Leyland National AYR334T

LS334 in her final days.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• leyland
• national

[lgu954k]

It sounds as though she still had her gearbox 'brain' from her LT days - most ex-LT Nationals were converted to semi-auto boxes by their subsequent owners. Interestingly, most LT drivers hated the auto-box and envied the London Country drivers who had the semi-auto box - better control, and they could down-shift when they wanted, unlike the LT ones.

[4738]

@lgu954k 'twas indeed fully auto. We still have the 'brain' if anybody wants it.

[volvomantom]

The more wine I drink, the more this video makes me sad. How sad it is that another National has fallen at the hands of mindless hooligans, and spent it's last days being ragged around a yard for their amusement. For shame. This bus will have put years of faithful service in. An undignified end.

[4738]

@volvomantom Go away, and spend your time getting a like!

[volvomantom]

A shame to see yet another National consigned to the scrapman. However, I reckon that since she was going to be scrapped anyway, you should have given her a proper send off and smashed into lots of different perishables in that yard. Probably a big clean up afterwards, but it would have been worth it, and it would have given the old girl a proper send off, not like tootling about in the yard.

[4738]

@volvomantom I personally would have like to have driven into the side of the Bristol 'decker, 'on the buses' style. 334 did get driven into various things before being towed away for scrap. Again, this was a heavily converted bus that nobody was going to buy so the donation of its engine into HHA101L meant that it saved the day.

[merlinbus]

@markt8235

Some of the faults on the early Nationals were, a "fly on" park brake lever. Modified to pull on / fly off. Slow acting brake actuators, causing wheels to lock on in wet weather, along with no weight over front wheels. Batteries were moved to under the driver on modification & actuators replaced. Throttle jamming open when fault on pump developed. Access flap put in floor for access. There were other faults which appeared before the modifications were carried out.

[merlinbus]

@markt8235

I drove the Nationals from their first days on London Country ( L reg LNC`s ) and to be quite honest, they were death traps. So much so that the union blacked them following yet another accident, so LCBS sent them all away to be modified I think in 1974. They returned a better vehicle, but not much. We then had the "suburban" Nationals. Coach seated SNC`s. Which were a much better vehicle. These were followed by the "cheapo" B series.

[merlinbus]

I hated Leyland Nationals, almost some of the worst buses I`ve driven, but it`s still sad to see buses go for scrap.

[LanceMcKenzie1]

I'm a little late in viewing this video but I must agree with what Honda says, this is a splendid example of how this bus should sound. Great post 4738.