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 220
43 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Pre-war vehicles

Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Visitors 77
15 photos
Created 14-Nov-25
Modified 14-Nov-25
Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Wartime loans and exchanges

Visitors 7
3 photos
Created 11-Jun-24
Modified 11-Jun-24
Wartime loans and exchanges

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

Visitors 97
26 photos
Created 9-Jun-25
Modified 9-Jun-25
Postwar AEC Regal buses (54-65, 92-97, 301-314)

AEC Regent III O961 (216-220)

Visitors 122
11 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
AEC Regent III O961 (216-220)

AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

Visitors 54
3 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

Visitors 119
35 photos
Created 30-May-24
Modified 30-May-24
AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Visitors 80
27 photos
Created 24-Sep-24
Modified 24-Sep-24
AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Visitors 74
16 photos
Created 30-Jun-26
Modified 30-Jun-26
Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

Visitors 52
7 photos
Created 9-Jun-25
Modified 9-Jun-25
Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

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

Visitors 7
4 photos
Created 11-Jun-24
Modified 11-Jun-24
Secondhand AEC Regals (1-10, 12-14)

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

Visitors 169
57 photos
Created 30-Jun-26
Modified 30-Jun-26
1950s Tiger Cub buses (330-356, 363-377)

AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

Visitors 89
11 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

Visitors 49
7 photos
Created 28-Aug-26
Modified 28-Aug-26
AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

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

Visitors 113
40 photos
Created 29-Jul-26
Modified 29-Jul-26
AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1956 (298-299, 400-424)

Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

Visitors 77
19 photos
Created 18-Sep-24
Modified 18-Sep-24
Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

Visitors 116
49 photos
Created 11-Oct-26
Modified 11-Oct-26
AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

Visitors 72
24 photos
Created 28-Aug-26
Modified 28-Aug-26
1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

Visitors 93
40 photos
Created 2-Oct-26
Modified 2-Oct-26
AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1962 (465-468)

Visitors 59
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 61
25 photos
Created 5-Aug-26
Modified 5-Aug-26
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1963 (469-478)

1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Visitors 120
26 photos
Created 30-Jun-26
Modified 30-Jun-26
1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

Visitors 63
11 photos
Created 8-Jun-25
Modified 8-Jun-25
Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

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

Visitors 99
39 photos
Created 29-Jul-26
Modified 29-Jul-26
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1965 (479-490)

1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

Visitors 44
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

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

Visitors 82
47 photos
Created 29-Jul-26
Modified 29-Jul-26
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1966 (491-495)

Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

Visitors 6
3 photos
Created 28-Sep-26
Modified 28-Sep-26
Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

Visitors 67
40 photos
Created 14-Nov-25
Modified 14-Nov-25
1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Visitors 33
12 photos
Created 24-Oct-25
Modified 24-Oct-25
1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Visitors 72
20 photos
Created 28-Dec-25
Modified 28-Dec-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

Visitors 81
27 photos
Created 6-Aug-25
Modified 6-Aug-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Visitors 56
15 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971 (512-520)

Visitors 131
43 photos
Created 14-Nov-25
Modified 14-Nov-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971  (512-520)

1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Visitors 65
31 photos
Created 30-Jun-26
Modified 30-Jun-26
1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Rhondda Miscellany

Visitors 76
12 photos
Created 21-Oct-25
Modified 21-Oct-25
Rhondda Miscellany