East Lancs EL2000
East Lancs EL2000 body on Dennis Dart with a double-curvature windscreen.
Overview
ManufacturerEast Lancashire Coachbuilders
Body and chassis
Doors1
Floor typeStep entrance
Powertrain
Capacity28 to 40 seated
Dimensions
Length8.5m to 12.0m
Width2.5m
Height3.0m

The East Lancs EL2000 is a type of single-decker bus body built on a wide variety of bus chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders.

Description

The EL2000 has an aluminium frame. It has bowed sides and a bowed top half of the rear end, with a high-set rear window.

There was some variability in the height and shape of the side windows, and the style of windscreen. One common design of windscreen was square-cornered, tapered in towards the top and curved around to the sides. Another was a two-piece flat windscreen with radiused outer corners. A third design used was a double-curvature windscreen with an arched top.

Many different chassis types, both new and secondhand, were fitted with EL2000 bodywork. These include:

History

An East Lancs EL2000-bodied Leyland Atlantean preserved in the livery of the South Notts Bus Company in 2011

The EL2000 made its first appearance on rebodied Leyland Tigers at the end of 1989. It was superseded as a step-entrance body by the Flyte, starting in 1996 and stopped production in 2001.

East Lancs first rebodied an accident-damaged Leyland Atlantean with an EL2000 body for Sheffield Omnibus in 1992, with the conversion aimed at increasing its service life. The Atlantean was stripped of its double-deck body and had its chassis lengthened to 36 ft (11 m), receiving a new 10-leaf front and rear suspension, a new five-speed transmission and an AN68 Atlantean coach engine as well as its 47-seat single-deck body.[1][2] Further rebodies and refurbishments were marketed as the 'Atlantean Sprint', with Southampton Citybus making orders for ten of its Atlanteans to be rebodied;[3][4] only five of these rebodies were completed for Southampton.[5]

See also

References

  1. "Deckers set to double life". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 16 July 1992. p. 18. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  2. "Sheffield Omnibus gets single-deck conversion". Coach & Bus Week. No. 22. Peterborough: Emap. 18 July 1992. p. 7.
  3. "First customer for East Lancs single-decker". Coachmart. No. 634. Peterborough. 11 July 1991. p. 6.
  4. "Rejuvenation for the Atlanteans". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. 11 July 1991. p. 12. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  5. Jenkins, David (18 January 2023). "A long slow battle". Buses. No. 815. Stamford: Key Publishing. pp. 30–34. Retrieved 10 February 2023. New buses continued to join the fleet, although an unusual addition was a batch of five 15-year-old Leyland Atlanteans rebodied by East Lancs as single-deckers.(subscription required)

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