22-483: The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III . It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport . It was the standard red London bus in the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better-known Routemaster throughout the 1960s. The prototype (London Transport RT 1) was built in 1938 with an AEC 8.8-litre (540 cu in) engine (a stopgap measure until
44-617: A 1950 version, makes its appearance in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns (even though the film was set in 1933). In 2003 three RT buses (RT2240, RT3882, and RT4497) were rebuilt into two triple-decker vehicles (one as a back-up during filming) (known as the Knight Bus ) for the Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . AEC Regent III The AEC Regent III (also known as Regent 3 or Regent Mark III)
66-473: A fake registration number: WLB991) for filming different segments. In the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die , Bond commandeers an RT III during an escape. Stunts involving the bus included a 360-degree spin, and slicing the top deck off on a low bridge to stop the pursuers. An AEC Regent can be seen in the music video for the Madness single " Cardiac Arrest " released in 1982. An AEC Regent III, as
88-627: A minority with vacuum brakes). The Regent III was available with bodies from a number of manufacturers including Park Royal , Metro Cammell Weymann and Charles H. Roe . AEC Regent III was superseded by the AEC Regent V , not the AEC Regent IV underfloor-engined double decker which existed as a one-off prototype only. The last Regent IIIs were supplied to Reading Corporation in 1956. London Transport acquired 76 AEC Regent III buses with Weymann lowbridge bodywork. They were numbered as
110-619: A small number of similar buses also going to operators outside London (see below). However, the London "RT" family of vehicles could be considered to have numbered 6,956 in total, consisting of 4,825 RTs; 1,631 RTLs and 500 RTWs. The latter two types had a variant of the Leyland Titan chassis and, also, the RTWs had Leyland 8 feet wide steel-framed bodies (as opposed to 7 feet 6 inches). The whole family were never all in operation at
132-848: The London Passenger Transport Board , the British Electrical Federation Group, the Tilling Group and many municipalities. It held patents for special coach bodies for British Overseas Airways Corporation and the RAF Transport Command . Park Royal Vehicles Limited was incorporated as a public limited company on 8 October 1946 and acquired the whole of the share capital of Park Royal Coach Works Limited and took over its assets and undertakings and put Park Royal Coach Works into liquidation. Associated with AEC from
154-687: The 1930s in 1949 it became part of Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd., which included AEC (the chassis manufacturer). This formidable combination of AEC and PRV supported the demanding requirements of London Transport and many other major fleet owners and operators. The famous AEC Routemaster bus was built at Park Royal. In 1962 the ACV Group merged with the Leyland Motors group to form Leyland Motor Corporation. In 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation and British Motor Holdings merged, becoming British Leyland Motor Corporation . BL (British Leyland)
176-524: The Country area (painted green) of London Transport, usually where a low railway bridge over the road would otherwise cause a problem. Many RLHs were sold for further use after London Transport. Due to their lower height of 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m), about 1 foot (0.3 m) lower than standard double-decker buses, a significant number found their way to other countries especially in Europe and
198-512: The RLH-class (Regent Low Height) and were used by London Transport from 1950 until 1971. The first 20 RLHs were built in 1950 and were almost identical to 10 vehicles sold to Midland General who had originally ordered the vehicles. In 1952 a further batch of 56 buses was purchased which had minor differences. The fleet operated from various garages around both the Central area (painted red) and
220-536: The USA where maximum vehicle height restrictions allowed them to operate. The AEC Regent III RT (RT-type) was first built in 1939 and was designed for and by London Transport . It was the standard red London bus during the 1950s, with a total of 4,825 buses built for London Transport. Although not all were in service at the same time. Some RT-type buses were built for operation outside London, such as for St Helens Transport. Park Royal Vehicles Park Royal Vehicles
242-409: The bodies jig-built, following its experience building Halifax bombers at Aldenham Tube Depot (later to become its main bus works). The new vehicles were built to a modified version of the pre-war London Transport design but were similar in appearance to their predecessors. The main visual differences were: In total, London Transport received 4,674 post-war RT-class buses between 1947 and 1954, with
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#1732797203479264-630: The new 9.6-litre (590 cu in) was available) and air-operated pre-selective gearbox . Finding a satisfactory British substitute for the German air compressor, bought from Bosch , was to cause problems for AEC once war broke out. A prototype chassis was placed into service, disguised as an old vehicle. It carried a secondhand open-staircase body previously carried on Leyland Titan (fleet number TD 111), dating from 1931. Thus bodied, RT 1 entered service in July 1938 as ST 1140, even though it
286-692: The old one on RT 1 and the bus re-entered service in 1939. London Transport ordered 338 (later reduced to 150) chassis, which were in production when World War II broke out in September 1939. However, with the Fall of France in June 1940, delivery slowed progressively. The last of the batch, RT 151, did not reach London Transport until January 1942, six months after its predecessor, although all were built to full pre-war specification. These vehicles were lighter in weight than RT1 and their postwar counterparts, as
308-404: The others had metal-framed bodies rather than composite wood/metal ones. The only other RT-type chassis constructed before the end of the war was destined for and went to Glasgow Corporation . Details of it are: AEC Regent IIIRT/Weymann H30/26R body (Fleet No. 723, Registration No. DGB371) It was originally intended to be an exhibit at the 1939 Commercial Motor Show, but this was cancelled, due to
330-641: The outbreak of war. It differed from the pre-war London examples in having a body built by Weymann , the front blind area being very much in the Cowieson-body style, Glasgow Corporation's usual body builder at the time, although the cab area/radiator was very similar to the London vehicles. It was delivered in February 1940 and sold out of service, to a dealer, in 1956. Production of the RT recommenced in late 1946, being delayed by London Transport's desire to have
352-689: The same time. In addition, some surplus bodies were, for a short time, put onto modified STL chassis and classed as SRTs. The very last RT in service (RT624), now preserved by Ensignbus , operated on route 62 from Barking Garage on 7 April 1979. Like the pre-war Glasgow vehicle, not all post-war production went to London Transport. Between 1946 and 1951, 101 chassis were delivered to ten other operators. Of these, only forty had RT-style bodies, thirty nine, by Park Royal , for St Helens' Corporation and one, by Metro-Cammell , for Coventry Corporation Transport . The external link below has more information. In June 1953, RT3710, along with Leyland Titan RTL1459,
374-533: Was a leading manufacturer of single and double-deck omnibuses and trolley buses . During World War II , Park Royal produced large quantities of vehicle bodies for the Ministry of Supply , the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Aircraft Production . It also was involved in aircraft construction. After the war, it returned to producing composite and metal frame public service bodies for customers such as
396-429: Was a type of double-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC . The Regent III was mainly built for operation outside London and overseas. It could be fitted with AEC's 9.6-litre diesel engine (except a minority with 7.7-litre ones), 'Wilson' preselective epicyclic gearbox (except for a minority with crash gearboxes; a synchromesh option also became available in the early 1950s) and air-pressure operated brakes (except
418-539: Was nationalised by the Labour Government in 1975, following which many subsidiaries were closed, including AEC in 1979 and Park Royal in July 1980. Park Royal was also responsible for many other coachworks besides London buses. It had a vast array of vehicles to its name including the first diesel London Taxi , a number of railcars and railbuses (e.g. the British Rail Class 103 and one of
440-500: Was nothing like a standard ST vehicle . It continued in service until December 1938. While the chassis was on trial, a new body was constructed at London Transport's Chiswick Works . Its four-bay body resembled that of the Roe Leeds City Pullman body exhibited at the 1937 Commercial Motor Show, though the overall impression of modern design and the features included marked a big step forward. This body replaced
462-480: Was one of Britain's leading coachbuilders and bus manufacturers , based at Park Royal , Abbey Road, in west London . With origins dating back to 1889, the company also had a Leeds -based subsidiary, Charles H. Roe . Labour problems and slowness of production led to its closure in 1980. Park Royal Coach Works Limited was registered as a private company on 12 April 1930 for the purposes of building and dealing in carriages, vehicles and conveyances of all kinds. It
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#1732797203479484-685: Was shipped to Switzerland and displayed at a trade fair in Zurich and a similar event in Malmö . During its visit it operated services in Zurich, Geneva , Lucerne and St Gallen . In the 1963 British musical comedy film, Summer Holiday , Cliff Richard drives a converted RT bus to Athens. In April 1962 Associated British Picture Corporation of Elstree actually bought three used RTs (RT2305 (KGU334), RT2366 (KGU395), and RT4326 (NLE990)) from London Transport. They were all converted to look like RT1881 (with
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