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Good Looks but a Lack c idividuality

COACHES RETAIN FAMILY DISTINCTIONS WHILE SINGLE-DECK BUSES ARE PATTERN By F. K. Moses SO far as bus and coach bodywork styling is concerned, it might be said that the last Commercial Motor Show was a " preview " of the models to be seen at Earls Court this year. Certainly this is the Show for rearengined single-deckers, with three new chassis models on display, but the body styles to be seen on them were forecast two years ago. It was said by this journal at the time that many new trends to be seen were likely to become accepted practice before long, and this year's Show is the confirmation of this fatt. Anyone expecting to see striking new designs will have been disappointed

. --they arc prominent by their absence. This is as true for the ‘three principal builders of luxury coach bodies as it is for the builders of stage and express service vehicles. The most striking coach is undoubtedly the new Panorama on a Leyland Leopard chassis on the Plaxton stand. Full air-conditioning is a feature of this body, and the fresh-air inlets have been incorporated in the cant panels at the rear of the first bay, below which the body line is divided to give a striking " cockpit " effect to the forward part of the body.

This makes the new Panorama easily distinguishable from its predecessor, and even deeper windows are provided (no less than 38 in.), which provide excellent

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visibility for the passenger without recourse to roof quarter lights. Indeed the provision of solid luggage racks precludes this; but the passenger nearest the window, at least, still enjoys a good upwards view, whilst the forward visibility, through the very large wrapround windscreen, is excellent, Wellspaced seats with lOw backsquabs are an aid to this forward visibility.

Plaxton's describe the new Panorama as "completely restyled ", which is arguable. The same familiar —and exceedingly attractive—lines are still to be seen. even if broken by the forward treatment, and this is also true of the Embassy IV body on Bedford VAL twinsteer chassis which, with the same wide and deep windows as the new Panorama becomes virtually a new version of the 1964 Panorama. Forced ventilation is not a feature of this body and the vehicle's attractive lines are consequently unbroken. What is recognizable as a " true " Embassy .body, even if Panorarria-style windows have been fitted, is the Embassy IV on Bedford SB5 chassis. This coach is normally available with shorter windows of the familiar Embassy type, and wide-vision windows are an "extra ". Depth of the windows is 34 in. in each cas--the " old " Panorama depth.

All three bodies have a new front grille which, in my opinion, is much mon attractive than the "electric razor' which has been fitted to the front o Embassy bodies for the past year or two Interior finish of all three coaches is tt the usual Plaxton standards. althougl 'the seats on the VAL are too clos. together for one to appreciate thei comfort.

'Scrapping an attractive and successfu design just for the sake of a change i an unnecessary exercise, and it is ni surprise that the Harrington Grenadie body on a 36-ft. Leyland Leopard chassi has a very familiar look. Detail modifi cations have been made to the bod styling and interior trim; but it is basicall the body introduced by Harrington fo maximum length underfloor-engine. chassis. The Legionnaire Mark 11, o Thames 36 chassis, still bears som external marks of riveted metal-frame construction, particularly at cant ra level. which I feel should not be visibl on a coach, hut the lines of the hod are an improvement over the Mark It looks particularly attractive from th rear; indeed, attractive styling to the rea of all coach bodies at the Show is prominent feature this year The nee to provide a radiator grille of some fan or other so often mars the front; appearance.

This, frankly, is true of some of tlDuple Group coach bodies, in m opinion. Duple introduced a complete] new style of coach about three yea] ago, which was later extended to the fu range of Duple (Hendon) bodies, It an attractive body apart, possibly. froi the thick reverse slope pillar towards tf rear of the body; but the front grille rather weak.

A successful frontal design introduce

nme years ago, which retains a " Burngham " flavour, is retained on the irefly body on Thames 30 chassis, 3ssibly one of the most attractive nailer coaches at the • Show. One of te Hendon coaches, a Bella Vega on edford SB chassis, is fitted with indidual window demisters on the outside

the underslung luggage racks, which t also equipped with individual jet :nts. Individual ventilators are a andard feature at the rear of all Duple (endon) bodies.

Spot cooling with window demisting is so a feature of the air-conditioned ommander coach on the new Daimler oadliner rear-engined chassis. This ackpool-designed body has the Hendon" look but has wide vision indows and no reverse slope pillars, hich adds to its good looks. The Comander was introduced only last year for .-ft. underfloor-engined chassis. It is ie of several examples at Earls Court established bodies merely adapted to rear-engined chassis, and therefore most indistinguishable from an underpor-engined vehicle. The body employs shallow steps at the entrance and a level gangway, whilst the rear seat fits snugly over the Cummins V6 diesel engine. so compact is this unit.

None of the coaches on the Duple stand is fitted with the maximum-quoted number of seats, and the advantage to the passenger in a much more comfortable sitting position should be noted •-ly operators.

Four examples of service bus bodies on rear-engined single-decker chassis illustrate different approaches to the problem of matching a low floor at the front, and high floor farther back with suitably positioned windows—though three of them, all from different coachworks, employ almost identical styling, The Roadliner chassis is undoubtedly the best of the new rear-engined chassis from a bodybuilder's point of view—as already indicated, the rear seat fits over the engine. This gives the Daimler the lowest floorline behind the rear axle—about 3 ft. above ground level—and a step-free gangway is therefore provided on the Marshall body for Potteries Motor Traction on the Daimler stand. The gangway ramps from the entrance past the facing fm-t seats. and whilst the foot stools at these seats are rather high, they compare with Fleetline double-deckers. The• level of the waist rail is rather high for passengers sitting in the first transverse scats, but Marshall have got away without stepping the waist rail. This has been a physical necessity on the three bodies on Leyland chassis, which also incorporate stepped floors. It is a little ironical that, having• just removed the need for a stepped floor and very deep windows in the Atlantean by offering a dropped-centre rear axle version. Lev land have introduced the same problem an the Panther and its junior, the Panther Cub.

Park Royal and Roe have made different approaches to this problem, Manchester Corporation, on its 43-seater Panther Cub, has employed a doubledeck bus type of entrance platform leading to a straight-through gangway. Positioning the step at the front bulkhead removes the need for footstools at the facing seats over the front wheelarch, and there is 40 in. clear floorspace between these seats, an advantage on a bus with a double entry stream.

Hull Corporation, on the other hand, employs a one-step entrance on its Roe body on Panther chassis, as normally found on rear-engined double-deckers, and another step is provided immediately behind the central exit. Only passengers travelling in the rear half of the bus have to encounter this second step.

For a bus intended for normal stage service, even of p.a.y.e. type, the entrance to the Hull vehicle is adequate. The wide entrance is not restricted by a central stanchion, the lack of which is not so important when the doorway is used as an entrance only, and there is still 1 ft. 11 in. clear space between the footstools at the front of the saloon. Furthermore. the intermediate step in the saloon floor is positioned at what should be a fairly obvious point.

This step is much more noticeable in the Alexander-bodied Panther for Glasgow, however, due mainly to the fact that the forward part of the bus is laid out on the standee principle, with only single seats along the offside. Adjacent to these seats are stanchions for the benefit of standing passengers. The floor ramps over the front axle and drops again, to keep the exit height to a minimum. This means that passengers in the front part of the body tend to sit in a well, and the windows have to be deeper than ever here so that they may see outside. A full complement of seating is provided in the rear part of the saloon, beyond the 10-in, step in the floor.

Maximum use has been made of the permissible overall width in the Glasgow bus, and the gangway width between the seat cushions is 27 in, in the rear part of the bus. The seats (32+ in over cushions) appear very narrow, though they are the same as on the Leyland/ M.C.W. Olympic for South America on the Metro-Cammell stand—the only other bus at the Show designed for an above average number of standees. On this latter vehicle the gangway is 21 in. wide between seat cushions, which seems to be reasonable, and if Glasgow is really anxious about comfort for the off-peak passenger, I think a wider seat could well be provided. After all, standees are carried only during three or four hours out of the 17 or 18 during which the bus is in service each day.

For the record, the Manchester Panther Cub, where passenger flow has obviously been given serious study, boasts 351in. wide cushions, and a gangway width of 214 in. Both this bus and the Roe bus for Hull are fitted with 29in.-deep windows in the forward part of the body, and 24-in, windows towards the rear.

For convenience, most leading bus body manufacturers have standardized on the B.E.T. Federation outline for their standard single-deck body shells. This would be a move in the right direction if the layout and specification details could also be standardized; but the fact that this has failed is adequately illustrated by the B.E.T. companies' exhibits at the Show, not to mention the variations on the theme for municipal operators. Meanwhile the respective bodybuilders have lost their individuality, and it is almost impossible to recognize a coachbuilder's product just by looking at the completed vehicle. Only two medium-capacity stage buses at Earls Court retain their individuality—a 45-seater p.a.y.e. Strachans body on Leyland Leopard chassis for West Hartlepool and a Pennine Coach• ft body on A.E.C. Reliance for Great rmouth.

7ortunately the B.E.T. body design is, itself, quite attractive and, with its tp-round windscreens and rear winvs, is of modern appearance. A ticuiarly good-looking version of this Ty is the Strachans Pacesetter demonttor on A.E.C. Reliance chassis. This is fitted with a new seat which begins with headrolls fitted to the back

squabs, making the vehicle ideally suitable for express work. Later in life the headrolls can be removed, without the need for retrimming, and the bus is ready for normal stage work. Both versions to this scat are fitted to the demonstrator, and I find them very cornfortable in each form. This bus is one of two single-deckers at the Show equipped with the new Clayton-Dewandre underfloor heating and ventilating system, the other being the Potteries Marshallbodied Daimler Roadliner.

The West Hartlepool bus stands out as being the only medium-capacity singledecker not fitted with wrap-round windscreens, It loses nothing in appearance for this, and has a character of its own. The front-entrance, central-exit body, although only 32 ft. long, accommodates

45 seated passengers and a luggage compartment behind the exit. This is made possible by employing two rows of seats for three passengers at the back of the bus on the nearside. Access to and from these seats is reasonable, the seat spacing also being quite good.

An interesting feature of the Pennine • bus is its short length—just over 28 ft. This is achieved by shortening the rear overhang of the 37-seat vehicle. The interior has a straightforward finish • considerably enhanced by the attractive decor, which involves the use of several shades of blue and a cheerful moquette. In common with all stage buses for this country at Earls Court, apart from the smallest end of the range, it has fluorescent lighting; it stands out amongst single-deckers in having rear destination and route number indicators, although provision for the latter is made on the Strachans Pacesetter.

A tendency to eliminate rear indicators on double-deckers as Well 'seems to be E24 . passing, judeing by the Show exhibits, some of which not only possess them but have a quite elaborate display at that.

Double-deckers on the whole are disappointing, however. There are only two which have a really modern frontal appearance, one for Sheffield and the other Belfast, and none restyled to the extent of the Liverpool Atlantean at the last Show. The frontal appearance of the Park Royal Atlantean for Sheffield on the Leyland stand is quite praiseworthy, being modern and yet practical as flat, rather than curved, screens are employed, though the whole effect would be improved by deeper top deck windows. l wish that bodybuilders and operators alike could be persuaded that 20 in. is not a sufficient depth for bus windows. Aldershot and District seem aware of this and the M.C.W.-bodied Dennis Loline has 23-in.-deep windows in each saloon, making all the difference to the appearance, not to mention passenger Balanced windows Such as this are a great advantage where appearance is co cerned. Although basically a " squal fronted" double-decker, the Willowbro, body on Atlantean chassis for Covent is an eye-catcher due to a combinatil of its well-balanced windows and thong' fill livery. There is just sufficient hi of a curve at the front of the top de to remove a completely "flat" appe :ince—it is a step in the right directic though not far enough.

A rather odd appearance is given the Northern Counties Atlantean by t adoption of the unnecessarily gr( depth of the lower saloon w. dows for the upper windows as wt whilst the B.E.T. wrap-round windsere just does not " fit " the body. Again, the almost flat panels at the front of t top deck had been more rounded, t appearance would have been improvi Nevertheless it is a bas full of go ideas, including a straighter staircase place of the dangerous spiral s favoured on most frontor forwa: entrance double-deckers. As usual, the Northern Counties vehicles are w finished, and completely double-hr inside, including front and rear dom

A similarly high standard of finish to be found on the M.H. Coachwo: double-decker on Fleetline chassis Belfast Corporation on the Daimler stai which also employs reasonably deep a properly balanced windows. Glasgc style wrap-round windows have bc incorporated at the front of this b which features a Carlisle Countercounting device designed by a Bell barrister-at-law, David Carlisle. T device informs the driver how many se are vacant on the top deck.

The last Commercial Motor Sh bowed that some bus operators were

preaking away from the traditional" nterior trim, and the consciousness that Weir is now all-important is found in 'most every stage bus at EarlS, Court one expects to find it in a coach). :verywhere the emphasis is on brighter Lnd more attractive colour schemes; but perhaps the most daring is the Park Zoyal Routemaster for Northern 3eneral, which employs black as a Prominent interior colour, using it for he window surrounds with brown casing Panels overlaid with a darker fleck and , continuous panel along each ceiling in ihite with a faint beige fleck, all in conmction with a new moquette. Two dditional fluorescent lights are required n the tower saloon to set this off, but he effect in the lighter top deck is very triking. It is a refreshing change from loth the "conventional" and the "new ook ", and is enhanced by the fact that his—at 7 tons 14 cwt. one of the lighter Louble-deckers at the Show—is unoubtedly the best finished.

The heaviest bus, the Roe-bodied )aimler Fleetline for Leeds, is rather isappointing. It is one of two double-eckers where improved frontal appearnee has been applied to the lower saloon nly, and it has been fitted with seats hat have obviously been shaped with le comfort of the passenger in mind. Infortunately this exercise has misfired

little, and an attempt at a headroll /here one's shoulders should go might rove uncomfortable on a fairly long Jurney. Forced heating and ventilation pith individual vents and window emisters are a feature of the bus, and possibly explain the unladen weight of 9 tons 1 cwt. The vehicle's outstanding feature, however, is the staircase which is straight, wide and safe, with a passing platform at each end. A similar staircase is also provided in the M.C.W. Salford Atlantean, whilst the Aldershot Loline has a landing at the top of an easily descended wide, half-turn staircase, Unfortunately this staircase extends rather a long way into the entrance to the lower saloon: Returning to the Leeds Fleetline, it is the only rear-engined double-decker at Earls Court with engine shrouds and, incidentally, the neatest treatment I have seen so far. A good destination indicator display is provided above .this, and the nicely rounded Park Royal dome (also found on the striking Sheffield Atlantean) makes the rear appearance of this bUs most attractive, although a deeper emergency door window would have added character.

Finally, forward-engined high-bridge double-deckers are still very popular in some fleets, and a good example is the Lancashire United. Guy with Northern Counties body. The Arab Mark.V chassis frame is actually so low that two shallow steps reach the lower saloon floor, the wide entrance being almost as good as the one-step entrance to low-height buses, 'I he remaining Northern Counties exhibit suffers from the tendency to cram two rows of seats in front of the staircase on A.E.C. Renown chassis. This gives both inadequate space for passengers and an unnecessarily upright front. Otherwise the body of this Western Welsh doubledecker is quite neatly proportioned.