scotia47 wrote:McShad wrote:The AH buses were the Ailsa Horizontal. Volvo engines, Ailsa made...
most of them had the same body except about 3 of them which had unique prototype bodies.
The Horizontal comes from the fact that the engine was in a horizontal postion under the bus instead of on the back. Gave more seating room but was a bugger to work with when it broke down.
I assume this is the type you mean?
I've noticed that some have windows at the back, yet others don't. Can anyone explain?
This talk about the Leyland Atlanteans brings back a lot of memories. Must admit that I prefered the ones with leather seats (in fact, anything with leather seats gets my vote). I have no recollection of the 8 single-decker buses though, how long were they in service? Seems like a a waste to do that to perfectly good double-deckers.
I do however remember seeing recovery vehicles, painted yellow, that I think were cut-down Atlanteans.
Finally, am I the only one that's annoyed that so many double-decker buses have been replaced by single-decker buses? I'm not that keen on getting wedged in on the way to and from college.*
That said, I do like the bendy buses.
*Unless the bus is wedged full of hot burds.
The lack of rear windows is so they can stick those giant adverts on, it makes the bus even more gloomy than usual
It's always double decker's for me, I never did think of single decks as 'proper' buses, although I do admit a liking for the bendys, they're just so different to anything we're used to in the UK.
On to history
The single deck Atlanteans were around for quite a few years, sadly none were preserved.
The PTE (and GCT before) never had much luck with single deckers, the Leyland Panthers bought in 1969 were a bit of a disaster, but at least the Atlanteans were tried & tested. They even cut down an accident damaged Volvo Ailsa for the same purpose.
Another deciding factor may have been the fact that the bodywork of many Atlanteans from the LA751-LA1350 batch were suffering from serious structural fatigue, this was one way to give a few a new lease of life.
I suppose yet another reason was the PTE being a public funded body could afford to play around with buses and try out ideas (and whims). Look at the indecision over the livery from 1980-1985.
The last PTE & SB recovery vehicles were cut down single deck Leyland Leopard buses (although most had old Atlantean front panels grafted on), Atlanteans were never used as recovery vehicles.
But before that the GCT, & GGPTE did use some rather fine cut down double deck Leyland Titan half cab buses.
'Uncut' Leyland Titans still in service around 1974-75.
One of the cut down Leyland Titans (note the AEC Matador in the background, it's bodywork was rebuilt using an old bus roof).
There's still a couple in storage as possible preservation projects, but in VERY poor condition
Happily at least 4 complete Glasgow Titans have been preserved.
mustardman wrote:Great info, I wonder where the remaining Atlanteans are now? Did SPT sell them off or were they scrapped? I know some of them were a bit shoddy, however they were good workhorses. Reliant. The SPT certainly got there money's worth!
Some were sold to smaller operators, others passed through the Firstbus network to different parts of the company, some were converted to become playbuses, or for educational use, and many were scrapped
One (LA510) was even converted to change the lights in the Clyde Tunnel. It had a sliding hatch cut into the roof.
(This is it today)
And there's still a few around in preservation.
http://www.busworld.info/
http://gvvt.org/
And not to forget the daddy of them all, LA1, at the Museum of Transport, Glasgow.
I own 1 and a 1/2 Atlanteans myself