Bus & Coach - September '68

In September 1968, Bus and Coach magazine published an article entitled "Variety from Park Royal" as a commentary on the forthcoming Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court.

Below is the two-page article as reproduced from the magazine at the time and, being an independent analysis of PRV's offerings, was no doubt handed out at the show by PRV as an advertisement. 

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Variety from Park Royal 

Seven double-deckers to be shown at Earls Court show wide differences of opinion on designs for one man operation.

The Plymouth 33ft Leyland Atlantean The Manchester 31ft Daimler Fleetline.

The Leeds 33ft Daimler Fleetline.

The Birmingham 30ft Daimler Fleetline.

THE PARK ROYAL-ROE SALES DIVISION, which handles the products of Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. and Charles H. Roe Ltd., has plumped for an all-double-decker display at the Commercial Motor Show which opens at Earls Court, London, on September 20.

A total of seven vehicles, all two-door buses for one-man-working on rear-engined chassis, will be on display, either on various stands in the exhibition building itself or in the demonstration park. On the adjoining Park Royal and Roe stands there are to be four vehicles-a 33ft Leyland Atlantean for Sheffield Transport Department, a 31ft Daimler Fleetline for Manchester City Transport, a 33ft Daimler Fleetline for Leeds City Transport and a 30ft Daimler Fleetline for Birmingham City Transport.

A second identical Leeds Daimler will be on the Daimler stand, while on the Leyland stand there is to be a 33ft Atlantean for Plymouth City Transport. The seventh vehicle is to be a 33ft Atlantean for the Leyland demonstration fleet.

Although it is fair to point out that all the vehicles have been on order since long before the Ministry of Transport's standardization scheme was published, wide variety of thinking is evident, and four quite distinct designs, with few parts in common, have been used.

The Sheffield, Plymouth and demonstration vehicles are to the new Park Royal standard design, which incorporates what may be described as "medium-large" side windows, together with a vee-shaped treatment of the driver's windscreen and upper-deck front windows using flat glass. The glass-fibre domes are of the type giving a smooth finish on both outer and inner faces. 

This design broadly conforms to the Ministry of Transport standard for a 33ft double-decker and it is hoped that it will not require more than detail modification as the standard is developed in the coming year or two. The floor is almost flat, with a height of 2ft 4in from ground level over most of its length but rising to just over 2ft 6in over the rear axle.

The Manchester vehicle will, of course, be to that operator's own recently introduced style, with generally rectangular lines, long window bays and an ultra-deep curved glass driver's windscreen. Much of the design is broadly in accordance with the Ministry specification, but the staircase faces the wrong way and the overall length lies between the 9.5 and 10 metre standards. It is anticipated that later 10-metre vehicles for Manchester will have forward-ascending stairs.

The Leeds vehicles are to be developments of the ultra-long-window double-deckers already in service in that city, but adapted to the centre-exit layout. The staircase is of the forward-ascending type but differs from the others in being of the straight form favoured on Leeds buses for some 32 years.

The Birmingham design is derived from that of earlier Fleetlines in that city, with short windows of differing depth on the two decks. The staircase is a forward-ascending unit but the vehicle does not quite meet the dimensional standards, being slightly too short and having a floor about 3in too low to comply fully, for example.

All the vehicles will have provision for ticket-issuing machines to be fitted. The Sheffield bus is to have a Setright machine with a Peters coin dispenser, a Smiths public address system, a S.B.K. passenger counting device operating from two stair treads, a periscope and "Bus Stopping" signs in both saloons which light up when the bell has been rung and remaining on until the exit door opens.

The Manchester bus will have Bell Punch Autoslot coin-operated self-service ticket machines each side of the entrance gangway together with a driver-operated Setright machine, Smiths public address, a passenger-counting system and periscope.

The Leeds vehicle has a driver-operated ticket machine and coin dispenser, a ticket-cancelling machine, public address, radio telephone, S.B.K. passenger counter, periscope and transmission interlock to prevent the exit doors being opened with the vehicle in motion.

The Birmingham bus will have a T.I.M. ticket machine, a Lock passenger-counting device and periscope. The Plymouth vehicle will have a Setright ticket machine and coin dispenser for the driver, a coin-operated Setright machine for passengers, and a periscope. A.A.T.

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