The AEC K-type was a type of bus chassis built by Associated Equipment Company (AEC) from 1919 until 1926, mainly for use in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

by the

London General Omnibus Company The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer. Overview The London General Omnibus Company was f ...

(LGOC).

Description

The K-type was an important design that ended the horse-bus influence on bus layout apparent in the LGOC X-type and LGOC B-type. By placing the driver beside the engine and using a wider, straight-sided body,

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was increased from 34 passengers to 46 passengers. The open-top body continued to use transverse seating on the upper deck, but the additional width allowed the use of transverse seating on the lower deck as well. The bodywork was typically built by LGOC, but

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

, Brush and Strachans all built smaller numbers to the same standard design.

History

The K-type chassis was first designed by LGOC in 1914, but development was delayed by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The first

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

was completed in August 1919. The chassis was fitted with a 30 hp 4.4-litre four-cylinder engine and had a three-speed chain

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

and multiplate

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

. The vast majority of K-types entered service with LGOC. The first vehicle, K1, entered service in August 1919 and was followed by K2 in September 1919. These two buses, were used for development, together with K3 which was used for chassis instruction and never received a body. The next batch of 1,040 K-types entered service from May 1920 until 1921, and were mainly used in central London. This allowed smaller B-types to be used on new routes in and around London. Smaller batches were delivered between 1924 and 1926, bringing the total to 1,132. Most of the bodies were built by LGOC, but some were also supplied by

, Brush and Strachan. Outside of London, six K-types were sold to

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

Tramways for feeder services to tram routes. A further twelve were bought by East Surrey Traction Company between 1920 and 1921. This company also received transfers of the type from LGOC in order to operate services in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on its behalf. Although originally designed as a double-deck vehicle, a single deck version entered service in 1925. The initial batch of 24 (K1078 - K1101) entered service in August 1925 with 24-seat bodies on new chassis. These were the first vehicles to use pneumatic tyres in London. Subsequent batches of single-deck K-types used new bodies on the chassis of older double-deck vehicles from which the body had been removed. Conversely, future orders of the new single-deck chassis received double-deck bodywork. The K-type, together with the larger S-type and more advanced NS-type, remained the standard London bus until 1930, when the introduction of the LT and ST types began. Most K-types were withdrawn from service by early 1931, with final vehicles being withdrawn from service on route 90 on 22 June 1932.

Legacy

Today, K424 remains preserved at the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of Transport in London, London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the histo ...

, and still appears at rallies and special events.

AEC T-type

The AEC T-type was an attempt in 1920 to create a bus with a greater

for use in

. The T-type was essentially an AEC K-type stretched in length by , with the front axle moved rearward. This gave the vehicle a somewhat awkward appearance. The length was outside the then-permitted dimensions for buses in London. Only one vehicle was built, and was it used in trial service in London during early 1920. Following the trials, the permitted length was increased, and the AEC S-type was developed.

References

Sources