A686MWX was delivered to the York division of West Yorkshire Road Car in 1984. It remained in York after First Group takeover until 2006, when it was withdrawn and preserved. Mortons Travel purchased it in 12/2014 and added it to their heritage fleet. The "Hampshire Bus" fleet name on the bus is not original, but just a name local to Mortons Travel.
Like the majority of Leyland Olympians in the early 80's, A686MWX has a standard wheelbase (16ft 3in) chassis, low height (13ft 8in) ECW bodywork, Gardner 6LXB engine and Leyland Hydracyclic 5-speed gearbox. The gearbox has the same basic principle as the Wilson pre-selective epicyclic gearbox, which dates back to pre-1930, but has been heavily modernised that it is hydraulically operated, and gear changes can be semi- or fully-automatic depending on the type of gearbox control. A 19-in diameter fully charged fluid coupling takes the drive from the engine to the gearbox by hydrodynamic means entirely, without any lock-up clutch. While this ensures smooth power transmission, the inherent slip of fluid coupling leads to some power loss. The coupling slip of A686MWX was quite audible, even at high engine speed.
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