Leyland Lynx

The Leyland Lynx is a single-decker bus built by Leyland between 1984 and 1992. It was designed to replace the ageing Leyland National.From 1936-40 and again from 1970-9 Leyland used the Lynx name for truck chassis; the B60 was the first bus to use the name.

Production vehicles began to enter service in 1986, the majority were bodied by Leyland at the Workington factory where the underframe was produced. All have a step entrance, Leyland offered the option of a floor sit a step in the middle or one that gently ramped from aft of the front platform to the rear.

From 1990 to 1992 the updated Lynx MkII version was produced. It could be recognised easily by its protruding front dash/grille panel, which on the original design was flat. Also on a select few of the 140 vehicles produced some had Volvo engines, which drastically reduced performance in pursuit of more environmentally friendly engines.

Although the large majority of Lynxs carried the Leyland body, seven chassis were bodied by Alexander with N-type bodywork for Citybus (Belfast), including the first prototype. A small number of other chassis for export were bodied by other coachbuilders, including an Alexander PS type for Singapore Bus Service and two by Pressed Metal Corporation in Australia. Conversely one Leyland Tiger received a Lynx-style Leyland body for export to New Zealand.

The type saw service all over the United Kingdom, with the largest fleet being based in the West Midlands, owned by West Midlands Travel. A total of 256 were purchased including 6 demonstrators delivered early in 1986 equipped with Gardner engines and semi-automatic Leyland Hydracyclic gearboxes (which were later converted to ZF automatic). They were gradually withdrawn from 2000 until the last three (1216, 1236, 1312) were withdrawn from normal passenger use in March 2009, although 10 remained in the driver training fleet until March 2010.

In 1984 a chassis was sent to Australia. After being bodied in Perth it operated for a number of operators before being sold to Lever Coachlines, Queanbeyan. In 1989 two were bodied by Pressed Metal Corporation as demonstrators for the State Transit Authority, but the trial never occurred and they were sold to John J Hill, Wollongong. In 1990 three of the order being built for West Midlands Travel were sent to Australia as demonstrators. All were sold to Southtrans.

The last two Lynxs to roll off the production line entered service with Halton Transport in Widnes in 1992. The latter is registered K853 MTJ, 57. Halton Transport operated a small number of Lynxs on school contracts and the occasional regular service. However in early October 2010, all of Halton's remaining Lynxs were sold, the last Lynx ever made went into preservation, with the second to last Lynx ever produced used to donate spares.

Following the takeover of Leyland by Volvo in March 1988, the Lynx was superseded by the Volvo B10B in 1992. Total production of Lynxs was approximately 1,060 vehicles, including six prototypes (one of which was not bodied) and several development vehicles. About 140 of the total were Lynx MkII.

Preservation
Several MkI and MkII Lynxs have now gone into preservation, with some requiring extensive rebuilds to bring them back to original condition due to body corrosion, as well as reversing modifications made by companies during their history. One such example is the removal of all of the patterned body skirts, combined with the replacement of the square wheel arches with non-patterned round ones. Both of these modifications were made to make it easier to replace such parts in the event of an accident.