LONDON TRANSPORT T CLASS

AEC Regal single-deckers

This page prepared by Ian Smith, created 26th July 1999.

The 11T11 rebuilds

In 1935 London Transport rebodied 31 of its inherited AEC Reliances with new Weymann all-metal bodies. The Reliance radiator always looked ridiculously small at the front of these bodies, and one wonders whether they were designed with eventual placement on AEC Regal chassis from the outset. Three years later, in 1938, that was what happened.

The first Regal converted was T396 in March 1938. This was one of the short 1930 East Surrey buses. It was fitted with a A173 diesel engine, a lower ratio differential, and triple-servo brakes as well as the body from R16. (Its old body was fitted to R16's chassis and sold)

The next conversion had to wait until August 1938, and this time was to one of the 1931 Regals, T232. This carried the "art-deco" body fitted by LGCS after its earlier accident, and was body swapped with Reliance R4. Again the chassis was upgraded, but this 1931 chassis already had the triple-servo brakes.

These two conversions must have satisfied the Board, for the other 29 bodies were fitted to converted Regal chassis in October and November 1938, twenty-five to ex-GreenLine 1931 coaches and four to ex-Amersham & District coaches (all of which already had triple-servo brakes).

11T11 drawings The coaches converted were:

  • T208
  • T212
  • T213
  • T214
  • T215
  • T216
  • T223
  • T226
  • T232
  • T234
  • T236
  • T237
  • T250
  • T253
  • T255
  • T261
  • T266
  • T267
  • T271
  • T275
  • T276
  • T280
  • T283
  • T285
  • T296
  • T298
  • T359
  • T361
  • T362
  • T364
  • T396

They were delivered initially in GreenLine style two-tone green with black lining and mudguards, and with sidelights in the front roof. They were soon relegated to Country bus work once the 10T10s and TFs arrived.
Wartime lighting regulations required the replacement of the rooflights by waist-level sidelights, and these were duly fitted to the cab front and to the front bulkhead.
During the war most of them were transferred to the Central Area, initially for the 211 at Hanwell (HW), and were repainted into red and white when paint supplies allowed.
After the war they lasted well, most surviving until displaced by RFs in 1953. They had found plenty of niches around the system, both Central and Country Areas, being increasingly used to replace dying Scooters and older Regals, and to replace Cubs where traffic was growing after the war. As well as Hanwell (later Southall) for the 211, they were used in the Central Area anywhere that used single deckers: at Uxbridge (222, 223, 224), Enfield (205, 242), Loughton (254), Bromley (227), Sidcup (228), Muswell Hill (212), Croydon (?), West Green (233), Hounslow (237), Edgware (240A), Kingston (218), Dalston (208), Tottenham (236), Hornchurch (250) and Harrow Weald (221). In the Country Area they were at Watford Leavesden Road (309, 316), and High Wycombe (363). They were small buses, and despite their newer bodies were on old chassis, so they were prime candidates for replacement by the postwar Regals, both 14T12s and 15T13s, and their Leyland counterparts, the TDs. Even the bus conversions of the 10T10s were larger capacity. So it is surprising that they lasted as long as they did.


T207-306 bus histories T319-402 bus histories photo references

Ian's Bus Stop T index Country Ts 11T11s 9T9s