One may wish to rebuild one’s Leyland- or Volvo Olympian Rear Axle too. Worry not, we’ve got it covered:
Leyland Motors introduced the Drop-centre or Portal Rear Axle- for rear engined 'deckers*- in 1956 on the advanced Leyland-MCW Atlantean 'decker Prototype.
Although the first 'Atlanteans lacked this axle design- resulting in Lowbridge examples needing an Offset Upper Deck Gangway- and all the compromises that come with that layout, something had to change.
Daimler- the Commercial Vehicle arm of Jaguar launched the rear engined Fleetline with a Portal Rear Axle; as a result, Leyland had to develop a similar axle for Atlantean.
*Yes the Bristol FLF family had this type of axle first- launched in 1949- however it was front engined…
Here, he drives a Leyland Leopard bus. The Leyland Leopard was produced from 1959-1983 and anyone who travelled by coach in the 1960’s through to the 1980’s will have travelled on one at some point.
They’re lovely to drive. The two I drove had the luxury of Power Steering and failsafe Spring Brakes- no air pressure means the Parking Brake will not disengage.
Contrary to their statement about Air Suspension , the early Leonard Coaches were available with it. Problem is that the Air Bags would fail and the ride was considered rather ‘wallowy’ according to some who drove them.
Where does all of this end? I think the tech is great but once bus, train, lorry, ship, plane and taxi driving have all been automated in the name of safety what do these people do for jobs? Sure there will still be jobs but they will be low pay semi skilled operator type jobs, think DLR operator. All the revenue that paid the wages of the employees will be funnelled to a handful of billionaires who managed to come up with the best software. Highly unlikely these people will live or pay tax here so what benefit does it actually bring the average person?
Which is a cool observation. Until it affects one’s ability to put food on the table.
Judging by my experience in a current AdL ProDucT, even the ‘basics’ have yet to be suitably refined…
I’ve driven vehicles considered the height of technological advancement in the 1930’s; the 1950’s; 1960’s; 1970’s; 1980’s; 1990’s and the 2000’s and all have their quirks that require the ‘human touch’ to work- despite the big claims made by their manufacturers and operators at the time.
I’ve worked in my industry for a long time in a number of different roles including recruitment and training.
I guess it will get to the point where nobody will want to do what are considered ‘menial’ jobs; that’s when necessity becomes the mother of invention. I remain sceptical as I’ve touched om just now…
His world was run by a super computer with a ruling ‘management class’ and everyone else was either in the Reeks and Wrecks (The wreckage and reclamation corp) or the Army
The Reeks and Wrecks demolished stuff and rebuilt to keep them occupied,
The army were given wooden rifles because the management couldn’t risk arming the populace.
Vonnegut wrote amazing scary satire. Player Piano was published in 1952
Probably a long time in the future - despite the hype from the likes of Elongated Muskrat, fully autonomous vehicles are a long way off. In the above piece, there’s still a driver sat at the controls in case of emergencies, plus an additional full time “bus manager”, so it’s actually requiring more staff than a normal bus.
My favourite pusscat is the Tiger. More accurately, Royal Bengal Tiger . I first learned what a Tiger was at about five years old when I saw badges like this one on coaches in Victoria Coach Station.
That cemented my interest in Buses and Coaches as the drivers would carry out a Vehicle Introduction and Cab Drill.
This one is the oldest in my collection. At least 69 years old as in 1954, the Leyland Royal Tiger became the Leyland Worldmaster. The cat remained, but the Royal Tiger lettering on the ‘wings’ was deleted.
