Wright Eclipse

Wright Eclipse, Eclipse SchoolRun

Transdev Burnley & Pendle Wright Eclipse 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE in March 2009
Overview
Manufacturer Wright
Body and chassis
Doors 1 or 2
Floor type Low floor / step-entrance, low entry
Chassis Volvo B7L
Volvo B7RLE
Volvo B7R
Volvo B8RLE
Powertrain
Engine Volvo
Transmission ZF
Voith

The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body built by Wright on Volvo B7 and B8 series chassis. It shares its design with the Wright Solar on Scania L94UB chassis.

Initially, the Eclipse was built on Volvo B7L chassis. The Volvo B7RLE was introduced in 2003 due to the unpopularity of the B7L's driveline layout with UK operators. From this time, the full name of the Wright body became Eclipse Metro for the B7L version, and Eclipse Urban for the new B7RLE version; however, all continue to be badged as Eclipse. An additional version available on the B7RLE is the Eclipse Commuter, with a higher floor throughout most of the body (though retaining a low entry), and a correspondingly higher window line.

The Eclipse and its sister design the Solar were named for a solar eclipse which was visible in the UK in 1999, the year of its introduction.

In November 2008, Wright unveiled the Eclipse 2 at the Euro Bus Expo 2008, with front and rear ends facelifted to match the Wright StreetCar. In 2015 the Eclipse 3 on the Volvo B8RLE chassis was released facelifted to resemble the Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 with four delivered to June 2015.[1]

Over 2,100 have been built with FirstGroup the largest customer.[2]

Variations

First Calderdale & Huddersfield Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLE in Hebden Bridge in July 2007

Eclipse Commuter

The Commuter was another high-floor variation of the original Eclipse, based on the Volvo B7RLE chassis. This was aimed at intercity travel without the size complication of a standard coach, but with all its features, such as under-floor storage and a high seating position. Only five were built, the majority for Stagecoach Western.

Ulsterbus Wright Eclipse SchoolRun bodied Volvo B7R in Belfast in October 2009

Eclipse SchoolRun

The SchoolRun is a bus body based on the Eclipse for use on school bus services. It was designed for the Volvo B7R coach chassis. It featured 2+3 seating, seat belts and side wheelchair access.

Ulsterbus of Northern Ireland ordered 110 Eclipse SchoolRuns in late 2006. The first of these entered service during summer 2007. The company also ordered a further 50 of these vehicles to be delivered after finishing the current order of 110, the further 50 ordered will only have 62 seats compared to the current batch having 66 seats, the reason for the downgrade in seats is to save time of taking out and putting back of the seats at the wheelchair area.

References

  1. ↑ "Wrighbus launches Eclipse 3" Buses issue 727 October 2015 page 8
  2. ↑ Wright Eclipse Bus Lists on the Web

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.