The Leyland Society
The Leyland Society

Society Fleet Series Publications






Leyland Fleet Series - Wigan Corporation
 
With 48 glossy pages, the book contains many previously unseen and unpublished photographs, drawing extensively both on the BCVM archive and the wealth of knowledge and material within The Leyland Society itself. Written by Ron Phillips, The Leyland Buses of Wigan Corporation tells the story both of the history of this much admired munipal undertaking and the development of the Leyland buses that it bought.
Chapter titles include - Wigan Corporation Tramways, Early Buses, The First Leylands, Replacing the Trams, Diesel versus Petrol, Fleet Expansion, The Wartim Period, 75 Replacement Buses, Royal Tigers and Tiger Cubs, The Central Depot, Front Entrance Double Deckers, The Panther Cubs, Rear Engined Double Deckers, The Panthers and a Summary of Leyland Bus Orders.


Southport Corporation



The bus fleet in the seaside town of Southport was renowned for its smart appearance and special beach bus service. The Leyland Buses of Southport Corporation by Ron Phillips tells the story of the bus fleet, mainly Leyland, including a small number of locally built Vulcan buses as well as four-wheel drive Bedford beach buses, until it was absorbed by Merseyside PTE in 1974.

Chapter headings include: Southport Corporation Tramways, Replacing the Trams, The Southport Livery, Ladies Only, The Air Raid Precautions Bus, Toastracks, Sea Cars & Runabouts, The "Farington" Leylands, The Open-toppers, One Man Operation & The Corporation's Depots.





The above books cost only £7.95 including postage, or £6 including postage for members, another good reason to join the Leyland Society today.
For an order form, click here.



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This publication is now available. The Leyland Buses of Leigh Corporation not only chronicles the municipal bus fleet but also the Leigh-Bolton trolleybus service of South Lancashire Transport Company which used a fleet of special Leyland-built trolleybuses. Leigh Corporation began bus operation in 1920, and most vehicles purchased were Leylands. The fleet size was doubled in the early years of the Second World War to serve a large Royal Ordnance Factory. An unusual reason for the operation of low-height double deckers was the low height of the depot in Holden Road, and abandonment of the SLT trolleybuses forced Leigh to become the operator of Dennis Lolines, although it was also the last municipal purchaser of Leyland Lowbridge buses. The book is well illustrated and contains a map and fleet list.




Fire Engine



Leyland's first fire engine was supplied in 1909 to the City of Dublin. Production of fire engines continued until 1930 when Leyland paused to consider whether or not to continue building expensive machines usually tailored to the requirements of individual Chief Fire Officers.

The decision was to continue with a new series of machines based on the Leyland Tigress and Leyland Cub chassis - the FT and FK series, built between 1930 and 1942. All fire engines produced by Leyland in this period are described and listed in this 64 page, fully illustrated book by Neil D. Steele. which also explains in detail many features of fire engine design and operation.







Ribble Double Deck Coaches.
This new 48 page illustrated publication in the "Fleet Series"  tells the story of the double deck coaches of various style operated by Ribble Motor Services. First the "White Ladies", Titan PD1 chassis with Burlingham or East Lancs lowbridge double deck bodies, which were used on medium distance express services. Next, and somewhat avant garde, were the Atlantean "Gay Hostess" coaches for motorway services, and the Series II "White Ladies", all based on the PDR1/1 chassis which the Ribble company came to reject for ordinary service work. Finally, there were the Leyland-engined Bristol VRLL double deck motorway service coaches, which the manufacturer rejected, and which had quite a short service life.
The book, which is well illustrated with pictures of which many are previously unpublished, tells the story of these vehicles with Ribble and after sale, and contains much information taken from both Ribble and Leyland Motors records.







Front cover Back cover
The Leyland Buses of Burnley Colne & Nelson

This book is now available for purchase

The book tells the story of the Leylands purchased by The B.C.N Joint Committee, which was a stalwart customer for chassis and bodywork built in Lancashire. Despite some major problems encountered in the 1930's and the difficult terrain and traffic patterns, the mainly Leyland municipal fleet served the three towns well.





Leyland Fleet Series - Plymouth City Transport. Leyland Fleet Series - Plymouth City Transport. Ron Phillips latest book takes us away from the North West to the South West, to the city where the father of the late Lord Stokes was General Manager of the Tramways Dept and first introduced buses in the 1920's. His son Donald went to work as an apprentice at Leyland Motors in the 1930's when Plymouth's trams were replaced by Leyland Buses. By the time war broke out the city's buses were all Leyland. After the war, Leyland buses were re ordered again, following the wartime Guy Utility buses, and continued until 1982. The book is well written, very readable and packed full of interesting detail. Very well illustrated with numerous black and white photographs.





Leyland Fleet Series - Halton Borough Transport Ltd. Leyland Fleet Series - Halton Borough Transport Ltd. The History of Halton Borough Transport Ltd.

This latest in the series of the Society's Fleet Series publications, by Ron Phillips, covers the story of 100 years of service given to the community by the Widnes Corporation from 1909, and since its 1974 merger with Runcorn, Halton Borough Transport Ltd. Just one of eleven still remaining in the public sector, this transport undertaking is still thriving. Unique to this area was the Transporter Bridge which spanned the River Mersey & Manchester Ship Canal, between Runcorn & Widnes. A lot of interesting detail is given about this engineering wonder which was very much a part of the commuting scene for much of the twentieth century. This book gives the history in 64 pages of text and pictures.



Click on the covers for large versions.


The above books cost £8.95 including postage, or £7.00 including postage for members, another good reason to join the Leyland Society today.
For an order form,
click here.





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