NI.C.W. will be Prominent at the Show
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NEW coach design for 36-ft.-long
underfloor-engined chassis, a special ersion of the double-deck bodywork roduced for the Leyland Atlantean hassis and three examples of bodywork n chassis of which details are as yet• 2..cret will be included in the Metroolitan-Cammell-Weymann products to ppear at the Commercial Motor Show. Three vehicles on the stand of the letropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Vagon Co., Ltd., two on that of Veyrnann's, Lid,, one on each of four hassis manufacturers stands and one in se demonstration park make up a total f 10 M.C.W. products at Earls Court, se largest number ever.
The new 36-ft. x 8-ft. 2J-in. coach is se M.C.W. Castilian, of which one of 5 being built for Southdown Motor ervices, Ltd. will appear on the Veymann stand. Based on a Leyland eopard 18-ft. 6-in.-wheelbase chassis, it be arranged to seat 45 passengers, ,ith generous leg-room. The basic esign provides for 49 seats.
"The styling bears an obvious family .semblance to that of the previous 1.C.W. Fanfare design, for which Southown have been a leading customer lfl ,2cent years. This applies particularly to -le treatment of the area below the wind=en, the relatively high waistline fallig slightly towards the rear and the Dmparatively shallow side windows. The ppearance has been greatly cleaned-up,
however, by the reduction, despite the extra 6 ft. of Length, in the number of main side windows from seven to five and the use of wrap-round windscreen and rear window. The windscreen is now entirely of curved glass, divided only in the centre, whilst the rear window incorporates curved corner glasses.
The Castilian is of M.C.W. patented Mk. 2 all-metal construction, incorporating T-section pillars and 1-section bearers, both of steel. The major part of the panelling is 18-gauge aluminium. but the lower valance panels are of 14-gauge aluminium and the frontand rear-end assemblies are of glass-fibre. The, floor is fin, resin-bonded plywood.
The front entrance is provided with an inward-opening hinged door, whilst the emergency exit is on the offside at the rear.
Fluorescent lighting and forced ventilation are provided, intakes above the windscreens feeding centrifugal blowers from which air is ducted to individual jetvents under the parcel racks. The vehicle also incorporates three saloon heaters and a windscreen demister unit.
The special version of the Leyland Atlantean is one of the 200 vehicles being built for Liverpool Corporation and will be exhibited On the Leyland stand. It incorporates a number of important internal modifications found to be desirable as a result of operating experience of a prototype Liverpool vehicle and
promises to be among the most interesting double-dezkers at the Show from a styling viewpoint.
The principal internal differences from previous Atlantean body designs arc as described in The Commercial Motor of July 28 last year. The main portion of the lower saloon is raised to the level required to clear the rear axle instead of being continuous with the low front platform. This has enabled the staircase to be made more compact, helping to i-educe the bottleneck in passenger flow caused by the limited gangway width at this point. No increase in overall height over that of the existing highbridge Atlantean is involved as this is determined by the Iviel of the floor over the rear' axle.
From an appearance point of view, the Liverpool version of the M.C.W. Atlantean body represents a considerable departure from the trends of the past decade or so. A more "sharp-edged " style is employed, details of the front and rear-end appearance being reminiscent of current private-car practice. Equal-depth windows are used on both decks instead of the shallow upper-deck and deep lowerdeck glazing associated With M.C.W. normal-height double-deckers in recent years. Together with the use of more slender front upper-deck corner pillars, this helps to minimize arty tendency towards a top-heavy effect. Slight bowing of the front panels eliminates the box-like frontal appearance associated with most other rear-engined double-deckers, Other M.C.W. exhibits include a Leyland Atlantean for Salford City Transport, a Leyland-M.C.W. Olympic for C.U.T.S.C.A., Montevideo, and one of the as-yet secret models on the Metro.Cammell stand; a 36-ft. by 8-ft. 23-in, 54-seat single7decker on Leyland Leopard chassis for Midland Red on the Weymann stand; an Albion Victor 35-seat semicoach, for operation in Ghana, on the Albion stand; a Daimler Fleettine for Manchester Corporation Transport 'on the Daimler stand, and a " mystery " vehicle on another chassis maker's stand. Another as-yet unannounced model will be in the demonstration park. Details of the new models not yet released will appear in The Commercial Motor of September 14.