Turbo-Cruiser I

General Motors Research developed the GT-300, a non-regenerative gas turbine engine, and fitted it to a TDH-4512 "old-look" bus in 1953, which was rebranded to "Turbo-Cruiser";^[2][3] it had an output of 370 hp (280 kW), almost double the power of the original piston engine,^[4]: 132 and weighed 775 lb (352 kg),^[5] 1,500 lb (680 kg) less than the original engine. However, the brake-specific fuel consumption of the GT-300 was 1.63 lb/hp·h, approximately double the consumption of a comparable diesel engine;^[6] the subsequent GT-304 included a regenerator and fuel consumption decreased by half to 0.77 lb/hp·h.^[7] At the time, W.A. Turunen, the head of gas turbine research at GM, cited consumption, acceleration lag, and lack of engine braking as the main faults.^[6] The GM gas turbine engine later was fitted more famously to the Firebird I/XP-21 concept car in 1954.^[8]: 260

When newer "Turbo-Cruiser" buses were developed in the 1960s using New Look buses, chassis TDH-4512/0002 was redesignated "Turbo-Cruiser I"; this bus was converted back to diesel power and sold to Martin Lines in 1963.^[9][10]

ZIS-154

Following World War II, cities in the Soviet Union needed a modern transit bus. Agreement was reached to build GM's model TDH-3610 under license (but with diesel-electric propulsion, similar to that used for the TDE-40xx models), and production was assigned to ZIS (Zavod imeni Stalina: literally Plant named after Stalin) where it became their model number 154. The ZIS-154 was first assembled with a locally manufactured Yaroslavl YaAZ-204 diesel, but supply problems caused ZIS to switch to the Detroit Diesel 6-71, also built under license. Continuing issues with the reliability of the drive-train components resulted in the ZIS-154 being discontinued after only slightly more than four years of production and 1,165 units.^[12]

In some places these buses were nicknamed "lightning" because of the rapid acceleration provided by the diesel-electric drive.^[13]

ZIS-155

In an attempt to overcome the problems of the ZIS-154, the less-technically-advanced ZIS-155 was designed. In 1949 Moscow's Central Auto Repair Workshop (ЦАРМ: Центральные авторемонтные мастерские) constructed a batch of shortened ZIS-154 bodies and mounted them on modified ZIS-150 truck chassis. One source suggests that the "Moscow" prototypes had shrouds over the rear wheels, a more-stylized front wheel cut-out, and a larger radiator.^[14] The prototypes were successful, and full-scale production began at ZIS.

The most noticeable difference between the ZIS-154 and the ZIS-155 was the placement of the doors: since the ZIS-155 had a front engine, the doors were moved to behind the axles. The driver's compartment was completely separated from the passenger saloon by a bulkhead, so the buses were two-man operated, with a rear entrance and front exit. The 154 employed unibody construction, while the 155 was body-on-frame.

Besides being the standard city bus in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, a large quantity were exported to other Eastern Bloc countries, and are known to have been used in Warsaw, Berlin, Ulan Bator and Beijing. A twelve-seat long-distance version was also built. In Moscow a number of withdrawn units were rebuilt as trailers, but they were not a success as the ZIS-155 was underpowered and therefore had difficulty pulling a fully loaded trailer, too.

From 1955 the ZIS-155 was equipped with an alternator instead of a generator, the first Soviet bus to be so equipped. After destalinization began in 1956 under Khrushchev's leadership, the ZIS plant was renamed in 1956 to Zavod Imeni Likhacheva (ZIL), after its former director Ivan Alekseevich Likhachev.^[15] As a result, late-production 155s were designated as ZIL-155.

MTB-82 trolleybus

in German

• MTB-82 (German Wikipedia: MTB-82); English translation