Southdown Leyland Leopard in Aldershot about to set off to Gosport.
The bodywork is by Northern Counties Coachworks of Wigan.
Wigan Corporation fleet number 18 was a Leyland Royal Tiger delivered in 1951.
It was one of several with bodywork by Northern Counties of Wigan. The driver
entered his cab through the door on the offside of the bus, and was sealed off
from the conductor and passengers by a window on his left.
This bus is a Leyland PD3, one of several that Wigan Corporation started to acquire
from about 1960. The bodywork is by Northern Counties of Wigan. It would have
looked better if the “Coat Of Arms” logo had been centrally placed.
This Leyland National was delivered new to Ribble in the deep red that the company had used
for may years. At the time, Ribble had started to paint their buses in National Bus Company
“Poppy Red”, so this bus was painted in the new colour prior to entering service. I, like many
others would have liked it to remain in the colour seen here. Ray Smyth.
Ray Smyth:
This Leyland National was delivered new to Ribble in the deep red that the company had used
for may years. At the time, Ribble had started to paint their buses in National Bus Company
“Poppy Red”, so this bus was painted in the new colour prior to entering service. I, like many
others would have liked it to remain in the colour seen here. Ray Smyth.
As a native and resident of Frenchwood, I do remember some of the very first ones arriving outside the depot entrance in Selborne Street (as opposed to the HQ and Central Workshops around the corner in Frenchwood Avenue)
I do remember them arrriving in the traditional red, and I’m sure I have a recollection of at least one of them having a cream roof
This Leyland is one of the first PD3 buses that Wigan Corporation acquired
in 1960. The bodywork is by Northern Counties of Wigan. The small white
sign on the “Tin Front” is showing its new fleet number, so the date of this
picture must be from 1974 onwards, after the takeover by Greater Manchester
Transport, and it may have soon, despite being about 15 years old, received
the orange and white livery of GMT. Picture by Tom Sutch.
In this video on the Cavan & Leitrim Railway (Ireland), one or two glimpses on their collection of buses, unfortunately left outside.
This left hand drive Leyland Atlantean was one of a large
order that Northern Counties built for Kuwait in the 1980s.
Despite the Leyland badge on the front of this Eastern Coachworks bodied
Eastern Scottish bus, I think it is a Daimler Fleetline. Click on picture for
full image. Ray Smyth.
During 1948, Northern Counties received an order to build 50 bus bodies on Daimler chassis
for Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport. I believe this was the biggest single order
that they had received to date. All 50 were built and delivered during 1949 and early 1950.
Old Haymarket in Liverpool city centre was the destination and departure location
for several bus routes to and from areas to the north of the city, Bootle, Seaforth,
Sefton and Litherland etc. They were joint services between Liverpool Corporation
and Ribble Motor Services. These 3 are Leyland PD2 double deckers.
I was on the M60 in lane 1 this afternoon in the mid-afternoon jam, as usual, doing about 10 mph and on my offside there was a two axle Mercedes coach, quite new, and unusually these days it had its unladen weight on display, 13,560 Kgs, or 13.25 tons in imperial weights. Whatever do they build coaches out of these days? the last AEC Reliances with the best bodywork money could buy were a shade under 9 tons.
Two pictures taken at the same location in Wigan town centre, 45 years apart.
Wigan Wallgate railway station is on the right, the big 3 storey building on the
left used to be The Victoria Hotel. It is now apartments, with McColls on the
at ground level. The Stagecoach Alexander Dennis is on route 3, Kitt Green
Circular. Picture 1 by Thomas Sutch, 2nd picture from my camera.
Toward the end of 1973, or early into 1974, Wigan Corporation Transport decided to purchase 6 Bristol LH
bus chassis, with bodywork by Eastern Coachworks of Lowestoft. During 1974, the Corporation bus fleet
had become part of Greater Manchester Transport, so the 6 Bristols were delivered in the dreadful orange
and white GMT livery by the time they arrived. I think that they would have looked good in the traditional livery
of “Carmine Red & White”. One of them, BNE 768N is seen at the layover bus park in Station Road, Wigan.
Another of the 6, BNE 765N is seen in 1985, when in the ownership of Flora of Helston, Cornwall.
Ray Smyth.
Who in their right mind would paint a bus in this awful colour. When it was new,
it was Ribble 1465, JCK 540. It is seen here at Epsom Racecourse. The 2nd and
3rd pictures of 1461 and 1438 look much better. 
. Leyland PD2
No 1438 was the first Ribble bus that I drove in 1968. Ray Smyth.
Ribble Leyland PD3 No. !727, arriving at Skelhorne Street bus station in Liverpool.
The bus is on route L3 to and from Crosby, the conductor has already changed the
destination indicator for its next journey. 1727 has Metro-Cammell-Weymann
bodywork, and the earlier PD3 at the rear has bodywork by Burlingham.
Ray Smyth.
Ray, are you going to the Ribble 100 centenary event at Morecambe on Sunday ? My mate from Garstang owned 1466 for some time and we repainted it in my garage back in 1978-9…
Cheers Leyland 600.
