• The Scania K112 chassis with Plaxton single deck bus
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body is a fairly recent addition to the British Airways fleet of buses, this particular example entering service last November. The bus is powered by the Scania DS 1115 four stroke direct injection turbocharged diesel engine, which has 11 litres and delivers 224kW (305hp) at 2000 rpm.
The chassis is suspended on two air bellows at the front, and four at the rear with axles located by tie rods. There are anti roll bars front and rear.
The Scania is serviced every six months, with the major service falling annually. With planes to catch, reliability is absolutely vital from these vehicles, so the fitters take the belt and braces approach to servicing, and work up to a standard rather than down to a price.
Although these buses do not cover a huge distance, and work in a very fiat environment, they still have a hard life. More used to working on the Leyland Nationals that the Seaalas are replacing, the fitters at Heathrow are beginning to find their way around the K112. Many of the accessibility problems are because of the Plaxtons bodywork, and some of the operations described in the text will be different for vehicles with different bodywork.
Some may consider the K112 Scania over specified for trundling about Heathrow, with 224kW (305hp) at its disposal, but with such capacity, it is unlikely to wear out in a very long time.
by Richard Longworth