Poids lourds Leyland : beaux livres - histoire et technique

Leyland Lorries

The origins of Leyland lorries are found in steam wagon manufacture in the town of Leyland, Lancashire. The manufacturer, then known as the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, was established in 1884. By 1904 the first petrol-engined lorry was built and in 1907 the company name was changed to Leyland Motors Limited.

Leyland produced a range of vehicles over the following decades, from steam wagons and petrol-engined lorries to bus and, eventually, eight-wheeled lorries. The post-war years saw a series of mergers and acquisitions, including the eventual merger with the British Motor Corporation in the late 1960s leading to the creation of British Leyland. For the enthusiast, Leyland produced a wide range of vehicles over the years for both the domestic and international market.

Lavishly illustrated with an array of rare and unpublished photographs, Leyland Lorries is the perfect companion for anyone wanting to learn more of the Leyland story.

A History of the Leyland Bus

A beautifully illustrated history of the Leyland bus, one of the most important British buses of the twentieth century. With full production histories and technical specifications for all the major models, A History of the Leyland Bus also includes the evolution of the Leyland Bus company, and tells the full story behind the iconic Leyland badge.

Including some previously unseen illustrations, the book covers:
- A full company history - from beginnings as the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in 1886, to the acquisition by Volvo Buses in 1988
- Technical details of all the main models - including the Lion, Titan and Olympic ranges
- Gearless buses and rear-engined double-deckers
- Charabancs, trolleybuses, First World War military vehicles and overseas models
- The deregulation of the bus industry in Britain and the end of the Leyland bus.

Leyland Single-Decker Buses

This book, the second in a series of books showcasing the products of the passenger division of Leyland, concentrates on single-deck buses and, in addition to the more well-known models such as the National and Lynx, includes less successful models such as the Panther and Panther Cub.
It contains 180 photographs, most of which are in colour, all with informative text and taken when the vehicles were in their operating heyday.

Leyland Double-Decker Buses

From demonstrating a petrol-engined double-decker at the 1905 Commercial Motor Show to building huge 100-seat Olympians for the overseas market, the Bus and Coach Division of Leyland built thousands of vehicles for markets all over the world.

At the forefront of vehicle design and development, Leyland produced ground-breaking vehicles such as the Atlantean, the UK's first production rear-engined double-decker bus.
Through acquisition and merger, the majority of British vehicle manufacturers ended up under the Leyland banner, resulting in the creation of the mighty British Leyland Motor Corporation, whose subsequent fall from grace has been widely documented elsewhere.

This, the third in a series of books showcasing the products of the passenger division of Leyland since 1960, concentrates on double-deck buses and coaches and includes such mythological giants as the Atlantean, Olympian and Titan, among others. It contains 180 photographs, all of which are in colour, all with informative text and captured when the vehicles were in their operating heyday.

Leyland's Big Cat Coaches

From tiny acorns, mighty oaks do grow, and this is certainly true when it comes to the story of Leyland Motors. From humble beginnings building steam lawnmowers in the Lancashire town of Leyland, the company grew to become one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the world.
With groundbreaking ideas such as designing buses and coaches with bespoke chassis rather than converted lorry chassis, Leyland vehicles were sold all over the world.

Through acquisition and merger, the majority of British vehicle manufacturers ended up under the Leyland banner, resulting in the creation of the mighty British Leyland Motor Corporation, whose subsequent fall from grace has been widely documented elsewhere.

This, the first in a series of books showcasing the products of the passenger division of Leyland since 1960, concentrates on single-deck coaches and includes such wellknown 'big cats' as the Leopard, Tiger and Royal Tiger among others.
It contains 180 photographs, most of which are in colour, all with informative text and captured when the vehicles were in their operating heyday.

The London Leylands : The Last Years of RTL and RTW Operation in London

London's famous RT-type buses were an iconic symbol of the Capital city in the 1950s, before being superseded by the Routemasters. Most were built between 1947 and 1954 to replace worn-out pre-war and wartime buses, as well as the remaining trams.
More than 7,000 were built in all and although London Transport favoured A.E.C. chassis, which the first batches of RTs had, so pressing was the need for new buses that not enough could be supplied by that manufacturer to match demand.
Therefore Leyland Motors were contracted to adapt their Leyland "Titan" PD2 chassis to fit bodies that, for the most part, were identical with those on RTs. The result was the 1,631-strong RTL class, together with the 500 RTWs, which had bodies also built by Leyland to the same general design, were built between 1948 and 1954.

Always in a minority compared to the 4,825-strong RT class, these Leyland buses had a character all of their own, perhaps personified by their louder engine note. They also had a reputation for being heavier on their steering than the RTs, making them unpopular with staff, and therefore general withdrawal of them commenced in 1958, taking almost ten years to complete (in November 1968), whereas the RTs soldiered on until April 1979.

During the RTL and RTW class buses' final years, Jim Blake was out and about photographing them throughout London. A selection of his photographs of them, most previously unpublished, is presented here.

Leyland PD Titans in Service - The Late 1960s and 1970s

This book covers many variants of the long-lived Leyland PD marque, photographed throughout Britain from 1967 into the seventies. Coming from the south, the author was more familiar with the AEC and the more throaty sound of a PD2, even from London's RTLs, was a touch exotic.

The author documents buses from East Anglia down to the South Coast, before travelling up to the Midlands, then into true Leyland territory of Lancashire and Yorkshire, to finish up in Scotland.
The author was born in Romford, Essex, in 1943 but relocated to Scotland in 1973. All photographs are in colour from the original slides, which have been digitally restored.

Last Years of the London Titan

Already depleted by withdrawals in the London Buses Ltd era, the Leyland Titan fleet of T class was divided upon privatisation between three new companies; London Central, Stagecoach East London and Stagecoach Selkent.

Together with a host of smaller companies operating second-hand acquisitions, the Titans' declining years between 1998 and 2003 are explored in this pictorial account that encompasses both standard day-to-day routes, emergency deployments and rail replacement services.
Only small numbers remained to usher out the type altogether at the end of 2005, when step-entrance double-deckers as a whole were banished from the capital.

London Transport's Last Buses : Leyland Olympians L1-263

The Olympian was Leyland's answer to the competition that was threatening to take custom away from its second-generation OMO double-deck products. Simpler than the London Transport Titan but, unlike that integral model, able to respond to the market by being offered as a chassis for bodying by the bodybuilder of the customer's choice, the Olympian was an immediate success and soon replaced both the Atlantean and Bristol VRT as the standard double-decker of the NBC.

It wasn't until 1984 that London Transport itself dabbled with the model, taking three for evaluation alongside trios of contemporary double-deckers. The resulting L class spawned an order for 260 more in 1986, featuring accessibility advancements developed by LT in concert with the Ogle design consultancy, but the rapid changes engulfing the organisation meant that no more were ordered.

During the 1990s company ownerships shifted repeatedly as the ethos of competition gave way to the cold reality of big business, an unstable situation which even saw London's bus operations broken up. The L class was split between three new companies, but the backlog of older vehicles to replace once corporate interests released funding ensured the buses up to a further decade in service.
Finally, as low-floor buses swept into the capital at the turn of the century, Olympian operation at last declined, and the final examples operated early in 2006.

This profusely illustrated book describes the diversity of liveries, ownerships and deployments that characterised the London Leyland Olympians' two decades of service.

Leyland Buses in Israel

This book, the first ever written on the subject of Leyland buses in Israel, tells the story of the company's decades-long partnership with the state of Israel. First introduced on a large scale in Israel in the fifties, the Leylands were phased out in the late eighties before being retired completely, having been replaced with modern German bus models that were built by Daimler Benz and MAN.
Some were sold abroad, to developing countries, where they are said to be still running today, but the majority were quietly scrapped and broken up.

Fortunately a few escaped the cutter's torch and are kept in mint condition in Egged's Heritage Center in Holon, a symbol of solid British engineering. For countless Israelis who are old enough to remember the sight and the sound of a Leyland bus in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, they provide a chance to go back in time for one more ride on the elderly Tiger.
As a tribute to what can only be described as the most durable and reliable buses to have ever run in Israel, this book is token of admiration and appreciation of that powerful, all-terrain workhorse: the Leyland bus.