with the Comet received a new cab - called the "Vista Vue" cab, it was developed by Albion for a variety of their models. Dodge UK also used it for their 300 model, consequently this cabin shape is often referred to as the "LAD" design At the 1960 Earls Court Show a new eight wheeler was displayed on the Scammell stand, the Routeman MkI. This had a grp cab with wraparound windscreen, shared with the handyman tractive unit. Engines were either Gardner or Leyland, and most were supplied with 8x2 drive, though there were a few 8x4s and some 6x2s, as Scammell had no other rigid chassis at the time. Less than 100 Routeman Is were built between 1959 and 1962 before the introduction of the Michelotti-cabbed Routeman II. Holding company: Leyland Motor Corporation [ edit ] Share of the Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd, issued 8. January 1968 From the very first meeting with Tony a few years ago, I just knew there was a relationship to be formed, but I also knew it would have to be one based on trust. Our first meeting of minds is one I shall never forget – to survive in transport, especially demolition and tipping work, requires a hard-nosed attitude to business and life.

Leyland Motors has a long history dating from 1896, when the Sumner and Spurrier families founded the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in the town of Leyland in North West England. Their first products included steam powered lawn mowers. [1] The company's first vehicle was a 1.5-ton-capacity steam powered van. This was followed by a number of undertype steam wagons using a vertical fire-tube boiler. [2] By 1905 they had also begun to build petrol-engined wagons. The Lancashire Steam Motor Company was renamed Leyland Motors in 1907 when it took over Coulthards of Preston, who had been making steam wagons since 1897. [3] They also built a second factory in the neighbouring town of Chorley which still remains today as the headquarters of the Lex Autolease and parts company. Mr. A. H. Jolliffe, the North Western Deputy Licensing Authority, granted the change of base in respect of these two vehicles but asked that Walker's should submit a list of all the trailers which they intended to use for low-loader work. In August 1962, the Routeman Mk1 was replaced by the Routeman Mk2 with its distinctive cab designed by Michelotti. This new cab was very striking, although it was non tilting, the Leyland group not having a tilting cab until the introduction of the Ergomatic in 1965. Engines for the Routeman Mk2 were Leyland 0.600 or 0.680, or Gardner 6LW or 6LX. The Routeman models were widely used as tankers, both for fuel and industrial liquids. In 1968 a double drive Routeman III was introduced using Albion Reiver hub reduction axles. A souvenir from my original career as an aspiring road haulage manager. I joined British Road Services as a management trainee straight after graduation in September 1972, one of two dozen new recruits. Our arrival coincided with the break-up of BRS into autonomous regional companies. Thus I found myself drafted to Southern BRS. As well as traditional hire-and-reward haulage, the company had an extensive contract hire operation, providing vehicles for dedicated service to specific customers, the vehicles often being in that customer’s colours rather than standard fleet livery. In 1920, Leyland Motors produced the Leyland Eight luxury touring car, a development of which was driven by J.G. Parry-Thomas at Brooklands. Parry-Thomas was later killed in an attempt on the land speed record when the car overturned. Rumours that a chain drive broke were found to be incorrect when the car was disinterred late in the 20th century as the chains were intact. At the other extreme, they also produced the Trojan Utility Car in the Kingston upon Thames factory at Ham from 1922 to 1928.Foden were the first British manufacturer to offer tilt cabs on heavy lorries in 1962, with the introduction of the S24, identifiable by its oblong headlamps, single piece windscreen and the absence of a removable front grille. For 1967, a revised version of the S24 was introduced known as the S34 (tilting cab) or S36 (fixed cab). Both had slant mounted headlamps and a slightly deeper windscreen than the original S24 model. The Albion Sugar Company of Woolwich were well known users of Fodens during the 1960s. A closeup of the cab, showing the wonderful detail that is quite visible. But many would likely never look close enough to notice the almost hidden detail lurking behind the silver grill; if you look closely, you will see that the master die makers from Meccano managed to show the vertical tubes of the radiator. How intricate that work must have been, and since it is barely visible, my guess is they did it because they could. Overall fuel consumption for the 1171.9km (728.2 miles) of the test route was 37.7 litre/ 100Iun (7,5mpg)—even better than the figure of 38.7 litre/ 100km (7.3mpg) obtained a year ago during CM's road test of the Leyland Buffalo, which was carrying only 300kg (6cwt) more than the Octopus. When it is realised that the Octopus completed the course 29min faster than the Buffalo, this fuel consumption is very good indeed. A DISPUTE regarding the weight of L-1a trailer involved in low-loader work arose at Manchester last Tuesday during a series of applications by R. Walker (Haulage), Ltd., in respect of a change of base. Mr. I. Booth, for the company, said that they wanted their B licences to be renewed and wished to move from the Royal Oak Garage, Wythenshawe, to Hall Lane, Woodley, the two points being nine miles apart. PLASTICS FOR ROAD TANKERS COLLPWING lengthy discussions I between the Home Office, the Fire Research Station and the British Plastics Federation, acceptance regulations have now been issued which permit certain reinforced plastics to be used in the construction of petroleum-carrying road tankers.

Without doubt the Octopus is a motorway vehicle. It cruised happily at 96.5km (60mph) on M6 and rarely dropped below 641cm/h (40mph) even on the more hilly sections. Fuel consumption was better on this section of the test than for some of the A roads. This was probably due to the higher axle ratio employed. Although a lower ratio of perhaps 6.4 to 1 would probably improve the figures over A roads, motorway consumption would suffer. A further indication of the possible need for a lower axle ratio came when the Octopus failed to start on a 1 in 5 gradient although it had performance to spare on the motorway. A management buyout made the bus division independent for a short period before it was sold to Volvo, who integrated Leyland models into their range before gradually replacing them with Volvos as they aged. On this modern day Google aerial view of Bentley, you can see how the M6 Motorway cut through the Wolverhampton Road at this location: One such contract customer was Keymarkets, a now-vanished supermarket chain, whose central distribution was based in Hainault, in the outer London suburbs. While doing a stint learning the ropes out there, my manager deputed me to go over to Tidd Trailers, near Enfield, to inspect a new vehicle destined for the Keymarkets contract, where it had been fitted with a box van body. Here it is, a Bedford TK, yet to be registered, and resplendent in the Southern BRS magenta and white livery. It was one of a batch of five. The Tidd foreman kindly posed for my photo recording the event. The test vehicle was fitted with an optional hand-operated hydraulic tilt mechanism which saves struggling with the heavy cab. As the steering column and instruments stay with the floor when the cab is tilted, it is necessary to remove the driver's seat otherwise it would come up against the column and prevent full tilting.In 1935 Leyland Motors added a second steering axle to a Hippo six wheeler and the Octopus was born. It went on to become one of the most famous of all eight wheelers. The first new post-war eight wheeler from Leyland was the 22.0/1, powered by the 9.8-litre 0.600 oil engine. The pre-war Leyland eight wheeler, designated TEW, was replaced after the war by the new 22.0/1 and 22.0/3 (SWB) with modernised cab and completely redesigned chassis. During the mod-1950s a redesigned cab (56/A) was introduced and the increase in the UK legal weight brought the 24.0/4 and 24.0/5 models. The LAD "Power Plus" range appeared in 1960. Parent company British Leyland is renamed the Rover Group; the new company begins divesting its non-car manufacturing-related businesses. The new Octopus will be exhibited on the Leyland stand at the Commercial Motor Show next month, together with an .entirely new two-axle van and lorry chassis of 4 tons gross vehicle weight, powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine. Details of this will be published in our September 7 issue. Another neW exhibit will be a Super Beaver four-wheeled normal-control export chassis with a gross rating of 18 tons.