NNW 492: AEC Regent III
Roe H31/25R 1950
The AEC Regent was first introduced in 1929 and had progressively been modified and improved in the years up to the outbreak of war. When production was resumed in 1945 the model received the designation AEC Regent II although not differing greatly from the specification of the immediate prewar model.
However, the seeds of the Regent III had been sown as far back as 1937 with the development
of a prototype chassis in conjunction with London Transport. At first this carried
a second-
With the chassis becoming available to customers outside London, the model became known as the Regent III. At first it was offered only with a 9.6 litre engine, air brakes and preselector gearbox in line with London Transport specification, but other options were soon added to the range, including a smaller 7.7 litre engine, vacuum brakes and sliding mesh or constant mesh gearbox.
Leeds purchased a grand total of 210 Regent IIIs between 1947 and 1954, all being
of the 9.6 litre, epicyclic gearbox and air brake variety. Apart from two small batches
bodied by Weymann and MetroCammell respectively, the bodies were all sourced locally
in keeping with Leeds tradition from Charles Roe. 492 is a typical example of the
classic 4-
492 itself entered service in January 1950 and served in the Leeds fleet until withdrawn in 1968. It was then transferred to the driver training fleet, assuming these duties in February 1969 renumbered as 15 and replacing an earlier AEC Regent.
It continued in that role until acquired for preservation in September 1971. It arrived at Keighley Bus Museum in April 1995.
7514 UA :Daimler CVG6LX-
In common with other manufacturers, Daimler took the opportunity to introduce longer
double deckers when the maximum legal length was increased to 30ft in 1956. The extended
version of the CVG6 model was the CVG6-
Leeds City Transport had taken batches of CVG6s in the 1950s interspersed with orders
for Leylands and AECs. These included 20 in 1955/56 and 20 in 1957, all with MCW
Orion bodies. For the final stage of its tramway replacement, Leeds ordered a batch
of 30 CVG6LX-
Many of the buses, 514 included, entered service on 7th November 1959 – the final
day of tramway operation – progressively replacing trams during the course of the
day. Two further batches of CVG6LX-
In April 1974, Leeds City Transport was absorbed into the newly formed West Yorkshire
PTE. The Leeds vehicles kept their original fleet numbers, though 502-
After withdrawal, 712 was restored and presented to Leeds’ French twin city Lille,
while 714 was placed in store. Five years later it was sold to the Leeds 514 Preservation
Group in August 1981. After repair to damage which had been sustained while stored,
it made its rally debut in July 1982 and for the next few years made regular rally
appearances. In January 2002, the remaining member of the original owning group donated
514 to Keighley Bus Museum Trust in order to ensure its continued preservation and
long-
At one time, 514 was able to claim several distinctions. It was the last open rear platform bus in West Yorkshire – until Halifax Joint Committee reintroduced them post deregulation. It was the last bus in traditional Leeds livery and with the city coat of arms – until Black Prince reintroduced the livery, coat of arms and Leeds City Transport branding. It does however remain the last bus ordered for tramway replacement to run in service.