Portend or sweetner?
Posted in response to a comment by 'Life Stinks'... I promised a better shot of one of these Maidstone Borough Atlanteans.
Shortly after the acquisition of the Stonier's business by Mr & Mrs Berresford, of Berresford Motors, two of these barely 'run in' AN68 Leyland Atlanteans arrived from Maidstone Borough council where they had been ousted by a new free thinking General Manager. Still in their Bus Grant period, they might as well have been spaceships to the Stonier's crews used only to front engined 'deckers. Needless to say, they were an instant hit and did much to smooth the resentment of external influence. Time would go on to tell us that their promise was not fulfilled, as 153 and 154 were seldom concurrently operational, infact I would go so far as to say we got better service out of the ex Bradford PDR1/2s. Acceptable reliability was not really achieved from rear engined DDs until the arrival of the Fleetlines. It is fair to say though that maladies with their Northern Counties panoramic windowed bodywork did also cause some problems.
EKR 153L... the bus on which I took the first part of my PSV driving test, is seen parked on the 'spare ground' above Goldenhill Garage in 1980.
Portend or sweetner?
Posted in response to a comment by 'Life Stinks'... I promised a better shot of one of these Maidstone Borough Atlanteans.
Shortly after the acquisition of the Stonier's business by Mr & Mrs Berresford, of Berresford Motors, two of these barely 'run in' AN68 Leyland Atlanteans arrived from Maidstone Borough council where they had been ousted by a new free thinking General Manager. Still in their Bus Grant period, they might as well have been spaceships to the Stonier's crews used only to front engined 'deckers. Needless to say, they were an instant hit and did much to smooth the resentment of external influence. Time would go on to tell us that their promise was not fulfilled, as 153 and 154 were seldom concurrently operational, infact I would go so far as to say we got better service out of the ex Bradford PDR1/2s. Acceptable reliability was not really achieved from rear engined DDs until the arrival of the Fleetlines. It is fair to say though that maladies with their Northern Counties panoramic windowed bodywork did also cause some problems.
EKR 153L... the bus on which I took the first part of my PSV driving test, is seen parked on the 'spare ground' above Goldenhill Garage in 1980.