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Experimental Leyland Coach

photograph by John Lewis Seen here at East Croydon in 1983, RDB977091 is sandwiched between two MkIIs in a through train to the North-West. Note the different seat fabric colours in each half of the coach.

Coach RDB977091 was built by British Leyland as an experimental prototype incorporating Leyland bus body features on a BR MkI underframe, ex-M 21234. Built as an off-shoot from their Railbus project, with the idea of providing new bodies for these underframes, this single example was finished as a Tourist Open Second. Passenger reaction to it was adverse and in subsequent tests it was found to be unsuitable for use, after which it spent a decade dumped at Derby following withdrawal. The coach is preserved on the East Kent Railway at Shepherdswell.

This page was last updated 8 December 2002