Foden NC

Foden NC

Overview
Body and chassis
Doors 1-2
Floor type Step entrance
Chassis Foden steel ladder frame
Powertrain
Engine Gardner 6LXB
Capacity Up to 76 Seats
Power output 184bhp
Transmission Allison MT640 Torque converter
Dimensions
Length 9.5metres
Width 2.5metres
Height 4.1-4.4 metres
Curb weight Around 10 tonnes unladen
Chronology

The Foden NC was an unsuccessful design of double-decker bus built by Foden of Sandbach and Northern Counties of Wigan in the United Kingdom between 1975 and 1978.

Background

Foden was primarily a truck manufacturer, although it had also built bus chassis in the past, whilst Northern Counties was a bus body manufacturer, building bodywork onto chassis produced by other companies. At the time of the design's conception, British Leyland had by far the largest share of the market for double-decker buses in the UK, with its Atlantean, Fleetline and Bristol VR models. The Foden NC was intended to compete against these for a share of this market.[1][2][3]

Design

The Foden-NC was a semi-integral design, meaning that it has an underframe (chassis), but that the bodywork is also structurally load-bearing.

The transmission proved to be a weakness, with the Foden transfer box being prone to failures and the Allison gearbox inefficient. Derby City Transport refitted its Foden NC with Voith transmission in an attempt to overcome the problems.

In appearance, the Northern Counties bodywork was very similar to the style built on other chassis.

Production

Only seven vehicles were completed, one of which carried bodywork built by East Lancs instead of Northern Counties. An eighth, partially completed, bus was used for testing.

The vehicles went to the following operators:[4]

Most of the vehicles experienced shorter than average working lives, although two of them (TUB 250R and ROC 300R) still exist, preserved in the care of Aintree Coachlines of Liverpool.[5]

References

  • Booth, Gavin and Brown, Stewart J. (1984) The Bus Book : Ian Allan Ltd., ISBN 0-7110-1440-X
  • Bus Lists On The Web

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/14/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.