The Leyland Atlantean

Interestingly, Leyland double decker buses could have been found at work in India as early as in 1906 in Bombay. Fast forwarding to 1962/63, there were locally bodied Leyland Atlanteans in service in Bombay and Delhi, as far as India was concerned.To get to the book, Leyland ran the risk of introducing a revolutionary new design onto the market and expectedly, the program ran into problems initially. These comprised in the main, chassis flexing and cracking under the weight of the 'power pack' at the rear, and clutch and gearbox strain. Due to these issues many operators stayed away from purchasing the Atlantean for more than a decade. Front engined double decker buses continued to dominate the UK market until 1966 and it was only in 1968 that the rear engined Atlantean ( and the Daimler Fleetline ) had the market virtually to themselves. Going into the 1970s and as British Leyland, Leyland offered the Atlantean, Fleetline and Bristol VRT chassis. Changes in legislation in the early 1960s permitted non-opening windscreens to be designed and installed on buses. The Leyland Atlantean Mk.II of 1963 introduced modifications that made gearbox removal trouble-free ( with a 3 piece engine cover for easier maintenance access ), a beefed up O.600 engine ( O stood for oil ) and a fluid friction rather than centrifugal clutch, all of which attracted new customers to the point that, in 1963, the Atlantean became, for the first time, the UK's best selling double decker bus.BOAC had 21 Leyland Atlanteans in its fleet to transfer its passengers between central London and Heathrow airport-------a service which ran from 1966-74. TWA similarly used 5 Atlanteans from 1969 into the 1980s. Both the collectives had coach seating and the buses were capable of higher speeds than usual. London Transport operated 50 Leyland Atlanteans starting 1965------- at a time when it was buying more than 300 Routemasters annually.The creation of the National Bus Company ( NBC ) resulted in increased business for Leyland which now had to supply more chassis and bus bodies to the ( eventual ) 5 PTEs. The new Bus Grants scheme provided a further fillip to the purchase of modern buses for OMO. There followed a golden period for bus sales, says the author. The front engined double deckers and rear engined single deckers had gone by the early 1970s. Leyland had a virtual monopoly of the UK bus market and several operators were unhappy with this situation. Seddon, Metro Cammell, Scania, Bedford, Ford all tried to break the impasse but with limited success. 3 of the 4 PTEs set up by then became Atlantean customers. London Country Bus, an NBC company, bought 120 Atlanteans in 1972. Edinburgh Corporation ( now Lothian Region Transport ) pioneered the use of double deckers with panoramic side windows and continued to specify these for its fleet of 588 Atlanteans which it operated from 1966-1981. A total of more than 15,000 Leyland Atlanteans was produced from 1958 to 1986.This book is replete with beautiful color photos of the highest quality. I did find the text a bit dry at times but if you are interested in the Atlantean, you'll want to find out all about it. Spec panels nicely round off the book. I was left curious about 2 things: the top speed of the Atlantean and how the air-shift gearbox worked.This book is a must for the bus enthusiast or indeed for any Transport aficionado. The author has written one more book on the Leyland Atlantean in the Bus Monographs series, which I have.

As an ex-driver of Atlantean look-a-like PD/1s for British Airways this book was an instant draw. Lot of good information and superb pictures. Would recommend.

good book

Exactly what I wanted in terms of information & packed with quality photographs

Great !