Lothian Olympians

Lothian Olympians

7th April 2005

Preston Bus recently took the decision to replace some of the time expired Atlanteans that had served the company well since the early 80's. Vehicles from several operators were considered, but the final decision was made to purchase 10 Leyland Olympians from Lothian Transport. These are of type ONCL10/2RZ and are fitted with Alexander RH H51/30D bodies. This a brief photographic history of the delivery runs, conversions and eventual entry into service.

Delivery runs were made on the following days
08/03/05 [127,130] ; 15/03/05 [125.131] ; 22/03/05 [129,132] ; 05/04/05 [123,124] ; 19/04/05 [126,128].
The delivery run photos were taken at either a suitable layby on the A702 just after leaving Edinburgh or at Annandale Water Services

All were painted by Lothian before leaving Edinburgh, but the centre doors were left intact [making some of these photos quite rare]. They were all taken directly to S&T at Blackburn for conversion to single door. The first vehicle to see service was 125 on 08/04/08 and since that photo was taken minor modifications have been made to the fleet name positioning. It is also noticeable that all the vehicles are different from each other. This may be only in minor detail or something more obvious. 126 & 127, for example, are fitted with moquette seats ; 126 has a different grille ; cab layouts are variable as well.

2048x1536 123 050322 Seafield Works [jh].jpg	1600x1200 123 050405 A702.jpg	1600x1200 123 050405 A702.jpg	1600x1200 123 060301.jpg
1600x1200 123 060303 Deepdale Road.jpg	1600x1200 124 050405 A702.jpg	1600x1200 124 050405 A702.jpg	1600x1200 124 050629 Much Hoole.jpg
1600x1200 124 060228 Lancaster Road.jpg	1600x1200 124 060309 Much Hoole.jpg	2256x1496 124 070613 Catforth [jg].jpg	1600x1200 124.127.131 070725 Marton 50.jpg
1024x768 125 050315 A702.jpg	1600x1200 125 050408 Much Hoole.jpg	1600x1200 125 050411 S&T,Blackburn.jpg	2048x1536 125 050413 Deepdale Road [jh].jpg
2048x1536 126 050419 A702 [jh].jpg	1600x1200 126 050419 A702.jpg	1600x1200 126 050419.jpg	2256x1496 126 070709 Bus Station [jg].jpg
1024x768 127 050306 A702.jpg	1024x768 127 050306 A702.jpg	2048x1536 127 050308 [jh].jpg	2048x1536 127 050322 S&T, Blackburn [jh].jpg