Leyland Gets Stockholm's Order
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AFTER testing prototypes in service the Stockholm municipal transport authority has placed a £24m. order with the Leyland Motor Corporation for 200 Panther single-deck buses and 50 Atlantean double-deckers with bodies by Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. The buses will have fully automatic gearboxes, power-assisted steering and handbrakes. combined air and leaf-spring suspension and roof-level exhaust discharge in the case of the single-deckers. Mr. Donald Stokes said last week: 'Some of the hardest selling we have ever known has gone into the winning of this big export order. When .we • discovered the "requirements for Stockholm's new buses, we built an entirely new prototype in exact accordance with the extremely complex specification and high quality standards laid down by the transport authority." He said that Leyland were delighted that this had met with the Stockholm authority's approval. The Atlanteans. say Leyland. will be the world's first one-man-operated double-deckers and will certainly be among the biggest--36-ft. long and 8-ft. 2-in. wide. They will carry seated passengers only (unlike the Panthers, which will have capacity for 36 seated and 36 standing), Park Royal are constructing a wooden mock-up of the driving compartment so that it will be exactly the same on both types. thus making switching of drivers simple and ensuring comparable standards of comfort. A group of Stockholm drivers and engineers is to be flown over from Sweden to inspect the mock-up before assembly starts. The Atlanteans will have two double doors and two separate staircases serving the upper saloon, and Leyland mentions the possibility of examples of this type being used in Britain.