Leyland Royal Tiger

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The name Leyland Royal Tiger refers to two different bus models from the British manufacturer Leyland Motors .

Royal Tiger PSU1

Leyland Royal Tiger PSU1 bus with a Dutch body

The first Royal Tiger was built from 1950 to 1955. The chassis manufactured at this time were given the abbreviation PSU1 . The Royal Tiger was a chassis with a centrally located underfloor motor . The Royal Tiger was derived from the Leyland Tiger PS1 , the U in the type designation stands for the underfloor diesel engine. The series was initiated by increasing the size limit to around 9 m (30 feet) in length in 1950. Until the 1980s, it was common for chassis and superstructures for buses to be manufactured by different manufacturers. The chassis manufactured by Leyland were therefore completed by coachbuilders . The Ambassador from Duple or the Wayfarer I from Harrington were used as superstructures . These buses were comfortably equipped coaches with 26 seats and a standard sliding roof. These vehicles were powered by a diesel engine of 9.8 l displacement (O600). Vehicles built later had a capacity of up to 41 seats, some vehicles were also built as multi-purpose buses for urban and intercity transport. One of the biggest buyers was Southdown Coaches , who from 1952 to 1956 put more than 150 Leyland Royal Tigers with bodies from Duple , Weymann and Harrington into service. Another manufacturer of superstructures was Plaxton.

The Leyland Tiger Cub's lighter chassis was introduced in 1952. Later developed into the successful Leyland Leopard , it displaced the Royal Tiger almost completely from the British market in a short time. In 1955 another series with a different engine than the Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster (or simply Leyland Worldmaster) was produced for export, but some copies could also be sold on the domestic market. Some of these were built as a city ​​bus .

Royal Tiger B50 / RT

Leyland Royal Tiger Doyen, coach built in 1988

Between 1982 and 1988 chassis with the name Royal Tiger were again produced by Leyland Motors . This is a chassis with a diesel engine arranged lengthways under the floor in the rear . The series was initially referred to as B50 or B54, later the vehicles were given the abbreviation RT . The Royal Tiger should secure Leyland shares in the domestic market against the increasingly strong foreign bus manufacturers such as DAF or Scania . However, the success was limited, in total only about 170 vehicles were produced.

All buses of the RTC series were produced as so-called integrated buses. In contrast to the usual practice at the time, the structure and chassis came from one manufacturer. These buses were named Royal Tiger Doyen . The buses of the B50 / B54 series were still designed conventionally, the chassis were provided with bodies by bodywork companies. The majority of the buses in this series received bodies from Leyland's subsidiary Charles H. Roe in Leeds , 15 buses received the body of the Plaxton Paramount and two buses received a body from Van Hool . Of the 47 buses in the RT series, 22 got a body from Plaxton , the rest one from Van Hool . All buses were coaches . Depending on the version, there were between 45 and 53 seats, only a few special versions had fewer seats.

Diesel engines from Leyland (TL11) or the Cummins L10 were used.

vehicles

PSU1 - Southdown Coaches
Surname construction time number annotation
PSU1 / 15 1951/1952 30th Coach 26 seats, bodies Duple Ambassador (10) and Harrington Weyfarer I (20)
PSU1 / 13 1952/1953 40 Coach 40 seats, body East Lancs
PSU1 / 15 1952/1953 50 Coach 41 seats, superstructures: Duple Ambassador (20), Duple Coronation Ambassador (5) and Leyland (25) for fast connections, 25 buses converted to multi-purpose buses in 1961
PSU1 / 16 1953/1954 25th Coach 41 seats, body Duple Ambassador
PSU1 / 11, / 15, / 16 1953-1955 11 Coach 26 seats, superstructures: Duple Ambassador (7) and Harrington Weyfarer I (4)
B50 / 54 and RT
Surname construction time number annotation
B50 / B54 1980-1984 70 Coach 48–50 seats
RT 1984-1986 47 Coach 49–53 seats
RTC00 1984-1986 32 Coach 47–53 seats
RTC86. / RTC87. 1986/1987 30th Coach 48–53 seats

literature

  • Alan Millar: Bus & Coach Recognition . Ian Allan Ltd., Sheperton 1992, ISBN 0-7110-2060-4

Web links

Commons : Leyland Royal Tiger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files