The LONDON TRANSPORT D class

This page created 13th December 1999, by Ian Smith

More Brush highbridge Daimlers: D93-D127

late Brush Thirty-five more Brush-bodied Daimlers were allotted to LT in January 1945, and began to arrive in May. These were to a still more relaxed specification. Not only did they have upholstered seats and a generous supply of opening windows, but they were allowed the luxury of panel-beaten corners to the roof: the lobster-back had gone. So too, unfortunately, had the supply of red paint, and these buses too appeared from Brush in brown and cream livery. The early examples had brown cab surrounds, but later deliveries had cream cab surrounds, and the cream carried down to the body-side moulding from new.

With the exception of D127 they appeared in service at Merton between May and July 1945. D127 arrived later, delivered in August but retained at Chiswick for tests until starting work in October. This was because it was an oddity. It had a Daimler engine and a new type of fluid flywheel. Strangely, it also had a body variation (apart from different floor traps to access the different transmission): it had a nearside display, above the platform, the first of the wartime Daimlers to do so.

The buses carried their brown and cream until 1948, when they received red and white before their first overhaul, and again as part of that process during 1949. D127 was fitted with an AEC engine in May 1950. Most of the batch received the red with cream band livery between autumn 1951 and summer 1952, excepting D122.

The batch spent their working lives with LT at Merton, and were withdrawn for sale as the RTs took over in 1953.


bus histories photo references

Ian's Bus Stop Daimler index middle Duples later lowbridge