巨鷹珍寶 Fleetline with Eagle Bodywork
屬於英國第一代後置引擎巴士的丹拿/利蘭Fleetline，於七十年代由中巴率先帶入香港，隨後兩巴引進七百多架長三十三尺的Fleetline，憑藉龐大載客量，迅即增強當年新開辦的過海隧道路線營運能力。與其他前置引擎巴士比較，由於Fleetline擁有更高的載客量，媲美當年新型的珍寶客機，故此被暱稱為珍寶，而且這個名字更比本身的Fleetline深入民心。
儘管當年珍寶能夠替兩巴賺取豐厚的收入，在機械設計上卻有其缺憾，首先其冷卻系統面對香港既濕且熱的氣候環境下，未能充分發揮其功用，導致巴士出現水土不服的情況。其次，珍寶巴士大量投入服務時，地下鐵路並未通車，巴士便成為了最主要的公共交通功具，超載亦是一件十分常見的事，結果令到珍寶巴士底盤部件出現吃不消，加劇了車輛本身的損耗。最後，九巴購買的珍寶並未有添置動力輔助轉向裝置(俗稱風油軚)，令到車長需要付出更大的勞力駕駛，增加了因工受傷的機會。隨著大量更先進的後置引擎巴士投入服務，珍寶巴士在車隊中的重要性變得大不如前，自八十年代中期便陸續退出九巴車隊，當中部份被改成訓練巴士外，其餘便安排出售到不同買家。
適逢當年中國各地公交營運者往往出現資金不足，即使在需求遠遠超過自身提供服務的能力下，仍未能進一步添購巴士去應付需求。部份本港商人看中了這一點，便從九巴以至後期包括中巴在內其他巴士公司手中，購入退役的珍寶巴士，運返國內免費贈予不同的公交公司，解決車隊短缺問題，同一時間，車費收入全數給予內地巴士公司，而相關巴士車身廣告收入盡歸港方所有，以補貼零件及維修開支。
珍寶巴士運返中國大陸行走時，大多已經有十多年車齡，加上大部份未有改成左軚行駛，未能適合國內的行車環境，結果在九十年代初期，珍寶巴士陸陸續續退下火線，並於國內拆毀，但這不等同國內珍寶巴士就此完結。一九九七年至九八年間，廣州穗景客車廠購入了一批珍寶巴士，拆除原有車身後，替底盤作出翻新及改成左軚駕駛，最後重裝了全新設計的巨鷹牌車身，以巨鷹珍寶作名稱重新投入服務，為這批珍寶巴士賦予了新的生命。外觀上巨鷹珍寶車身跟差不多時期重建車身的九巴利蘭奧林比安(S3BL174/GP7528)相似，但為了遷就國內營運環境，巨鷹珍寶擁有一個較矮的車身，而且下層不設尾窗。
穗景客車廠本打算向國內不同城市推介巨鷹珍寶，但畢竟骨子裡的珍寶底盤已經有二十多年車齡，加上營運環境等有所改變，最終只生產了大約三十至五十架巨鷹珍寶，並且只曾經在廣州及深圳市服役，當中廣州市的巨鷹珍寶在服役一段短時間後便運回深圳行走。綜合不同資料來源，大約只有二十七架巨鷹珍寶在深圳服役，但當中只有二十一架巨鷹珍寶曾經領牌，不排除若干車牌登記曾用於多過一架珍寶巴士上。最終在二零零七年至零八年間，巨鷹珍寶陸續消失於深圳路上，部份巨鷹珍寶退役後便於其退役前服務路線，226位於西麗湖的總站內拆毀。
最後，要鳴謝好友K. H. Ng提供珍貴圖片，令本章節得以完成。
Daimler/Leyland Fleetline is one of the first generation rear-engined double decker available in the UK bus market and the first sample in Hong Kong is RLX1 (re-classsed as Sf1 later) introduced by CMB in 1972 with more than 700 33 ft.. long Fleetline. The Fleetline offered higher carrying capacity than the front-engined model and both KMB and CMB deployed the Fleetline on the cross-harbour route to meet the growing demand at that time.
Though substantial profits made by Fleetline, they cannot satisfy the need of operation environment in Hong Kong especially the poor performance of their cooling system. Buses is the most popular and important means of public transport during the commissioned of the Fleetline and overloaded is a common sight and accelerating their normal wear and tear. The Fleetline in KMB fleet did not equipped with power steering and more efforts were needed by the bus captain when they drive, which increased their chance of work injuries. After more and more rear-engined model with much advance design entered service, less importance of the Fleetline in the fleet and they started to withdrawn from service since mid. of 1980s.
Instead of some Fleetline converted as driver trainer after retirement from service, the remaining were sold to different dealers and at the same time, operators in the mainland China cannot acquire more new buses to meet the dramatic demand as a result of insufficient fund, many Fleetline were sent back and serving the commuters in China through the dealer. This was a mutual relationships as bus operators can have high capacity buses to meet the demand and all the fare paid by passengers while dealers benefited from the profit earned from allover advertisement as well as the compensation for spare parts.
Most of the Fleetline introduced still retained right-hand driving and cannot suit the operation environment of China and they become aging in early 1990s, their withdrawal was resulted and scraped in China. The story of Fleetline in China still continued afterward as Goodview in Guangzhou rebodied a batch of Fleetline with it Eagle low-height bodywork between 1997 and 98. The chassis was refurbished and rebuilt to left-hand drive.
Goodview intended to promote Eagle Fleetline to different cities within China, however, as the Fleetline already 20 years old and the change of operation environment, only 30 to 50 Eagle Fleetline produced and only serving Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Those serving in Guangzhou were later sold to Shenzhen after a short period of commission. As information gathered from different sources, about 27 Eagle Fleetline serving in Shenzhen with only 21 registration marks, indicated that one registration mark registered on more than one Eagle Fleetline. The Eagle Fleetline finally retired from revenue service between 2007 and 08 and some of them scrapped at Xi Li Lake, one of the terminus of route 226 used to serve by the Eagle Fleetline.
Many thanks to K.H Ng for providing his invaluable photos and let this chapter can be completed.
請按圖放大圖片 Please click the photo for an enlarge version
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