Metrobus was very proud of its first Olympian.
It was their first new bus, double-deckers until then being secondhand DMS Fleetlines.
It was also the first new double-decker bought by a London
independent bus company since the early 1930s, and ECW's first Olympian for a private company.
C395 DML was a standard ECW-bodied Leyland Olympian, 13ft 8in high, with 77 seats and a single dooway.
Painted in Metrobus' blue and yellow livery, it entered service on the first day of C reistrations,
1st August 1985. Operating from the company's base in Green Street Green (MB),
it was used mainly on the 357 route between Orpington and Croydon.
It also made forays to the south coast on the Coastlink services, and was available for private hire.
Metrobus went looking in the secondhand market in mid-1987,
to reduce the average age of its fleet. West Yorkshire PTE supplied its needs, (via Ensign as dealer)
with eleven 14ft 2in high Roe-bodied Leyland Olympians dating from 1982-3.
These could either be used to replace the DMS Fleetlines on the 61, or on the 261 if they won that contract.
They did win the contract for route 261 (part of the old 94 route from Lewisham as far as Bromley Common), on the basis of second-hand single-doorway double-deckers. Metrobus repainted them into blue and yellow, and set them to work on the 261 from November 1987. Inside they sported some still appropriate MetroBus notices from the West Yorkshire Metro network!
They were refurbished in 1991-2, receiving new blind displays and improved seating.
The 261 was retained by Metrobus on retender in late 1996, on the basis of new buses.
The secondhand Olympians, by now the oldest double-deckers in the fleet,
were sold for a third career with United in County Durham,
with some moving on to Northumberland.
In 1989 Metrobus began a programme of bus replacement that would last several years.
Not for Metrobus a large splurge on new buses followed by cash-flow problems.
The new buses were all-Leyland Olympians, 802-13 with 13ft 8in high bodies,
814-6 with 14ft 2in higher bodies. The first two arrived in May 1989,
and went onto the 353/357.
Two more followed in February 1990, this time for the 61, replacing DMS buses.
In April/May two more arrived, but 807 was held back in store and not placed into service until 1st August, with a H-plate.
The 1991 contingent, 808-811, arrived in February/March, for the 353, 357 and 61.
These too worked on the summer services to the south coast.
Two more, 812-3, arrived in January 1992 to complete the renewal of the 61 allocation.
The last three were bought from Volvo's dealer stocks in July 1992,
and had to be painted out of their original white before service.
The 61 route was lost to Centrewest in December 1995, much to everyone's surprise, but the Olympians found a temporary home on the 161, won by Metrobus from Kentish Bus.
Newer buses on tighter contracts eventually displaced them from London duties,
but Metrobus was by now operating all the way to the south coast - and not just on excursions!
They had acquired East Surrey, with a base at South Godstone,
and were also operating from Lewes. So the Leyland Olympians went south, to the Country Area.
The Metrobus takeover in Crawley in the spring of 2002 caused a further shakeup,
with double-deckers required there for the heavy town traffic.
Further changes came in July 2003,
when Lewes depot closed. The Olympians gathered there were redistributed,
and immediately found themselves on ten day's rail replacement work, operating from Godstone, Crawley and Orpington.
After that these older Olympians mostly found new homes, six going to Happy Al's in Birkenhead.
Withdrawal for most of the remainder came in autumn 2005, when newer buses caused a cascade down the pecking order.
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