New to PMT in 1962.
The photographic archive of the former Potteries Motor Traction Co. Ltd has provided me with several good quality images on which to practice the colourisation hobby. This publicity photo of one of their 1962 intake of 'saloons' being a good example. PMT took 10 of these Leyland Leopards and ten almost identical AEC Reliance '590s. Bodywork was by Willowbrook, but those built on the Leopard chassis were to a slightly lowered overall height to enable them to replace older stock which needed to pass under low railway bridges like the one on Heathcote Street in my home town of Kidsgrove. Their Willowbrook bodies seated 54 . . . once you'd surmounted the four precipitous entrance steps! The odd seat over the more usual 53 in a 36ft bus was a single inward facing one just behind the entrance door on the nearside. This seat was always the place to be for a young enthusiastic lad like me. Both types had 4 speed manual gearboxes, but from talking to drivers of that era, the Leopards were painfully heavy on the handlebars compared to the Reliances. . . neither of which of course had power steering.
The photo was taken in the grounds of Trentham Gardens.
New to PMT in 1962.
The photographic archive of the former Potteries Motor Traction Co. Ltd has provided me with several good quality images on which to practice the colourisation hobby. This publicity photo of one of their 1962 intake of 'saloons' being a good example. PMT took 10 of these Leyland Leopards and ten almost identical AEC Reliance '590s. Bodywork was by Willowbrook, but those built on the Leopard chassis were to a slightly lowered overall height to enable them to replace older stock which needed to pass under low railway bridges like the one on Heathcote Street in my home town of Kidsgrove. Their Willowbrook bodies seated 54 . . . once you'd surmounted the four precipitous entrance steps! The odd seat over the more usual 53 in a 36ft bus was a single inward facing one just behind the entrance door on the nearside. This seat was always the place to be for a young enthusiastic lad like me. Both types had 4 speed manual gearboxes, but from talking to drivers of that era, the Leopards were painfully heavy on the handlebars compared to the Reliances. . . neither of which of course had power steering.
The photo was taken in the grounds of Trentham Gardens.