Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster

Leyland
Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster with Dutch body from 1966
Royal Tiger Worldmaster
Manufacturer	Leyland Motors
Production period	1954 to 1979
engine	Leyland 6-cylinder diesel engine O680H 11.1 liters O600H 9.8 liters
power	125-200 hp
length	9-12 m
Previous model	Leyland Royal Tiger PSU1
successor	Leyland Royal Tiger (B50)

The Leyland Royal Tiger World Master , also known as Leyland World Masters was a chassis with underfloor engine for buses , the Leyland Motors in Farington in the UK produced from 1954 to 1979. With over 20,000 units, it was Leyland's most successful bus model. Only the Mercedes-Benz O 303 with 38,018 units in over 18 years of production, the GM "old-look" transit bus with more than 30,000 buses in 30 years of production and the Bedford SB with 45,000 buses in over 38 years of production were overall more successful. A direct successor was only available a few years later with the Leyland Royal Tiger (B50) , which was, however, specially designed for the home market.

Model history

As the successor to the Leyland Royal Tiger PSU1 , which had been sold more than 6000 times between 1950 and 1956, the Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster essentially retained the chassis of the Royal Tiger PSU1. The drive was taken over by the Leyland diesel engine O680H, which was installed horizontally as a mid-engine between the axles. The Leyland O600H diesel engine was also available as an option, but was rarely ordered. The power was transmitted to the rear axle via a semi-automatic gearbox with 4 or 5 stages. Leyland gave the Royal Tiger Worldmaster the name RT internally, and ERT for export versions. Versions with a lower ladder frame, which was cranked for lower entry height above the axles , were called CRT. Left hand drive versions were known as either LERT or LCRT.

Model variants

RT1: 6.1 m (20 ft) wheelbase, overall length 10.67 m (35 ft) (nominal), up to 12 m
RT2 (until 1962): 5.64 m (18 ft 6 in) wheelbase, overall length 10.06 m (33 ft) (nominal), up to 11 m
RT3: 4.93 m (16 ft 2 in) wheelbase, overall length 9.14 m (30 ft) (nominal)

Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster in the home market

Few Royal Tiger Worldmasters have been sold in the UK. Glasgow City Council acquired 30 RT3s in 1956 with Metro Cammell Weymann bodywork. Halifax (West Yorkshire) acquired ten in the same year. In addition, Gliderways from Smethwick , Smith Tours from Wigan and Ellen Smith Trainer from Rochdale acquired fewer than ten Worldmasters RT3s with Thomas Harrington Coach Builders or Plaxton Bodybuilding. At that time, the Leyland Tiger Cub and the AEC Reliance dominated the domestic market for underfloor single deck buses. In addition, after the Leyland Leopard was released in 1959, from 1961 onwards , Leyland limited sales in the home market to certain versions; from 1964 onwards it was only built for export.

Leyland Worldmaster in export

The Royal Tiger Worldmaster was mostly exported as the Leyland Worldmaster. Dansk Automobil Byggeri (DAB), which has been cooperating with Leyland Motors since 1953, presented its model of the Royal Tiger Worldmaster in 1959 as the "Leyland Worldmaster". The background was the delivery to Poland, which was then still ruled by socialism . With the discontinuation of the model in the home market, Leyland Motors took over the general name for the series. "Royal Tiger" was only retained in a few markets, especially in Commonwealth countries. The largest markets for the Leyland Worldmaster were in western and southern Africa , Oceania , South America and Central America, the Middle East (especially Israel ), the Caribbean and continental Europe both in the west and in the eastern countries.

Israel was the largest single market with more than 5,000 units, most of which received bodywork from local bodybuilders , and more than 3,600 chassis were built at the Leyland-Ashdod plant in Israel. They served as an intercity bus or city bus , as a coach and even as a truck . Many were used until the 1980s. In India , Portugal and Spain even double-decker bus bodies were mounted on the chassis .

The bodies or individual features differ in almost all markets. In Italy, for example, there was a body on a LERT2 chassis that was designed by Ghia with an extravagant radiator grille, ribbed aluminum side planks and large tail fins. This model was built by Matchbox as a model car Matchbox Toys No. 40 Leyland Tiger Royal Coach. Ayats in Spain produced a LERT1 with a front similar to the Edsel . Other coachbuilders who produced a body for the Worldmaster were Ha'argaz and Merkavim in Israel, Jonckheere , Van Hool , Marcopolo SA and NZMB. Rhodesian Railways built a 6 × 2 version of the Worldmaster with axles from Leyland-Albion. In 1960 Leyland South Africa released a version of the Worldmaster developed there with an upright built-in front engine. After the merger of Leyland with AEC in 1962, this was discontinued in favor of AEC Regal .

From the mid-1960s, the Leyland Leopard PSU3 replaced the Worldmaster in those countries where a very heavy chassis was in demand. In Australia and New Zealand , this happened when the Leopard began to be produced. B. sold very well in the Nordic regions of Europe until 1971. But after that, the leopard was also ordered in Norway and Finland . From the mid-1970s onwards, West Africa was the last stronghold of the Worldmaster with still substantial orders. Mainly Marshall and Willowbrook bodies were put on here, but with larger tires and more ground clearance.

Known Leyland Worldmaster still in operation

Many former Australian Worldmasters who have worked with New South Wales Public Transport and State Transport Authority South Australia have been owned by private operators such as Brisbane Bus Lines , Wagga Wagga New South Wales, Menai Bus Service New South Wales and Toongabbie , Central New South Wales Taken over in the 1980s and operated until the 2000s. Some were still in operation in January 2013.

Leyland Firemaster

A version of the Royal Tiger Worldmaster with a 3.81 m (12 ft 6 ") wheelbase, Leyland O680H engine, five-speed gearbox and radiator positioned just in front of the rear axle was sold as the Leyland Firemaster in the United Kingdom from 1958. A water pump was located directly on the front of the vehicle which was driven by a PTO from the gearbox. Therefore the vehicle did not have to turn on site and could provide extinguishing water twice as fast as conventional fire engines with front engines. Only fire departments from Manchester and Glasgow ordered the Firemaster and so the unprofitable project became again in 1962 dropped.

Leyland Royal Tiger Cub

Leyland Royal Tiger Cub 1963

For many markets in Western Europe, the Leyland Tiger Cub was too weak and the LCRT3 Worldmaster too heavy. That is why there was the Royal Tiger Cub LRTC in 1960 with a wheelbase of 5.33 m (17 ft 6 in) and 10 m length. It was powered by the Leyland O600H engine with manual or semi-automatic transmission. The Royal Tiger Cub had the axles and wheels from the Worldmaster, while the ladder frame was derived from the Tiger Cub. A right hand drive version went to New Zealand and Australia. The Doncaster Company bought ten RTC1 / 1s with manual transmission in 1965 and ten RTC1 / 2s with semi-automatic transmission in 1967/1968, all with 45-seater bodies from Charles H. Roe . As early as 1968 the series was discontinued and replaced by the Leyland Leopard PSU4.

Individual evidence

↑ Australia bus fleet list

swell

Jack, The Leyland Bus Mark Two, Glossop 1984
Kaye, British buses 1945–1968, London 1969
Brown, Plaxton 100 Years, Hersham 2007
Townsin in Smith (ed), Busse Annual Report 1965 London 1964
Townsin, Duple 70 Years of Car Body Engineering, Glossop 1999

Web links

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

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

[1] Australia bus fleet list