MCW Metroliner
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The MCW Metroliner was a coach built by
Metro Cammell Weymann Metro Cammell Weymann Ltd. (MCW) was once a major contributor in transportation manufacturing in the UK and Europe. It was established in 1932 by Metro-Cammell's bus bodybuilding division and Weymann Motor Bodies to produce bus bodies. ...
(MCW) in the 1980s. The Metroliner was available as a standard single-deck coach, or the more numerous and striking tri-axle double-deck coach. The Metroliner saw service in the UK with nationalised operators National Bus Company (NBC) and
Scottish Bus Group The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland. The origin of the grouping was the operators owned by and including the Scottish Motor Traction company, which were transferred to S ...
(SBG) for their long-distance coach
National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
and Scottish Citylink express services, as well as with competing operators such as Tyne & Wear PTE's Armstrong Galley ''Clipper'' service and the London Buses/ West Midland Travel ''London Liner'' joint operation. Others saw operation with NBC subsidiaries' commuter coach operations, such as the short-lived ''Kentish Express'' of Kentish Bus,
Alder Valley Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England. National Bus Company era Alder Valley was formed when National Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaries Aldershot & District Traction (A&D) and Thames Valley Traction (TV) merged on 1 January ...
and the
Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...
's ''Oxford Citylink''.Image of an Oxford Citylink Metroliner
/ref> Few Metroliners were purchased for touring or private hire work, although many were used for such duties after retiring from express duties. Due to the limited demand for older double deck coaches and the high seating capacity on the upper deck, many double-deck Metroliner DR130s were converted to
open-top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...
es by
Ensignbus Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved today as chairman and his sons Ross and Steve as directors. Ensignbus commenced with ...
, for use on their
London Pride Sightseeing London Pride Sightseeing was an open top sightseeing bus operator in London. History In 1983, the state owned London Transport ceased operating their ''Round London Sightseeing Tour'' operation as the market was opened up to competition by the ...
operation, latterly passing to
The Original Tour Tootbus London, formerly The Original Tour is a London bus tour operator using open-top double-decker buses. It also holds the franchise to run City Sightseeing's London tour. Based in Wandsworth, it is a subsidiary of RATP Dev. History T ...
.


Variants and Production Numbers

A total of 172 Metroliners were built, in four different variants.


CR126

Only 21 of the original style of single deck Metroliner were built in 1983–84, 15 for NBC (
East Kent Kent is a traditional county in South East England with long-established human occupation. Prehistoric Kent Kent has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic as finds from the quarries at Fordwich and Swanscombe attest. The Swanscombe sku ...
and
Eastern National Eastern National (also known as EN) is a nonprofit Cooperating Association based in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, that partners with the National Park Service in the United States. It was created by charter in 1948 to "provide quality education ...
), 4 for SBG (
Eastern Scottish Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group (formerly SMT Group). Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses, Scott ...
and Northern Scottish) and 2 for Strathclyde PTE. The final ten had a revised front with less angular styling.


DR130

The most numerous type of Metroliner was the early double deck DR130 design. This was designed specifically for UK express services and thus differed from contemporary double deck coaches in its height. Most such coaches are under 4m in height as this is the maximum permitted in continental Europe, but this severely limits the interior headroom. The DR130 was higher, allowing a much more spacious interior, but making the design unsuitable for continental tours and limiting its appeal on the secondhand market. Some 127 Metroliner DR130s were built in 1983–87, for NBC (102, for numerous subsidiaries), SBG (12 for Eastern Scottish, Northern Scottish and Western Scottish) including the prototype after its use as a demonstrator, Tyne & Wear PTE (6), London Buses (4) and WMT Central Coachways (3).


HR131

Sometimes known as the Hiliner or Metro-Hiliner, the single deck HR131 featured a higher floor than the original CR126 model. All were built with the revised frontal styling of the later CR126s. Sales amounted to 21 which were built in 1983–88. The first vehicle was retained by MCW as a demonstrator, whilst original owners for the others were SBG (7 for Northern Scottish), NBC (6 for East Kent, East Midland and Wessex), Premier Travel (4),
Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region t ...
(2), and WMT Central Coachways (1).


DR140

In an effort to broaden the appeal of the double deck coach a 4m high version was offered, with sleeker styling. Known as the Metroliner 400GT this was the rarest variant with only three examples built in 1987–88. Two went to Central Coachways, one of which had initially been a demonstrator, whilst Yorkshire Traction took the third.


Gallery

Image:MCW DEMO - Flickr - secret coach park.jpg, MCW Metroliner HR131 Image:NORTHUMBRIA MOTOR SERVICES - Flickr - secret coach park (11).jpg, MCW Metroliner DR130 Image:Yorkshire Traction MCW Metroliner.jpg, MCW Metroliner DR140


See also

*
List of buses Year refers to the first year introduced. A range of years is the period the bus was manufactured. # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W ...


References


External links


Fotopic Gallery of Double Deck Metroliners
for MCW production list with original owners {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcw Metroliner Coaches (bus) Double-decker buses