Dennis Dominator - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Dennis Dominator was Dennis's

Dennis Specialist Vehicles

Dennis Specialist Vehicles is a major British coachbuilder and manufacturer of specialised commercial vehicles based in Guildford, England...

first rear-engined double-decker bus

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...

chassis, it was launched in 1977. Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the last Lolines

Dennis Loline

The Dennis Loline is a double-decker bus built by Dennis between 1958 and 1967. It is essentially the same as the Bristol Lodekka but has an upgraded Dennis chassis.Aldershot and District Traction was the largest operator of the Dennis Loline....

were produced in 1967. The Dominator was described as bespoke, with numerous options. To some extent it was considered a successor to the Daimler/Leyland Fleetline

Daimler Fleetline

The Daimler Fleetline is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis built between 1960 and 1973 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and from 1973 until 1980 in Farington, Lancashire, England. However, the last complete vehicle did not enter service until 1983...

.

The Dominator was different from the Fleetline in that the radiator was located at the front instead of the offside of the engine compartment.

It was intended to be sold mainly with the Gardner 6LXB engine coupled up to a Voith DIWA transmission and a drop-centre rear axle, but hub-reduction rear axle and other engine options including the Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Motors

Rolls-Royce Motors was created from the de-merger of the Rolls-Royce car business from Rolls-Royce Limited in 1973. The original Rolls-Royce Limited had been nationalised in 1971 due to the financial collapse of the company, caused in part by the development of the RB211 jet engine...

Eagle, the Cummins

Cummins

Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...

L10, the turbocharged Gardner 6LXCT and DAF

DAF Trucks

DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

engines were also available.

United Kingdom

The largest British customer of the Dennis Dominator was South Yorkshire PTE

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

The South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the Passenger Transport Executive for South Yorkshire in England. It is supervised by the South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority, which consists of representatives from the metropolitan boroughs of Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, and...

, with a total of 323 buses being delivered to the company. These included one trolleybus

Trolleybus

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...

which was built in 1985 for test and evaluation. Many had Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and hub-reduction axles. Most of the SYPTE vehicles had standard-height Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish bus coachbuilder and operater based in Falkirk.-History:Walter Alexander, notice a lack expasion by the Falkirk and District Tramways Company's especially in to Grangemouth which never hdd a tram line. In 1913 Alexander's Motor Service was created to...

RH-Type bodywork, these being delivered between 1981–1986, though some had East Lancs

East Lancashire Coachbuilders

East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the...

and Northern Counties bodywork.

The SYPTE Dominators were delivered in phases to replace ageing Fleetlines, Atlantean, Ailsa and others which were all on service from the early 1970s.

The final batch of Dominators delivered to Sheffield included 20 vehicles fitted with coach seats and were allocated to regionwide express services with the distinctive 'Fastline' branding.

The high standard of engineering led to the last Dominators in South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

being withdrawn after service in Doncaster as late as 6 July 2006; a farewell running day to Sheffield's allocation having taken place on 25 June 2006. Dominator 2120 'KKU120W' celebrated its 25th year in service just before withdrawal and there are a number in active preservation around the region.

One Dominator (C221WAJ) is still running today by Kingsley's of Washington as a school bus service or as a replacement bus service.

The Dominator also appealed to municipal operators

Municipal bus companies

A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. This article lists all current municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom....

such as Leicester City Transport

First Leicester

First in Leicester is the trading name of Leicester Citybus Ltd., a bus company owned by the First Group. It runs buses in the city of Leicester, England...

who from 1977 bought 143, mainly with East Lancs

East Lancashire Coachbuilders

bodies although seven had Marshall bodies, all of which were withdrawn from public service by 2005. It was also sold in reasonable numbers to Central Scottish

Central Scottish

Central Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Central SMT Company Ltd, and operated until July 1989 when it was merged with Kelvin Scottish to form Kelvin Central Buses.- Operation :...

from 1981 with Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

low-height RL-type bodywork.

Production of the Dominator was less consistent after bus deregulation

Bus deregulation

Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...

in 1986 with production being sporadic during the 1992–6 period. Eight were built in 1992; three in 1993; none in 1994 or 1995; and a final four built in 1996.

Preservation rallying sees a number of these buses, especially the Sheffield rally based usually the first or second Sunday in September at the Meadowhall shopping centre located at junction 34 of the M1. The trolleybus is located at the Sandtoft museum

The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft

The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire.-Description:...

near Doncaster.

Single-deck Dominators

The Dominator was conceived as a replacement for the Daimler Fleetline and initially customers were generally those who had previously taken double-deck Fleetlines, however the largest component of the all-single deck Darlington

Darlington

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...

Corporation fleet was the single-deck Fleetline SRG6, the rest of its parc in 1977 consisted of 1967 Daimler Roadliner

Daimler Roadliner

The Daimler Roadliner was a single deck bus or coach chassis built by Daimler between 1962 and 1972. Notoriously unreliable, it topped the 1993 poll by readers of Classic Bus as the worst bus type ever, beating the Guy Wulfrunian into second place...

s, new Leyland Leopard

Leyland Leopard

The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...

s and 1974 Seddon Pennine RU

Seddon Pennine RU

The Seddon Pennine RU was a rear-engined single-decker bus built by Seddon Diesel Vehicles/Seddon Atkinson between 1969 and 1974.-History overview of Seddon/Seddon Atkinson bus production:...

. So, in 1978, it ordered a single-deck version of the Dominator with an extended-wheelbase, designed for 11-metre coachwork, this was commissioned from Marshall of Cambridge and the style, dual door with 46 seats, when exhibited on the Dennis stand at the 1978 Motor Show at the National Exhibition Centre

National Exhibition Centre

The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...

was named Camair 80, the show bus was Darlington 73 (YVN73T) and David Cox, then Engineering Director of Merseyside PTE, reviewed it under his alias Midlander for Buses. He commented that the design was nothing like as stylish, but probably cheaper to produce than the original Marshall Camair. He felt that the side-facing bench seats over the front wheel arches, with their deep footstools, gave a rather tunnel-like aspect, and offered his ideas on a tidier layout, but praised the principle of using the same chassis for double and single-deck applications. Darlington

Darlington

took a further nine in the following year. Dennis designated all ten of these SD103A. They were the only customer to place a repeat order (in 1981) for eight outwardly identical vehicles coded SD128A Darlington's next purchase was to be the only batch of Ward Motors Dalesman GRXI in 1984.

The next customer was the borough of Hartlepool

Hartlepool

Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...

, a neighbouring fleet and another that was all single-deck, they chose East Lancashire Coachbuilders to body
their six. Unlike Marshall, East Lancs did not build over the engine compartment, giving an effect reminiscent of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

's single-deck Fleetlines and Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

's single-deck Atlanteans, which had been bodied respectively in 1965 and 1967 by Marshall. With dual-doors the Hartlepool buses sat only 43. Hartlepool had never operated Fleetlines of any sort, and had reluctantly switched from Leyland-engined Bristol RE

Bristol RE

The Bristol RE was a rear-engined single-deck bus chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles from 1962 until 1982. It is widely considered the most successful of the first generation of rear-engined single-deckers....

s with dual-door Eastern Coach Works

Eastern Coach Works

Eastern Coach Works Ltd was a bus and railbus body building company based in Lowestoft, England.-History:The company can trace its roots back to 1912, when United Automobile Services was founded in the town to run bus services. United began a coach building business at the Lowestoft site in 1920...

bodies to Leyland National

Leyland National

The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...

s before these buses, their first since the 1950s with Gardner engines. They were later to take Leyland National 2s and Dennis Falcon

Dennis Falcon

The Dennis Falcon was a rear-engined bus chassis built by Dennis Specialist Vehicles between 1981 and 1993. It was mostly built as a single-deck bus, although some express coaches and a small number of double-deckers were also produced...

s.

A number of chief engineers working for operators in the North of England met regularly at the time at gatherings sponsored by the Traffic Commissioner, as well as Tyne & Wear PTE, United Automobile Services, Northern General Transport, Trimdon Motor Services, Cleveland Transit, Darlington and Hartlepool these included Barrow in Furness Borough Transport. They also were all-single deck at the time, but contemplating future double deck orders. So their numbers 18 and 19 carried similar bodies to the Hartlepool buses, but with only a front entry/exit door and 46 seats. These two batches shared the same SD115 type code, and chassis numbers for the two batches comprised a single series. Barrow had a batch of five East Lancs bodied single-deck Fleetlines delivered in 1971, which were 50 seaters with seating above the engine, but since those Barrow Borough Transport had switched to the locally-built Leyland National, it was problems with the Leyland 510 engines on these as well as standardisation with prospective double deckers that led to Barrow's purchase of Dominators . Barrow were to order double deckers in 1984, but these turned out to be Leyland Atlanteans.

The fourth customer was Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

Transport, another all single-deck fleet, like Hartlepool, no Fleetlines were operated. The fleet consisted of East Lancs-bodied Leopards, Bristol REs with East Lancs and Eastern Coach Works bodies, Leyland Nationals and a batch of Metro-Scanias. Hartlepools Single-deck Dominators had its first East Lancs bodies, Merthyr Tydfil's their first Marshall bodies. Their six (coded SD116) had single-door 50 seat Camair 80 coachwork. Like Hartlepool Leyland National 2s followed. Later in life, these buses were sold to the City of Chester, whose General Manager had previously worked at Darlington.

The penultimate customer took their single-deck Dominator, the sole SD130A, some months after the final new customer's batch was delivered but this was no surprise as the job involved was a lot more complex than a bus body. EBB846W was to the bespoke specification of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the vehicle was constructed by fire-appliance specialists Angloco, it was the fire brigade's number 319, and it was comprehensively fitted-out as a control and communications centre for major incidents. The body was low and angular, looking to be over the bus maximum width of 2.5m. It had two outward-opening doors on the nearside and a single 'passenger' window in mid wheelbase. It was liveried in fire-engine red, the grille was an unadorned mesh affair in an otherwise flat front, featuring a divided flat-glazed windscreen.

The final customer for the single-deck Dominator were a fleet who had Fleetlines, but only double-deckers, this was Swindon

Swindon

Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

-based Thamesdown Transport

Thamesdown Transport

Thamesdown Transport is a bus operator serving the town of Swindon and the surrounding area in the Borough of Swindon and county of Wiltshire. The company is owned by Thamesdown Transport Ltd and Swindon Borough Council holds almost all of the shares...

. A proportion of the fleet had to be single-deck because of railway bridges (like Darlington, Swindon was a town built on railways) and prior to 1980 the single deckers were five Weymann-bodied AEC Reliance

AEC Reliance

The AEC Reliance was a single-deck bus or coach chassis with a mid-underfloor-mounted engine, built by AEC in Southall, west London, England between 1953 and 1979. The name had previously been used between 1928 and 1931 for another single-deck bus chassis....

s, three Leyland Leopard PSU4 with Pennine Coachcraft bodies and five late-model coach-seated Eastern Coach Works Bodied Bristol RESL6G. Thamesdown's numbers 1-4 (FAM1-4W) were the only short-wheelbase single-deck Dominators, type SD132B, they had 40 coach seats in 10-metre single-door Marshall Camair 80 bodies. Unlike the other customers, Thamesdown later took substantial numbers of double-deck Dominators.

Only 37 single-deck Dominators were built, all but the show bus in 1979-81. None are known to survive. The Camair 80 body also went on four 1970 Fleetlines for Tayside, Strathclyde PTE's single deck Ailsa, a number of Dennis Falcons and in a unique demountable-body version on Dodge Commando, again for Strathclyde PTE.

G.G. Hillditch, who had been one of the inspirations behind the Dominator and, at the time as General Manager of Leicester City Transport, was the launch customer for the type, had earlier (when General Manager of the Halifax Corporation, Halifax JOC and Todmorden JOC fleets) been one of the customers requesting the SRG6 Fleetline single-decker, but when Leicester required further single deckers from 1980 instead of ordering the Dominator he commissioned the Dennis Falcon H.

Export orders

The Dominator was also sold to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. China Motor Bus

China Motor Bus

China Motor Bus Company Ltd. , often abbreviated as CMB, was the first motor bus company in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction of double-decker buses to Hong Kong Island....

put the first Dominator (with East Lancs

East Lancashire Coachbuilders

body) into service in 1979, then CMB bought 6 with Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

RL-type body in 1982, primarily for its route 15 (Central

Central, Hong Kong

Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula...

-The Peak

Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island...

). Kowloon Motor Bus

Kowloon Motor Bus

The Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited , a company of the Transport International Holdings Limited, is the largest franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, and one of the largest privately owned public bus operators in the world...

bought 40 Dominators (Duple Metsec

Duple Metsec

Duple Metsec is a former bus bodywork builder based in West Midlands of the United Kingdom, which usually supplied body kits for assembly overseas....

body) between 1983 and 1984.

One Dominator with East Lancs

East Lancashire Coachbuilders

body and DAF engine was exported to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

as demonstrator for Singapore Bus Services in 1982. It was shipped to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

after the trial and entered Kowloon Motor Bus

Kowloon Motor Bus

training fleet in 1986.

End of production

The Dominator was replaced by the short-lived longitudinal-engined Arrow

Dennis Lance

The Dennis Lance is a single-decker bus built by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon. Its low-floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF, was built between 1993 and 1996...

in 1996. All in all 1,007 Dominators were sold.

The last production vehicle was N716 TPK, bodied by East Lancashire Coachbuilders for Guildford & West Surrey. It subsequently served with Arriva Southend

Arriva Southend

Arriva Southend is a division of Arriva Southern Counties, a subsidiary of transport group Arriva which operates bus services in and around the Southend-on-Sea, Rochford, Rayleigh, Basildon, and Thurrock areas of Essex...

, before being transferred to Arriva North West and Wales in 2004.

Dennis Falcon

In 1980, Dennis developed the Falcon single-deck bus with longitudinally-mounted rear engine. The Falcon H variant had a Gardner engine with the Voith gearbox mounted ahead of the rear axle, the later Falcon HC had the Voith transmission mounted behind the rear axle and close-coupled to the Gardner engine. The Falcon V variant had V engines.

Dennis Dragon/Condor

In 1982, a tri-axle version was developed for the Hong Kong market, known as the Dennis Dragon which was sold to Kowloon Motor Bus. The same model was sold to China Motor Bus, but was known as the Condor. They were usually bodied by Duple Metsec

Duple Metsec

Duple Metsec is a former bus bodywork builder based in West Midlands of the United Kingdom, which usually supplied body kits for assembly overseas....

.

Some of these went back to the UK through dealer Ensignbus

Ensignbus

Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has amassed 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a ....

. They are used for school runs and sightseeing since they have high-capacity.

Dennis Domino

In 1984, Dennis introduced a midibus chassis which was a scaled down Dominator, it could be fitted with Perkins T6.354 and Avon Maxwell transmission.

It was only sold to two customers, Greater Manchester Transport and South Yorkshire Transport

South Yorkshire Transport

South Yorkshire Transport was formed in 1986, as a result of deregulation of bus services in the UK. The South Yorkshire PTE was no longer allowed to operate buses itself, so an arms length operating company was created....

. The Dominos for Greater Manchester Transport were Northern Counties-bodied, and South Yorkshire Transport ones were bodied by Optare

Optare

Optare plc is a bus manufacturer and importer based in Leeds and Blackburn, UK. The company operates from three main business units, Bus Manufacturing, Coach Sales and Unitec....

What might have been

One of the persons behind the development of the Dennis Dominator was Geoffrey Hilditch, then the Engineering Director of West Yorkshire PTE

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the Passenger Transport Executive for the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the executive arm of the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority and was originally formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport...

. The development bus for Dennis Dominator was an ex-Leeds City Transport Daimler

Daimler Motor Company

The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...

CV, which was re-engined with a Gardner 6LXB coupled up to a Voith gearbox. By the time this was completed, Hilditch had left the WYPTE and had become General Manager of Leicester City Transport.

The Dennis Dominator was to have been the new standard bus for the WYPTE, but never was. The closest this came to happening was an attempt in 1999, when First Calderline (which WYPTE-Halifax became) received a 1981 Dennis Dominator from First Mainline (which SYPTE

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

became) to replace the ageing Fleetlines in Halifax. No more were received, and both Halifax and Huddersfield received ex-London MCW Metrobus

MCW Metrobus

The MCW Metrobus is a double decker bus model manufactured by MCW from 1977 until 1989, with over 4,000 examples built. The original MkI model was superseded by the MkII model in 1981/1982, although production of the original MkI continued for London Transport until 1985...

es instead.

When Southend Transport issued a tender for double deck coaches in 1982, Ensignbus

Ensignbus

Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has amassed 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a ....

offered Dominators with DAF engines and Berkhof Eclipse coach bodies. Southend chose Van Hool Astromegas instead.

United Kingdom

Single-deck Dominators

Export orders

End of production

Dennis Falcon

Dennis Dragon/Condor

Dennis Domino

What might have been

See also