Photographs of 12m Dragons, sorted in the following sub-entries:
Citybus Dragons (4 pages)
Interior details of Citybus Dragons (2 pages)
Kowloon Motor Bus Dragons (5 pages)
Wreckage of 3AD80 (1 page)
Interior details of Kowloon Motor Bus Dragons (1 page)

New World First Bus ex-HACTL Dragons (1 page)
The Hong Kong Institute of Education Arts Bus (1 page)

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.

Originally, Dominator 6X2 Dragons are the Dominator 6X2s specially designed for Kowloon Motor Bus Company. The first Dominator 6X2 arriving Hong Kong is, surprisingly, the second air-conditioned Dragon in the territory. You may wonder why it is the second.

In 1989, a 11m long Dragon came to Hong Kong as a Demonstrator of air-conditioned double decker. It has fixed windows. It had trial runs on Route 6. Its nameplate, DK810 was borrowed from a 12m Dragon (3N134). The evaluation had been quite well and it had been sent back to England. In 1990, an air-conditioned bus with Dominator 6X2 Chassis arrived Hong Kong. It was registered EL5113 and had it fleet number allocated AD1.

Then, about 400 buses of this type were ordered between 1990 and 1998. The specifications were slightly changed in different batches, regarding the axle weights, seating layout, powerplant and air-conditioning systems.

On the other hand, the company has also ordered 150 non-airconditioned models based on the design of air-conditioned buses between 1990 and 1994.

Although most roads in Hong Kong are well lit and well built. Most of them are very narrow and there are many curves. The 11m long buses cannot operate on these roads. Therefore, Kowloon Motor Bus Co. demanded 3-axled air-conditioned double deckers with no longer than 10m in length. This requirement has been fulfilled by Dennis only, as the Olympian is only available in 10.4m. In 1992, a new chassis was designed based on the 11m Dominator 6X2 chassis. It's battery box has been positioned at the front of the passenger compartment, thus reducing the space in the driving compartment. the overall length of the bus is 9.973m. It's powerplant, seating layout and air-conditioning system are based on the 11m variant. Some 235 have been delivered since 1993.

Citybus, a loyal customer of Leyland and Volvo double deckers, bought a total of 40 short Dragons in 1994 and 1995. Since these buses had one double-width door at the front , the chassis could not be as short as 9.973m, but the company accepted the designed length of 10.4m. They were allocated to Mid-levels and Stanley routes. One of them, 701 (GD1492) was withdrawn from service in 2001 and converted to the first double deck air-conditioned trolleybus in 2001. The bus underwent a test lasted until 2003. It was scrapped in 2010.

On the other hand, the company had also bought a total of 80 12m buses since 1994. The first 30 buses arrived in 1994 and became the first 12m air-conditioned buses. All the Citybus Dominator 6X2 Dragons in Citybus received Duple Metsec Bodies built by Salvador Caetano.

In 1997, Kowloon Motor Bus bought 180 12m air-conditioned Dragons. However, they had single width entrances.

In 1994-95, HACTL bought 4 Dragons as their employee bus. They were of 3+2 layout and made to Citybus specifications. In 1999, the company withdrew the buses and they were eventually bought by New World First Bus. These buses entered franchised service on 12 February 2000 and were allocated fleet numbers DA93-96.

There are a number of accidents relating to Dennis Dominator 6X2s. The most serious one is as below.

On 30 January 1998, a Citybus 12m long Dragon (870, HD935) overturned on Tonnochy Road Flyover, Wan Chai, when it was heading Sham Shui Po from Siu Sai Wan. Three passengers were killed and fifty-four more were hurt in the accident. Further investigation showed that the bus was travelling at 64km/h, while the permitted speed was only 50km/h. The bus was later returned to service.

Citybus 713 (GD6286) was completely burnt on Deep Water Bay Road in September 2002.

KMB 3AD46 (HJ8388) suffered serious damage in 2009 and was withdrawn. The wreckage was later featured in a local film as it was thrown off a flyover.

KMB 3AD80 (HN1537) was completely burnt on Turn Mun Road in September 2011.

Photographs of 9.9m Dragons

Photographs of 10.4m Dragons

Photographs of 11m Dragons

Photographs of 12m Dragons

Return to Dennis Dominator 6X2

Page created: 30 September 1999

Last updated: 13 May 2012