The Nationals came into the fleet when Reading bought The BeeLine's Reading and Newbury operations in 1992. Originally, Nationals operated in both Reading and Newbury, along with a collection of other, mainly old buses. The quantity of these buses has slowly been reducing in number, starting from 24 buses the Nationals were removed from Reading, and were concentrated in only Newbury for a few years. The last National was withdrawn in July 1999.
Optare Vectas were used to replace the Nationals in Reading initially, and later Optare Deltas were also used. When the Nationals were finally withdrawn from Newbury some of the same Vectas that were used to replace Reading Nationals were sent to Newbury, along with four MCW Metrobuses, Newbury's first double deckers under RTL control. The Vectas were displaced from Reading by Optare Deltas which were displaced by Optare Excels, and the Metrobuses were displaced directly by Excels.
