Longer Saloon, Redesigned Rear for 120 New Liverpool Atlanteans
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rOMPARED with Leyland/M.C.W, Atlantean double-deckers already in service
with Liverpool Corporation, 120 further Atlanteans which the Corporation has ordered will have important design changes, aimed chiefly at providing greater luggage capacity without reducing the seating capacity of 78. The new buses will. like the existing ones (of which 200 were ordered in 1961), have M.C.W.-built bodies but Leyland and Metropolitan-Cammell-Vv'eyrriann are incorporating modifications devised by Liverpool transport's engineering section under the guidance of Mr. W. M. Hall, general manager.
Most important of these is an increase of 6 in. in wheelbase—to 16 ft, 9 in.— achieved by moving the rear axle back: the whole power unit, too, is moved 6 in. and the transport department his designed a new rear bulkhead which saves a further 3 in. The result is a 9-in.-longer lower saloon (the upper saloon is unchanged) and complete elimination of the recess above the engine bay, to give a clean sweep at the rear of the body, above the engine bonnet. A prototype has already been built.
The main object of this greater length is to double the luggage capacity in lower saloon, and two layouts are being studied. One involves moving the nearside front transverse seat rearwards and turning it to face the rear, with its frame over the wheelbox; this leaves room for a big luggage compartment ahead of the seat on the nearside. The other plan requires the use of a longitudinal threeseater at the nearside front, so that one offside front seat can be dispensed with to make room for an offside front luggage compartment behind the stairs.
Like the existing Liverpool Atlanteans, the new buses will have a flat, higherthan-standard lower-saloon floor (the optional dropped. rear axle is not employed) but the step from the entrance
platform to the lower saloon is to be lowered by 1 in. ibis has necessitated the repositioning of front-axle damper units. From the step a slight ramp leads to the flat lower-saloon floor. The special entrance/staircase layout, which has the effect of removing one step from the main stairs, is to be retained.
With an overall length of 30 ft. Gin. the new Liverpool versions will be effectively the biggest Atlanteans yet introduced. Delivery of the new buses, valued at £844,600, will bring the total of Atlanteans in British service to over 2,000.
New P.V.O.A. Chairman
4R. J. T. STEEL has been unanimously elected chairman of the national council of the Passenger Vehicle Operators' Association, replacing Mr. W. Dodds. Mr. Steel is managing director of Baddeley Bros. Ltd., of Holmfirth.
Mr. E. A. Lainson is elected vicechairman of the council and the following elected area chairmen: East Midland —Mr. F. Broomfield; Scotland—Mr. W. Dodds; Western—Mr. S. G. Bellamy; Yorkshire—Mr. M. A. Hargreaves: North Western—Mr. F. Smith; South Wales—Mr. A. E. Brewer; West Midland --Mr. W. H. Austin; London and Home Counties—Mr. W. J. Lacey.