Created 26-Apr-19
These galleries consider the various buses bought by Rhondda Transport over the years. Due to a lack of suitable material the short-lived trolleybus fleet is not yet shown and pre-war vehicles are grouped together in one gallery for the same reason. This applies to a lesser extent to the wartime intake but after that most vehicles in the fleet are illustrated.

I have tried to group vehicles in a logical manner and in many cases each batch of vehicles has its own gallery. However, for some smaller batches it made more sense to group vehicles together. The fleet number range is shown in each gallery title as well as the chassis type. Fortunately in Rhondda Transport days at least there was no renumbering carried out, although they seemed to make up for that in Western Welsh days and for the few that survived that long, also in the National Welsh era.

Generally Rhondda had a very standardised fleet. Before the war, after the initial experience with a variety of vehicles they settled on AEC Regals and Regents. During the war they had no option but to take the Guys and Daimlers that were allocated to them, although even then two Guys were exchanged very quickly for two Daimlers from the Devon General fleet. Postwar double-deckers were AEC Regents in large numbers, with Rhondda going straight to the Regent III model. Towards the end they changed to the Leyland Atlantean but this may have been influenced as much as anything by AEC ceasing to produce the Regent chassis.

Initially they went for AEC Regals but after moving to underfloor-engined chassis with, at first, the Leyland Royal Tiger chassis they quickly moved to the lighter and more economical Leyland Tiger Cub. They became very enthusiastic purchasers of this chassis which seemed to stand up well to the rigours of Rhondda's arduous single-deck routes. Only right at the end did they move to the Leyland Leopard as the Tiger Cub went out of production.

The galleries look at the whole life of the vehicle subject to the availability of suitable photographs, starting at the manufacturer's works and going through its time in service with Rhondda Transport and successors, to dealers, for further service and even to its final fate in the scrap yard.

Pre-war vehicles

Visitors 155
43 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Pre-war vehicles

Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Visitors 62
17 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Postwar AEC Regal buses (54-65, 92-97, 301-314)

Visitors 86
24 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Postwar AEC Regal buses (54-65, 92-97, 301-314)

AEC Regent III O961 (216-220)

Visitors 93
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent III O961 (216-220)

AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

Visitors 41
3 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

Visitors 78
35 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Visitors 60
27 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Visitors 54
14 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

Visitors 36
6 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

Secondhand AEC Regals (1-10, 12-14)

Visitors 37
4 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Secondhand AEC Regals (1-10, 12-14)

1950s Tiger Cub buses (330-356, 363-377)

Visitors 110
47 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1950s Tiger Cub buses (330-356, 363-377)

AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

Visitors 79
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

Visitors 41
5 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1956 (298-299, 400-424)

Visitors 72
35 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1956 (298-299, 400-424)

Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

Visitors 51
19 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

Visitors 74
44 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

Visitors 48
22 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

Visitors 63
34 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1962 (465-468)

Visitors 49
7 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1962 (465-468)

AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1963 (469-478)

Visitors 42
20 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1963 (469-478)

1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Visitors 102
22 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

Visitors 41
11 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1965 (479-490)

Visitors 68
37 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1965 (479-490)

1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

Visitors 29
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1966 (491-495)

Visitors 53
44 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1966 (491-495)

Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

Visitors 21
2 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

Visitors 35
37 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Visitors 26
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Visitors 47
16 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

Visitors 57
23 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Visitors 39
14 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971 (512-520)

Visitors 71
39 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971  (512-520)

1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Visitors 51
27 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Rhondda Miscellany

Visitors 56
11 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Rhondda Miscellany