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ONE-MAN BUSES NEW FUTURE FOR DOUBLE-DECKERS
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by Derek Moses
ONE of the most notable features of the Commercial Motor Show this year will be the almost wholesale adoption of one-man operation for stage carriage buses—a development one would expect to find. What is interesting, however, is the swing back to double-deckers, now that the use of such vehicles on o-m-o services has been approved by the Ministry of Transport. Anyone believing that the days of the British double-decker are numbered should visit Earls Court, where at least 13 will be seen, including two in the demonstration park. One of the double-deckers will be a coach of no less than 36ft in length; the remainder have been designed for stage-carriage work and all but one have separate entrances and exits.
Meanwhile, it is revealing to note that only the two leading British luxury coach builders, Duple and Plaxton, will have touring coaches on show, the challenge from Park Royal and MCW who introduced new models at the last Show having apparently amounted to very little. However. MercedesBenz will once again display an 0.302 coach and a Leyland Leopard with luxury coach body by Salvador Caetano of Portugal will be in the demonstration park, bodies by this coachbuilder now being available in Britain.
Starting with the newcomer, the Salvador Caetano coach is to he shown by Alf. Moseley and Sons Ltd. who have been appointed sole concessionaires for Great Britain and Eire. It is a 51-seater with forced-air ventilation and individual passenger lighting, radio with speech amplification and power-operated inward opening door. The external appearance and interior decor are typically Continental, introducing an entirely new design to the British coach market.
Turning to British coach bodies, competition between the two main coachbuilders is as strong as ever. Plaztons (Scarborough) Ltd. (Stand 33) has introduced yet another variation of the Panorama body, known as the Panorama Elite. Even deeper windows are employed, and are curved in section, resulting in a shallower roof line, altering the main lines of the body. Three examples will be seen on the Plaxton stand, including a 49-seater in Ribble livery on a Leyland Leopard chassis and a Bedford VAL 37ft model also seating 49 passengers. Duple's answer to the Panorama Elite is a restyled Viceroy 37 for lighter 37ft chassis, exhibited by Duple Motor Bodies (Nor thern) Ltd. (Stand 38) which has a new Duple Commander-type frontal grille, new exterior mouldings, and a redesigned interior with solid-base parcel racks.
Also on Stand 38 will be a restyled Commander body, designed for underfloorand rear-underfloor-engined chassis. Designated the Mk IV, it normally seats 51 passengers in a 36ft body, although the example to be shown is a 44-seater on an AEC Reliance chassis. Many of the styling features are common to the new Viceroy.
A 12-metre express coach designed spe cifically for Scottish-London motorway services. and night runs in particular, will be displayed by Walter Alexander and Co.
(Coachbuilders) Ltd. (Stand 40). Mounted on a Bristol REMH rear-underfloor-engined chassis, the coach seats 42 passengers in reclining seats and is of alloy construction. Smaller windows than usual are employed, and are double-glazed in the interests of heat insulation.
The longest double-decker at the Show will be a coach designed for motorway operation and is doubly interesting as it is mounted on a Bristol VRL /LH chassis. It will be on the stand of Eastern Coach Works Ltd. (Stand 45) who built the body to the requirements of Ribble Motor Services Ltd. The coach is fully 36ft in length and seats 18 passengers and a courier in the lower saloon and 42 passengers in the upper saloon. The main entrance is centrally situated and the staircase is to the rear of this.
Also to be exhibited by ECW is a 30ft 45-seat stage-bus body on a 16ft 2in.-wheel base Bristol LH chassis, designed for o-m-o service with Eastern Counties Omnibus Co. Ltd.
Undoubtedly one of the most interesting o-m-o buses to be shown is the Daimler CR-36 double-decker with 85-seat body by Northern Counties Motor and Engineering Co. Ltd., a project vehicle for Walsall Cor poration Transport. It will be on the Daim ler stand, and the chassis is described elsewhere in this issue, together with some of the body details. With an overall length of 35ft 8in. the body seats 85 passengers. and features a front entrance and staircase and a rear exit and staircase, giving a through flow for passengers.
On Stand 35 Northern Counties will show three double-deckers, all suitable for one-man operation. The most interesting are front entrance, central exit buses for Nottingham City Transport and Wigan Corporation Transport, both on Leyland Atlantean chassis.
All the buses to be exhibited by Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. (Stand 41) and its associated company Charles H. Roe Ltd.
(Stand 42) are front entrance, central exit double-deckers designed for o-m-o. Seven buses will be shown in all, of various out lines and capacities and will include a Park Royal-bodied 79-seater for Sheffield City Transport on a Leyland Atlantean chassis. This design is repeated on a 79-seat Allantean for Plymouth City Transport, to be shown on the Leyland stand and on a similar capacity Leyland demonstrator in the demonstration park, and is the new Park Royal Group standard design.
Two examples of 33ft 78-seaters on Daimler Fleetline chassis incorporating Roe safety staircases will be shown by Charles H. Roe in Leeds City Transport colours: one of these will be on the Daimler stand.
A striking single-decker is the Camair standee-type body to be shown by Marshall of Cambridge (Engineering) Ltd. (Stand 34) on a Leyland Panther chassis. The 36ft body seats 48 passengers and has a front entrance and separate central exit. Very deep windows—those on the nearside designed for standing passengers—and angular lines give the bus a futuristic appearance. It is one of 25 for the Northern General group and follows a prototype introduced some time ago.
Metropolitan-Carmnell-Weymann Ltd. (Stand 43) will concentrate on single-deckers at the Show and one of its exhibits will be, predictably, a bus designed for export, reflecting the large amount of export work undertaken by this firm. It is an MCW /Leyland Levend Series III bus of integral construction and a modern version of the well-known Olympic. The 36ft bus seats 34 passengers and has ample standing room and has been designed for service with Istanbul Municipality.
Alongside the Levend will be an MCW Mk VI body on Leyland Panther chassis for Liverpool City Transport, with 47 seats in its dual entrance bodywork. The custom of exhibiting a London Transport vehicle at Earls Court will be revived with an MCW-bodied AEC Merlin on the AEC stand. It is a dual entrance flat-fare bus with 25 seats and room for 48 standees and will be used on LTB's "satellite" suburban services now being introduced.
A firm which continues to expand is Pennine Coachcraft Ltd., the Seddon subsidiary company, and a 33ft 34-seater standee body on a Bristol RELL chassis for Reading Corporation Transport will be on Stand 44. Very deep windows are provided for the 36 standing passengers carried in the dual entrance one-man bus.
Another 33ft single-decker is a 45-seat front entrance/exit model on Daimler Fleetline chassis for Halifax Corporation Transport. to be shown by Willowbrook Ltd. (Stand 46), while Duple Motor Bodies (Midland) Ltd. (Stand 47) will show a 54seat front entrance, central exit bus on a Ford R226 chassis for Wolverhampton Corporation Transport.
Mini-buses on show will include a Dormobile PSV Utilabus on a Ford Transit 22cwt van shown by Martin Walter Ltd. (Stand 62) and a restyled version of the striking Fineline 12-seater coach will be shown on a BMC 250 JU chassis by B. Walker and Son Ltd. (Stand 21). Five years ago the family haulage firm of Horace Webster of Kirby MuxIoe, Leicestershire, decided to fit a York Third Axle to one of their trucks to increase payload. They chose a York because it is light and because the independent suspension gives better traction keeping the drive axle hard on the ground.Even in reverse on rough sites.
Truck and York Axle have now done 200,000 miles and are still going strong and the tyre life is excellent. 'It just won't hop', says Peter Webster, 'and loads like bricks and concrete always arrive in one piece because the truck is so steady and the back end won't buck.' When the Websters bought a new Bedford KM of 16 tons gross six months ago and decided to invest in another Third Axle to boost it up to 22 tons gross, they naturally chose a York.