
Plus the windscreen washer bottle was situated inside the front door. Handy at night time with no one on board to take a leak!!!
When I worked for United Counties, we had two National Mk2's, all the rest were Mk1's. I can't say I liked the Mk2's, with the Gardener engines. They were slower and didn't have the scream of the 510's which you associate with a National. I don't think any other bus has been so controversial, you either love them or hate them.
Remember those ticket machines...
I wonder if 1100HondaCBs mk1 National with the Volvo engine was ex-People's Provincial from when they got taken over by First. Apparently the boys at People's Provincial Hoeford depot were the first to try converting mk1 Nationals to Volvo power due to the fact that parts for the Leyland engine were getting scarce and they were finding that when they were old they were quite prone to failing in a major and dramatic way. I don't know if anyone else tried the conversion but I remember from riding on that bus that the conversion worked well (for the passengers anyway) as it made the bus much quieter and it also seemed to be significantly quicker than the other mk1 Nationals that they still had at the time. The converted bus was a late mk1 National DPV (single door at the front and coach-type seats and luggage racks.) I think this was the only one they converted, certainly it is the only one I remember, and it is in preservation now as I recently saw it at a show looking exactly the same as I remember. I wonder if this will provoke any other memories...
The Volvo converted mk1 was EEL893V. I started as a driver in mid 2001 and it was the only mk1 on the fleet. We also had 32 mk2 Nationals. EEL 893V was scrapped because the gearbox started to loose 1st gear then 5th gear and then finally reverse gear. The engine was so powerful, it was easy for passengers to be on their back if one was to accelerate away before they were seated.
1100HondaCB Thank you for that. Yes, the Volvo engine certainly gave the old National get up and go that I can't remember standard Nationals having, though I'm not really old ;enough to remember them when they were brand new so maybe they were similarly sprightly when they had fresh engines in them. I remember the mk2s being introduced, they seemed a lot more modern and certainly had a very different sound to the original but they also seemed to get scruffy and rusty faster than the originals too. I didn't realise the Volvo converted bus had been scrapped, I thought it had been sold into preservation from the fleet...
gosportjamie If you look on a video on RUclips called 'Portsmouth buses 1996', EEL893V is seen passing through Commercial Road. The bus was in use for several years with the Volvo engine fitted.
1100HondaCB Thank you for that, I will watch it, I well remember that bus in service due to it being so special...
Wouldn't mind a go at it myself.
The two Mk2's I remember were 585 and 586. I believe that 587 is in preservation.
What a lovely thrash! Thank you.
Have you ever driven any Daf SB220's, I love being a passenger on one of those old girls, they're so loud and make so much fuss and noise wherever they go but they seem to be so dependable, they are sluggish off the line but once they get going they're like a tank, you can't stop them. Check out my videos on S710 KFT, it's one of the better maintained SB220's of Arriva North East's, it was actually nicknamed the tank by a few passengers I met, I still love the old beauty though
Oh dear, looks like I might be the odd one out here. I hated Leyland Nationals. I worked on London Country when we got the first ones back in 1972 (L reg). They were absolute rubbish. Dangerous due to uneven weight distribution and slow release brake actuators, making them very worrying in wet weather. Fly ON parking brakes, not like the later, pull on, ones. Your hand could touch the brake lever when you put them in 5th gear, and make it fly on, making an embarrassing unplanned emergency stop. Even the mechanics hated them. The huge fishtail exhaust had a propensity to fall off. All the London Country ones were removed from service for loads of modifications after a few accidents. We went back to the ever reliable and more comfortable RF`s for a while on the Green Lines. When they came back they were a bit better, but still had their plastic seats. The later ones were a bit of an improvement, in particular the Suburban SNC`s, but still rattled like mad. I even liked the Swifts and Merlins better. In my 40 years of driving all types of PSV`s from all manufacturers, the National was the worst. Sorry. Nice video though.
TheLCNW Fly on parking brake, jeez that sounds weird.
Was the preselect on the right side of steering wheel on most english buses ????
nww69 they aren't preselect, just straight semi automatic gear change. They use the same type of gear box though. With preselect you move the gear selector in the next gear you think you will use next, then activate it with a third pedal.
The National is the only English bus I know of with right side gear changer, all others are on the left hand side, though the Volvo B58, which was sold in the UK market, had the semi automatic selector on the right.
Tiger, Titan, some Atlanteans plus from memory the SCG Lynx and some Olympians.
Ever seen CKB 166X mark 2 or YFY 4M mark 1
I have.
We had leyland national 1 and 2 buses in trinidad those were the best buses I ever rode on, the only problem was that trinidad has a tropical climate and the buses were not air conditioned and the original windows were like this bus .
But no rust to worry about with vehicles in the carribean due to its climate.
The leyland Nationals in trinidad didnt show rust , but like i said the only issue with those buses were the fact that they did'nt come with air conditioning
I was raised in Caracas, Venezuela and in the mid seventies a massive bus fleet renewal program took place and hundreds of new buses were acquired: from the US, REOs, from Germany Mercedes O317s, Hungarian Ikarus and from the UK at least 250 Leyland Nationals. They were magnificent and the most modern of the lot. I haven't been there in years, but five years ago, the Leylands, re-engined with DAF were still earning a living as Metrobus trainers. The Mercedes were the toughest of the lot, some of them are still running, and a few REOs are still back in the countryside. The Ikarus were the first to die though, no match for a hilly city, but Leyland and Mercedes earned a place of honor.
sobelou Caracas had 450 I believe. They must have looked mega impressive.
Hi Simon!
Hi, who's this?
Is this the Leyland Engine, or DAF?
Transport UK Leyland
was that you in the past and now ?
Yes!
@@heene You Drove Really Well :-) :-) :-)
Crosville Motor Services removed the Leyland engine unit for a Gardner HLXB More reliable and fuel efficient.
Robert Walsh stuff that, it doesn't sound right after a transplant. It's only half a natter then.
Where's this driver from
Worthing. The 1980's scenes were filmed there.
This is not PCD80R it is RUF37R
Why on earth did the bus companies take these beauties out of commission apart from the age of them. They were more reliable than the buses that are used today. Bring them back into service they'd certainly show these younger buses athing or two.
They were extremely finnicky and the engines weren't very durable. Parts depleted long ago for both the mechanicals and stamped body panels. They were never meant to be used much beyond 10 years.
They were scrap none of the Glasgow boys liked them