Younger bus fleet for Newcastle
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Delivery to Newcastle City Transport next year of 30 Leyland Atlantean double-deckers with 33ft Alexander front-entrance and centralexit bodies will complete a two-year replacement programme for one-third of the fleet and reduce the average age of the buses from nine to 4-1years. Newcastle will then have a fleet of 330 buses standardized on Leyland rear-engined cha sis, of which 14 will be Alexander-bodied Panther single-deckers and the remainder Atlantean doubledeckers.
One-third of Newcastle's buses will then be capable of one-man operation and for this reason a three-man team will *leave Newcastle upon Tyne later this month to study bus operations in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Headed by air. Neville Trotter, chairman of the city's traffic, highways and transport committee, the team will visit Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Berlin. Mr James Hurst, deputy manager of Newcastle City Transport and Mr. Vic Joyce, local chairman of the platform staff's branch of the TGWU, will complete the team.
The two-year replacement programme began with the delivery of 15 Atlanteans and one Panther last year, followed by 55 Atlanteans and 11 Panthers this year, either in service or due for delivery. The first 15 Atlanteans of the 1969 deliveries are 30ft models, but the balance of 40 will have an overall length of 33ft. While it is hoped that panoramic windows can be fitted to these longer buses, they have been specified for the 30 buses due next year.
Separate central exits and nearside-mounted forward-ascending staircases—the latter a special feature on Newcastle buses, will be fitted to a total of 85 Atlanteans.