A question for Valkyrie . when I was a wee lad in the early 50s my dad managed a coach business in Buxton . The head office was in Fleetwood and he was sent a brand new Daimler coach which after all these years looked like a Burlingham body . The possible connection is that the coach firm was called Lansdowne coaches . Could be tenuous but a remarkable coincidence . The Daimler coach had the preselector box with the triangular paddle on the steering column . I had a photo of it at Rigby road coach park but it seems to have disappeared . Dave
The PS! Tiger EAV 458 was new to James Sutherland of Peterhead (Same Sutherland of Peterhead haulage company) and taken over by Alexanders in the 1950s Owned by Malcolm Rigby of Lathom in this shot. Back in 1992 while on a holiday in USA by coach I saw parked on the green at Pensicola a Leyland bodied PD1 OAV 308 I think (I only got a quick glims of the registration plate) also an ex Sutherland bus. I believe it still exists as an Irish pub.
Cheers Leyland 600.
The “Ribble” side of Preston Bus Station in the 1970s.
Rigsby:
A question for Valkyrie . when I was a wee lad in the early 50s my dad managed a coach business in Buxton . The head office was in Fleetwood and he was sent a brand new Daimler coach which after all these years looked like a Burlingham body . The possible connection is that the coach firm was called Lansdowne coaches . Could be tenuous but a remarkable coincidence . The Daimler coach had the preselector box with the triangular paddle on the steering column . I had a photo of it at Rigby road coach park but it seems to have disappeared . Dave
TruckNetUK . Old Time Lorries . Buses,Motorcoaches & Lorries . Page 17 or 18 .Lansdowne Motors,Fleetwood & Lansdowne KW Bodies,Bispham . VALKYRIE . Friday,23rd November,2018.
Hello Rigsby - Dave. Thanks for your interesting post 
In regard to the Daimler motorcoach operated by the Buxton branch of Lansdowne Motors Lt,Fleetwood,Lancashire.I’ve had a look and,
unfortunately,I cannot see listed -as yet - any Daimler being operated by Lansdowne Motors…it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack
Was this Daimler a halfcab motorcoach? 
,or did it have a full front? ,or was it an underfloor-engined model with full-fronted bodywork?
Can you remember it’s registration number? Please try to find that photograph of this Daimler motorcoach,then we’ll be able to see the
registration,which will make it a lot easier to track down …in regard to it’s original operator,model,body,etc,etc,hopefully.
Did the Buxton branch of Lansdowne Motors trade as Lansdowne,or did they use another name?
So yes.There was a motorcoach operator at Fleetwood called Lansdowne Motors Ltd - but was there a connection with Lansdowne Motors and Lansdowne KW Bodies,who built motorcoach bodies,just down the road at Bispham? I think that there might have been: I recall a fascinating motorcoach that originally started life with Ribble Motor Services in 1933 -
Leyland Tiger TS6/Leyland C31R Motorcoach,Chassis No.2660, CK 4718,April 1933,Ribble,No.1364. Worked for the War Department from 1940
to 1944,bought by Lansdowne Motors in 1944,re-bodied as a C33F motorcoach by Lansdowne KW Bodies,sold in January 1949 to E.Crumpton -
Triangle - ,Stourbridge,and eventually ended up with Don Everall Limited in 1953.Last licensed in September 1954.
Lansdowne Motors operated at least three Bedford WTB Series 1 motorcoaches:-
Bedford WTB Series 1/Burlingham C25R Motorcoach,Chassis No.111456, FV 9293,7-1937.
Bedford WTB Series 1/ ? C25 Motorcoach,Chassis No.111527, FV 9291,6-1937. Bodied by Lansdowne KW Bodies,Bispham?
Bedford WTB Series 1/Plaxton C25 Motorcoach,Chassis No.111950, AFR 394,6-1938.
Another Lansdowne Motors - operated motorcoach that I’ve come across is this:-
Leyland Royal Tiger PSU1/15/Bellhouse Hartwell C41C Motorcoach,Chassis No.502383,LNo.36, DRN 929,May,1951,Scout Motor Services Ltd,
Preston. Operated by Lansdowne Motors,Fleetwood,from an unknown date at present to May 1959,when it was bought by Abbott Motorcoaches,
Blackpool. This Leyland was eventually exported to Wollongong,New South Wales,Australia,in 1970,was re-bodied with a JJ Hill B53F bus body,
was re-registered M/O.5090 and operated by John J.Hill’s Bus Service.
Link photograph:-
There are two or three Lansdowne Motors still in operation as garages in Morecambe,Oldham and elsewhere in Lancashire,but probably not as motorcoach operators - do they all originate from Lansdowne Motors of Fleetwood who operated motorcoaches? …and who was probably connected with Lansdowne KW Bodies of Bispham?
Lansdowne KW Bodies was in operation from 1934 (not 1937 as I said) to 1960,and were sometimes known as just KW Bodies. This company also
operated as motorcoach and bus dealers during sometime in the 1950s. And what did the KW letters stand for?
I know of two other Lansdowne KW - bodied motorcoaches:- AEC,or Leyland,or Bedford (I can’t remember 
) motorcoach operated
by Excelsior Motorcoaches,Wigmore,Dinnington,Sheffield.
The other one is Leyland Tiger PS1/Lansdowne KW Motorcoach,of York Motors,Manchester.
It is interesting to note that the National Express Motorcoach and General Motorcoach Station at Blackpool,next to or near to Rigby Road,is
called Lansdowne
Leyland600 QUOTE The PS! Tiger EAV 458 was new to James Sutherland of Peterhead (Same Sutherland of Peterhead haulage company) and taken over by Alexanders in the 1950s Owned by Malcolm Rigby of Lathom in this shot. Back in 1992 while on a holiday in USA by coach I saw parked on the green at Pensicola a Leyland bodied PD1 OAV 308 I think (I only got a quick glims of the registration plate) also an ex Sutherland bus. I believe it still exists as an Irish pub.
Cheers Leyland 600. UNQUOTE.
Oh yes! 
Those were the halcyon days when I used to see Maypole Motorcoaches’ Leyland Tiger PS1 motorcoaches,EAV 458 and KUP 949
fairly often at one time Indeed,I once had a long and enjoyable excursion-tour of certain parts of Lancashire on Leyland Tiger,KUP 949,
in October 1993 I always wanted to have a ride on EAV 458
KUP 949 is now back in preservation with Don Bate,the author of the magnificent and definitve history of Samuel Ledgard Beer And Blue Buses
And KUP 949 is now in Samuel Ledgard livery…it’s the only known surving ex-Ledgard motor vehicle.
EAV 458 was sold to Falcon Motorcoaches in 2003,but is now owned by a Mr.Graveling,Bourne,Lincolnshire,and is painted in the Sutherland yellow,
with white and black relief,livery.
VALKYRIE
The Bristol Lodekka was a popular choice with Tilling Group operators . In fact the bus chassis and body were built by members of the Tilling group. This was the first ‘low floor’ bus design; later copied on licence by Dennis as the Loline and supplied to companies outside the group. A popular feature fitted by some operators was the Cave Brown Cave heating system. This system did away with the engine cooling radiator and fan, substituting twin radiators at front upper deck level, with air vents to the saloons to provide hot fresh air. The intention being to do away with the ‘fug strirrers’ usually fitted and thus to provide a better quality of air inside the bus. A small header tank was retained under the bonnet.
The problems with the system were that it was not pressurised and with no fan only ram-air cooled the water and the engine. Slow speed, long waits at bus stops and hilly terrain sometimes produced predictable results.
flickr.com/photos/46986413@N07/6265121360/
Confronted with a bomb damaged RT 97:
flickr.com/photos/23875695@ … otostream/
London Transport carried out experiments on the vehicle, rebuilding it first as a pay as you board vehicle with a seated conductor.
google.com/search?q=London+ … KKiJVU1oxM:
Then later to do to do something similar in 1947 to the later Cave Brown Cave system, when turning it into their Regent III RT coach RTC 1. This had the radiator positioned under the stairswith a heat exchanger and air conditioning.
Warminster bus running day in 2003. Leyland Tiger Cub coach MMR 553
and behind it is MMR 552, in Warminster. These 2 Leylands were new
to Silver Star in 1958. Ray Smyth.
Wilts & Dorset Bristol coach, EMW 284, from about 1952, seen here in Warminster
on a sunny Sunday running day in 2003. Ray Smyth.
VALKYRIE:
Rigsby:
A question for Valkyrie . when I was a wee lad in the early 50s my dad managed a coach business in Buxton . The head office was in Fleetwood and he was sent a brand new Daimler coach which after all these years looked like a Burlingham body . The possible connection is that the coach firm was called Lansdowne coaches . Could be tenuous but a remarkable coincidence . The Daimler coach had the preselector box with the triangular paddle on the steering column . I had a photo of it at Rigby road coach park but it seems to have disappeared . Dave
TruckNetUK . Old Time Lorries . Buses,Motorcoaches & Lorries . Page 17 or 18 .Lansdowne Motors,Fleetwood & Lansdowne KW Bodies,Bispham . VALKYRIE . Friday,23rd November,2018.
Hello Rigsby - Dave. Thanks for your interesting post
In regard to the Daimler motorcoach operated by the Buxton branch of Lansdowne Motors Lt,Fleetwood,Lancashire.I’ve had a look and,
unfortunately,I cannot see listed -as yet - any Daimler being operated by Lansdowne Motors…it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack
It was a full fronted motor coach with a courier seat beside the driver where I spent many hours riding with Dad . I’ll have to dig the only photo I have of it out if I can . It was said to have come from the `Motor Show probably 1952/3 and I never saw another like it . Dave
Was this Daimler a halfcab motorcoach?
Can you remember it’s registration number?
registration,which will make it a lot easier to track downDid the Buxton branch of Lansdowne Motors trade as Lansdowne,or did they use another name?
So yes.There was a motorcoach operator at Fleetwood called Lansdowne Motors Ltd - but was there a connection with Lansdowne Motors and Lansdowne KW Bodies,who built motorcoach bodies,just down the road at Bispham?
Leyland Tiger TS6/Leyland C31R Motorcoach,Chassis No.2660, CK 4718,April 1933,Ribble,No.1364. Worked for the War Department from 1940
to 1944,bought by Lansdowne Motors in 1944,re-bodied as a C33F motorcoach by Lansdowne KW Bodies,sold in January 1949 to E.Crumpton -
Triangle - ,Stourbridge,and eventually ended up with Don Everall Limited in 1953.Last licensed in September 1954.Lansdowne Motors operated at least three Bedford WTB Series 1 motorcoaches:-
Bedford WTB Series 1/Burlingham C25R Motorcoach,Chassis No.111456, FV 9293,7-1937.Bedford WTB Series 1/ ? C25 Motorcoach,Chassis No.111527, FV 9291,6-1937. Bodied by Lansdowne KW Bodies,Bispham?
Bedford WTB Series 1/Plaxton C25 Motorcoach,Chassis No.111950, AFR 394,6-1938.
Another Lansdowne Motors - operated motorcoach that I’ve come across is this:-
Leyland Royal Tiger PSU1/15/Bellhouse Hartwell C41C Motorcoach,Chassis No.502383,LNo.36, DRN 929,May,1951,Scout Motor Services Ltd,
Preston. Operated by Lansdowne Motors,Fleetwood,from an unknown date at present to May 1959,when it was bought by Abbott Motorcoaches,
Blackpool. This Leyland was eventually exported to Wollongong,New South Wales,Australia,in 1970,was re-bodied with a JJ Hill B53F bus body,
was re-registered M/O.5090 and operated by John J.Hill’s Bus Service.Link photograph:-
There are two or three Lansdowne Motors still in operation as garages in Morecambe,Oldham and elsewhere in Lancashire,but probably not as motorcoach operators - do they all originate from Lansdowne Motors of Fleetwood who operated motorcoaches?
Lansdowne KW Bodies was in operation from 1934 (not 1937 as I said) to 1960,and were sometimes known as just KW Bodies. This company also
operated as motorcoach and bus dealers during sometime in the 1950s. And what did the KW letters stand for?I know of two other Lansdowne KW - bodied motorcoaches:- AEC,or Leyland,or Bedford (I can’t remember
by Excelsior Motorcoaches,Wigmore,Dinnington,Sheffield.
The other one is Leyland Tiger PS1/Lansdowne KW Motorcoach,of York Motors,Manchester.It is interesting to note that the National Express Motorcoach and General Motorcoach Station at Blackpool,next to or near to Rigby Road,is
called Lansdowne
Leyland600 QUOTE The PS! Tiger EAV 458 was new to James Sutherland of Peterhead (Same Sutherland of Peterhead haulage company) and taken over by Alexanders in the 1950s Owned by Malcolm Rigby of Lathom in this shot. Back in 1992 while on a holiday in USA by coach I saw parked on the green at Pensicola a Leyland bodied PD1 OAV 308 I think (I only got a quick glims of the registration plate) also an ex Sutherland bus. I believe it still exists as an Irish pub.
Cheers Leyland 600. UNQUOTE.Oh yes!
fairly often at one time
in October 1993
KUP 949 is now back in preservation with Don Bate,the author of the magnificent and definitve history of Samuel Ledgard Beer And Blue Buses
And KUP 949 is now in Samuel Ledgard livery…it’s the only known surving ex-Ledgard motor vehicle.EAV 458 was sold to Falcon Motorcoaches in 2003,but is now owned by a Mr.Graveling,Bourne,Lincolnshire,and is painted in the Sutherland yellow,
with white and black relief,livery.VALKYRIE
I’m amazed to see how many old buses, even pre-WW II, you British have preserved! Many French models have no survivors. Really a good job, considering most of them were carefully restored.
Froggy55:
I’m amazed to see how many old buses, even pre-WW II, you British have preserved! Many French models have no survivors. Really a good job, considering most of them were carefully restored.
I’m guessing that the German invasion didn’t help there? I have a Dutch friend who, like myself, collects and restores vintage stationary engines and I asked him why he buys engines from the UK, he explained that most Dutch machinery was destroyed during the war and very few survive.
Pete.
It all went wrong on the Thames in 1964.
Click on page twice to read.
Another clipping about it in 1965.
windrush:
Froggy55:
I’m amazed to see how many old buses, even pre-WW II, you British have preserved! Many French models have no survivors. Really a good job, considering most of them were carefully restored.I’m guessing that the German invasion didn’t help there? I have a Dutch friend who, like myself, collects and restores vintage stationary engines and I asked him why he buys engines from the UK, he explained that most Dutch machinery was destroyed during the war and very few survive.
Pete.
Indeed many trucks, buses and even cars were requisitioned in 1940, and a great amount destroyed. Some clever owners, aware that the army wouldn’t bother with unreliable vehicles, claimed they had mechanical problems, and thus kept theirs until the end or the war, but off the road.
Apart from the country not having been invaded, it is probable that the numbers are at least partially because the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club (later Society) was formed as early as 1958 when many of these old stalwarts were still in use. Those of us interested in old vehicles owe these early preservationists an enormous debt of gratitude.
The trend in the 1950s was for vehicles to be kept in service until they were worn out or suffered a major mechanical failure. Even then they were not scrapped, the wartime generation was used to a ‘make do and mend’ outlook; rationing did not end until 1953. Raw materials were in short supply and manufacturing industry was being urged by government to concentrate on exports, consequently new vehicles were in comparatively short supply. Instead of being scrapped these old vehicles were parked in the corner of the yard or shut away in a shed for future cannibalisation. The same could be said for passenger vehicles. Both types of vehicle were run typically for anything up to twenty years before retirement. There were a lot of old vehicles still around in the 1950s.
The bus operators in particular rebodied chassis and either converted vehicles to diesel power or retained chassis which had recently been done, simply because up until about the later 1950s demand for travel was so high that there was no other way of meeting it. Many PSV survived as open top, summer only, seafront-tour vehicles.
Even as late as the 1980s companies like Suttons were still giving vehicles a complete overhaul, often with a new cab being fitted.
There is a marked difference between Haulage operators and busmen.As the attched AROnline article details, haulage men on the whole are hard headed businessmen who see their vehicles simply as an asset to produce an income. Busmen are an entirely different different species, just about everything is about the vehicle, it is almost a love affair; to paraphrase from one of the industry’s royalty - Geoffrey Hilditch : “There was many a damp eye when the last of those vehicles left the depot for the final time”.
I love the VAL, which was THE British coach, just as the Mammoth Major 8 (Mk II & III) were THE British trucks when I lived in London (1965-73). Here’s what looks like a LHD Regent, probably taken in Lisboa.
Yes Froggy it is a Carris Regent III wit Weymann bodywork.
Cheers Leyland 600