Three blasts from the past

Good evening everyone

Carrying on from the post the other day, let me mention about these three double deckers

201 - Leyland Atlantean (Metro-Cammel)

Leyland Atlantean PDR 1/1 201 was delivered to Plymouth City Transport on the 13th December 1965 and would enter service two days later on the 15th December.  It was delivered as part of an order for fourteen Atlantean PDR 1/1s and was first registered on the 1st December 1965 carrying chassis number L43383.  It was fitted with an MCW body carrying the body code H43/34F meaning that it was a highbridge bus seating 43 passengers in the upper saloon and 34 passengers in the lower saloon and being fitted with just the front entrance only.  These were the last PDR 1/1s to arrive fitted with the flat front.  The next batch, 206-220 (FJY 906-920E) would arrive during April and May 1967 with restyled fronts and two piece glider doors.  The cost of 201 fitted with the Metro Cammell body was £3,255.10 including £5.10 for a Certificate of Fitness.

201 had the honour of being used in promotional work for the bodybuilders, Metropolitan Cammell Weymann and was featured in the trade press and other commercial motor magazines.  It graced the front cover of Passenger Transport, issue dated May 1966.  A further advert appeared within Passenger Transport, issue dated July 1966.  The promotional pictures of 201 were taken prior to the bus being delivered to Milehouse in December 1965.

Also 192-205 (DDR 192-198/200-202C and DDR 199/203-205D) would be the last new buses delivered to Milehouse to carry the large tramway style gold fleet numbers.  All subsequent deliveries would carry the more simpler in design white fleet numbers.

Initially used on a variety of routes 201 was eventually placed on the Service 12/13 in late 1965/early 1966.  It would operate on these routes along with 186-188 (BDR 186-188B) and 202-205 (DDR 202C and DDR 203-205D) until 15th June 1970 when all of the above Atlanteans would be displaced by the new Park Royal bodied PDR 2/1s 245-252 (MCO 245-252H).  The displaced PDR 1/1s 186-188 and 201-205 were reallocated to the Service 27 (186-188) and the Service 30/31 (201/203-205) respectively, themselves displacing older Leyland PD2 half-cabs, which were due for imminent withdrawal.

Although 200 (DDR 200C) was the first of the batch to be involved in a collision on the 6th December 1965, 201 had its first incident on the 27th December 1965 at 7.47pm on the Service 1.  The incident happened at St. Hilary Terrace when the driver had to make an emergency stop from which the conductor and a passenger were both thrown to the floor.  Interestingly a passenger would be flung to the floor again with another driver, this time on the Service 40, at 5pm on the 25th January 1966 at Hender’s Corner.

During the latter part of 1966 virtually the entire batch were down seated from H43/34F to H43/32F in order to allow the fitting of an extra luggage rack.  Luckily 201 and 203-205 were not down seated so they remained in as delivered condition.

When 201 was delivered it was painted in the livery of red with ivory cantrail.  The bus would be repainted again in November 1968 with the same livery as that at delivery but would carry the white fleet numbers completely, instead of the tramway ones.  Following this the next repaint was carried out in November 1972 and would be the same as the 1968 repaint.  By September 1976 201 had been repainted again, this time with the red but the ivory was now extended to the lower saloon windows.  However the ivory was not lowered around the front or rear windows.

201 would gain the maroon and cream livery in April 1979 as this new livery had been applied to Atlantean AN68 79 (GDR 204N) for a special “50 years as a City” celebration and was so well received by the local council that it was being phased in throughout the fleet.  This repaint would also see the use on 201 of the gold leaf style fleet numbers that would replace the long established white numbers.  The maroon and cream would be short lived as 201 was repainted yet again in June 1981, this time into the new livery of red with cream roof and cream around the windows.

This repaint was even more short lived than the maroon and cream as 201 would be repainted again in October 1982 into an all over advertisement for Therm-A-Store double glazing.

201 was withdrawn from public service in July 1982 and was retained for use as a non-PSV promotion bus from August 1982 and also as an Inspectors control bus during January 1983.

In August 1985 it passed to Eric Beveridge, a then recently retired driver who had driven the bus when it was new in December 1965 on the Service 12/13.  He was a driver of long standing and respect within Plymouth City Transport who had started there as a tram conductor just before the war.  He returned to the Corporation after the war and stayed with them until retirement.  He was a major face within the local bus and railway enthusiast scene.

On purchasing 201 he had it stored temporarily at Winkleigh until an agreement was reached whereby he could bring 201 back to Milehouse.  In May 1986 he had 201 repainted into its as delivered livery of red and ivory cantrail, complete with the tramway style fleet numbers.

Eric or “Bev” and also “OXO” as he was known to everyone would rally 201 for many years until ill health forced him to retire from the rally scene.  Plymouth Citybus took over the upkeep of the bus in August 1997 and would MOT and maintain it till December 2001 when Gareth Ruby, a driver at Plymouth Citybus, acquired the bus with Bev’s approval to return 201 to the preservation scene.

Under Gareth’s ownership 201 has gained a new lease of life and benefited from a full repaint in June 2003, this time the bus was repainted into the 1972 livery of red and ivory with the white fleet numbers.

A photo courtesy of the PCTPG

214 - Leyland Atlantaen (Metro-Cammel Weyman)

214 was one of 15 such buses which formed part of the final batch of Metro-Cammell bodied Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1s for Plymouth Corporation Transport which consisted of fleet numbers 206-220, registrations FJY906-20E. This batch featured a more modern front to the previous batches, designed for the City of Manchester. They also had 2-piece glider doors instead of the usual 4-piece, one long window replaced the 2 small windows at the rear of the lower deck, and for the first time, small white fleet numbers were applied, instead of the large gold tramway style numbers seen on all previous batches of Atlanteans.

As mentioned, this was to be the final batch of Atlanteans with Metro-Cammell bodywork. The following year (1968), the Corporation started ordering Park Royal bodied ‘Jumbo’ Atlanteans, but surprisingly, due to the length and weight of the Park Royal bodied examples, and their poor manoeuvrability,  it meant this batch of Metro-Cammell bodied ones actually stayed longer with Plymouth City Transport before their final withdrawal than the earliest batch of Park Royal examples.

214 was fitted with 75 seats, 43 upstairs and 32 downstairs and arrived at Milehouse on Monday 3rd April 1967. Like the rest of the batch, it wore the Corporations standard livery of Orient red with Broken white cant rail stripe, blending in well with the previous Metro-Cammell bodied Leyland Atlanteans which also wore the same livery, but on entering service on Wednesday 5th April 1967, the coat-of-arms had still not been applied to the bodysides.

On its first day in service 214 was involved in its first accident, while operating a service 20 (Bretonside Bus Station – Woodford via Royal Parade, North Hill, Lipson Vale and Laira Roundabout). At 7:05pm it was in a minor collision with a car, registration number YJY187, at Alexandra Road, Mutley. Mr. Luscan was the bus driver at the time. This followed an accident earlier in the day involving sister vehicle 218 (FJY918E), which was also its first day in service, whereby it struck a lorry at St. Andrews Cross at 10:23am, while also operating a service 20. So not a very good start for at least 2 members of this batch!

Three days later, on Saturday 8th April 1967, at 12.45pm near Crabtree, 214 was operating a service 21 (Bretonside Bus Station – Plympton St. Maurice via Royal Parade, North Hill, Lipson Vale, Laira Roundabout and St. Mary’s Bridge) when Conductor Lawson hurt his hand on the bus. No other details are available.

Despite spending its first few days on Plympton routes 20 and 21, 214 was to become allocated to route 26 which operated between Royal Parade and Leigham (Cockington Close) via Mutley Plain, Higher Compton, Eggbuckland and Austin Farm (extended on Sunday 19th January 1975 to Estover Roundabout via Novorossisk Road).

In March 1977 it received its first repaint and in fitting in with the rest of the fleet, the Broken white was extended down from the cant rail to include all the downstairs side window surrounds, retaining red around the front windscreen and rear end, as shown here in this photograph taken on Exeter Street Viaduct, with another of our preserved vehicles in the background – open-top Leyland Atlantean no. 158 (WJY758) “PLYMOUTH ADVENTURER”.

In October 1981, 214 was converted to one man operation, having always required a driver and conductor until this point. It was one of the last conductor operated buses in the Plymouth fleet when this work was carried out, which involved the fitting of a motorised ticket machine and a cash tray to the drivers cab, and a Pay as You Enter sign above the front number plate. Opportunity was also taken to modernise the front side light and indicator arrangements. This led to a further repaint, this time into the Corporation's new livery of Brilliant red with Regency cream around the lower deck and upper deck windows, and roof. Coat-of-arms were applied above the door and drivers cab window, and for the first time the words PLYMOUTH CITY TRANSPORT in gold were applied next to the coat-of-arms, these matching the new style gold fleet numbers.

Following the launch of the Plymouth Citybus services, 214’s livery was modified into the Citybus red and cream in August 1982 which was the final livery it wore before withdrawal by Plymouth City Transport in October 1986, prior to the company being transferred to the new undertaking of Plymouth Citybus Ltd, 214 having been confined to mainly operating school buses, Dockyard and factory specials by this time. If you look closely you can see the extended cream below the lower deck windows, is a slightly different shade to the Regency cream. Often these alterations were completed during the mid-day layover at Milehouse Depot.

After withdrawal, 214 was subsequently sold to ‘Father’ Green, a vicar who was also a vehicle dealer based in Weymouth, in November 1986, although it is doubtful the bus ever left Plymouth as it was soon purchased by Seahawk Gliding Club, based at HMS Seahawk at the Royal Naval Air Station in Culdrose, Cornwall. The bus was repainted into a red and white chequered livery for use on Culdrose’s runways. Some of the upper deck seats were removed from the bus and the rest rearranged. Down stairs a kitchen area was built into the rear half of the bus. The bus stayed within RNAS Culdrose for the following 25 years, never to venture out in public!

On Saturday 1st October 2011, 214 was preserved by PCTPG member Paul Furse in a 3-way deal involving Plymouth Citybus whereby the Seahawk Gliding Club received ex-Plymouth Citybus Dennis Dart 131 (M131HOD) as a replacement for 214. The preservation of 214 was important to the group as it is the only ex-Plymouth Atlantean with the Manchester style Metro-Cammell bodywork to survive.

It returned to Plymouth on Tuesday 3rd July 2012, behind Roselyns Coaches tow-truck.

Following the launch of the Plymouth Citybus services, 214’s livery was modified into the Citybus red and cream in August 1982 which was the final livery it wore before withdrawal by Plymouth City Transport in October 1986, prior to the company being transferred to the new undertaking of Plymouth Citybus Ltd, 214 having been confined to mainly operating school buses, Dockyard and factory specials by this time. If you look closely you can see the extended cream below the lower deck windows, is a slightly different shade to the Regency cream. Often these alterations were completed during the mid-day layover at Milehouse Depot.

On its first day in service 214 was involved in its first accident, while operating a service 20 (Bretonside Bus Station – Woodford via Royal Parade, North Hill, Lipson Vale and Laira Roundabout). At 7:05pm it was in a minor collision with a car, registration number YJY187, at Alexandra Road, Mutley. Mr. Luscan was the bus driver at the time. This followed an accident earlier in the day involving sister vehicle 218 (FJY918E), which was also its first day in service, whereby it struck a lorry at St. Andrews Cross at 10:23am, while also operating a service 20. So not a very good start for at least 2 members of this batch!

Three days later, on Saturday 8th April 1967, at 12.45pm near Crabtree, 214 was operating a service 21 (Bretonside Bus Station – Plympton St. Maurice via Royal Parade, North Hill, Lipson Vale, Laira Roundabout and St. Mary’s Bridge) when Conductor Lawson hurt his hand on the bus. No other details are available.

Despite spending its first few days on Plympton routes 20 and 21, 214 was to become allocated to route 26 which operated between Royal Parade and Leigham (Cockington Close) via Mutley Plain, Higher Compton, Eggbuckland and Austin Farm (extended on Sunday 19th January 1975 to Estover Roundabout via Novorossisk Road).

In March 1977 it received its first repaint and in fitting in with the rest of the fleet, the Broken white was extended down from the cant rail to include all the downstairs side window surrounds, retaining red around the front windscreen and rear end, as shown here in this photograph taken on Exeter Street Viaduct, with another of our preserved vehicles in the background – open-top Leyland Atlantean no. 158 (WJY758) “PLYMOUTH ADVENTURER”.

214 was fitted with 75 seats, 43 upstairs and 32 downstairs and arrived at Milehouse on Monday 3rd April 1967. Like the rest of the batch, it wore the Corporations standard livery of Orient red with Broken white cant rail stripe, blending in well with the previous Metro-Cammell bodied Leyland Atlanteans which also wore the same livery, but on entering service on Wednesday 5th April 1967, the coat-of-arms had still not been applied to the bodysides.

CLICK HERE to see the invoice

from Metro-Camell Weymann.

CLICK HERE to see the delivery note.

 FJY914E_(31) FJY914E_(43) FJY914E_(2)

To date, the kitchen has been removed from the lower deck, as have the surviving seats, ready for a good clean and repaint of the side panels. New batteries have been fitted and a replacement windscreen fitted to dispose of the perspex which was in its place when the bus was acquired. Repairs have been carried out to the front headlight panel, and the front and rear domes which were damaged.

A photo of the bus courtesy of the PCTPG

9 - Leyland Atlantean (Park Royal)

 

No info about this bus on the PCTPG but here a nice photo