BCVM Leyland - June 2008

In mid June 2008 I took Dad to the British Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland. This occupies the site of the old Leyland South Works, specifically the old shed where they used to allow customers to inspect the trucks and buses before they collected them. Nowadays, it is the site of a museum collection of mainly British trucks and buses (and in case you are wondering this will not be another rant about the decline of British industry)..

You can't get much more British than this - Atkinson Silver Knight as run (and preserved) by famous Preston firm, W.H Bowker. I am old enough to remember the roads being full of these "Big A's". Whilst they are revered even today, it has to be said that they are are a bit thin on creature comforts for the driver.

The Silver Knight logo...highly prized

Dad inside old steam engine wheel.....

Leyland Atlantean double decker - a lot of these lasted well into the 1990's and beyond - Leyland's most enduring design.

Me with another bus - actually a 1950's Warrington Bus complete with Great Sankey destination. This one is a Foden - they did not make many buses so this is a bit unusual.

Close up of the Foden Logo on the bus....

How the mighty have fallen - this is the logo from the front of the last Foden truck produced in 2006 - and it was not even built at the Foden works - it was built on the nearby Leyland production line...

Another bus - a Leyland Tiger Cub Coach - as run by Ribble Buses.

Close up of pretty bloody brilliant steel manufacturer logo on the Tiger Cub..

Whilst we are still on the subject of buses, these are the old destination roller-blinds removed from some buses. Whilst the set on the right is full of destinations from "Down Sarf", the blind on the left is full of some very familiar destinations from around Warrington and Cheshire.....

Me with some obscure French Tate & Lyle truck.....

AEC Mammoth Major in Michelin colours - once again, the interior is a bit spartan - surely it would not have hurt to put some wipers on the passenger window? Power Steering, comfy seats and cruise control still a few decades away.....

... nice minimalist logo.

Leyland truck, carrying Leyland paints....

Leyland Octopus - so called as it is an eight-wheeler rigid....

Dad with old phone box - boring fact (with a loose connection to Pink Floyd so I can still say that this is a drumming site), Giles Gilbert Scott who designed the telephone box is also responsible for the design of Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, Bankside Power Station and Park Royal Guinness Brewery - making him pretty cool in my book....

This is dad on the Pope's seat in the legendary "Popemobile" used when he visited the UK in the 1980's (actually a heavily modified Leyland Constructor)....

Me in the open window of the upper deck - with no bullet proof windows.... papal infallibility....my arse....