Leyland Olympian 10.3m

Photographs are sorted into the following sub-pages:
China Motor Bus Olympian
BL3 - a Kowloon Motor Bus Olympian
Singapore Bus Services Leyland Olympians
Citybus Olympian

Note: You are free to adopt any text or photograph for non-moneymaking activities. You may set the photographs as the wallpaper in your PC. However, you are not allowed to post the text or photographs on the net without Anthony Lui's permission.

At the 1980 Commercial Motor Show, Walter Alexander exhibited their new R type body on a 10.25m Olympian (Chassis number B45.06). It was a demonstrator for Singapore Bus Services. It had 97 seat in a 3+2 layout, the layout that Far East operators liked. The bus received the livery of Greater Glasgow. However, the vehicle was sent back to England and has now become a member of a bus museum in Oxford after it served Wycombe Bus Company for the remaining years. The windows were reverted to fixed windows and the lower deck front end was converted to Eastern Coachworks' parts.

In fact, Alexanders is not the chief bodybuilder for Olympians in the beginning. Many of the prototypes were built by Eastern Coach Works, a subsidiary of BLMC. Leyland thought that the design could move large quantities of passengers at that time and they sent a number of ECW bodied Olympians to loyal double-decker operators overseas. Five ECW bodied Olympian demonstrators were shipped to Hong Kong in late 1981. Four of them were ONLXB.2R models. They had single width entrance, full depth sliding windows and windscreens for hot climates. Kowloon Motor Bus took 3 with 99 seat buses in 3+2 layout and China Motor Bus took 1 with 86 seats in 2+2 layout. Then 3 left hand drive demonstrators were sent to Baghdad, Lisbon and Athens. But they had double-width front doorways.

Although more orders for 10.3m chassis were endorsed by various operators, they have not been as successful as the 9.5m models.

In 1987, an ECW bodied Olympian became a demonstrator and served Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The vehicle was re-engined with Cummins LT10 engine and ZF-Ecomat 4HP500 gearbox by Citybus of Hong Kong, making it a tremendous top speed. It was later converted to an employee bus.

During 1985-86, Singapore Bus Services (1978) Limited bought 200 chassis of this type. They adopted Alexander R type bodies. they look like the R-type bodied Atlanteans because of their deep windscreens. In order to facilitate easy maintenance and conformity of parts, SBS fitted Leyland TL11 engines to these vehicles. Some of them have bays for standees behind the staircase. They are to be withdrawn from the fleet and open bidding has announced.

Specification

Photographs

Return to Leyland Olympian

Page created: 30 June 1999

Last updated: 12 October 2001