ronmccullock
PMT Foden-NC WVT 900S
British Leyland had the monopoly of the rear-engined double-deck bus market in the UK during the first half of the seventies. Leyland announced that they were developing an integral double-deck bus that would replace their double-deck chassis range. A number of operators made it clear that they were not happy with Leyland's dominance of the double-deck bus market.
A number of bodybuilders and chassis manufacturers would attempt to challenge Leyland's dominance, MCW with the Metrobus, Dennis with the Dominator and finally Forden and Northern Counties would team together to build a semi-integral double-deck bus. The last mentioned came about because Greater Manchester Transport were conscious that they needed to look at developing their standard body built by Northern Counties to be built on the second generation of double-deck chassis. GMT's standard double-deck buses were both supplied by Leyland the Fleetline and Atlantean. GMT approached Northern Counties with a view to develop a new standard double-deck bus, Foden of Sandbach were predominantly a truck manufacturer but had built front-engined buses with the last built in 1956. Foden were keen to re-enter the double-deck bus market so entered a collaboration with Northern Counties to develop a semi-integral rear-engined double-deck bus which was announced in November 1975 and unveiled in 1976 as the 9.5-metre Foden-NC, the first two production examples entering service with Greater Manchester Transport in June and October 1976. In total only seven were built, the seventh was bodied by East Lancashire Bodybuilders for South Yorkshire PTE, there was also a test vehicle built which was bodied by Northern Counties as a single-deck bus and was un- registered. It was used by Foden for test purposes and looked like a double-deck bus which had gone under a low bridge. The Foden-NC proved to unreliable with the Foden transfer box being prone to failures and the Allison gearbox was inefficient. This resulted in no more orders placed, thus Foden pulled out of the bus market to concentrate on building trucks. The testbed vehicle was returned to Northern Counties and was eventually sold to R. Bullock's of Cheadle and was broken up for spares.
The following operators purchased Foden-NC buses: Greater Manchester Transport 2, West Midlands PTE 1, Derby City Transport 1, West Yorkshire PTE 1, and National Bus Company 1, plus South Yorkshire PTE who took a East Lancs bodied Foden. Out of these four were normal-height, two low-height and the East Lancs example was normal-height.
The reason that the NBC purchasing a Foden-NC was to conduct operational testing with the Foden-NC, Alexander Dennis Dominator and ECW Bristol VRT3 the standard NBC low-height decker. PMT (Potteries Motor Traction) were chosen to conduct the operational testing of these three double-deck buses. My view shows the Foden-NC (H43/31F) WVT 900S fleet number 900, which was new in July 1978 in service with PMT, the message between decks can have made little sense to the average passer-by. The date is March 1979 and the location is Ironmarket in the small market town of Newcastle under Lyme Staffordshire ST5 1RP which was a terminus for a number of services until the eighties, these days ahead of the bus it is now pedestrianised. This Foden-NC was owned by PMT for many years even when PMT became First PMT, it was sadly sold for scrap. Points of interest in the photograph: to the right of the Foden-NC is Queen's Gardens, behind to the left is the famous '' fountains roundabout '' so named because of the fountains in the middle of the roundabout, and to the right of the bus just past Queen' s Gardens is School Street where passengers would catch express coach services until the early eighties when they were transferred to Hanley bus station.
So what became of the operational testing by the NBC? they stayed loyal to the Bristol VRT3 until the arrival of the Leyland Olympian.
I will be posting a photograph of the Alexander Dennis Dominator in service with PMT.
Foden-NC rear-engined double-deck bus technical details:-
Chassis: Perimeter frame construction allowing the bodybuilder to integrate the body structure to the chassis, this construction was used by Leyland for the Olympian.
Engine: 10.45-litre Gardner 6LXB six-cylinder diesel producing 172bhp @ 1,750rpm
Gearbox: Allison MT640 with torque converter four-speed fully-automatic
Transfer gearbox: Foden comprising of a four gear train including two idler gears
Retarder: Air operated oil cooled Ferodo
Braking system: Full air pressure twin-circuit split system
Rear axle: Newage double-reduction drop-centre
Suspension: Semi-elliptic leaf springs
Steering: Burman fully-integral power assisted
Fuel tank: 45 gallons
Bodywork: Northern Counties
Sorce of information: Rear-Engined Double-Buses Gavin Booth, SELNEC Preservation Society, Bus Lists On The Web and Flickr.
PMT Foden-NC WVT 900S
British Leyland had the monopoly of the rear-engined double-deck bus market in the UK during the first half of the seventies. Leyland announced that they were developing an integral double-deck bus that would replace their double-deck chassis range. A number of operators made it clear that they were not happy with Leyland's dominance of the double-deck bus market.
A number of bodybuilders and chassis manufacturers would attempt to challenge Leyland's dominance, MCW with the Metrobus, Dennis with the Dominator and finally Forden and Northern Counties would team together to build a semi-integral double-deck bus. The last mentioned came about because Greater Manchester Transport were conscious that they needed to look at developing their standard body built by Northern Counties to be built on the second generation of double-deck chassis. GMT's standard double-deck buses were both supplied by Leyland the Fleetline and Atlantean. GMT approached Northern Counties with a view to develop a new standard double-deck bus, Foden of Sandbach were predominantly a truck manufacturer but had built front-engined buses with the last built in 1956. Foden were keen to re-enter the double-deck bus market so entered a collaboration with Northern Counties to develop a semi-integral rear-engined double-deck bus which was announced in November 1975 and unveiled in 1976 as the 9.5-metre Foden-NC, the first two production examples entering service with Greater Manchester Transport in June and October 1976. In total only seven were built, the seventh was bodied by East Lancashire Bodybuilders for South Yorkshire PTE, there was also a test vehicle built which was bodied by Northern Counties as a single-deck bus and was un- registered. It was used by Foden for test purposes and looked like a double-deck bus which had gone under a low bridge. The Foden-NC proved to unreliable with the Foden transfer box being prone to failures and the Allison gearbox was inefficient. This resulted in no more orders placed, thus Foden pulled out of the bus market to concentrate on building trucks. The testbed vehicle was returned to Northern Counties and was eventually sold to R. Bullock's of Cheadle and was broken up for spares.
The following operators purchased Foden-NC buses: Greater Manchester Transport 2, West Midlands PTE 1, Derby City Transport 1, West Yorkshire PTE 1, and National Bus Company 1, plus South Yorkshire PTE who took a East Lancs bodied Foden. Out of these four were normal-height, two low-height and the East Lancs example was normal-height.
The reason that the NBC purchasing a Foden-NC was to conduct operational testing with the Foden-NC, Alexander Dennis Dominator and ECW Bristol VRT3 the standard NBC low-height decker. PMT (Potteries Motor Traction) were chosen to conduct the operational testing of these three double-deck buses. My view shows the Foden-NC (H43/31F) WVT 900S fleet number 900, which was new in July 1978 in service with PMT, the message between decks can have made little sense to the average passer-by. The date is March 1979 and the location is Ironmarket in the small market town of Newcastle under Lyme Staffordshire ST5 1RP which was a terminus for a number of services until the eighties, these days ahead of the bus it is now pedestrianised. This Foden-NC was owned by PMT for many years even when PMT became First PMT, it was sadly sold for scrap. Points of interest in the photograph: to the right of the Foden-NC is Queen's Gardens, behind to the left is the famous '' fountains roundabout '' so named because of the fountains in the middle of the roundabout, and to the right of the bus just past Queen' s Gardens is School Street where passengers would catch express coach services until the early eighties when they were transferred to Hanley bus station.
So what became of the operational testing by the NBC? they stayed loyal to the Bristol VRT3 until the arrival of the Leyland Olympian.
I will be posting a photograph of the Alexander Dennis Dominator in service with PMT.
Foden-NC rear-engined double-deck bus technical details:-
Chassis: Perimeter frame construction allowing the bodybuilder to integrate the body structure to the chassis, this construction was used by Leyland for the Olympian.
Engine: 10.45-litre Gardner 6LXB six-cylinder diesel producing 172bhp @ 1,750rpm
Gearbox: Allison MT640 with torque converter four-speed fully-automatic
Transfer gearbox: Foden comprising of a four gear train including two idler gears
Retarder: Air operated oil cooled Ferodo
Braking system: Full air pressure twin-circuit split system
Rear axle: Newage double-reduction drop-centre
Suspension: Semi-elliptic leaf springs
Steering: Burman fully-integral power assisted
Fuel tank: 45 gallons
Bodywork: Northern Counties
Sorce of information: Rear-Engined Double-Buses Gavin Booth, SELNEC Preservation Society, Bus Lists On The Web and Flickr.