OWT776M was built as an RELL6L, but never ran in service like that. It was re-engined as an RELL6G & then entered service.

I love the metrocabs it's like a squared triangled version of the hackney taxi

I love the sound of this bus from mads in Aarhus in Denmark 🇩🇰

Used to ride on ex London DMS on trips Basildon swimming baths NIBs was owner Nelson independent buses

Seddon RU?

Great stuff Jake particularly loved the mention of Sparkys Magic Piano 😂😂

Hi Jake - Great vid, well done! I can add just a little info regarding the three experimental RE's that you mentioned. This relates to the third one REX003 which as you mentioned was fitted with a Bristol BVW engine. Around 1966/7, its Bristol engine was swapped out with the standard Gardiner 6HLX unit. It was then sent back to ECW to have its coach body (which was just a shell) built to full West Yorkshire Road Car specification including the illuminated side panels. The only way you could distinguish it from the other West Yorkshire examples that were delivered in 1967 was that it had a green interior, whereas the West Yorkshire spec had now changed to red interiors. On completion, it was given an 'E' reg suffix as it was never registered at the time of original manufacture and then operated by West Yorkshire. As far as I recall, it had the same service life as any of the other West Yorkshire examples. Sadly though, this was the period that Lincolnshire Road Car had set up its cannibalisation centre at Bracebridge Heath (Lincoln) called Amalgamated Passenger Transport (APT) and REX003 was unceremoniously dispatched to Bracebridge Heath to disappear without any further trace.

great tips there Jake

I remember Coventry / West Midlands transport operating in the 70s a small number of Fleetlines with double entrances, although I recall them only initially having both entrances in operation and soon it was always roped off (rather posh bit of purpose built rope I recall) and I believe they were eventually rebuilt as single entrance. Were these ex MCW DMS or were they a batch of double entrance fleetlines built to order to try out double entrance but quickly abandoned due to the "criminality" of West Midlanders?

Hi Jake. Nice video, when I was doing my apprenticeship at Aldenham(1966) on the spanners,i seem to remember that the top painters only did top coat lacqering on the Green line vehicles. But when i moved over LCBS in 1971 that art was long gone. Good luck with the paint job.

vinyl wrap them

Is that the same Steve Fennell who wrote several books I have about a number of LT classes - RT, RF, RM and trolleybuses if I remember correctly? That would have been in the 1970s. I think they were in a series called 'Bus Portfolio'.

We had a good coach painter at S one night one of the cleaners after taking a metro through the wash thought it would be a good Idea to do fast and furious Tokyo drift across the garage and you know how greasy and wet they get on the run in anyway the metro ended up head first into a wall he got the boot and instead of the bus going over to leaside for repairs it was done at the Bush the quality was outstanding ,mind you London United used Hampshire bus and coach for repaints and one Saturday I was on the 9 we took the RMs from the shed I had one that just came back from a respray it was sparkling but they didn’t mask the rubbers around the cab and when I climbed into the cab I got red stripes on both my hands I only had one rounder but you smell the fresh paint on that bus 😂😂 All the best Mark 😊 Ps do you know Steve fennel he was our chief traffic controller nice man

Interesting video 👍 but a lot of hard work!

Sutton garage (A) had the re-engineered ones from about 88 onwards with the Iveco engine. They flew but suffered from severe body judder when stationary in traffic. The upgrade gave them a distinctive final drive (?) whine. I hated it when the MCWs replaced them.

Sheffield had the first Leopards and they were known as Leyland Tiger Cub Specials and carried Tiger Cub badges and were fitted with Weymann Fanfare dual purpose bodies.

Passed my bus test on titan at Plumstead before going to Catford garage.

Got my PSV licence in a semi auto full length National. Lovely to drive once you got the hang of the gear shifts.

The Leyland National did not do it for me. Seen everywhere, they proved popular with operators. London Transport chose to bring in the Leyland National to remove mainly the Swift SM family single decker types. They also replaced DMSs on some routes. The Nationals served their purpose getting customers from A to B more reliably than the Swift vehicle types they replaced. The MK1 LSs were noisy vehicles. I don't hold these vehicles with much affection. The LS was functional. It proved fit for purpose. And that's it. London Transport saw the type as a necessity. As already stated they were there to rid the Swifts from the streets and of course onto routes with physical restrictions. The Leyland Nationals cannot be denied as being part of bus history but I did not see them as nice vehicles.

Many companies in the British engineering industry have gone to the wall when really they should have been rejuvenated as part of some engineering heritage trust. In such a scheme I envisage that some sort of funding help could be provided to keep them current and competitive. A key thing would be to maintain a lineage of the engineering knowledge they established and made use of and apply it in the more up to date technology. Unfortunately, much of the knowledge, in many, cases has died with the passing of those employed. In Gardner's case the knowledge is still out there. I guess the prowess of Perkins is now at risk since they are now owned by Caterpillar.

The Alexander L type Daimler Fleetline was the most common double decker on the Scottish Bus Group fleet nearly every SBG company bought a fleet of them

I used to work for Chesterfield Transport in the 80's we had 16 DMS's they were as good as anything else.

Dms buses were not reliable they broke down a lot.

I just about tolerated riding on a DMS. I didn't like the internal decor of blue seat moquette with green stripes grey wall panelling and white ceilings. Yes they were clean and bright colours matching that used on the Merlin and Swift single deckers. But it led to a colder environment. Almost tartan style seat moquette, burgundy and sung yellow ceilings used on Routemasters and the XA/XF was a pleasant colour scheme as was green and the cream ceilings used on RTs and RF/GS single deck types. The RM/RT both gave me a thrilling experience in all aspects engine sounds and all and I couldn't get the same feeling from a DMS. It is only my opinion I'm not just taking a swipe at the type. I've travelled on worse!

Hi i'm viatron from Sheffield again, I remember one bus operator in South Yorkshire who had London DMS-style double deck Leyland Fleetline were S.Y.P.T.E. via being based on this design. But they were bought new from both British Leyland & M.C.W. subjecting to they weren't bought second hand unlike many other bus operators such as like G.M.P.T.E. in Manchester or W.M.P.T.E. in Birmingham for instance, plus these ones for S.Y.P.T.E.were something as a one off fleet via there is only one preserved at the South Yorkshire Transport Trust at Eastwood in Rotherham still in a very bad condition & I hope it will be finally restored to it's original coffee & cream livery of S.Y.P.T.E. in the near future. Thanks for your co-operation on this very special London Transport DMS-type double deck bus subject from David Viatron Esquire of crookes in Sheffield. So see you on a DMS bus today so HOLD VERY TIGHT PLEASE! DING! DING!..

Passed my test in one of these back in 1986 (KUC936P)

Great mini documentary. Love vintage buses, especially LT types. XA's and XF's were nice, a rear engine bus that still looks 50's. Have mixed views on the DMS. Early styles were not bad but as the years wore on they became less interesting and scruffy. Hated the B20, an after thought, with ugly rear. Was aware of the Mancunian and thought how smart they were and similar to the DMS. Didn't know Ralph Bennett was the inspiration for the DMS. Remember the DMS from new 1970 at Abbey Wood for old RT/RM route 177. The seat moquette was also used for Swift/Merlins (I think), 1967 stock and a modernised RF. ABC bus book I have states that some DMS' had Rolls Royce engines. Was this true? Seems DMS' interior inspired new bus Metro-Scania MD class. DMS' returned to Woolwich in the 90's with Metrobus. Remember seeing DMS 1 (EGP 1J) on route through Woolwich in early 80's. Must have been from Catford. Could you do LT's MD/MS class?

Nice to see the GCT example that was converted into the open top bus and operated by Stagecoach. The GCT liveries suited their Roe bodied fleet very well, especially when adorned with the Grimsby and Cleethorpes coats of arms. Much of my youth was spent in their Gardner engined examples, and also the small fleet (5?) of ex LT DMS buses that received heritage liveries. Happy days, happy memories.

I came across them as open top with Big Bus in central London back in 99 and recall one with a Voith gearbox easily audible. Perhaps that's the form I'd want to preserve one in. That red one featured here sounds really good.

I drove the Titans at Catford Garage in the late 90’s, they stunk of damp must inside as they had no anti freeze/corrosion inhibitor left in them after continual topping up the header tank with raw water from a watering can at Victoria for instance on the 185’s , which was my main route, they used to glide although sluggish to accelerate, they were on the whole fit for purpose though, couldn’t believe how boring it was to sit on Stanstead Road in a rush hour at five o’clock on a summer’s afternoon though, they had firm steering but not heavy as such

The Question isn't weather the DMS was better or worse than the RM or RT,..because they are not comparable. .the question is were they better or worse than the MCW Metrobus? out of the two i've only driven the Metrobus, as the DMS's were on their last legs when i passed my test, i think the Metrobus was more successful,..🚌🚌🚌🚌

Another cracking video. The AEC engined Regent V is, in my opinion, THE best sounding bus ever built, closely followed by the RT. Music to the ears 👍

This was one type of bus I wish was seen a lot more in Leeds, was only around the early 90s when my home city had a fair few by a couple of small independents like Aireline. I would love to think how one would look in Black Prince colours in reality. I have a model of a DMS which I hope to do in that livery at some point.

Was the London Busses in History Post Busses? Cause they Red like Phone boxes or mail boxes

We had them on our school route in SE London. The 124 and 124A used to run from Catford/Forest Hill area to Welling, straight past Crown Woods school, which at the time (1972ish) was the largest comprehensive in the country with over 2500 pupils. A couple of weeks before the DMS came into service, we had one parked in the school car park, so that everyone could have a practice at putting 2p in the machine at 3:30. Of course, when they came into service, most of the kids cramming onto the bus at school out time just squeezed past the turnstile!

Hello Jake, thank you for a very interesting video. I admit that I have a fondness for the LT RT type buses as I travelled to and from school on them in the 1960s, and during your video on the DMS s noticed one displaying the destination Forest Hill route 194 my route , and going the other way to Croydon Airport (London’s first international airport before Heathrow). The route 194 buses were based at Elmers End garage ( ED ). Whilst I lived in London I did get a ride on FRM1. I left Elmers End, and London, in the early 1970s before ED closed. Before London, I travelled on the first Maidstone & District Leyland Atlantean buses in Kent to school in the very late 1950s. Pity so few DMS s made it into preservation. Just found photos of the last days (Oct 1986) of ED garage with RT1702 (12), DMS2577 (194 Croydon Aiport), LS1 (12A) and RM911 (12) 😥

I used to drive them at Kingston bus, I think they were brought out off the driver training department. We also had the MCW Metrobus. At the time we used to say Oh no I've got a DMS. Looking back, given the chance today I would prefer the DMS

An ugly ,noisy metal box on wheels and unreliable.

I worked at Southend Transport in 86/87 and we had Some ex-LT DMS's (I recall DMS's 820/822/1849/926/1008/1015 and 1029) which were sturdy buses but as I was a Conductor horrid to conduct on our 1 Southend-Rayleigh and 3A Southend-Canvey . We operated the former Culture Bus 614 and on at least 1 occasion a DMS was used by us in London on the route-64 on the scrolls (As 614 not on the scrolls) 2 hours running time on the circular route with 1.5 on Saturdays in them days. Retrobus of Northfleet still have 1 they use on PH's 🙂

I went to school every day on the 157 route I’d buy one

Interesting video. It's Daimler Monoc Standee by the way. There were more Leyland engined DMSs than Gardner.😄

I had the... um... "pleasure" of driving old Red Rover (Aylesbury) DMSes to Luton and back in the mid 1980s. I was really excited about it the first time out, because I remembered their introduction to the London Transport 92 route when I was growing up as a kid. I couldn;t wait!! But they were pretty old by then, so they rattled and banged and were extremely unpleasant to drive, especially after being spoiled by the VRs that I'd been used to.

Always thought the Ensignbus blue and silver suited them and going back further DMS 1933's special livery for the 50th anniversary of LT was a good one.

Would have to say the westmindlands Pte blue and cream made them look good

I remember as a kid when West Midlands pte had dms fleetlines most drivers said they were better then the ones that West Midlands had

Dms at Lut hindley deport 80s