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A Mayne & Sons
1961
AEC Regent V 2D3RA
Park Royal H41/32R

As there has been a recent article about A Mayne & Sons on the ‘Articles’ page I thought this shot was appropriate. Here we have a rear entrance Regent V working its way through the busy streets of Manchester. The 2D model of the Regent V was 27 foot in length which would make getting through the narrow traffic laden streets of the city a little easier than the LD 30 foot model. It is fairly obvious to say the least, that it had a Park Royal body the top deck is very Bridgemaster. Maynes had three of these Regent Vs registrations 6972-4 ND all delivered in December 1961.

A full list of Regent V codes can be seen here.

2D3RA Regent Vs were 30ft long, most 27 footers were 2MD3RA (etc). LD3RAs were the original 30 footers with the earlier Regent III type A208 engine – as were the D3RVs of (for instance) Sheffield and Liverpool.
The series 2 models were brought in on the introduction of the wet-liner AV590 engine (AH590 in the Reliance). Some confusion arose, initially, when some were known as 2LD3RA models but eventually all became known as 2D3RA.
Similar confusion arose with later Reliances with 8U3ZR (coil springs) and 9U3ZR (12 metres) models eventually giving way to 6U3ZR for all variations and lengths of the 691 and 760 Reliances.
We can blame BET for the Bridgemaster ugliness of these, and the East Kent, Regent Vs.

David Oldfield

Regent V Mk 1: D and MD were 27ft long, LD was 30ft.
Regent V Mk 2: 2MD was 27ft long, 2D could be either 27ft or 30ft.
Maynes were 30ft, as indicated by the seating capacity.

Peter Williamson

There’s no doubt about it, Mayne’s was (and is) a fascinating operator, worthy of interest but, I feel, very under reported through the years, in fact I don’t recall seeing pictures of any of their vehicles before the Regent V’s. It would be nice to see a fleet history also.

Chris Barker

Venture Publications produced a well illustrated history of Maynes a few years ago which also contained an abridged fleet history. Don’t know if there are any left, but it might be worth trying their retail arm’s website (mdsbooksales). If not the book is widely available on stalls at rallies etc as a second-hand item. Hope this helps.

Neville Mercer

08/06/14 – 14:17

Talking about AEC Regent Vs, their designations, lengths, and capacities, I have a query which I have posted elsewhere, but, up to now, drawn a blank.
Garelochhead Coach Services purchased six Regent Vs new, plus, I think, a second hand one later. The ones purchased new were of type MD3RV or 2MD3RA, i.e. 27-footers with the smaller engine. All are recorded as having been 64 or 65 seaters, apart from the penultimate one, 49 (DSN 657D), which has always been recorded as a 73 seater. In photographs it looks to have been the same size as all the other Garelochhead Regent Vs, and the only suggestion that there was anything different about it comes from the body number, which apparently had an ‘A’ suffix. Can anyone explain?

David Call