robthedog:
Couple of oldies out today 1967 & 70
Both have aged well and neither would really look out of place today Rob.
robthedog:
Couple of oldies out today 1967 & 70
Marshall-bodied Leopard? (guessing)
Ray Smyth:
Phew…This thread has reached a third of a million viewers. Thank you chaps for your pictures and comments.
Cheers, Ray Smyth.
Not at all, Ray. The crossover between lorry and bus engines/ chassis/ specifications and designs was a thing waiting to happen. Why otherwise discussions of Leyland’s 0.500 were it not for the National?
ParkRoyal2100:
robthedog:
Couple of oldies out today 1967 & 70Marshall-bodied Leopard? (guessing)
Plaxton body, Leopard chassis
Dennis Javelin:
ParkRoyal2100:
robthedog:
Couple of oldies out today 1967 & 70Marshall-bodied Leopard? (guessing)
Plaxton body, Leopard chassis
Ta
In the early 1970s when I was driving HGV Class 1 lorries, I did an occasional days work on a Saturday for a local coach firm
to York or Wetherby racecourse, carrying a coach load of boozers, cash whip round on the way home and cash wages from
the coach firm. Several of the journeys were with a Bedford VAL 6 wheeler with bodywork by Duple, and I seem to recall that
one of the Bedford VAL coaches had a Leyland engine, Perhaps I am dreaming. I thought that the VAL coaches were nice to drive.
Ray Smyth.
I believe that the Leyland engine was the standard fitment for the VAL chassis? The brake problems were well known though, one operator had to reline the brakes after each weekly tour. The handbrake also operated on the front two axles although there was also the standard Bedford transmission brake on the propshaft.
Pete.
UOU 417H is a Leyland Panther with a Plaxton "Derwent " body. The Panther was the Leyland version of the AEC Swift or maybe in reality it was the other way around. The giveaway from the front ins the lowere seating position for the driver and from the rear … the engine is in the back. M&D had a few of them and very quickly got rid of them> There is an article somewhere about the problems with the (forget make) bodies falling apart.
The second picture is an Atlantean PDR1/2. IIRC both buses belong to King Alfred.
Holloway garage. Nice atmosphere shot.
> Ray Smyth:
> In the early 1970s when I was driving HGV Class 1 lorries, I did an occasional days work on a Saturday for a local coach firm
> to York or Wetherby racecourse, carrying a coach load of boozers, cash whip round on the way home and cash wages from
> the coach firm. Several of the journeys were with a Bedford VAL 6 wheeler with bodywork by Duple, and I seem to recall that
> one of the Bedford VAL coaches had a Leyland engine, Perhaps I am dreaming. I thought that the VAL coaches were nice to drive. Ray Smyth.
As a green 17yr old joining my first ship in Malta in 1963, I was taken to see the Sights of Straight Street (The Gut) my first impressions were all of the off duty Bus Conductresses in all the bars, they all wore badges such as yours: -
Although I was never a user of the service, I soon found out they were what the badge said, although I don’t remember whether they said Driver or ■■
A bus conductors badge was green around the edge, and " CONDUCTOR " was printed at the bottom. Cheers, Ray.
Ray Smyth:
A bus conductors badge was green around the edge, and " CONDUCTOR " was printed at the bottom. Cheers, Ray.
AAH, it was a long time ago, maybe the working girls had a different colour.
Ray Smyth:
In the early 1970s when I was driving HGV Class 1 lorries, I did an occasional days work on a Saturday for a local coach firm
to York or Wetherby racecourse, carrying a coach load of boozers, cash whip round on the way home and cash wages from
the coach firm. Several of the journeys were with a Bedford VAL 6 wheeler with bodywork by Duple, and I seem to recall that
one of the Bedford VAL coaches had a Leyland engine, Perhaps I am dreaming. I thought that the VAL coaches were nice to drive.Ray Smyth.
The VAL 14 has a Leyland 400 and the VAL 70 has a Bedford 466 engine.
Wigan Rugby League team arriving in Wigan town centre, having won the Rugby League Cup
the previous day at Wembley in 1958. I am struggling to identify the coach, but I am leaning
more towards it being a Leyland, and the coach bodywork is rather unusual. The two buses
heading out of Library Street are both Leylands with Leyland bodywork. Photo from Wigan Album.
Ray Smyth.
Ray Smyth:
Wigan Rugby League team arriving in Wigan town centre, having won the Rugby League Cup
the previous day at Wembley in 1958. I am struggling to identify the coach, but I am leaning
more towards it being a Leyland, and the coach bodywork is rather unusual. The two buses
heading out of Library Street are both Leylands with Leyland bodywork. Photo from Wigan Album.Ray Smyth.
It’s a Leyland TS7 with a Yeates body first registered in 1953 to Unsworth of Wigan. Apparently it was rebodied but I don’t know when.
Courtesy of buslistsontheweb.co.uk
ERF-NGC-European:
Holloway garage. Nice atmosphere shot.0
Atmospheric shot …………with the drivers screen/s broken!
David
cav551:
UOU 417H is a Leyland Panther with a Plaxton "Derwent " body. The Panther was the Leyland version of the AEC Swift or maybe in reality it was the other way around. The giveaway from the front ins the lowere seating position for the driver and from the rear … the engine is in the back. M&D had a few of them and very quickly got rid of them> There is an article somewhere about the problems with the (forget make) bodies falling apart.
The second picture is an Atlantean PDR1/2. IIRC both buses belong to King Alfred.
This is a Panther bodied by Alexanders for Glasgow Corporation. In my opinion it looks a lot better than the Plaxton one which seems very utilitarian to me.
Pic courtesy of Allan Macdonald.
5thwheel:
ERF-NGC-European:
Holloway garage. Nice atmosphere shot.0
Atmospheric shot …………with the drivers screen/s broken!
David
That’s what I thought at first but when I blew it up, it became apparent that someone had cleaned the window haphazardly - well, that was my interpretation! 
So you might be right!
Having found the source from ex employee tales it seems that M&D had something like 90 Panthers, split 60 with Willowbrook bodies and the rest from Strachans. The Strachans ones suffering to a greater degree from bodywork failure. It seems that Willowbrook were involved to some extent with the repair of the Strachans bodies. The problems seem to have been associated mainly with the failure of the roof caused by chassis flexing and the body cracking allied to the rear engine location. Apparently the use of X ply tyres and over inflation did not help maters.