Classic Bus Depot > 1949 Leyland Motors Doubledecker - Potteries Motor Traction Company of Stoke on Trent

1949 Leyland Motors Doubledecker - Potteries Motor Traction Company of Stoke on Trent

August 7, 1997

Nigel Parks of England

The following photo(s) are © copyrighted by Nigel Parks and are shown here with his kind permission.

My vehicle is a 1949 British double decker built by Leyland Motors. It spent most of it's working life with the Potteries Motor Traction Company of Stoke on Trent in the North West of England. I bought it in 1978 and have spent the last 18 years restoring it to it's former glory. I live in the South East of London, which is approximately 200 miles from Stoke, however most years I drive the bus up to Stoke to take part in an annual rally of old buses and lorries.

I have attached a photo of my bus which was taken about 5 years ago outside the Potteries Motor Traction head office in Stoke on Trent. These days the bus lives in the Castle Point Transport Museum at Canvey Island - a small town about 30 miles east of London, this year I am Museum Chairman, which takes up quite a bit of spare time and means that I can't spend quite so much time working on the bus as I would like.

Just a few details about my vehicle, Registration number NEH 453, and Fleet No L453 in the Potteries Motor Traction Company fleet. It is a 1949 Leyland Titan chassis, with bodywork by Northern Counties Motor Engineering Co Ltd, it is 27 feet long, 8 feet wide and 13 feet 6 inches tall.

It is what is known as a "low bridge" bus, because it is a foot shorter than the standard double deck buses. Low bridge buses were used in parts of Britain where height clearence was restricted, typically because of railway ( sorry ... railroad) bridges. Stoke was one of those cities that had problems with low bridges and hence operated quite a few vehicles of low bridge layout. The lower height was achieved by having the upper deck gangway on the offside of the vehicle and sunken slightly into the lower deck ceiling. This meant that the upper deck seats were four abreast, instead of having a central isle and seats on either side.

It's probably a bit difficult to visualise, so I have attached a photo of the top deck, looking backwards from the front to the rear of the bus. You can just see the gangway running along the left of the photo. At the end of the gangway at the back of the bus, you can see the mirror that enabled the conductor to look up from the lower deck to check on the passengers.

The seats are covered in red leather and about four years ago had reached the end of their life (they were over 40 years old !) fortunately I managed to do a deal with my then employer (London Transport ) who recovered them for me at cost price, even so 53 seats recovered in best leather is still quite expensive. The engine is a 9.8 litre ( 600 cubic inch ) Diesel, manufactured by Leyland Motors, which develops 125 brake horse power and gives about 10 miles per gallon fuel consumption.

Thanks Nigel for your photo contribution.

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