357: in (2.50 m) wide; they featured an identical drive layout to the Fleetline and shared with it a transverse rear-engine location. However, the power unit for these prototypes was a horizontal Daimler CD6 engine fitted with a turbocharger and arranged in the rear nearside corner of the chassis so that all ancillaries could be accessed from the engine's upper face. The radiator was mounted at the front and the chassis had conventional steel leaf springs. One was shown on the Daimler stand at the 1962 Commercial Motor Show, and a brochure was produced for the type, although production was not an immediate prospect, as the Daimler engine had ceased production. Customer interest in a modern Daimler single-decker bus was, however, strong enough for Lyons to give the go-ahead for a production bus of this type.
24:
93:
682:
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production versions had this mounted on the rear offside, as on the
Fleetline. Other components such as the front axle, steering, brakes, driving controls, etc. were similar to those of the Fleetline. The model was announced as the Roadliner model SRC6-36, this was the third and last Daimler bus chassis to be given a model name, as well as an alphanumeric code.
488:
racing car. Especially on the bus, work problems developed with damaged tappets, burnt valves, damaged valves, damaged pistons, damaged blocks, clogged injectors, cylinder-block failures, smoke emissions, and excessive wear, as well as roughness and noise in operation, a tendency to refuse to restart
394:
style, featuring no steps and a slightly ramped floor up to the rear bench. The floor level was so low side-facing bench seats had to be fitted over both sets of wheelarches, a contemporary reviewer remarked the footstools to the front benches as rather high. This bus entered service in late 1964 and
628:
The
Daimler CRC6-36 was a double-decker bus with a modified Roadliner driveline to take 86-seat, 11 x 2.5 m double-decker bodywork with twin staircases, the rearmost rising over the engine opposite an exit door in the rear overhang. One of these was sold to Walsall Corporation, and the other 16 went
539:
form of transmission was used rather than a
Leyland SCG-style lock-up clutch. Problems with the braking and transmission fed back on one another and exacerbated engine damage. PMT altered the change-speed control on some of its buses from electrical to pneumatic to slow down gear changes, but at the
360:
Instead of the complex transverse horizontal drive, the company decided to use a vertical longitudinal rear-engined layout. Instead of the very low horizontal frame of the first two chassis, this was slightly higher at the front and ramped gently upward and tapered outward toward the rear, where the
483:
The
Cummins V6 had that manufacturer's patented intermediate-pressure fuel pump and governor system, supplying the fuel to open-cup injectors through internal drilled fuel galleries, four-valve cylinder heads and tappet-actuated injection. This made the engine less than suitable for slow-speed,
370:
Daimatic four-speed semiautomatic gearbox to a straight spiral-bevel rear axle manufactured by Eaton, an electrically operated two-speed axle being optional. All-round air suspension was standard, with rubber and steel leaf options. Although some drawings show a front-mounted radiator, standard
530:
Two problems occurred with the
Daimatic transmission system; firstly with excessive wear, as with the Cummins, it was working at its design limits for power and torque, and but for the effects of altitude, it would have been way over its limits on the Pretoria buses. Secondly, drivers newly
316:
was that its patented concentric-drive gearbox enabled fitment as standard of a dropped-centre rear axle, allowing a body suitable for low bridges of 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m) high to have a centre-gangway seating plan for the full length of both decks. In comparison, the low-height
395:
unprecedentedly the union branch operating it were so impressed, they sent a letter of congratulation to
Daimler. The coach and a further Marshall bus started work from early 1965 as Daimler demonstrators, the coach in particular garnering a great deal of praise on its road tests.
458:. PMT's first production batch arrived in 1966/67. By the end of production in 1972, 333 Roadliners had been built; besides the UK, examples had gone to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Poland, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland.
576:
Problems with wear and tear on the bodywork were caused by chassis flexing, the latter exacerbated on dual-door bodies. The optional
Clayton Compas automatic heating and ventilation system was both unreliable and very noisy.
519:-built 90-degree V8, developing 272 bhp at 2,600 revolutions/minute, these were badged as Leylands and type SRL8. This power unit was discontinued soon after the Roadliner because it could not meet noise regulations.
365:
VIM V6-200 engine was mounted. This 9.6-litre 90-degree V6 engine developed 192 bhp at 2600 rpm and was compact enough to fit under the rear seat on a bodied bus and allow drive to pass through a conventional
Daimler
567:
Handling, braking, and tyre problems seemed to be endemic regardless of the suspension system used. The rubber (Metalastic 'Toggle-Link') suspension was of a unique design and difficult and expensive to repair.
652:
by threatening to order 33 ft (10 m) Roadliners, instead. Daimler announced a 17 ft wheelbase, 33-foot option on launch but none was ever built. SRC6-33 would have been the type code.
508:, this was their V8-510 unit, a 90-degree V8 of 8.36 litres with a conventional injection layout and a maximum output of 170 bhp at 2,800 rpm, so fitted the model code was SRP8.
493:
had 17 engine replacements over 11 buses during the warranty period and PMT (the largest customer with 58 buses and six coaches) had two
Cummins engineers permanently resident in
535:, which lacked the engine-braking effect of a "solid" transmission. This resulted in many engine losses due to overspeeding; no easy way to control this was found, as the pure
489:
when hot, refusal to start in general, and endemic overheating, sometimes resulting in radiator caps being blown off and steam and scalding water jetting out behind the bus.
484:
stop-start work, even at the derated bus setting of 150 bhp at 2100 rpm. It was also a noisy unit in operation, said to sound like a contemporary
666:
car, examples were on test by the time
British Leyland had been formed, but the project was cancelled on the orders of BLMC chief executive
289:
access some 20 years before other buses; as a coach, it was felt by industry commentators to be in advance of contemporary UK designs.
589:
variant of the Fleetline and thereafter marketed the SRP8 as a coach chassis in the UK, the final demonstrator had a Plaxton
324:
6LX, which was the most economical diesel engine in its class, and regarded by many engineers as even more reliable than the
462:
bodied the most vehicles overall and the largest export territory was South Africa, which took the last examples built. The
837:
403:
To begin with, it was intended to build the Cummins V6 in the UK in a joint-venture Jaguar-Cummins operation at the former
328:
O.600. By the end of 1962, 125 Fleetlines had been delivered and over 300 were on order. This pleased Daimler's new owner
655:
In 1968, a 12 m (39 ft) version was announced as the SRC-40, but the only batch ordered was later cancelled.
438:
The first production Roadliners began to enter service during 1966. Early UK Roadliner customers were corporations in
415:, but this was not accomplished, and all the Cummins V6-200 engines for the UK were imported from Cummins' factory in
67:
45:
531:
allocated the type had not driven a vehicle of equivalent power before, and most were not trained in the use of the
312:
Commercial Motor show, this was the second British type of rear-engined double decker. Its major advantage over the
38:
210:
540:
time and with the transmission system fitted, installing an effective secondary braking system was not possible.
717:
658:
Prior to the BLMC merger, Sir William Lyons had commissioned an all-alloy 6.7-litre V8 turbodiesel engine from
447:
419:, United States. As well as powering the majority of Roadliners, the engine was the launch power unit for the
736:
634:
309:
98:
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202:
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Two were constructed to the newly allowed maximum dimensions of 36 ft (11 m) long and 8 ft
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demonstrator were shown at the 1964 show together with the first example sold to an operator, 6000EH of
663:
391:
317:
Atlantean needed an awkward side-gangway abaft upstairs to allow legal internal headroom throughout.
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allowed work to start in mid-1962 on a new single-decker chassis to replace the underfloor-engined
32:
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Although these engines worked better than the Cummins, problems were still had with them.
8:
659:
649:
637:, which also has the last working Cummins-powered Roadliner, a former Wolverhampton bus.
375:
367:
321:
216:
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Griffin, Once Heard, Never Forgotten..., in Morris (ed) Buses Extra 39, Weybridge 1986
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between 1962 and 1972. Notoriously unreliable, it topped the 1993 poll by readers of
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In 1960, Transport Vehicles (Daimler) Ltd, the commercial vehicle subsidiary of
536:
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Roadliner; it was exported in 1967, but not bodied until 1972. Autopullman of
806:
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lorry (Guy had been a Jaguar subsidiary since 1961) and was also fitted into
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into second place. It was very technologically advanced, offering
633:. The Walsall bus, shown at Earls Court in 1968, is preserved at
459:
270:
622:
618:
598:
551:
torque-converter transmission, but the sole survivor now has a
544:
320:
The standard power unit for the Fleetline was the 150 bhp
185:
97:
Preserved Wolverhampton Corporation 1967 Daimler Roadliner at
784:
Townsin (ed) Buses Illustrated 116, Shepperton, November 1964
621:
had it fitted with a 4 m (13 ft 1 in) body by
500:
From 1966, Daimler began to fit an alternative engine from
455:
161:
767:. Daimler Transport Vehicles Ltd. 1966. p. eleven.
753:. British Leyland Motor Corporation. 1969. p. 146.
677:
662:; it was derived from the petrol engine used in the
511:The final batch of Roadliners was fitted with the
793:Booth (ed) Classic Bus 7, Edinburgh, October 1993
804:
605:, announced the end of Roadliner production.
292:
787:Brown, Half Cab Twilight, Harrow Weald 2001
91:
608:
601:expresses. In 1970, Daimler, now part of
68:Learn how and when to remove this message
281:as the worst bus type ever, beating the
31:This article includes a list of general
805:
525:
497:assisting their engineers until 1969.
473:
796:Booth (ed) Bus Stop, Shepperton 1968
17:
640:
625:and used it for sightseeing tours.
13:
775:
37:it lacks sufficient corresponding
14:
849:
781:Townsin, Daimler, Shepperton 2000
751:British Leyland Motor Corporation
734:V8 Perkins for Daimler Roadliner
613:The Spanish example was the sole
386:(PMT). The PMT bus had a 50-seat
680:
515:800-series V8-810, a 13.1-litre
22:
648:persuaded Leyland to build the
757:
743:
737:Truck & Bus Transportation
728:
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708:issue 136 December 1968 page 4
696:
448:West Riding Automobile Company
374:A left-hand drive chassis and
1:
673:
635:The Transport Museum, Wythall
427:lorries, customers including
398:
99:The Transport Museum, Wythall
595:City of Oxford Motor Service
585:In 1966, Daimler launched a
7:
838:Vehicles introduced in 1965
10:
854:
799:www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk
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392:British Electric Traction
293:Background and prototypes
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190:Daimler (prototypes only)
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90:
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718:Perkins V8 for Roadliner
464:Municipal Tramways Trust
433:UK Ministry of Transport
384:Potteries Motor Traction
740:September 1968 page 138
571:
547:buses had the optional
491:Bournemouth Corporation
52:more precise citations.
702:The Daimler Roadliner
646:Manchester Corporation
609:Double-decker variants
533:semi-automatic gearbox
593:body and was sold to
224:MT41 torque converter
555:engine and a Fuller
549:Allison Transmission
407:factory adjacent to
222:Allison Transmission
828:Double-decker buses
765:Daimler Of Coventry
650:Leyland Panther Cub
526:Transmission system
376:Duple Coachbuilders
217:Self-Changing Gears
474:Technical problems
615:double-decker bus
454:, and AA Motors,
417:Columbus, Indiana
334:Sir William Lyons
314:Leyland Atlantean
264:single-decker bus
260:Daimler Roadliner
256:
255:
219:4-speed epicyclic
101:in September 2014
86:Daimler Roadliner
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722:Commercial Motor
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641:Might have beens
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338:Daimler Freeline
332:and Jaguar's MD
251:Daimler Freeline
145:Body and chassis
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48:this article by
39:inline citations
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818:Low-floor buses
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776:Further reading
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705:Among Ourselves
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603:British Leyland
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158:Floor type
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44:Please help to
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283:Guy Wulfrunian
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725:9 August 1968
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664:Silver Shadow
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58:November 2018
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543:Most of the
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506:Peterborough
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211:Transmission
112:Manufacturer
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36:
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833:Bus chassis
668:Lord Stokes
660:Rolls-Royce
486:Formula One
330:Jaguar Cars
310:Earls Court
279:Classic Bus
247:Predecessor
129:1965 - 1972
50:introducing
807:Categories
674:References
444:Sunderland
409:Guy Motors
399:Production
242:Chronology
229:Dimensions
180:Powertrain
126:Production
33:references
591:semicoach
559:gearbox.
452:Wakefield
429:Pickfords
421:Guy Big J
303:Fleetline
287:step-free
273:built by
215:Daimatic/
166:Low floor
140:, England
597:to work
557:layshaft
545:Canadian
468:Adelaide
431:and the
425:Atkinson
390:body to
388:Marshall
378:51 seat
138:Coventry
134:Assembly
107:Overview
581:The end
563:Chassis
502:Perkins
460:Plaxton
363:Cummins
352:⁄
326:Leyland
322:Gardner
308:at the
275:Daimler
271:chassis
237:36 feet
198:Perkins
193:Cummins
116:Daimler
46:improve
623:Irizar
619:Madrid
599:London
479:Engine
262:was a
234:Length
205:V8-810
186:Engine
35:, but
380:coach
268:coach
170:Coach
150:Doors
572:Body
442:and
266:and
258:The
629:to
517:AEC
504:of
466:in
456:Ayr
411:in
368:SCG
203:AEC
162:Bus
153:1-2
809::
670:.
450:,
435:.
340:.
200:V8
195:V6
172::
164::
354:2
350:1
347:+
345:2
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65:(
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56:(
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