My old boss bought four secondhand which were still fairly modern. He always referred to them as 'Dennis Detonators'! As they would be working lovely and then just completely expire without a moments hint of anything being wrong. He sold them after a short period to another independent in the area and bought something older and more reliable to replace them.
Hi i'm viatron from Sheffield once again, but I'd remember they were Dennis Dominator with East Lancs bodywork (demonstrator) had visited Downing Street in Central Westminster in the dark via being parked outside of No.10 & they is an image of it on the Dennis Vehicles Owners website back in 1977 & this were also for S.Y.P.T.E. plus it had been fitted with a Gardner 6LXB 6-cylinder diesel engine via an unusual Maxwell fully-automatic gearbox. Thank you for your co-operation on this very special vintage Dennis Dominator rear engined double deck bus subject from David Viatron Esquire of crookes in Sheffield.
The brief mention of the Dennis Arrow bought back some memories. I lived in east London and travelled on Capital Citybus's fleet on the 369. They occasionally strayed onto the 179 which predominately used double deck Dennis Lances with Palatine 2 bodies. Not sure what engines the Arrows used but they could barely pull the skin off a rice pudding when half loaded!
@@mjt8199 I used to see them when I was driving for London Central in the late 90's. I'm sure some were in a specific livery for rail replacement on one of the lines. They were orange and white. I always remember their incredible rear overhang....
@@JakeSCOCMy mistake, they were Arrows with Palatine 2 bodies. The orange/white ones were for the East London line replacement services in 1998 and served in that livery for quite a while after that ended. The rear overhang was something else, particularly evident on the ELC bodied variants.
Met Geoffrey Hilditch whilst he was General Manager at Leicester in the early 90’s, very knowledgeable man. He was also instrumental in ensuring that former Leicester City Transport Leyland Titan PD2/1 (FJF 193), dating from 1950, was brought back to Leicester in the mid 80’s and restored from a semi-derelict condition. This bus was re restored a couple of years ago by some of the same staff that restored it in the 1980’s.
Those H1-H3 London ones looked superb when new going through Roehampton ,I’m sure that scrap chassis had a body fitted and painted red and was used on the 27 to test the dominator bits and bobs ,please look up the Foden NC mate All the best Mark 😊😊
@@marksinthehouse1968Hi Mark. I never saw the AVE buses in the flesh but I bet that was an interesting time to be in London? Foden NC is definitely going to be the subject of a video Mark... I've just got to research it!
Friend of mine who looked after the London ones at Brixton always called them Dennis Urineator’s , when a driver rang in to say one had caught fire but not to worry he had used the fire extinguisher and put it out he told him to set light to it again lol I drove a Brighton one , I found it a rather course thing to drive
@JakeSCOC I drove Metrobus's for years definitely better mechanically although they did have there issues like fitting the bone plates between the front airbags , I drove Alexander body Metrobus's to they were dreadful things , still to this day my favourite bus to drive and I drove them for quite a few years were Ailsa, even though ours were hanging they flew
Hyndburn Transport bought three Dominators. Two were the MK1 the second I think may have been the MK2 all East Lanks bodies. I remember them struggling up hills but swaying away over bumps because of the air suspension, something Hyndburn was not used to as all their previous Atlantians were bone shaking leafe suspensions. They also bought two Falcans East Lancs. One ended up where I live now in Malta.
@JakeSCOC Oh yes I loved them. It wasn't until later I realized they were Gardner engines when I drove MCW Metroliner's and Leyland Olympians and the engine noise was the same 😂
I don't know if this is the "scrap" Daimler you referred to, but Roe bodied Leeds City Transport CVG6 7517 UA passed to Dennis after withdrawal in 1975. It was retrofitted with a Gardner 6LXB engine and Voith gearbox, and was used as a testbed for the proposed Dennis Dominator mechanicals, seeing service in many places including London. The bus itself entered service in Leeds on 7 Nov 1959, significant in that this was the final day trams ran in Leeds. Plenty of photos online of it in Dennis testbed service
@@superted6960 Ah yes brilliant. Thanks. More than likely that's the one. It was very confusing during the research as some sources said one thing and others said something else plus I'd heard yet other things.
The first Dominator (SHE) delivered to South Yorkshire was a dual door. All the subsequent Alexander bodies Dominators were single door. When they were withdrawn from service the last bus had a ‘last Dennis Dominator In Service’ sign on it, also showing the various operators logos and the years in service. Apparently First were not happy that the public were shown that they were still using a bus of this age. Loving this series.
@@unclenolly3207 Glad you're enjoying the series. It's a shame that some operators feel like that isn't it? Yet others are more than happy to celebrate their heritage.
@@JakeSCOC To be honest, compared to the other buses in service, with First, at that time, the Dominator still looked good. There was such a mish-mash of ages, manufacturers and coach builders, plus that livery didn’t do any bus any favours. Southern Vectis buses looked way better.
Thanks for uploading this. I was brought up in South Yorkshire and remember these very well. At the time SYPTE also bought some MCWs which I liked as well.
As a quick note South Yorkshire zPTE had a trollybus I’m sure based on the dominator electro line or something it had eastlancs Alexanda bodywork and is preserved I think 😊
O.K. Motor Services bought TUP 104V new in 1980 with Northern Counties bodywork it was pride of the fleet for many years and then suffered reliabilty issues and customer complaints that its was a smelly bus as the location of the batteries in the floor would stink maybe due to an replacement Gardner engine with a larger alternator left on as its donor ? It then sold to Chester City Transport in 1988 to make way for a new delivery of three new Volvo Olympians with L10 and ZF powertrains and Northern Counties bodywork and where a far better drive for the 724 service route
I remember the Thamesdown ones, they had some ex-Leicester ones, then some of their own bought new. One of the later 1991 ones like in the photo was decapitated H973 XHR if I remember correctly, then rebuilt at a fair cost. I think they ended up with Black and White
@ yes they did, they painted 2 to advertise the local radio station, played the radio in them and called them Thunderbuses. They were B registered and I think fleet numbers 63-68. I think they had them in from new as well.
It's funny that I remember XBF700S on the 155 route. I also travelled on one of the last Dominators built- on the same route some years later! I understand 5700 just 'disappeared' which is a shame. Have clear memories of the ex Merseyside units too; they retained the cityscape line drawings on the interior coving panels. 🤓
Hi Jake, Dad(Buz) commented "that your research made for a great video" he also said "that he would have liked to have seen a Van Hool bodied type as in case of SYT. AKA the Alisa and Atlanteans" although he thinks the body weights may have been an issue.
@@jadeboswell-rz2ly Hi Jade. And thank you and Buz. Yes I genuinely liked the Van Hool bodies, I thought they looked modern and fresh at the time. But quite boxy which I guess was the fashion of the day? One on something different (Dominator or even Olympian) would have be very interesting. The UK bus building industry could have gone a totally different way.
So in todays bus manufacturing I take it the now big player Alexandra Dennis is still the Dennis from this video but merged or owned by Alexandra coach works to become Alexandra Dennis?
@@highpath4776 He may well have done. He did get around. I know he advised the government on deregulation too. I used to read his articles in Buses Magazine and Buses Annual and never realised at the time!
Western SMT (later Western Scottish) had quite a sizeable Dominator fleet and these were all based at Greenock Depot. The Dominators were selected to apparently cope with the fearsome hills there and indeed it wasn’t unusual for a bus to enter the depot with its brakes on fire! All the Dominators passed to Clydeside Scottish on its creation. Some were also later upseated with coach seats and used on Clydeside’s inter-urban express services branded as Quicksilver. Later, as part of the reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group as a prelude to privatisation, Western and Clydeside were reunited but Western was firmly in charge. The Dominators passed back to Western livery only to pass back to the newly formed Clydeside 2000 when Clydeside and Western were separated again post-privatisation! Clydeside 2000’s fleet of Dominators was later sold to Argos Bus of Hong Kong which saw their windows replaced with tropical semi-open ones - retro-fitting aircon was impossible - and they ran there for some time. Fortunately one survived and is under long-term restoration at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust. I understand it still retained its Clydeside 2000 interior adverts which must have caused some confusion to the citizens of Hong Kong Central and Western were the only Group subsidiaries to get the Dominator new. One of Central’s was loaned to Eastern to cover an advertising contract based out of Eastern’s Airdrie depot - It specifically stated a double decker was to be used - and later Central assumed control of Airdrie depot. You can understand why in Scottish Bus Group terms, the bus was regarded as a homing pigeon of a bus. Four of Central’s went to Eastern and these passed to Lowland Scottish upon its creation. Despite being non-standard, they were quite long-lived with the company lasting into Firstbus days. Another twelve of Central’s ended up at Kelvin Scottish when it came into being but these then ended back with their original owner when Kelvin and Central merged to form Kelvin Central Buses (KCB) as part of the privatisation process. They lasted until KCB was acquired by Strathclyde’s Buses in 1994 - the former Strathclyde PTE operation- which then decided to get rid of non-standard types. The Dominators were replaced by Leyland Atlanteans at KCB from its new owners fleet. Oddly First Glasgow - as Strathclyde’s Busee became - did get some Dominators as the ex-Capital Citybus ones mentioned as bought new in the video were cascaded to First Glasgow. They weren’t popular mainly due to their horrible plastic seats. I always liked the Dominators and was a regular passenger on the Kelvin ones for a good number of years. It was a very tuneful bus and rode well. It laid the foundation for Dennis to be the force in the bus industry it is now. Also hate being that guy but the last four Dominators actually had East Lancs bodies. I believe it was called the E-type by East Lancs. It was basically a clone of the Alexander R-type and was probably designed with tracing paper.
@@54scottie Hi Scott, that's brilliant. Thank you for commenting. All very interesting. I can see why they'd use Dominators with all the hills. I've just double checked the video and I genuinely can't believe I've said Alexander when I meant East Lancs. I was actually briefly involved in the bus too 🤣🙄. Brain not engaged. Sorry.
@@sameyers2670 Glad you enjoyed it. OK, I might not explain it as well as an engineer would but here goes. A conventional drop centre axle is driven via a diff like an normal beam axle. A hub reduction axle has extra gearing in the hubs which can reduce the speed ratio of the wheels and offer more torque. I think that's right.
For those that might not know Hestair was an "investment trust"- for want of better phrase- that had financial holdings in assorted companies. I think they got their monies worth over the years before they sold Dennis on.
@@JakeSCOC I think they owned Kiddicraft toys about that time ( and some other householdy name but I didnt keep corporate reports - there is a Library near Moorgate in London that has all published corporate reports if anyone feels like checking )
The Arriva Yorkshire ones were Arrows which also had N-TPK registrations (N801-810 TPK IIRC), fleet numbers 501-510 in Yorkshire. They were awful, no power and bodies that leaked like sieves!!
I don't think they all had air suspension as I traveled on these in 83 in Leicester when I was at the Poly and they were I recall steel sprung and road a lot worse than the remaining Scania's or the new Metrobus I had started to enjoy in Coventry.
Perhaps without privatisation and deregulation we would have had more conventional lives for the vehicles, and more orders, the years with none clearly being years of general vehicle purchase caution. The London and Country ones sound like they were made up of spare parts found in the factory just up the hill, but strange not to keep them as one batch together.
It wasn't just Geoffrey Hillditch. Jim Sambrooks of Doncaster was equally a driving force in the inception of the Dominator. In the early 1970s they had found themselves demoted to Engineering Directorship of the neighbouring West and South Yorkshire PTEs, the former Leeds bus came from WYPTE stock and when scrapped it's gearbox and engine were added to Leicester spares stock. Given the circumstances it's not a surprise that SYPTE and Leicester were the biggest buyers.
@highpath4776 I think at that time with London and Country, you were never sure what buses was going to appear. They also had Dennis Arrows too didn't they?? Certainly a lot of variety.
Hi all. Rather embarrassing, the last Dominators were bodied by East Lancs not Alexander as I say in the video. Apologies, brain wasn't in gear.
Most Leicester Dominators were East Lancs not Alexander bodied
@chrismoseley2191 Yes indeed
My old boss bought four secondhand which were still fairly modern. He always referred to them as 'Dennis Detonators'! As they would be working lovely and then just completely expire without a moments hint of anything being wrong. He sold them after a short period to another independent in the area and bought something older and more reliable to replace them.
@@KellinoRail Dennis Detonators. Love it! 😂
Hi i'm viatron from Sheffield once again, but I'd remember they were Dennis Dominator with East Lancs bodywork (demonstrator) had visited Downing Street in Central Westminster in the dark via being parked outside of No.10 & they is an image of it on the Dennis Vehicles Owners website back in 1977 & this were also for S.Y.P.T.E. plus it had been fitted with a Gardner 6LXB 6-cylinder diesel engine via an unusual Maxwell fully-automatic gearbox. Thank you for your co-operation on this very special vintage Dennis Dominator rear engined double deck bus subject from David Viatron Esquire of crookes in Sheffield.
Hi David. I've actually seen that picture. I think it had number 10 on the destination blind.
Good to hear from you as always.
Known as the Dennis Detonator in Sheffield. Apart from the one that was rebuilt after an engine fire, which was the Dennis Incinerator!
@@richardsimpson3792 Love it 🤣
The brief mention of the Dennis Arrow bought back some memories. I lived in east London and travelled on Capital Citybus's fleet on the 369. They occasionally strayed onto the 179 which predominately used double deck Dennis Lances with Palatine 2 bodies. Not sure what engines the Arrows used but they could barely pull the skin off a rice pudding when half loaded!
@@mjt8199 I used to see them when I was driving for London Central in the late 90's. I'm sure some were in a specific livery for rail replacement on one of the lines. They were orange and white. I always remember their incredible rear overhang....
@@JakeSCOCMy mistake, they were Arrows with Palatine 2 bodies. The orange/white ones were for the East London line replacement services in 1998 and served in that livery for quite a while after that ended. The rear overhang was something else, particularly evident on the ELC bodied variants.
They were used on East London line replacement services.
Brilliant video.
Big fan of these buses.
@@TheBusEnthusiast Thank you. Glad you liked it.
Met Geoffrey Hilditch whilst he was General Manager at Leicester in the early 90’s, very knowledgeable man. He was also instrumental in ensuring that former Leicester City Transport Leyland Titan PD2/1 (FJF 193), dating from 1950, was brought back to Leicester in the mid 80’s and restored from a semi-derelict condition. This bus was re restored a couple of years ago by some of the same staff that restored it in the 1980’s.
@@michaelkeen5010 That's brilliant Michael. It's nice when managers are enthusiastic and get involved in restoration projects.
Yes more classic bus history🎉 I absolutely love these series of videos and the rest that you do keep up the great work
@@thedaddie Thank you. Glad you liked it.
Those H1-H3 London ones looked superb when new going through Roehampton ,I’m sure that scrap chassis had a body fitted and painted red and was used on the 27 to test the dominator bits and bobs ,please look up the Foden NC mate
All the best
Mark 😊😊
@@marksinthehouse1968Hi Mark. I never saw the AVE buses in the flesh but I bet that was an interesting time to be in London?
Foden NC is definitely going to be the subject of a video Mark... I've just got to research it!
@@JakeSCOCnice one be good if I could help mate all the best 😊
Friend of mine who looked after the London ones at Brixton always called them Dennis Urineator’s , when a driver rang in to say one had caught fire but not to worry he had used the fire extinguisher and put it out he told him to set light to it again lol
I drove a Brighton one , I found it a rather course thing to drive
@@BerlietGBC lol 🤣. They certainly have that hone made feel to them don't they? More so than the Metrobus.
@JakeSCOC I drove Metrobus's for years definitely better mechanically although they did have there issues like fitting the bone plates between the front airbags , I drove Alexander body Metrobus's to they were dreadful things , still to this day my favourite bus to drive and I drove them for quite a few years were Ailsa, even though ours were hanging they flew
@BerlietGBC That's brilliant. I've never managed to get hold of an Ailsa.
Hyndburn Transport bought three Dominators. Two were the MK1 the second I think may have been the MK2 all East Lanks bodies. I remember them struggling up hills but swaying away over bumps because of the air suspension, something Hyndburn was not used to as all their previous Atlantians were bone shaking leafe suspensions. They also bought two Falcans East Lancs. One ended up where I live now in Malta.
@@DavidPeacock1972 I bet they were a bit of a culture shock after those Atlanteans David?
@JakeSCOC Oh yes I loved them. It wasn't until later I realized they were Gardner engines when I drove MCW Metroliner's and Leyland Olympians and the engine noise was the same 😂
I don't know if this is the "scrap" Daimler you referred to, but Roe bodied Leeds City Transport CVG6 7517 UA passed to Dennis after withdrawal in 1975. It was retrofitted with a Gardner 6LXB engine and Voith gearbox, and was used as a testbed for the proposed Dennis Dominator mechanicals, seeing service in many places including London. The bus itself entered service in Leeds on 7 Nov 1959, significant in that this was the final day trams ran in Leeds. Plenty of photos online of it in Dennis testbed service
@@superted6960 Ah yes brilliant. Thanks. More than likely that's the one. It was very confusing during the research as some sources said one thing and others said something else plus I'd heard yet other things.
That’s the baby it was used on the 27 here in west London bec it passed Chiswick works so ideal great think you 😊
The first Dominator (SHE) delivered to South Yorkshire was a dual door. All the subsequent Alexander bodies Dominators were single door.
When they were withdrawn from service the last bus had a ‘last Dennis Dominator In Service’ sign on it, also showing the various operators logos and the years in service. Apparently First were not happy that the public were shown that they were still using a bus of this age.
Loving this series.
@@unclenolly3207 Glad you're enjoying the series. It's a shame that some operators feel like that isn't it? Yet others are more than happy to celebrate their heritage.
@@JakeSCOC To be honest, compared to the other buses in service, with First, at that time, the Dominator still looked good. There was such a mish-mash of ages, manufacturers and coach builders, plus that livery didn’t do any bus any favours. Southern Vectis buses looked way better.
@unclenolly3207 Southern Vectis buses still do look good 😊
Thanks for uploading this. I was brought up in South Yorkshire and remember these very well. At the time SYPTE also bought some MCWs which I liked as well.
@@adamlee3772 Not a problem. Glad you enjoyed it.
@ really looking forward to the video that you are doing featuring the trolleybus 🚎
@adamlee3772 I didn't realise there were so many different varieties of Dominator. Hope you enjoy it when it's released.
@ I had some understanding but I probably underestimate the total.
As a quick note South Yorkshire zPTE had a trollybus I’m sure based on the dominator electro line or something it had eastlancs Alexanda bodywork and is preserved I think 😊
@@marksinthehouse1968 They sure did Mark and it's coming up in part 2. I was watching a video of it the other day. Crikey it's noisy for a trolley!
O.K. Motor Services bought TUP 104V new in 1980 with Northern Counties bodywork it was pride of the fleet for many years and then suffered reliabilty issues and customer complaints that its was a smelly bus as the location of the batteries in the floor would stink maybe due to an replacement Gardner engine with a larger alternator left on as its donor ? It then sold to Chester City Transport in 1988 to make way for a new delivery of three new Volvo Olympians with L10 and ZF powertrains and Northern Counties bodywork and where a far better drive for the 724 service route
The bus with the grooviest name in the world!
@@Stevenspielburger Dominator. That name means business eh?
@@JakeSCOC Nah, mr pieburgers real first name is Dennis
I remember the Thamesdown ones, they had some ex-Leicester ones, then some of their own bought new. One of the later 1991 ones like in the photo was decapitated H973 XHR if I remember correctly, then rebuilt at a fair cost. I think they ended up with Black and White
@@benblakey5607 Very interesting. Didn't they have some coach seated ones?
@ yes they did, they painted 2 to advertise the local radio station, played the radio in them and called them Thunderbuses. They were B registered and I think fleet numbers 63-68. I think they had them in from new as well.
@benblakey5607 Very nice! That was quite popular at the time wasn't it? Adverts for radio stations and playing on the bus.
It's funny that I remember XBF700S on the 155 route. I also travelled on one of the last Dominators built- on the same route some years later!
I understand 5700 just 'disappeared' which is a shame.
Have clear memories of the ex Merseyside units too; they retained the cityscape line drawings on the interior coving panels.
🤓
@@stuartn3522 Lucky man!
Yes I've heard people mention those Liverpool city escapes on the roof panels. I'd have loved to have seen them.
I know a driver who would agree a much happier time in much happier working practices, seems like the old guard had a general interest in engineering.
@@NextSound170 Yes I tend to agree with you.
Dennis Dominator! Another bus that could go to about 12 parts lol! With the different variations and the offshoots
@@edbridges1164 They're proving to be a popular vehicle. Can see why I've had to do two videos Ed ? 🤔😊
Halifax Joint Committee. It become clear 😂they had some unfeasible buses. Always thought they were a passion play. Black Prince of Morley. Kudos!
Hi Jake, Dad(Buz) commented "that your research made for a great video" he also said "that he would have liked to have seen a Van Hool bodied type as in case of SYT. AKA the Alisa and Atlanteans" although he thinks the body weights may have been an issue.
@@jadeboswell-rz2ly Hi Jade. And thank you and Buz. Yes I genuinely liked the Van Hool bodies, I thought they looked modern and fresh at the time. But quite boxy which I guess was the fashion of the day? One on something different (Dominator or even Olympian) would have be very interesting. The UK bus building industry could have gone a totally different way.
@JakeSCOC Dad use to show us body design that he had sketched.
@jadeboswell-rz2ly I'm glad I'm not the only one who used to do that Jade
@@JakeSCOC Dad said "that's the engineer in you" Thank you Jake, Dad's well smiling.
@jadeboswell-rz2ly No worries Jade and yes, I used to love designing bodywork and buses in general.
So in todays bus manufacturing I take it the now big player Alexandra Dennis is still the Dennis from this video but merged or owned by Alexandra coach works to become Alexandra Dennis?
@@Dreamweaver787 Yes. It's a combination of Dennis and Alexander the coach builder from Falkirk.
And the Ashcart manufacturing activities of Dennis went to a company called Eagle
@@JakeSCOC Thanks 👍
Didnt Geoffrey Hilditch get a bit of involvement with East Lancs too in early times of Drawlane management being involved with them?
@@highpath4776 He may well have done. He did get around. I know he advised the government on deregulation too. I used to read his articles in Buses Magazine and Buses Annual and never realised at the time!
4 vol book on Geoffrey hilditch
Geoffrey didn't arrive at LCT until 1975, by which time all the Metropolitans had entered service.
@@markstramtrainbuscapades1729 so they were ordered by the previous manager?
@@JakeSCOC yes. Trying to think of his name. Lesley something! Green?
Western SMT (later Western Scottish) had quite a sizeable Dominator fleet and these were all based at Greenock Depot. The Dominators were selected to apparently cope with the fearsome hills there and indeed it wasn’t unusual for a bus to enter the depot with its brakes on fire! All the Dominators passed to Clydeside Scottish on its creation. Some were also later upseated with coach seats and used on Clydeside’s inter-urban express services branded as Quicksilver.
Later, as part of the reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group as a prelude to privatisation, Western and Clydeside were reunited but Western was firmly in charge. The Dominators passed back to Western livery only to pass back to the newly formed Clydeside 2000 when Clydeside and Western were separated again post-privatisation! Clydeside 2000’s fleet of Dominators was later sold to Argos Bus of Hong Kong which saw their windows replaced with tropical semi-open ones - retro-fitting aircon was impossible - and they ran there for some time. Fortunately one survived and is under long-term restoration at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust. I understand it still retained its Clydeside 2000 interior adverts which must have caused some confusion to the citizens of Hong Kong
Central and Western were the only Group subsidiaries to get the Dominator new. One of Central’s was loaned to Eastern to cover an advertising contract based out of Eastern’s Airdrie depot - It specifically stated a double decker was to be used - and later Central assumed control of Airdrie depot. You can understand why in Scottish Bus Group terms, the bus was regarded as a homing pigeon of a bus.
Four of Central’s went to Eastern and these passed to Lowland Scottish upon its creation. Despite being non-standard, they were quite long-lived with the company lasting into Firstbus days. Another twelve of Central’s ended up at Kelvin Scottish when it came into being but these then ended back with their original owner when Kelvin and Central merged to form Kelvin Central Buses (KCB) as part of the privatisation process. They lasted until KCB was acquired by Strathclyde’s Buses in 1994 - the former Strathclyde PTE operation- which then decided to get rid of non-standard types. The Dominators were replaced by Leyland Atlanteans at KCB from its new owners fleet. Oddly First Glasgow - as Strathclyde’s Busee became - did get some Dominators as the ex-Capital Citybus ones mentioned as bought new in the video were cascaded to First Glasgow. They weren’t popular mainly due to their horrible plastic seats.
I always liked the Dominators and was a regular passenger on the Kelvin ones for a good number of years. It was a very tuneful bus and rode well. It laid the foundation for Dennis to be the force in the bus industry it is now.
Also hate being that guy but the last four Dominators actually had East Lancs bodies. I believe it was called the E-type by East Lancs. It was basically a clone of the Alexander R-type and was probably designed with tracing paper.
@@54scottie Hi Scott, that's brilliant. Thank you for commenting. All very interesting. I can see why they'd use Dominators with all the hills.
I've just double checked the video and I genuinely can't believe I've said Alexander when I meant East Lancs. I was actually briefly involved in the bus too 🤣🙄. Brain not engaged. Sorry.
8:08 probably the reason why buses don’t have sliding windows anymore! 😅
@@MannyAntipov Ah yes, the Scallys like that who like to hang out windows....
What's the difference between a drop centre axle and a hub reduction axle? Thank you this was interesting.
@@sameyers2670 Glad you enjoyed it.
OK, I might not explain it as well as an engineer would but here goes. A conventional drop centre axle is driven via a diff like an normal beam axle. A hub reduction axle has extra gearing in the hubs which can reduce the speed ratio of the wheels and offer more torque. I think that's right.
@JakeSCOC Thank you
I'm not sure I'd want to go on the Maidstone and District route 156...
@@neiloflongbeck5705 🤣 Not the most reassuring destination is it? Next bus back is in 5 years?
@JakeSCOC I bet your non-British fans are now Googling furiously to find out what the joke is.
@neiloflongbeck5705 I bet Google is overheating in the states... It probably can't figure out why it's being searched.
For those that might not know Hestair was an "investment trust"- for want of better phrase- that had financial holdings in assorted companies. I think they got their monies worth over the years before they sold Dennis on.
@@highpath4776 I didn't know that. Thank you for the info
@@JakeSCOC I think they owned Kiddicraft toys about that time ( and some other householdy name but I didnt keep corporate reports - there is a Library near Moorgate in London that has all published corporate reports if anyone feels like checking )
@highpath4776 I bet the Directors or former Directors are laughing all the way to the bank...
sure some ended up up at heckmondwike but could not fit under bridges in leeds
You could be right. I remember seeing a TPK in Arriva colours around the West Yorkshire area years ago.
@@j0nA82 sure they hit a problem on whitehall rd near search ltd
The Arriva Yorkshire ones were Arrows which also had N-TPK registrations (N801-810 TPK IIRC), fleet numbers 501-510 in Yorkshire. They were awful, no power and bodies that leaked like sieves!!
Willowbrook dominators and VR was known as block of flats due height
@@stuartross282 Thanks Stuart. I can see why.
I don't think they all had air suspension as I traveled on these in 83 in Leicester when I was at the Poly and they were I recall steel sprung and road a lot worse than the remaining Scania's or the new Metrobus I had started to enjoy in Coventry.
@@grahamariss2111 That's interesting. I suppose it could have been a cheaper option to have leaf springs...
Perhaps without privatisation and deregulation we would have had more conventional lives for the vehicles, and more orders, the years with none clearly being years of general vehicle purchase caution. The London and Country ones sound like they were made up of spare parts found in the factory just up the hill, but strange not to keep them as one batch together.
@@highpath4776 I think you're right. Coupled to the bus grant remaining too.
It wasn't just Geoffrey Hillditch. Jim Sambrooks of Doncaster was equally a driving force in the inception of the Dominator. In the early 1970s they had found themselves demoted to Engineering Directorship of the neighbouring West and South Yorkshire PTEs, the former Leeds bus came from WYPTE stock and when scrapped it's gearbox and engine were added to Leicester spares stock.
Given the circumstances it's not a surprise that SYPTE and Leicester were the biggest buyers.
@@StephenAllcroft Thanks Stephen 👍🏼 very interesting.
This is complete rubbish; Jim Sambrooks had no involvement whatsoever in the development of the Dominator.
deliberate choice of that B69WUL photo with a Dominator behind it ?
@@highpath4776 I'd like to say yes but I'd be lying 🤥. It's only in the final stages of production I realised it was there!
@@JakeSCOC oops, its a Volvo B10MD .. they do look similar (lack of badges and similar to some Olympians too)
@highpath4776 I think at that time with London and Country, you were never sure what buses was going to appear. They also had Dennis Arrows too didn't they?? Certainly a lot of variety.