More o-m-o double-deckers for Manchester
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• A further order for 44 long-wheelbase Daimler Fleetline double-deck bus chassis has been placed by Manchester City Transport. The chassis, at a cost of £4,175 each, will have an overall length of about 33ft, width of 8ft 24-in. and a wheelbase of 18ft 6in. They will be fitted with Gardner 6LXB diesel engines and have Park Royal bodies designed for one-man operation.
Manchester already has 47 similar chassis (five with 6LXB engines and the remainder with Gardner 6LX engines) under construction by Daimler Transport Vehicles Ltd_ The new order will bring the total ofDaimlers in service or on order for the city to 588, including 269 rear-engined Fleetlines.
Meanwhile, delivery is being made to Manchester of 48 Daimler Fleetline doubledeckers with one-man bodies built by Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. The bodies are of similar design to 48 on Leyland Atlantean chassis described in COMMERCIAL MOTOR, February 23, and the buses are of "intermediate"
length with a wheelbase of 16ft 9in. and an overall length of about 31ft 6in. They seat 28 passengers in the lower saloon and 45 in the upper; provision for 23 lower saloon standees gives a total passenger complement of 96.
Manchester City Council transport committee has also accepted the tender of Leyland Motors Ltd. for the supply of 50 Atlantean PDR2/1 chassis with a wheelbase of 18ft 6in., Leyland 0.680 diesel engines and power-assisted steering at a cost of £3,789 per chassis. The Atlanteans will also be designed to carry 33ft front entrance and central exit o-m-o double-deck bodies.
The transport committee has accepted the tender of East Lancashire Coachbuilders Ltd., Blackburn, for the supply of 24 o-m-o double-deck bus bodies at a cost of £5,130 per body and a tender of Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. for 70 o-m-o double-deck bus bodies at £5,264 per body.
Leyland is also currently building 47 rear engined double-deckers for Manchester. They will, together with the present batch of Daimler Fleetlines, be fitted with o-m-o bodies by Metropolitan-Cammell-Weymann Ltd.