Bristol LH

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Bristol
Bristol LHS6L with city bus body from ECW

Bristol LHS6L with city bus body from ECW

Bristol LH
Manufacturer Bristol Commercial Vehicles
design type Public bus
Production period 1967-1982
axes 2
length 8-11 m
width 2.4 m
Seats 27–55 depending on the structure
Empty weight 3288-3843 kg
Perm. total weight 8618-11,176 kg
Previous model Bristol SU
Bristol MW
successor Leyland National
Similar models AEC Reliance

The Bristol LH was a chassis for buses and coaches built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles in England . The type was built between 1967 and 1982. The type designation stood for L ight H orizontal (light bus with horizontally installed motor). It replaced the Bristol SU and the Bristol MW . The successor was the Leyland National , which was to replace all single-decker buses manufactured in the group. The Bristol LH was the last single deck bus chassis manufactured by Bristol Commercial .

The Bristol LH was offered in the normal version with a length of 10 m. In addition, the shortened version LHS ( S hort) with 8 m and the extended version LHL ( L ong) with 11 m length were offered, but the normal version was requested by most bus operators. Due to the size restriction for buses, the Bristol LH was initially built with a width of 7 feet (unit) and 6 inches, after the restriction was lifted, 8 feet 2 inches wide buses were also built.

The bus was powered by various engines, all of which were six-cylinder diesel engines with direct injection . Initially the H6.354 from Perkins Engines and the O.400 from Leyland Motors were offered . The H6.354 had a displacement of 5.8 l and made 101 bhp . Leyland had acquired a twenty-five percent stake in the Transport Holding Company in 1965 , which also included Bristol Commercial . The O.400 was later replaced by the O.401, also built by Leyland. This engine achieved a maximum of 138 bhp with a displacement of 6.54 l. A manually shifted, synchronized five-speed gearbox with overdrive in fifth gear was used. The gearboxes mostly came from Turner Clarke . Some buses built for London Transport also got a semi-automatic gearbox and power steering, but the other operators bought buses without power-assisted steering. Although Bristol Commercial Vehicles was itself a major manufacturer of commercial vehicle engines , not a single bus was fitted with a Bristol engine. As with the Bristol MW , the engine was located under the floor in the middle of the chassis. In the Bristol RH , too , the relatively tall engine meant that there were steps in the entrance of the buses. The entrance door could be placed in the front overhang. This enabled the cost-saving one-man operation, as the driver could also take over the cashing of the passengers when boarding. The cooler was arranged upright on the front of the chassis. Was cushioned the bus with semi-elliptic leaf springs , though Bristol Commercial starting from 1962 for the Bristol MW an air suspension had offered as an option.

Superstructures from various coachbuilders were placed on the chassis supplied by Bristol . This construction method was common at the time, as the superstructures could be better adapted to the wishes and ideas of the various bus line operators. The bus was built as a coach , a city bus and a multi-purpose bus. These multi- purpose buses, referred to as dual purpose in England , were relatively widespread at the time, as they could be used for regular services during the working week and for excursions at times of low traffic. The bodies for the city buses mostly came from the Eastern Coach Works (ECW), which were connected to Bristol Commercial through the joint holding company Transport Holding Company . Plaxton bodies were preferred for coaches. Other superstructure manufacturers were Walter Alexander Coachbuilders , Duple Coachbuilders , Marshall and Northern Counties . The LHS had 26 to 35 seats both as a coach and as a city bus, as a multi-purpose bus, ECW offered bodies with 27, 29 and 30 seats, while Marshall was able to sell two buses with 29 seats and Duple two more with 31 seats. The LHL offered up to 53 seats as a coach, up to 55 as a city bus and up to 49 as a multi-purpose bus. From 1975 to 1982 Vanplan provided eight vehicles as delivery vans. In the normal version, the forty-one seat coach body from Plaxton and the forty-three seat bus body from ECW were most widespread, the bus bodies made by Alexander in Belfast for Ulsterbus had 45 seats.

The bus replaced the AEC Reliance for many operators , but was not particularly popular with the staff. The bus suffered from leaking valve seats, overheating and leaks during operation. London Transport used the Bristol LH in several versions. Used in this case London Transport own series designations. The narrow version of the LHS was designated as the BS and the narrow LHL as the BL . London Country also procured some LH in the normal version, the BN was the narrow version, the BL the wider. At London Transport , the Bristol LH replaced the Ford Transit with a bus body, which was used on routes with little traffic and narrow streets. The BS was also fitted with a six-speed gearbox for these missions. In use from 1975, the BS at London Transport was replaced by the larger BL with automatic transmission from 1976 . The narrow buses were not only procured because of the narrow streets on some routes, another reason was the maintenance boxes in the Kingston garage depot in Surrey that were too narrow for other buses . The Leyland National , which was actually designed as a universal bus, could not be used here for these reasons. London Transport procured 17 BS and 95 BL , of which 38 were still in use in 1986. London Country procured the bus to replace the AEC Reliance , although it did not meet its specification. However, the range of smaller single-decker buses was limited before the appearance of the Dennis Dart - the Bristol LH was at that time the only larger bus that was offered in a narrow design, so London Country resorted to it. The bus was procured in the normal length version in 67 copies, 44 of them in the narrower version.

A total of almost 2000 buses were built, of which 1505 LH , 174 LHL and 308 LHS . A few buses are currently still in use in public transport in Malta .

  • Bristol LH6L with city bus body from ECW

  • Bristol LHS with Dominant coach body from Duple

  • Bristol LHS6L with Supreme coach body from Plaxton

  • Bristol LH in Malta

literature

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