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Last updated 18 April 2008
Antique Leyland Lion in WA
Bob Pearce called me from Perth WA to say he has acquired a 1934 Leyland Lion halfcab which he intends to restore. The bus was first registered between April and July 1935 in Perth, and became No.36 in the Metro fleet. Allowing for travel time ex UK and the building of the body by local makers Campbell and Mannix, that probably means the year of chassis manufacture was 1934 (which might make it a Lion LT5 ?).
Note the original 'hand' signalling device beside the mirror !
The bus was sold by Metro in the early 1960's to the lower south-west of WA for use as a school bus. It was last licensed in 1965. The bus now resides some 400 kms southwest of Perth and is complete, although much work needs to be done to get it working again. Bob would like to obtain technical books/ service manuals etc for the motor, gearbox and differential. The present motor is a 4-cylinder diesel, type E.101, and the engine number is 10.933. Bore is 4.5" (the plate reads 41 but it is not distinct - so it is a guess that it is 4.5"); stroke 5.5"; rating 32.4HP; Firing Order 1 3 4 2.
Thanks for the info and the photos Bob. Please contact him if you can supply more details about this bus.
Big Blue Bedford
Ross Daniel wrote; "Gidday, Have just stumbled on your site and I'm finding it very interesting. I thought you might be interested in some images of a Bedford bus we owned up until 1988. Not sure of its date of birth but think it was around 1950.
We found it languishing in the back of a Caravan park with no motor or gearbox, totally stripped out and in a dilapidated state. The park owner was glad to be rid of it, as he had no idea whose the bus was. It had been at the back of the park for many years prior to his buying it. My wife and I then spent 2 years rebuilding it as a mobile home. Unfortunately due to health problems we never actually got to use it, apart from a couple of small trips.
I sold it and it is now being used as an office for a canoe hire company. As the bug to travel in a bus never left us, last year we bought a 1969 ex Sydney Leyland Leopard and are just setting everything up now. Anyway mate, loved your site and will drop back often. Cheers, Ross Daniel."
Ross later added the following; "Gidday Dick, I'm in the process of trying to track the bus down. When I find it I'll let you know. It was being used about 20 miles from here, Maryborough, Queensland, on the Burrum River, as a clubhouse for a canoe club. I'm fairly sure I can locate it. Also, I have some other photos I'll dig out and send to you if you're interested.
About the only history I am aware of is that it was a council bus for the Redcliffe City Council, near Brisbane, and was originally painted red and cream. I was also told that these buses were built by the CAC (Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation) in either Adelaide or Melbourne after the 2nd World War on surplus Bedford 5 ton truck chassis, apparently to keep workers employed after the need for aircraft dried up after the war. Not 100% sure of any of this but I guess it could be checked somehow. Anyway mate, glad you liked the photos, I certainly agree that it is very important we record and disseminate this sort of information. Cheers,Ross."
Thanks very much for that Ross, it sure is an unusual beastie ! Anybody know anything more about these buses ?
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In response to the above I received the following from Ian Lynas; "The blue Bedford that Ross bought as a caravan did not come from Redcliffe City Council. They have never operated public transport. Bus services in Redcliffe (north of Brisbane) have been in the hands of two private operators, Redcliffe-Petrie Bus Service and Hornibrook Highway Bus Service. The former became Redcliffe-Brisbane Motor Services with heavy Worldmasters, Leopards, Royal Tiger Cubs, and the latter became Hornibrook Bus Lines in 1977. Hornibrook then took over Redcliffe-Brisbane."
"The Hornibrook fleet consisted of some of this type of Bedford (both OB and SB) purchased in the early post-war period. They had all gone by 1962. Yes, the bodywork was built in Melbourne by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, over 1000 were built. Hornibrook's fleet was a couple of Bedford SB's, loads of Worldmasters, Leopards, Tiger Cubs, Royal Tiger Cubs and Japanese Hinos. Hornibrook are still in business as Hornibrook Bus Lines with a big fleet of Mercedes-Benz 0305, 0405, OH1625 and a couple of minibuses. They also have on lease 11 Volvo B10M's from Brisbane City Council."
Thanks Ian.
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And then, in July 2002, I received this; GDAY. JUST WRITING ABOUT THE BIG BLUE BEDFORD THAT IS PICTURED ON YOUR WEBSITE. WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE SAME MODEL BEDFORD BUS AND ANY INFORMATION YOU FIND WOULD BE OF GREAT HELP. EMAIL ME HERE, OR MY MOBILE IS 0409 393 085. I'D BE GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU. THANKYOU, ADRIAN AND CHARISSA
Are there any more out there ? Apparently yes. Here's another;
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Hey guys,
Saw your call for help about the Bedford on Dick Gilbert's website and just remembered it when I came across one in last month's HOT ROD magazine, Cruzin (don't ask). Terry Mackrell found it at his local tip in Nanango, Qld. (very close to Maryborough but not the same bus)...you could look him up in the telephone directory or get in touch via Cruzin Magazine thecrew@cruzin.com.au.
We are very close (by Christmas) to having our '48 OPD 2/1 (Sydney Double Decker) Leyland on the road as a caravan....lot of work though. Our full resto OPD 2/1 is on the back burner for a while...a long while...but who knows. . .If I win the lottory tonight. . . Hope this helps, Daniel.
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And then there was more. In April 2006 I received this;
"Hello from Perth, I just thought that you might like to know that seeing the blue bus, and owning as I do, a Comair bodied SB , I have to say I think it's a Holden body. Our state library has a forties sales book for the SB and the drawing is of the "streamliner type" body which it clearly states is Holden. It certainly is quite unlike any Comair. Sorry to chuck a cat among the pigeons but I do like your site. Cheers. Michael Mullany, nr. Perth"
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In July 2006, David Hurst called with information from his father, Ian Hurst;
"Regarding Big Blue Bedford, Dad had this to say: "It is an OB Bedford – O designates Bedford O series, and B designates Bus chassis. It appears to be a 31/33 Passenger CAC bodied vehicle. Would be keen to know the door configuration on the left side which would make definite identification easier. All CAC bodied OB series buses had the front mudguards enclosed. (When they weren’t rattling open!)"
"CAC bodies were built in the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation factory at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne, Vic.between 1946/7 and 1952. This vehicle appears to be c1950, but without knowing the door configuration makes ID a little difficult. The CAC bodies were manufactured similar to aircraft construction, with an aluminum skin that was solid riveted to a formed rib frame. (On the shocking roads of the time, rivets wore loose, occupying the country bus proprietor’s time immensely replacing rivets). OB chassis vehicles were grossly underpowered, underbraked and the 4 speed full “crash” gearbox needed constant driver concentration to promote smooth gear changing. CAC later renamed their bus bodies as Comair."
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In December 2007 Pete Kane published a picture he had taken of a Driver Brothers Heritage Fleet Bedford which turned up at the 2007 Sandown Park Rally, near Melbourne.
It's a 1947 Bedford OB (rego KP-495), and definitely comes from the same mould as the one shown above. Pete says "unfortunately not much is known about its history with previous owners, but there were quite a lot of them built at CAC just after the war". My thanks to Pete for letting me use the photo.
And here comes another one! Peter Kane also photographed MO-3712 in 1988 at the Bi-Centennial Rally. It wears the livery of Purtill's bus service, based in Deniliquin, New South Wales. Keith Purtill started operations in 1951, and the firm now have the honour of operating what is thought to be the last Bedford OB still in service in Australia, and this is it.
As Purtill's fleet number 9, it is a 1948 CAC-bodied Bedford OB preserved as a school bus. They acquired it from Rose, Conargo, NSW, but it had previously been with another (unknown) operator in Rochester, Victoria. Anyway it's clearly yet another one of the same breed as the others.
Pete says "The Bi–Centennial Rally was held in 1988 when the Victorian BCSV decided to run some restored buses from Melbourne to Sydney for the official opening of the HCVA museum. There were about 6 vehicles made the journey and we went via Deniliquin, where the OB joined the rally." Thanks for that info Pete, and also for letting me use the photo.
BRITISH BUSES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
I was pleased to receive some mail from Nicholas Pusenjak in Perth, Western Australia. Nicholas is a founder member of the Bus Museum of Western Australia which has quite an interesting collection. It includes several Leyland OPS4's, a Leyland Royal Tiger, a modern Leyland Lion and a Panther (we won't talk about them !), and a Guy Arab III (see photo below).
Also in the museum is ex London Transport RTL 547 ( ** SEE NOTE AT THE FOOT OF THIS ITEM **) in full LT livery (not one of the RTL's I recorded seeing in my youth), and a Regal III. The Regal was delivered new to the Fremantle Municipal Tramways, an avid AEC user which ran Regals before the war, and ended up with a fleet of Regal IV's prior to their takeover by the Perth Metropolitan Transport Trust around 1958. Nicholas thinks that the Regal had already departed from the fleet by this time, but went instead to Kalgoorlie, the gold mining town some 375 miles to the east.
It had been converted to a caravan when acquired for preservation. The Museum managed to get it started some time ago, despite it not having run for many years and the wiring having been vandalised. Nevertheless, with a couple of batteries and some jury-wiring, the engine turned over half a turn, then fired on a couple of cylinders, and then within seconds was idling nicely with that lovely AEC beat.
In true form, the engine rocked gently on its mountings and the vibration was accompanied by the sounds of tinkling glass as broken windows fell from their frames. The air valves were missing from the compressor so they couldn't get air to the brakes or gears, and the radiator hose fitting to the engine was corroded away, so they couldn't run it for long. Subsequently, with a radiator and air, the bus appeared to run well. The body is a timber-frame half-cab, which Nicholas describes as "quite English looking in some respects - well, nothing like the Regals in Montevideo". It has a front entrance with folding doors.
Here are some more images from Nicholas, the first of which is No.515, an AEC Regal that had been rebodied in the mid 1960's.
Below is a Leyland Tiger OPS4 (No.283) originally supplied to the Melbourne Metropolitan Tramways Board and sold to Western Australia in 1959. This bus is still around. For more details see my MTT webpage here.
Next is Guy Arab III No.328, one of 50 in service, taken around 1973. British enthusiasts would probably not have recognised it as a Guy at all !
Lastly, we have another Guy Arab, No.325, which is preserved at the Bus Museum of Western Australia. It was donated to the Museum by the local transport undertaking in 1974/75, and is a very appropriate exhibit as Perth used to have a large fleet of half-cab Guy Arabs.
Nicholas says that progress with restoration has been very slow because there are only about 50 enthusiasts in Perth out of 1.5 million people. However the Guy is coming to the top of the list, and they hope it will be operational soon.
Many thanks to Nicholas for all this material.
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** RTL 547 (KYY 640). In 2004 ex London Transport RTL 547 (believed to be the only RTL in Australia) was sold by the Bus Museum of Western Australia, as it was felt that it did not fit their policy of preserving local vehicles, despite the fact that it had been in the area since 1969. There has been some discussion in enthusiast circles as to whether that was a good move or not, but in any case the bus has now transferred into the hands of a private owner in Sydney. When spotted later in the year it seemed to be in good condition and roadworthy. It is now registered TV-3147 and is available for private hire.
Thanks to Dave Urquhart for this update, and thanks also to Derek Cheng for permission to use his photo (below) of RTL 547 taken at the Tempe Bus & Truck Museum on 5 December 2004. See Derek's website here, for many more fine photos.
ANCIENT TITAN DOWN THE MURRAY RIVER
Steve Aitkenhead sent this photo of a bus (converted to living accommodation) that he took in 2004 while on a houseboat holiday on the Murray River, downstream from Mildura.
Thanks to Dave Urquhart and others, we are pretty sure it's a Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) Leyland Titan TD5c from around 1940. Peter Guttridge wrotes "Yes it is a Melbourne Titan even though the front has been panelled to look like a trolleybus. I saw a one, also in use as a caravan, in Mt.Gambier in 1960."
It seems some were bodied by Leyland, and some bodied locally in the same style. I wonder exactly which one this is ? Are there any other survivors, or is this unique? If you have any comments please Email me with your thoughts.
And that's exactly what David Wilson did - he tells me; "The bus on the website is ex MMTB 222 which had previously been in use by Wentworth Shire Council as a workman's van. It was stripped of its motor about 30 years ago and sold by the Council . Others survive - 211 at St Arnaud VIC (with engine), 245 at Colleambally NSW, while 207 and 226 are preserved in VIC ,but not restored. They are now extremely rare buses."
Thanks David. Meanwhile John Dixon kindly sent me some more background info;
"A little bit of additional information for you. They were used as replacements for the cable tramway in Bourke Street, Melbourne (North Fitzroy and East Preston routes) which were, in turn, ousted by electric trams by 1956. There were 45, fleet Nos 201-245 and matching registration numbers of AT201-245."
"Bodywork was by Cheetham & Borwick (201-230, 241, 242), Lawton (231-240); Martin & King (243, 244); and Leyland (245). 245 was H30/26R the remainder H30/24R. So examples of three bodybuilders survive. All were withdrawn by Jan 1954."
Thank you John.
1950 W.A.G.T. TIGER TURNS UP
Rob Smith from Kalgoorlie sent me this picture of a mobile caravan he has bought;
We've identified it as one of four OPS4 Tigers bought new in 1950 by Western Australia Government Tramways (WAGT). Will Plumridge has very kindly sent much background information, so here's the story. WAGT introduced the four Tigers in December 1950, numbered 78 to 81 (rego 10.803, 10.802, 10.805, 10.807, and c/n 483912, 491907, 491906 and 491904 respectively). They all subsequently passed to MTT, who substantially rebuilt the original ComEng B42FR bodies to B45F in 1965-67, and renumbered them as 359-362. For a picture of 362 with MTT see this page.
Rob's bus is No.360, and No.361 now apparently survives at the Bus & Truck Museum or Western Australia, Whiteman Park. Thanks to Rob for telling us about it and sending the picture.
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