Transport heritage
◄ The Leyland’s cab is really easy to get in and out of. ▼ Spot the missing item – no clutch pedal.
Atlantean, Leopard etc. The five-speed semi automatic gearbox is similar to that fitted to a Leopard bus and its additional splitter was latterly available as an option on the Leyland Leopard coach. Air valves; gear change pedestal; fluid flywheel; electrics; hubs and power steering are all standard Leyland parts fitted to many passenger models.” Or as he sums it up: “The two-pedal Beaver was essentially made from bus components.”
On The Road
The Atlantean was to make a huge impression on the bus world and also with yours truly. Although I was a wagon mad teenager (and had very little interest in buses) I can still recall the mesmerising effect that late ‘50s first ride in one of these new Leyland ‘deckers up Woodside, between Lanchester and Iveston
The Atlantean was to make a huge impression on the bus world and also with yours truly
in north-west County Durham. Even now the bank is a good click to surmount but I recall getting the best seat (near the driver) to see him romp up here in great style. With rear mounted transverse engine and transmission pack, the fully loaded ‘decker seemed to dig in and lift the nose slightly while the way the driver flicked that stubby lever through the semi-automatic gearbox just blew my mind away. Wow. The Pneumocyclic ‘box obviously worked in a bus but fitting the same set-up into an artic which ran at perhaps twice the gross weight – 32 tons – was obviously going to be a different ball-game but first impressions of the two-pedal Beaver by Ken Glendinning were highly favourable. Back in 1967, Leyland put out several two-pedal demonstrators and one of course winged its way to the North-East of England. The Shotley Bridge based WA (Archie) Glendinning Ltd were long time Leyland users so naturally an invitation was sent out to them to try this new wagon themselves: “I don’t think my Dad had driven many artics,” says his son Ken, “so he handed me the keys.
We were allowed to take it out by ourselves and we went for a run along Team Valley at Gateshead. I quite liked it as it pulled like a train.” Back then Ken was driving one of the small BMC artic car-transporters and the 32 tons fully loaded Beaver artic was probably the biggest vehicle he’d ever driven. But with just the most basic of instruction, he was able to drive the new Leyland very easily: “As well as the five-speed box, the first ones had a two-speed axle,” he says. “They later changed that to a gearbox incorporated splitter but I preferred that earlier two-speed – they were more reliable.” So impressed were the Glendinning duo that they ordered one straight away – NNL 755F: “That one had a two speed axle,” says Ken, “and it was given to Davy Johnson to drive. We got two others – with the splitter – and SNL 140G was given to Tommy Bruce. We later bought the second hand HPT 135H when we took over the small fleet that Carrimore had been operating from their Harelaw factory.” Ken recalls the worst problem with these two-pedal motors related to a rubber
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