Daimler Fleetline

The Daimler (later Leyland) Fleetline was one of the major types of British bus in production from 1960 right through to 1983. The Fleetline was the second British bus to have an engine at the rear allowing for a much more convenient passenger entrance at the front. This also allowed for buses to much more easily converted to one-man operation as the driver could handle fares too. In a front engined bus like the Routemaster the driver was too isolated to do that job as well.

The Fleetline was a common bus throughout the country in the 1970s with large fleets in London (though it was not that popular there), Birmingham and elsewhere. My earliest bus memories are on a Fleetline on the number 55 heading down to Shard End to see my Nan, sometime in the mid-70s. Maybe the bus below, as preserved at the Aston Manor Transport Museum, was the bus i was on. If not i probably did travel on it back then at some stage.

The Fleetline remained in service in Birmingham until 1997 though had gone from London by the early 1980s. Many served on with other operators both at home and abroad.