ramone:
There`s no mention of the E290 ■■■■■■■ Graham , could this have been a special order , it had NTE290 on the manufacturers plate which was fixed to the bottom of the passenger side seat.
In terms of power output the TL12 and ■■■■■■■ E290 were similar, so at launch of the Marathon the power range thought necessary were covered by the ■■■■■■■ 250, the TL12, and the CU335, the latter being only thought necessary for the 6x4 version. The Mk.2 Marathon became available when it was thought that the T45 was only a couple of years away from launch in 1979, as it happened the T45 didn’t appear until late 1980. Leyland had decided that the engine options for the T45 were to be TL12 (280 bhp and a 320 bhp development), RR 290 (as introduced into the Marathon Mk. 2 in 1979), and the ■■■■■■■ E290, with the higher powered CU335 as an option. So the E290 was available in the Marathon Mk.2 at the same time roughly as the RR290. In effect from late 1979 until the end of Marathon production the engine options available were the same as the T45 Roadtrain, and as stated in my text the Spicer gear box was also fitted.
The test report posted by DEAN (thank you) is slightly misleading in that there were no plans to phase out the TL12 engine at the end of Marathon production. But, as in all things Leyland at that time, it did get political. Some months before Southall was closed TL12 engine production was transferred to Leyland Motors and even 20 years after the AEC / Leyland “merger” there was still acrimony and by 1983 the writing was on the wall for the TL12. As by then its only chassis application was the T45, Leyland could actually buy in engines from ■■■■■■■ and RR cheaper than its own manufacturing costs of TL12s, so it was discontinued, the last TL12 powered T45 Roadtrains going into service in 1984, and Spillers had some of them, who was my employer then.