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 180
43 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
Pre-war vehicles

Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Visitors 70
15 photos
Created 9-Jun-25
Modified 9-Jun-25
Wartime vehicles (173-215)

Wartime loans and exchanges

Visitors 5
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 94
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 104
11 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
AEC Regent III O961 (216-220)

AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

Visitors 50
3 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
AEC Regal III coaches (98-100)

AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

Visitors 83
35 photos
Created 30-May-24
Modified 30-May-24
AEC Regent III 9612E (221-260)

AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Visitors 69
27 photos
Created 24-Sep-24
Modified 24-Sep-24
AEC Regent III 9613A (261-281)

Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Visitors 64
15 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
Leyland Royal Tiger buses (315-326)

Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

Visitors 40
7 photos
Created 9-Jun-25
Modified 9-Jun-25
Leyland Royal Tiger coaches (327-329)

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

Visitors 5
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 124
55 photos
Created 19-Oct-25
Modified 19-Oct-25
1950s Tiger Cub buses (330-356, 363-377)

AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

Visitors 86
11 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
AEC Regent III 9613S (282-287)

AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

Visitors 46
6 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
AEC Regent III 6813S (288-297)

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

Visitors 96
38 photos
Created 24-Sep-24
Modified 24-Sep-24
AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1956 (298-299, 400-424)

Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

Visitors 58
19 photos
Created 18-Sep-24
Modified 18-Sep-24
Leyland Tiger Cub coaches (357-362)

AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

Visitors 96
48 photos
Created 28-Aug-25
Modified 28-Aug-25
AEC Regent V LD3RA (425-444)

1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

Visitors 56
23 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
1961 Leyland Tiger Cubs (378-385)

AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

Visitors 82
37 photos
Created 27-Aug-25
Modified 27-Aug-25
AEC Regent V 2D3RA (445-464)

AEC Regent V MD3RV - 1962 (465-468)

Visitors 56
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 48
24 photos
Created 19-Oct-25
Modified 19-Oct-25
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1963 (469-478)

1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Visitors 112
25 photos
Created 24-Sep-24
Modified 24-Sep-24
1964 Leyland Tiger Cubs (386-394)

Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

Visitors 57
11 photos
Created 8-Jun-25
Modified 8-Jun-25
Bedford VAL coaches (395-397)

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

Visitors 76
39 photos
Created 19-Oct-25
Modified 19-Oct-25
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1965 (479-490)

1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

Visitors 40
10 photos
Created 9-Mar-24
Modified 9-Mar-24
1966 Leyland Tiger Cubs (300-303)

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

Visitors 66
47 photos
Created 28-Aug-25
Modified 28-Aug-25
AEC Regent V 2MD3RA - 1966 (491-495)

Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

Visitors 3
2 photos
Created 11-Jun-24
Modified 11-Jun-24
Secondhand Leyland Royal Tigers (330-332)

1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

Visitors 41
39 photos
Created 28-Aug-25
Modified 28-Aug-25
1968 Leyland Tiger Cubs (304-318)

1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Visitors 31
12 photos
Created 24-Oct-25
Modified 24-Oct-25
1968 Leyland Leopards (319-321)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Visitors 58
18 photos
Created 9-Jun-25
Modified 9-Jun-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1 1968 (496-501)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

Visitors 64
27 photos
Created 6-Aug-25
Modified 6-Aug-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1969 (502-511)

1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Visitors 47
15 photos
Created 23-Sep-24
Modified 23-Sep-24
1970 Leyland Leopard coaches (322-324)

Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971 (512-520)

Visitors 82
43 photos
Created 24-Jul-25
Modified 24-Jul-25
Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 1971  (512-520)

1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Visitors 58
29 photos
Created 28-Aug-25
Modified 28-Aug-25
1971 Leyland Leopard buses (2325-2334)

Rhondda Miscellany

Visitors 66
12 photos
Created 21-Oct-25
Modified 21-Oct-25
Rhondda Miscellany