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East Lancashire Coachbuilders Ltd.
Type Private
Founded 1934
Headquarters Blackburn, Lancashire
Industry Bus building
Products Bus bodies
Website www.elcb.co.uk
Metroline SEL762 LK07 BCZ

An East Lancs Olympus, one of the last East Lancs badged products, this one run by Metroline.

D212MKK1

A 1987 high capacity East Lancs body on Scania K92 chassis: one of the last built to this flat-fronted style.

Transdev Yellow Buses 271

A Lolyne run by Transdev Yellow Buses.

East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn, Lancashire, England in 1934. The company went into administration in 2007 and was bought by the Darwen Group and re named before merging into Optare.

History[]

The Company was founded in Lancashire in 1934 as East Lancashire Coach Builders Ltd


(Company history between 1934 and 1994 missing !!) - can you help expand this article ?


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 primary source of income for the company.

On August 17, 2007 the company went into administration, but was saved and bought out by the Darwen Group the next day. It is thought that the problem was a direct consequence of changing to the Euro 4 chassis, with a shortage of Scania chassis being a factor.[1] After the purchase, the Darwen Group rebranded the company as Darwen East Lancs.

In 2008 Jamesstan Investments, an investment company controlled by the Darwen Group purchased another bus manufacturer Optare. Later, in June 2008, a reverse takeover was performed, with the Darwen name disappearing in favour of Optare's. This brings East Lancs name into the Optare Group, now providing an expanded range of vehicles.

Products[]

Past[]

East Lancs has had many different styles of bodywork. They had a tradition of using 'miss-pelt' product names which continues until the Esteem and Olympus series.

Older past bodies[]

Lolyne and Spryte series[]

In the early 1990s, East Lancs created a new style of bus body. Like most East Lancs buses, this body style didn't have a definite name and was named by its chassis as follows:

Double-Decker
Single-Decker

Myllennium series[]

Wilts & Dorset 405

An Myllennium Vyking owned by Wilts & Dorset.

In 2001, a new body was launched. Again, the product didn't have a definite name, it varied according to the chassis.

Double-Decker
Single-Decker
  • Myllennium for DAF SB220 and Alexander Dennis Dart
  • Hyline, a high-floor variant of the standard Myllennium single-decker body but used to re-body older chassis

Until bought by Darwen[]

The generation until East Lancs went into administration continues the tradition of misspelt names but each has a different name and does not vary on the chassis.

Scania series[]

Scania OmniDekka 447a

A Scania OmniDekka in London, run by Transdev London.

Delaine Buses 141 AD56 DBL

The first Olympus built, run by Delaine Buses.

This series are the last surviving variants of the myllennium series. They are now part of their own series. These have the standard body but with Scania own front styling.

Single-Decker
Double-Decker

Esteem and Olympus series[]

The Esteem was launched early in 2006. The Olympus was launched at the Euro Bus Expo 2006 and its lower dash is the same as the Esteem. The Visionaire launched in summer 2007 with Arriva's Original London Sightseeing Tour.

Single-Decker
Double-Decker

Production of these buses continued under Darwen ownership.

Kinetec series[]

Reading Transport 501

The only Kinetec+ built, run by Reading Buses.

The Kinetec series was launched at the Euro Bus Expo 2006. They are designed as low-floor bodies for MAN chassis. They have the Esteem/Olympus body but with MAN's own Lion's City design front and rear.

Single-Decker
Double-Decker

East Lancs subsidiaries[]

British City Bus logo
East Lancs Overseas logo
NW Bus & Coach Repairs logo

East Lancs also ran sub-divisions of the company, in addition to the production of buses:

  • British City Bus
  • East Lancs Overseas - The export of East Lancs buses
  • NW Bus & Coach Repairs - A bus and coach repairs business in the North West of England

References[]

External links[]


Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at East Lancashire Coachbuilders. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


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