Thomas Built Buses

Thomas Built Buses, Inc. (commonly designated Thomas) is an American bus manufacturer. Best known for its production of yellow school buses, Thomas produces other bus designs for a variety of usages; currently, its production is concentrated on school buses and activity buses and their commercial derivatives.
Founded in 1916 as Perley A. Thomas Car Works, the company was renamed in 1972 to better represent its primary product lines. Headquartered in High Point, North Carolina since 1916, Thomas has been a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America (the parent company of Freightliner) since 1998. Prior to its acquisition, the company was operated by the Perley A. Thomas family, the final major school bus manufacturer operated under family control.
Since 1936, Thomas has produced school buses in High Point, North Carolina. In addition to bus bodies, the company also produces vehicle chassis for its Saf-T-Liner/Transit Liner EFX and HDX buses.
History.
Foundation.
The oldest surviving bus manufacturer in North America, Thomas Built Buses traces its roots to 1916. Following the closure of streetcar manufacturer Southern Car Company, Perley A. Thomas (trained as a woodworker and engineer) founded a company specializing in fireplace mantles and home furnishings. In the summer of 1916, Thomas shifted from furniture to streetcar construction, as he secured a contract to enclose existing streetcars in Charlotte, North Carolina, renovating them in a car barn.
In the summer of 1916, Thomas Car Works was founded; with a $6,000 loan ($ in 2018), Thomas acquired the equipment of Southern Car Works at auction, opening an assembly facility in a former ice manufacturing plant in High Point. During 1917, the company renovated 9 streetcars for the United States Navy in Mobile, Alabama, and for the city of Montgomery, Alabama.
1918 marked several milestones for the company, as Thomas Car Works began production of brand-new streetcars; 25 were produced. All-steel bodies were produced by the company for the first time, quickly overtaking wooden designs. At the end of 1918, the company began construction on larger factory, a 30-acre facility outside of High Point allowing for both construction and repair of streetcars.
1920s.
While best known from their use in New Orleans, Perley Thomas streetcars produced during the 1920s would also be utilized by communities across the United States, including Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Miami, FL; Mobile, AL; New York City; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC, and exported as well, with Havana, Cuba as a user.
In total, Thomas Car Works produced approximately 400 streetcars from 1918 to 1930; at its peak, the company was the fourth-largest manufacturer of streetcars in the United States.
New Orleans streetcars.
In 1921, Thomas Car Works secured its largest order for streetcars. In New Orleans, NOPSI (New Orleans Public Service, Inc.) decided to standardize their streetcar fleet upon 150 Thomas-designed streetcars, delivered from 1921 to 1924. Unable to fill the massive order on their own, Thomas subcontracted a portion to Philadelphia-based competitor J. G. Brill (using the Thomas design).
In September 1922, after Thomas delivered 25 streetcars to NOPSI, the High Point factory was destroyed by fire, causing $225,000 in damage and destroying 14 streetcars under construction. Following the fire, Perley Thomas secured a $100,000 advance from NOPSI, rebuilding the factory and securing parts to build 55 more streetcars; 25 more were completed by the end of 1923 (bringing the total produced to 105).
As of 2020, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority operates 35 Perley Thomas 900-series streetcars in active daily use (on the St. Charles line, the oldest streetcar line in the world); the streetcars date from 1923 and 1924.
1930s.
In 1930, Thomas Car Works was reincorporated as a stock company, with Perley Thomas making his family stockholders in Perley A. Thomas Car Works, Inc. For the last time, the company received an order for streetcars, producing 4 for Mobile, Alabama. While rail-based streetcars offered higher capacity, for public transit, automotive-based buses grew in popularity as they offered a greater degree of routing flexibility. In a transition away from streetcars, Thomas produced its first trolley bus in 1933; while still drawing power from overhead wires, a trolley bus was constructed from a bus chassis. For 1934, the company produced 10 transit buses for South Carolina-based Duke Power.
Following the collapse of its primary source of revenue, Thomas Car Works diversified its work, expanding into automotive refinishing and construction of bus and truck bodies. From 1929 to 1934, the company workforce decreased from 125 to nearly 10 (which included Perley Thomas and his 3 children). Eventually, a company creditor filed for receivership, with the lack of potential buyers allowing for the survival of the company.
Transition to bus construction.
In 1936, Thomas Car Works secured part of a bid to produce 500 school bus bodies for North Carolina. As the company was only financially able to acquire materials for 200 bodies, North Carolina split the bid between Thomas and Hackney Brothers. Dependent on length, Thomas offered wood-bodied school buses for $195 to $225. Following the completion of its second school bus bid in 1937, the company focused nearly all production on school bus bodies. In what is a long tradition that continues to the present day, Thomas remains the primary supplier of school buses to North Carolina.
In 1938, several major innovations were introduced by the company to its school bus design, including its first steel-bodied school bus. While Perley Thomas streetcars had adopted steel construction in 1918, school bus design had slowly evolved from farm wagons, with wooden body construction continuing into the 1930s. Although not the first to construct an all-steel body, Thomas introduced one-piece roof bows, internal roll bars welded to each side of the floor/frame structure. While the design has been updated for added strength, the one-piece roof bow is in use in all school buses manufactured in North America today. In another innovation, Thomas introduced an outward-opening entry door, designed to aid egress in emergency evacuation situations.
1940s.
In 1940, day-to-day operation of Thomas Car Works was turned over from Perley Thomas (who remained company president) to his three children. John W. Thomas managed company operations along with sales, along with James Thomas handling the High Point factory. Following the outbreak of World War II, as with its competitors, Thomas bus production was shifted towards the armed forces. In a contract shared with Ward Body Works, Thomas also produced various bodies for the GMC CCKW truck.
While the war had brought school bus production to a halt, the High Point factory remained utilized in civilian capacity. To supplement its armed forces production, Thomas Car Works was put to use by refurbishing streetcars. As rationing had placed increased demands on public transportation, the upkeep of existing equipment was considered a priority.
Following World War II, with a rise in student populations, Thomas Car Works began to expand its sales market beyond the South, opening dealerships across the eastern half of the United States. To better weatherproof its entry door, the company developed a reinforced rubber-covered door hinge; the rubber also covered the gap between the two door panels as they closed.
After World War II, a third generation of the family joined the company, with John W. Thomas, Jr. and Perley (Pat) Thomas II, with the former becoming director of sales and the latter taking over control of government contracts.
1950s.
During the decade, Thomas Car Works began exports of its product lines, establishing satellite facilities in Ecuador and Peru. From North Carolina, bodies were shipped to South America in CKD form for final assembly on locally sourced chassis.
In 1957, the "Thomas Saf-T-Liner" name made its first appearance, denoting updated bus bodies (with an enlarged two-piece windshield). Used full-time by 1972, the name remains in use for all full-size Thomas buses over 60 years later.
Company founder Perley Thomas died in 1958 at the age of 84; at the time of his death, Thomas retained his title of company president and also actively served as a design consultant.
1960s.
In 1962, Thomas Car Works officially expanded its production beyond High Point as Thomas Built Buses of Canada, Ltd. was established in Woodstock, Ontario. At the time, the company became the third-largest producer of school buses in the United States.
To demonstrate the strength of its internal roof bows, Thomas stacked a full-size school bus on the roof of another (using a crane) in 1964; the company has subsequently repeated the demonstration several times using more recent product lines.
For 1967, to reduce blind spots in front of the bus, Thomas developed a convex blind-spot mirror. Initially mandated in North Carolina, the device (allowing a 150-degree field of vision directly in front of the bus) became adopted by 16 other states in only two years. In various forms, blind-spot mirrors are currently required on all school buses in North America.
1970s.
In the early 1970s, Thomas underwent a number of major transitions in company leadership and market positioning. Company president John W. Thomas died in 1972, giving leadership to his brother James Thomas, who retired within a year. A third generation of the Thomas family assumed control of the company leadership, with John Thomas, Jr. (President) and Perley Thomas II (VP, international operations).
As Thomas Car Works had ended its involvement with streetcars since World War II, the new generation of company leaders chose a new name for the company tied closer to its current product lines; in 1972, "Perley A. Thomas Car Works" was renamed "Thomas Built Buses, Inc" (used in its emblems and marketing material since the 1950s).
Expanded school buses.
Since producing its first school bus in 1936, virtually all Thomas school bus bodies had been produced in the "conventional" style: a body mated to a cowled truck chassis. While the design was the most popular configuration, the transit-style configuration allowed for a higher passenger capacity (up to 90 passengers). In the early 1970s, Thomas developed the Saf-T-Liner ER (Engine Rear) as an alternative to the Blue Bird All American. In line with other body manufacturers (Carpenter, Superior, Ward, and Wayne), Thomas was dependent on a second-party manufacturer for rear-engine chassis (using Ford, Dodge, GMC, International Harvester and Volvo).
For 1972, the Saf-T-Liner body underwent a major redesign. Along with extending the rub rails completely around the body, the front and rear roof caps were flattened (to accommodate 8-lamp warning systems), and the windshield was enlarged. Following the addition of safety upgrades to comply with safety mandates in 1977, the Saf-T-Liner body saw use in the Conventional through the end of 2006; in modified form, it remains in use with the EFX and HDX (and resized to fit the Minotour). At the smaller end of the size scale, the Saf-T-Liner body was resized to produce the Mighty Mite, a narrow-body school bus on a shorter-wheelbase conventional chassis.
In 1978, Thomas made a major change to the production of the Saf-T-Liner ER. Coinciding with a design update, Thomas introduced a company-sourced chassis, along with the front-engine Saf-T-Liner EF. With the introduction of the EF, Thomas became the first school bus manufacturer to produce its own chassis for both front and rear-engine school buses, ahead of Blue Bird by a decade (California manufacturers Crown Coach and Gillig Corporation had not produced a front-engine school bus since before World War II). As a competitor to the Blue Bird Mini Bird and Carpenter Cadet, Thomas reintroduced the Mighty Mite as a Type B bus, a school bus body paired with a stripped chassis.
1980s.
The late 1970s and early 1980s was a period of struggle for all school bus manufacturers. Coupled with the slow economy, manufacturers could no longer count on the factor that had driven school bus sales for the past two decades: the entirety of the baby-boom generation had finished school; it would be years before student populations would create sufficient demand again. During this time, a number of manufacturers either encountered financial difficulty or closed their doors altogether.
At the beginning of the decade, Thomas introduced a new logo, displayed on the roofline of its buses; a "T-bus" logo replaced the previous scripted "Thomas Built Buses" company logo (still attached elsewhere to the body).
To better secure the future of the company, the Thomas family sought to raise capital for Thomas Built Buses, leading the company board to bring in the Odyssey Group investment firm to oversee the process. In return, Odyssey Group received a stake in the company (remaining under full family control).
In the early 1980s, Thomas launched a diversification of its product line, expanding its presence in the transit bus segment. Derived from the Saf-T-Liner, the Transit Liner was developed for commercial use. In 1982, the CL960 "Citiliner" was introduced as a dedicated transit bus; while sharing its underpinnings with the Saf-T-Liner ER, the two-door CitiLiner was rebodied (with a sloped windshield). Sharing its body with the CL960, the Chartour was developed for charter use, using a single entry door.
Product innovations.
Following the mid-1970s launches of the Wayne Busette and Blue Bird Micro Bird, Thomas would launch its own cutaway-chassis school bus, the Thomas Minotour, in 1980. Alongside the small Minotour, Thomas introduced the WestCoastER, a heavy-duty variant of the Saf-T-Liner ER marketed against Crown Supercoach and Gillig Phantom school buses. Sold only in 84 and 90-passenger configurations, the WestCoastER used heavier-duty driveline and suspension components; tandem rear axles were offered as an option.
In the late 1980s, the Saf-T-Liner product line (with the exception of the WestCoastER) adopted the MVP suffix, standing for "M"aneuverability, "V"isibility, and "P"rotection.
In 1989, Thomas introduced a second conventional-style bus to its model line, launching the Thomas Vista school bus. To optimize forward sightlines for drivers, the layout of the driver's compartment and forward chassis were redesigned. Along with a shorter hood and redesigned windshield, the engine and front axle were repositioned. In contrast to a standard conventional bus, the driver of the Vista sat beside the engine (rather than behind it).
1990s.
In 1991, the Saf-T-Liner transit-style buses saw their first redesign since 1978. The ER and WestCoastER were given a much larger windshield, redesigned drivers' compartment, and saw the introduction of several new diesel engines. To better compete with the Blue Bird TC/2000 and Ward Senator (which became the AmTran Genesis), Thomas replaced the Saf-T-Liner EF with the All Star, using an Oshkosh-produced chassis. The Thomas Vista continued production, shifting chassis in 1991 from General Motors to a variant of Navistar chassis shared with the Saf-T-Liner Conventional.
In 1992, the fourth generation of the Thomas family took over daily operations of the company (becoming the first family-owned school bus company to do so).
During the mid-1990s, the company began development of environmentally cleaner buses, with compressed natural gas (CNG) school buses entering production in 1993; several battery-electric school buses were produced in 1994 as prototype vehicles.
By 1996, Thomas had become the largest school bus manufacturer in the United States (by market share). To keep up with added demand, the company opened a third factory in Monterrey, Mexico. As a design change, the "T-bus" roof emblem (used since the early 1980s) was replaced by a scripted Thomas Built Buses emblem (its predecessor).
During the later 1990s, Thomas Built Buses would undergo a number of significant changes, with some that have changed the future of school bus manufacturing. For the 1997 model year, Freightliner introduced the Freightliner FS-65 school bus chassis. Derived from the Freightliner FL60/FL70 medium-duty trucks introduced in 1995, the FS-65 chassis was paired with the Saf-T-Liner Conventional body, after several modifications (distinguished by the addition of a 4-piece windshield).
Transit expansion.
During the 1990s, Thomas modernized and expanded its product range within the transit segment. Alongside the Chartour and CL960/Citiliner, Thomas marketed Transit Liners, commercial derivatives of the Saf-T-Liner school buses, along with commercial versions of the Minotour and Vista. A dedicated transit bus derived from the Saf-T-Liner ER, the TL960 was a two-door bus that offered an integrated wheelchair ramp as an option.
In 1999, Thomas entered a joint venture with British bus manufacturer Dennis to import the Dennis Dart SLF (in CKD form). Following assembly by Thomas in North Carolina; while badged as Thomas vehicles (the Thomas Dennis SLF200), distribution of the low-floor buses was undertaken by Orion Bus (itself becoming a Daimler subsidiary in 2000).
Company acquisition.
Into the late 1990s, Thomas Built Buses remained a family-owned company, controlled by the fourth generation of the Thomas family and the Odyssey Group. Following the departure of Wayne Wheeled Vehicles from the manufacturing segment, Thomas became the largest manufacturer, holding a 34% market share in 1996. The same year, the Thomas family sold a majority stake of the company to the Berkshire Partners equity firm.
Freightliner entered school bus manufacturing as a chassis producer in May 1996, unveiling the Freightliner FS-65 (derived from its FL60/FL70 Business Class medium-duty truck); developed in cooperation with Thomas, the first production Freightliner-chassis buses were produced at the beginning of 1997. The product launch marked the first completely new school bus chassis since 1980, with Freightliner becoming the first new cowled-chassis manufacturer since the 1977 withdrawal of Dodge.
Following its collaboration with Thomas in developing the FS-65 chassis, in October 1998, Freightliner acquired Thomas Built Buses in its entirety from the Thomas family and the Berkshire, retaining company president John W. Thomas III. The largest school bus manufacturer in North America at the time, Thomas Built Buses was the last major manufacturer operating under family control. At the time, Freightliner was undergoing a series of company acquisitions to diversify its product range beyond highway trucks. Along with acquiring the rights to the Ford heavy-truck line (and Ford Cargo) in 1997 (continued as Sterling Trucks), Freightliner acquired Thomas alongside the chassis production of Oshkosh Corporation (1995), American LaFrance (1996).
For school bus manufacturers, the 1990s marked a period of association between major body and chassis manufacturers. In 1991, Navistar began its purchase of AmTran (completed in 1995); a year later, Blue Bird entered in a supply agreement with General Motors for conventional bus chassis. 1998 marked both the purchase of Thomas by Freightliner and the sale of Carpenter to Spartan Motors (its front/rear-engine chassis supplier).
At the end of the 1990s, several changes made to the Thomas product line were related to its purchase by Freightliner. At the end of 1998 production, Navistar ended its chassis production for the Vista; as the Vista body was developed solely for its chassis, Thomas discontinued the model line. While Freightliner did not purchase the Ford medium-duty truck range or the school bus chassis derived from it, Ford ended production of the latter after 1998. Consequently, from 1999 onward, the Saf-T-Liner Conventional was limited to Navistar or Freightliner chassis (along with AmTran/Ward, Carpenter, and Wayne, the last General Motors chassis for a Thomas bus was produced in 1991).
2000s.
In the school bus manufacturing segment, the beginning of the 2000s marked a period of uncertainty. In 2001, following the closure of Carpenter, the number of body manufacturers had declined from seven to three in ten years; AmTran would rebrand itself (twice, in less than two years). The acquisition of Thomas by Freightliner brought financial stability to the company (something not initially afforded to the Blue Bird Corporation).
In the early 2000s, Thomas restructured its manufacturing footprint, centering it around its High Point headquarters. Following the closure of the Monterrey facility in the late 1990s, the company opened a separate facility in High Point for Minotour assembly in 1999; in 2000, a facility was opened to produce Thomas Dennis low-floor buses in Jamestown, North Carolina. Thomas Built Buses of Canada in Woodstock, Ontario, was closed in 2001 (as part of a Freightliner restructuring), with Thomas opening a third school bus assembly facility High Point in 2004.
In 2002, John W. Thomas III retired, becoming the final family member to manage the firm; serving as president since 1992, Thomas remained with the company as a consultant. He was succeeded by John O'Leary, a financially educated manager in charge of the turnaround of parent company Freightliner.
During the 2000s, Thomas began to wind down its presence in the transit bus segment. While the Thomas Dennis SLF found buyers, the product line struggled to gain a foothold against established transit buses; after 2002, the Thomas Dennis joint venture was reorganized by Daimler (effectively replacing Thomas with distributor Orion). The Thomas-designed TL960 (which replaced the aging Chartour/CL960) was discontinued in 2002, replacing dedicated transit buses with school bus derivatives as Thomas consolidated commercial production to the Transit Liner EF/ER.
In 2005, company founder Perley Thomas became one of the first inductees (posthumously) of the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2007, the North Carolina Transportation Museum received the donation of a 1940 Thomas Car Works school bus from Thomas Built Buses.
Following the 2004 introduction of the Saf-T-Liner C2, Thomas produced the model line along its Saf-T-Liner Conventional predecessor. After nearly 35 years of production of the Saf-T-Liner Conventional body; the 62,764th and final example on the FS-65 chassis was produced on December 13, 2006.
New-generation buses.
At the beginning of the 2000s, Thomas began to introduce its most extensive updates to its product lines since the 1970s. For 2001, the Saf-T-Liner HD was introduced (combining the Saf-T-Liner ER, WestCoastER, and the MVP ER). Distinguished by its large mirror housings (integrating sideview, convex, and crossview mirrors into a single assembly), the HD also visibly shared several components from Freightliner, including its instrument cluster and headlamps. For 2003, Freightliner became the sole chassis supplier for the Saf-T-Liner Conventional, with all Conventionals becoming Saf-T-Liner FS-65s. In 2004, Thomas renamed the HD the Saf-T-Liner HDX.
Following the 2001 replacement of the FL-series Business Class with the Business Class M2, development was underway on a new-generation Thomas Saf-T-Liner conventional school bus. In 2004, the Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 made its debut, marking the first completely new bus body from Thomas since 1972. In a shift from industry precedent, both the Thomas body and Freightliner chassis were designed together as a common unit (allowing the use of the dashboard in nearly its entirety); as a drawback, the pairing negated the use of the Freightliner C2 chassis by other body builders. In contrast to the Saf-T-Liner Conventional, the C2 is designed with a larger, sloped windshield, larger windows and exits, and different body construction.
For 2009, Thomas launched a second model line of small buses. Named the Thomas MyBus, the model line is geared towards the MFSAB (activity bus) segment. Sharing its internal structure with the Minotour, the non-yellow MyBus is designed for applications without any need for traffic control.
2010s.
In 2010, John O'Leary was succeeded as company president by Kelley Platt; the first female leader of a major school bus manufacturer, Platt served as manager of treasury services during the Freightliner acquisition of Thomas Built Buses.
In 2011, Thomas marked the introduction of the 2012 Saf-T-Liner EFX, its first all-new front-engine bus since 1994. Using similar design features as the Saf-T-Liner HDX (its windshield and upper bodywork), the EFX also utilized a center-mounted Freightliner instrument panel.
During the early 2010s, Thomas expanded its environmentally friendly product line. The Saf-T-Liner C2e hybrid diesel-electric school bus (introduced in 2007) met with little success, leading to its withdrawal in 2013; instead, the company invested in its alternative-fuel product lines. Having offered compressed natural gas (CNG) since 1993 in the Saf-T-Liner ER, the Saf-T-Liner C2 gained propane and CNG offerings (in 2014 and 2016, respectively). Alternative fuels became available on the Minotour (coinciding with chassis specification).
In 2016, Thomas Built Buses marked 100 years since the founding of Perley Thomas Car Works, becoming the first current bus body manufacturer to reach 100 years of production in North America.
In late 2019, Thomas entered into a joint venture with Trans Tech to jointly develop a small school bus. Named the Minotrek, The Ford Transit cutaway-chassis school bus is designed with an aerodynamically enhanced body to optimize fuel economy.
Environmental stewardship.
In 2011, the High Point facilities of Thomas Built Buses achieved Zero-Waste-to-Landfill status in its vehicle production. A year later, the company was designated a North Carolina Environmental Steward, citing its superior environmental performance, commitment to continued reduction of its environmental impact, and demonstrated commitment to exceed compliance regulations.
In late 2017, in line with each major school bus manufacturer, Thomas unveiled a fully electric school bus prototype. The Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley (deriving its name from the unit of energy) is scheduled to enter full production during 2020.
Products.
Thomas Built Buses is a manufacturer of school bus bodies in cutaway van (Minotour), conventional (Saf-T-Liner C2), and transit-style (Saf-T-Liner EFX/HDX) configurations. Other bodies produced by the company include derivatives of its school bus designs (activity buses and child-care buses) along with buses for commercial use; some vehicles are intended for specialty use.
Alongside diesel-fueled vehicles, dependent on product line, Thomas buses are also offered with alternative-fuel options, including propane, CNG, gasoline, and fully electric powertrains.
Other buses.
Thomas sold commercial derivatives of the Minotour, Conventional, Vista, along with the following:


SNCF Class Z 800

The SNCF Z 800 is an electric multiple unit train used on the Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway. They were purchased in a joint order by SNCF and the Martigny–Châtelard Railway (MCR) on March 30, 1994. Five trainsets were produced: three for SNCF (one of which was financed by the Rhône-Alpes region), and two for the MCR.
Development.
As the Z 600 transits were wearing out, replacement for them was envisioned at the end of the 1980s. A joint order was created with SNCF and the MCR to replace the existing Z 600 transits. Five transits were ordered in 1994 from a consortium made up of Vevey Technologies (project coordination, assembly and construction of the boxes), Adtranz (electrical equipment) and SLM Winterthur (bogies, braking and rack and pinion equipment).
Description.
For the trains be able to operate from Fayet to Martigny, they are equipped with security systems corresponding to the two lines. They can operate on the rack sections of the TMRs. Current collection is done by 3rd rail shoe or pantograph.
The Z 800 multiple units are permanently coupled in pairs. There are power and communications connections the two multiple units of a train. The three SNCF trains are numbered Z 801/802 (train 1), Z 803/804 (train 2) and Z 805/806 (train 3), while those of the MC are Z 821 / 822 (train No. 21) and Z 823/824 (train No. 22). However, these are numbered BDeh 4/8 n ° 821/822 and 823/824 in the nomenclature of TMR. The odd numbered railcar is directed towards Fayet, and the even number railcar is directed towards Martigny. The new trainsets were delivered in 1996-1997, with three for SNCF and two for the MCR.
Each unit is equipped with two bogies with two axles including a carrier and a motor. The motors have a power output of 1000 kW. A train can reach 70 km/h on an easy profile, on 70 mm/m (7 %) ramps, on upper ramps, and downhill.
The Z 800s are equipped with five braking systems:
The trainsets are fitted with a Scharfenberg coupler, which allows multiple trains to couple connect together during periods of heavy usage. It is also possible to couple them with Z 600 trainsets, which was notably done during test campaigns in 1997.


Zawrat

Zawrat (also known as PZInż. 153) was a Polish bus brand produced by the Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne (PZInż) holding between 1936 and 1937 for the city of Warsaw. Only 18 buses were completed before the series was cancelled. The last Zawrat bus remained in service in Warsaw until 1949.
The bus was based on a license-built chassis of the Saurer 3CT1D bus designed by Swiss Saurer company and a six-cylinder Saurer BLD engine, also license-built in Poland. The license for the chassis was bought in 1932 and initially 70 Saurer 3CT1D buses were completed entirely of Swiss-made parts. Until 1934 additional 43 chassis were completed, partially of parts produced in Poland. Some of those were finished with bus bodies, others were converted to 5-tonne lorries for the Polish Army.
In 1936 the PZInż designed a new all-metal body for the Saurer 3CT1D and named the new bus "Zawrat" after the pass in Tatra Mountains. The bus had two doors and seats for 50 passengers. In line with other buses of pre-war construction, the rear doors were used for entry to the vehicle. However, unlike all previous wooden-built buses used or tested in Warsaw (such as Büssing 650 TU, Somua SIX or Chevrolet EFD FS 183) the Zawrat had a completely closed passenger cabin, without an open platform at the rear.
The first 12 buses were delivered to Warsaw in 1936 and on 13 July 1936 the first new "T" line started to operate them. By the end of the next year 6 additional buses were delivered, which allowed for creation or extension of five new bus lines.
While spacious, the type proved cumbersome to operate. The chassis proved too rigid, making turning in the narrow streets of downtown Warsaw a difficult task. Also the diesel engine proved too loud. Because of that already in 1938 the Zawrat buses were relegated to suburban service, where their disadvantages were less of a problem.
During World War II most of Warsaw's Zawrat buses were mobilised by the army and eventually destroyed. Some bodies of Zawrat still in Warsaw were converted in 1943 to makeshift tramway cars as the Germans stole much of the fleet of Warsaw Tramways. The last surviving Zawrat (body number 53) was returned to service after the war and served in the ruined city until 1949.


Isuzu Erga

The Isuzu Erga (kana:いすゞ・エルガ) is a heavy-duty single-decker bus produced by Isuzu through the J-Bus joint venture. It is primarily available as a public bus in either a complete bus or a bus chassis. It is built by J-Bus from Japan either as a step-entrance bus (One-step and Two-step) or a low-floor bus (Non-step (Type A and Type B)).
First generation (2000-2015).
The styling is completely different from the Cubic. The Isuzu Erga has a deep double-curvature windscreen and a rounded roof dome (more rounded as compared to the Cubic) with a separately mounted destination display. Its Hino-rebadged version is the Hino Blue Ribbon II.
Isuzu Erga-J.
The Isuzu Erga-J is a rebadged Hino Rainbow HR. It has a rounded roof dome similar to the Erga with a deep double-curvature windscreen and a separately mounted destination display.


Tramkar

Tramkar (Bulgarian: Трамкар) is a Bulgarian tram manufacturer based in Sofia. It repairs and renovates vehicles of the Sofia tram and trolleybus systems. Tramkar also manufactured trams and trolleybuses until 1991.
Trams.
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Trolleybuses.
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Ulster House Hotel

The Ulster House Hotel, formerly the Wellington Hotel, is located on Main Street in Pine Hill, New York, United States. It is a large wooden Italianate-style building dating to the late 19th century, currently vacant and undergoing renovations.
It is one of the few remaining hotel buildings from the peak era of Catskill resorts. In 2002 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Building.
The hotel is on a corner lot on the northeast of the intersection of Main and Academy streets, marking the west end of Pine Hill's small, quiet downtown. To the north and east are residential properties. The small Mosier Creek runs through the property, which slopes slightly downhill to the east.
The building itself is a three-story six-by-three-bay frame structure on a stone foundation sided in clapboard. It has a rear wing, with a similar two-story wing of later construction to the north. Both have gabled roofs with similar treatments as the main roof's asphalt-shingled low hipped roof, topped with a cupola with three narrow round-arched windows and a similar hipped roof. The slope exposes the basement along the entire rear, providing for several entrances.
A wraparound porch with metal shed roof supported by round Colonial Revival columns runs the length of the south (front) and all of the west elevations. A low spindlework rail connects them. At the roofline are broad overhanging eaves supported by brackets on a molded cornice and simple frieze.
The main entrance is in the center of the south facade. It is a pair of wood and glass paneled doors in a simple wooden surround with a toplight. It opens into a central hall with flanking parlors spanning the full depth of the main block. The moldings, wall finishes and parquet floor are original.
At the rear a door provides access to the rear wing. It has a central hall of its own and many original finishes. The second and third floors also have central halls. Like the simply decorated guest rooms, they, too, retain their original finishes.
History.
The small mountain town of Pine Hill became a destination for vacationers seeking the Catskills' fresh mountain air and scenic views in 1872, when the Ulster and Delaware Railroad was completed through past the village. The hotel, known then as the Wellington, was built ten years later. A 1905 railroad travel guide describes it as having 152 rooms, making it the second largest hotel on the railroad's route.
Later it fell into disuse when the Catskill resort industry declined in the mid-20th century with the rise of the automobile. It remains vacant today but intact and preserved. In 2001 a local entrepreneur bought it with the intention of reopening it as a restaurant. It is currently (2019) a private residence.


Leyland Olympian

The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production.
Construction.
The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as the Leyland Titan integral double deck bus which was ordered in large numbers by London Transport. At the time there was a demand for non-integral vehicles, because operators wished to have the chassis bodied by other manufacturers. Thus Leyland created the B45 project, which was named Olympian, in 1979. This was in many ways an update of the popular Bristol VRT (Bristol Commercial Vehicles merged with Leyland in 1965), with many VR customers choosing Olympians. Later the Olympian also replaced the Leyland Atlantean.
The Olympian was unveiled at the 1980 Commercial Motor Show. It was available in two lengths, 9.56m and 10.25m. The engine was either the Leyland TL11 unit (a development of the Leyland O.680: both were of 11.1 litre capacity) or the Gardner 6LXB or 6LXCT. Some later Olympians had Cummins L10 engines. One Olympian had a 5LXCT.
For the export market a three-axle version was built with lengths of 10.4m, 11.32m and 11.95m. This was very popular with operators such as Kowloon Motor Bus. In 1988, Leyland developed an air-conditioned version of the Olympian, with the refrigerant compressor driven by the main engine instead of a separate engine.
Between 1979 and 1981, nine demonstrators were built, before the first production Olympian entered service with Ribble Motor Services in August 1981.
The Olympian was initially manufactured at the former Bristol factory in Brislington with the first thousand completed here. In 1983, production transferred to Leyland's Farington and Workington plants. The last was completed for Singapore Bus Service in March 1994.
Bodies.
The Leyland Olympian was built with a wide variety of body types:
Orders.
United Kingdom.
The Leyland Olympian was popular in the United Kingdom, with orders from operators both before and after privatisation. It was purchased by many National Bus Company subsidiaries.
Although London Buses primarily purchased the Leyland Titan, in 1984 it took delivery of three Olympians. Between 1987 and 1992, a further 350 Olympians were purchased. The last were withdrawn in 2005, although some were converted to open top buses and remain in use with The Original Tour. London Country purchased 102.
Lothian Buses purchased over 200, but all were removed by 2009.
South Wales Transport ordered 7 of these in 1985 registered C901-C907 FCY. These remained in service with First Cymru until 2005.
The last remaining Leyland Olympians were removed from service in December 2016 as they did not comply with Disabled Access Regulations.
Greece.
EAS of Athens received 19 Leyland Olympians in 1983, plus the Demo previously trialed in 1982. They were all withdrawn by 1 October 1994. One of them is preserved.
Hong Kong.
Between 1981 and 1993, Kowloon Motor Bus purchased 906 Olympians, with all but four having Alexander bodywork. Some were later repatriated to the United Kingdom, including 22 converted to open top configuration by The Big Bus Company.
China Motor Bus purchased 37 Olympians between 1981 and 1993. All 35 three-axle Olympians passed to New World First Bus, with the entire batch of ten non-air-conditioned buses being sold to FirstGroup who repatriated them to the United Kingdom for use at their East Counties, Glasgow, Manchester and PMT subsidiaries.
Citybus purchased 294 new Olympians including 2-axle Leyland Olympians (#7, #12, #14, #15, #17, #18). In 1990, Citybus numbering system was changed to finally remove the prefixes. In the early to mid 1990s, selected 2-axle Leyland Olympians were converted to open-top where it is used for private hire services, to complement AEC Routemaster, however these were withdrawn gradually after 2001. #7 was the last 2-axle Leyland Olympian in Hong Kong, where it was retired in 2009 and eventually scrapped. In 2003, 54 were repatriated to the United Kingdom to operate express services for Megabus.
All Hong Kong franchised Olympians had been withdrawn by October 2011. The non-franchised, open-topped, air-conditioned double deckers and private hire buses were withdrawn by 2015 due to their non-compliance with Hong Kong's emission regulations. Citybus #391 was the last Leyland Olympian to ever run in Hong Kong.
Ireland.
Dublin Bus initially purchased 63 Olympians. The total was eventually increased to 175.
North America.
In 1984, an Eastern Coach Works bodied left hand drive Olympian was sent to the United States as a demonstrator. It was used as a shuttle bus at Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It then entered service on Gray Line tours in Victoria. It was later sold to Brampton Transit.
Grosvenor Coach Lines (Gray Line) of San Francisco received 10 Eastern Coach Works bodied three-axle Leyland Olympians in 1986 for sightseeing purposes. Seven were later transferred to New York City and the other three to Seattle. After a period in store, the three Seattle units were repowered with Detroit Diesel engines in Los Angeles and returned to Gray Line duties in San Francisco in 2015.
Singapore.
Singapore Bus Services (SBS) received a single Leyland Olympian B45 for evaluation in 1981. It was displayed at the 1980 Commercial Motor Show in the UK and was described as a "Far Eastern" prototype. It had a 3+2 transverse seating arrangement unseen in Singapore but common in Hong Kong then with a seating capacity of 97, but was eventually refitted to the standard 2+2 transverse seating arrangement before export. When registered, it bore a unique demonstration livery with the company's 1978 corporate logo not unlike a Leyland Leopard demonstrator also with SBS then. It was deployed on route 162 until its withdrawal in late 1982. It was subsequently repatriated to the UK where it worked with the City of Oxford Motor Services afterwards.
Satisfied with the trial, SBS ordered 200 Leyland Olympian 2-Axles fitted with Alexander R bodywork of which they were SBS's last Leyland engined buses. Registered between 1986 and 1988, these buses were deployed to Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and Jurong bus depots. In the late 1990s, they were massively redeployed to serve routes mainly in the industrial and suburban regions as most routes plying downtown were transitioning to a fully air-conditioned fleet. At the same time, some of these buses had 3 pairs of seats removed on the offside to create a standee area, while others were refitted with Allison gearboxes and new seat upholsterers. When SBS was renamed as SBS Transit in late 2001, none of these units received the SBS Transit livery as they were nearing the end of their statutory lifespan. All units were withdrawn between 2001 and 2003.
2 Leyland Olympian 2-Axle were preserved. One was converted into an "NYC The Red Bus" office and preserved as a static exhibit at Youth Park. The other was re-registered and converted to a playschool bus and was parked at various places, It has since been decommissioned and is now preserved at Jubilee Pat's Schoolhouse as a static exhibit since 2008.
In 1992, SBS ordered another 200 Leyland Olympians, all of which were fitted with the then all new Walter Alexander Royale bodywork. Registered between 1993 and 1994, they were Singapore's first air-conditioned and tri-axle double deck buses and hence nicknamed the "Superbus" owing to their massive specifications at that time. They were also the last Leylands to be built globally. Originally deployed to all SBS depots islandwide, they were consolidated into Ang Mo Kio, Braddell Bus Park, and Soon Lee bus depots in the mid 2000s. Unlike their 2-axle counterparts and Volvo Olympians, none of these units received a standee area as the air-conditioning filter was right above the seats. Withdrawal of these buses began in 2010, and the last buses were retired in April 2013.
SBS9168S, the last Leyland Olympian built, was repatriated to England in 2013 and is currently preserved by Dave Rogers and re-registered as L888 SBS.
Leyland sale.
In 1988, Leyland was purchased by Volvo, who only continued with the Olympian and Lynx due to the vast number of outstanding orders. More buses also went to Dublin Bus, London Transport, China Motor Bus and Hong Kong Citybus.
The completion of the final orders from Strathclyde Buses, Dublin Bus, China Motor Bus, Citybus and Singapore Bus Services saw the discontinuation of the Leyland Olympian, with the last delivered to Singapore Bus Services, and the plant in Workington closed.
The Leyland Olympian was superseded by the Volvo Olympian, with the existing chassis retained and a Volvo TD102KF engine replacing the Gardner engine option. It remained in production until 2000.


List of trolleybuses produced by Fiat

From the 50s and the 60s Fiat was the biggest manufacturer of trolleybuses in Italy. The company was partner with body makers such as Cansa, Casaro, Garavini, Macchi, Varesina, Viberti and electrical engine manufacturers Breda, CGE, Marelli and TIBB.
Public transport.
Fiat trolleybuses served in Italy in cities like Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples and towns like Florence, Cuneo, Verona, Bologna and other.
Outside Italy trolleybuses by Fiat had in: Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Mexico.


Banff Trail station

Banff Trail station is a CTrain light rail station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It serves the Northwest Line (Route 201) and opened on September 7, 1987 as part of the original line. It is located on the exclusive LRT right of way on the east side of Banff Trail NW, 4.1 km northwest of the 7 Avenue & 9 Street SW interlocking. The station consists of two side-loading platforms with grade-level access from a pedestrian crossing of the tracks at the northern end of the station.
The station is located east of the McMahon Stadium (which features 780 spaces available for commuters), Burns Stadium, and the Motel Village district, and north-east of the junction of Crowchild Trail and the Trans-Canada Highway. It also serves the neighborhoods of Banff Trail, Hounsfield Heights, Briar Hill and St. Andrews Heights.
As part of Calgary Transit's plan to operate four-car CTrains by the end of 2014, all three-car platforms were to be extended. However, Banff Trail Station was also refurbished in addition to a platform extension. Construction began in early 2014 and continued into Winter 2014–2015. This refurbishment required an extended closure of the station.
The overhaul was completed December 21, 2014. It features new LED lighting, 16 HD security cameras, heated shelters and a much more user friendly, safer contemporary feel.
In 2008, Banff Trail Station registered 5,600 weekday boardings.


SsangYong Istana

The SsangYong Istana was a 2, 9, 12 and 15 seater minivan and minibus based on the Mercedes-Benz MB100 'Bus' variant. It comes with most of the options of the MB100 as well. The name "Istana" is Malay and Indonesian for "palace", which is the name of the presidential residences in both Singapore and Indonesia.


Hawes Street station

Hawes Street is a light rail surface stop on the MBTA Green Line C branch, located in the median of Beacon Street west of Hawes Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. The station consists of two side platforms which serve the C branch's two tracks.
With 339 boardings on an average weekday in 2011, Hawes Street has the lowest ridership on the C branch and fourth-lowest on the entire Green Line.


Trams in Osijek

The Osijek tram system is operated by the "City Transport of Osijek" (GPP Osijek) and serves the city of Osijek, capital of the Slavonia region of Croatia.
The Osijek network is the only Croatian tram system still in existence outside Zagreb. Services have operated continuously since the first horse-car tram line was opened in 1884 (connecting the railway station and city square), and the first electric tram ran in 1926.
The present network consists of two lines which intersect in the city square (Trg Anta Starčevića) and the fleet consists of refurbished Tatra T3 PVO vehicles and some newly acquired second hand Duewag GT6. During the Croatian War of Independence, five Tatra T3 streetcars were destroyed and two female drivers were killed in 1991/92.
There is also an old Škoda tourist heritage tram, which can be rented for special occasions. The tram dates back to the start of electrical operation, back in 1926.
All tracks are at 1000 mm (metre gauge) width. There are three terminal loops, and two loops used rarely only when shorter route service is provided. There is also an inner city loop for the part of line 2, which connects the main railway station with the city centre. Unlike line 1, which is double track in its whole length, line 2 is composed of a loop segment, a double track segment and the remainder being single track with passing loops. At the main vehicle depot (Remiza) there is a track triangle structure used regularly for turning tramway vehicles when starting and/or ending service.
In November 2014, Line 1 was extended from Višnjevac Sjever to Višnjevac Okretište.
A 2018 reorganization of public transport which abolished the tariff union between GPP and the private transport operators reintroduced the city centre circulator, connecting the main square and the city's railway station. Popularly known as the "Kolodvorac" (lit. Station-runner), the line previously existed until 2008, when it was abolished.


Washington Hall (hotel)

Washington Hall was a historic hotel in antebellum Atlanta, Georgia. Built in 1846, the building was one of the earliest hotels built in the city. The hotel, along with many other structures in the city, was destroyed in 1864 during the Battle of Atlanta.
History.
Washington Hall was constructed by James Loyd in late 1846 at the intersection of Loyd Street (later Central Avenue) and the Georgia Railroad line in downtown Atlanta. Loyd had purchased the site in 1844. The building was one of the Atlanta's earliest hotels. The Atlanta Hotel was constructed earlier in 1846 and the Trout House followed in 1849. Loyd operated the hotel for almost a year before leasing the building to H. C. Holcombe and Zachariah A. Rice in October 1847. Two years later, after their lease had expired and Rice had departed for the California gold fields, Loyd again managed the hotel for several years before selling the property.
The hotel was a two-story tall brick and wood building. It was described as being of "uncertain architecture" due to the constant renovations and expansions it underwent shortly after its construction to accommodate the rapid growth of Atlanta preceding the Civil War. According to multiple sources, the Atlanta Hotel was the more upscale of the two buildings.
Like many of the buildings in Atlanta at the time, the hotel was destroyed during General Sherman's burning of Atlanta, wherein a scorched earth policy was employed; the Atlanta Hotel also suffered the same fate.
When Atlanta was rebuilt after the war, another famous Atlanta hotel, Markham House, replaced Washington Hall in 1875. Like Washington Hall, Markham House would also be destroyed by fire, as it burned down in 1896.


Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Midi

The Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Midi (kana: 三菱ふそう・エアロミディ) is a step-entrance, low entry and low floor midibus produced by the Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Fuso since 1988. It is primarily available as public buses and sightseeing buses ranged from lengths of 7.0m to 10.1m. The range can be built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis.
The Mitsubishi Fuso MK Series was built between 1974 and 1988. The Aero Midi appeared in 1988 after the replacement for the MK Series. The Aero Midi ceased production in 2007 and replaced by the Aero Midi-S in 2008. After the Aero Midi-S ceased production in 2010, production of the Aero Midi city bus recommenced in the following year. The Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Midi is the low entry and smaller version of the low floor Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Star city bus.
Aero Midi-S (2008-2010).
The Aero Midi-S is a rebadged Nissan Diesel Space Runner RM and Nissan Diesel Space Runner JP. A common design is that it has a rounded roof dome (similar to the Nissan Diesel Space Runner RM and the Nissan Diesel Space Runner JP) with a double-curvature windscreen and a separately mounted destination sign.


Bombardier Talent

The Talent is a multiple unit railcar manufactured by Bombardier that was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen shortly before the company was acquired by Bombardier in 1995. The name "Talent" is an acronym in German for "TALbot LEichter Nahverkehrs-Triebwagen" (in English, "Talbot light suburban railcar").
It comes in a number of variants, including high-floor, low-floor, diesel-mechanical, diesel-hydraulic, diesel-electric, electric, and tilting, and in lengths of two, three, or four carriages. As with most multiple-unit trains, Talent units can run individually, or be coupled together to form longer trains.
Specifications.
Classified as heavy rail according to UIC standards, the Talent is a two-, three- or four-part articulated railcar with Jacobs bogies. Partially as a result of this, the interior of an entire unit is essentially a single, long cabin; it is possible to see or walk from end to end without opening doors or passing through narrower gangways. The sharing of bogies also means that a Talent unit cannot be easily disassembled or rearranged without the assistance of a railway yard. In those variants whose floor is above the rails, this means that the articulation floor is raised, but with ramp access, since it needs to be higher than the wheel diameter, above rail level. In the variants with floor height, the floor is flat from the first door to the last. The endsections have a raised floor in all variants, because the traction equipment installed underneath requires more space than unpowered bogies. The optional tilting system (called ContRoll) is unique: no swinging bolster is required between the bogie and the car body, but hydraulic cylinders, fitted between the anti roll bar system and the carbody, directly actuate the tilting.
Service.
After a prototype was presented in 1994, the first Talents entered service in 1996. They are used by mainline railways in Germany, Austria and Norway. More than 260 are in service worldwide.
In a more unusual use, three diesel Talents identical to Deutsche Bahn's class 643 once formed the fleet for Ottawa's O-Train Trillium Line, a diesel light rail transit line running entirely within the City of Ottawa. The Trillium Line shares a lightly used freight railway line. As the Talent is not certified for concurrent shared-track operation with freight trains in North America, freight traffic is not permitted on the Trillium Line's route while passenger services are running. Although it is still legally classified as a main-line railway, Transport Canada allow the O-Train Trillium Line to use One-Person Train Operation, with fares collected through a proof-of-payment system. In March 2015, all three Talent units were replaced by Alstom Coradia LINT diesel units.
The Talent has now been superseded by the Bombardier Talent 2 and Talent 3.


ArrivaClick

ArrivaClick is a demand responsive transport service operated by Arriva UK Bus. Passengers book and pay for journeys via a smartphone app, which then matches passengers traveling between similar points, calculating an ad hoc route to the destinations required.
History.
ArrivaClick was launched in March 2017 in Sittingbourne, with Liverpool becoming the first city to be served by ArrivaClick in 2018.
Operations.
Liverpool.
Arriva North West operated ArrivaClick in Liverpool, with services operating from their Birkenhead, Green Lane and Speke depots.
In December 2018, ArrivaClick began operations in Liverpool city centre and the southern areas of the city.
In July 2020, Arriva announced that it would not be returning its operations to Liverpool after suspending services in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic
New Lubbesthorpe.
Arriva Midlands commenced operating ArrivaClick services in New Lubbesthorpe, Leicestershire on 29 April 2019.
Sittingbourne.
ArrivaClick in Sittingbourne is operated by Arriva Southern Counties. As well as operating around the town, it also serves the Kent Science Park. The Sittingbourne trial ended in November 2019 and was replaced by a fixed-route service in part of the area.
Fleet.
ArrivaClick services are operated by Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibuses. As of December 2018, it has a total of 30 vehicles.


Trolleybuses in Belarus

Trolleybuses in Belarus form an important component of the urban public transport systems in that country.
Trolleybus systems currently exist in seven cities in Belarus. The system in Minsk, in operation since 1952, is the largest trolleybus system in the world. As of about 2005, the Minsk system had a fleet of slightly more than 1,000 trolleybuses, serving 68 routes.
Trolleybuses also serve Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev and Babruysk (since 1978).
For a complete list of all trolleybus systems to have existed in Belarus, with dates of opening (and city name transliterations), see List of trolleybus systems, under Belarus. As of May 2013, all seven trolleybus systems opened in Belarus remain in operation.
Belarus also has some manufacturers of trolleybuses, including Belkommunmash and MAZ.


Volvo B6F

Volvo B609, Volvo B6F and Volvo B6FA were a series of front-engined midibus chassises manufactured by Volvo between 1976 and 1987. Its predecessor, the B54 was not a success, while the interim replacement, the BB57 was too large, so in 1976 Volvo launched the B609, which was in many ways just a Volvo F6 truck chassis without the cab, which meant it had the engine mounted on top of the front axle. In 1978 it was replaced by the B6F, which was built in the same way, but a bit more adapted to bus needs. Volvo also introduced the B6FA, which was a more conventional front-engined chassis, and a bit larger too. While the B6F had max gross weight of 9.3 tonnes the B6FA would manage 12 tonnes. While production of the smaller B6F ended in 1982, the B6FA lasted until 1987.
There were no successors to this series, but in 1991 the B6 name was used again when a new rear-engined chassis was introduced.
In Australia, the B6FA was purchased by Western Road Transport in Sydney and US Bus Lines in Melbourne.


Double-decker tram

A double-decker tram is a tram that has two levels. Some double-decker trams have open tops. Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities, like Berlin and London, throughout the British Empire countries in the early half of the 20th century including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania in Australia and in parts of Asia. They are still in service or even newly introduced in Hong Kong, Alexandria, Dubai, Oranjestad, Blackpool, Birkenhead, Franschhoek, Auckland and Douglas, mostly as heritage or tourist trams.
History.
Heyday.
The earliest double-deck trams were horse-drawn. The first electric double-deck trams were those built for the Blackpool Tramway in 1885, where Conduit tramcar No. 4 is the sole survivor of its class and is preserved at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, UK. They were common in the United Kingdom until the 1950s. London Transport was a heavy user of double-deck trams until the system closed in 1952. Apart from the Blackpool tramway, the Glasgow Corporation Tramways was the last urban British tramway to close, in 1962.
In the United States double-deck tramcars were used by the Pittsburgh Railways (streetcar / interurban) between 1913 and 1924, a rare use of such tramcars in the United States of America.
From 1910 to 1964 double-deck trams were in use in Mumbai, India (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking). They were also in use in Johannesburg, South Africa, where trams were operational from 1906 to 1961.
Preservation.
Several tramcars have been preserved at the UK's National Tramway Museum, Beamish Museum, Black Country Living Museum, East Anglia Transport Museum, Heaton Park Tramway, Seaton Tramway, Summerlee Museum and the Wirral Transport Museum, where the cars are still in operation. Some have been preserved at New Zealand's Ferrymead Museum in Christchurch and MOTAT Museum in Auckland, which operates restored Wellington double-deck tramcar No. 47, which operated in 1906 and also has Auckland double-deck tramcar No. 17 in storage. The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man, opened in 1876 and continuously operating since then (with the exception of WWII), still operates the only remaining horse-drawn double-deck tramway cars in the world, as a heritage tramway. Blackpool Tramway still operates several double-deckers on weekends, of which there are several Balloon Cars from the 1930s (some of them rebuilt later) and one Standard Car from the 1920s. Hong Kong Tramways operates a very frequent service (trams run approx. every two minutes) on three routes on a main line and a side line to Happy Valley, only served with double deckers built from the 1960s to 2018.
1960s.
The last double-deck tram built in the UK was Blackpool "Jubilee" Class No. 762, which entered service in 1982. However, it was originally built in 1935 as Blackpool "Balloon" Class No. 251, later renumbered No. 714. Its rebuild as No. 762 gave it a longer body and its pointed ends were replaced with rectangular ones. It was the second and final rebuild of two Blackpool "Balloon" tramcars into "Jubilee" tramcars, following on from "Jubilee" Class No. 761. Unlike No. 761, "Jubilee" tramcar No. 762 retained its central doors as exits for improved passenger flow at stops. For these reasons, it was considered to be an entirely new tram and on this basis, when it was retired in 2011, it was gifted to the National Tramway Museum in Crich.
Recent cars.
A few of the tramcars in the Alexandria tram system in Egypt are double-deckers built by Kinki Sharyo and Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan in 1975-1995. However, they are unpowered trailers that are towed/pushed by a powered tram as a steering car in a three car train.
In 2012 a new tram service, solely operated with double-decker cars, was opened in Franschhoek, South Africa, as the Franschhoek Wine Tram. It serves as a tourist tram connecting several wineries on eight lines (all of them partly served with so-called "tram buses", the trams only operating as a backbone) and operates on the restored tracks of an old railway line, which was opened in 1904 and closed in the 1990s. The cars were built by DCD Rolling Stock, South Africa, for the opening in 2012, but modelled after a Blackpool car from the 1920s.
A service in Dubai, the Dubai Trolley with hydrogen-fuelled double-deck trams in vintage style with an open upper deck, built by US manufacturer TIG/m, was announced in 2009 and opened in 2015 on a single-track line of 1.1km with plans for further extension, but frequently suspended due to the heat and according to some sources finally closed by 2019, the tracks barred by poles, the depot used as a shopping center, and the only car on public display.
The same technology by the same manufacturer was used in the four cars (two single-deckers, two double-deckers) for the new Tram of Oranjestad, Aruba, which was opened in 2012/13, and operates a daily regular service on a single-track line of 1.9 km.
In 2009-2016 Hong Kong extended its fleet largely with new cars that were mainly based on the traditional exterior but showed new technological features, such as a VVVT drive and a full aluminum body.


Luxury rail trains in India

Indian Railways (IR) and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) provide a variety of luxury rail travel in India. Eight luxury trains are owned and operated by IR, which have decided to introduce luxury Anubhuti coaches on regular trains. The coaches would be similar to those on the "Maharajas' Express" and the "Palace on Wheels".


Leyland Super Viking

The Leyland Super Viking was a bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1984.
History.
Following the closure of Albion's Scotstoun plant in October 1980, production of the Albion Viking VK was transferred to Leyland with the chassis relaunched as the Leyland Super Viking. Production ceased in 1984.
Australian super Vikings in the 1983/1985 period were engineered in Australia by PMC Adelaide using 50 surplus kits of Leyland Eland trucks imported from South Africa minus chassis rails and cabs. New chassis rails were Australian sourced via International trucks Dandenong. Engines were 0.410 and four variants were produced, front engine with manual or Alison auto, and mid engine with manual or Alison auto.
Australian Operators.
The Leyland Super Viking was purchased by a number of Sydney operators in the 1980s including Bowman's Bus Lines, Busways, Delwood Coaches, Hadfield's Bus Lines, Interline Bus Services, Busabout Sydney, North & Western Bus Lines and Westway. A fleet of 10 Super Vikings was purchased by Sunshine Coast, Queensland operator Tewantin Bus Service.
The last Super Viking did not enter service until 1995. The chassis was purchased by Bass Hill Bus Service of Sydney and bodied by Pressed Metal Corporation in 1984. However Bass Hill never placed it in service and it wasn't until the business was sold to Baxter's Bus Lines in 1995, that it entered service.