Devon General's First Leyland Atlanteans

Devon General’s first 17 Leyland Atlanteans were delivered in June1959. They were numbered DL872-888 and were registered 872-888ATA. The standard 9.8 litre Leyland 0.600 engine was fitted, developing 125bhp. Their bodies, like the prototype vehicle, were by Metro-Cammell and were fitted with 78 seats. Their capacity ensured their suitability for the heavily patronised route 12 on which they were immediately set to work. This enabled the frequency of vehicles on this route to be reduced. Shortly after their introduction each vehicle had a luggage pen fitted beneath the stairs, reducing the seating by 2. The following spring saw the arrival of the second batch, totalling 23 machines. These were numbered DL895-917, registered 895-917DTT. Although utilising the same power plant these buses differed by having 75 seat bodies which, although ordered from Park Royal, were constructed by Chas. Roe of Leeds to Park Royal’s design, due to a lack of capacity at the Acton factory. 1961 saw two further deliveries of the type. In April the nine convertible sea-dogs, described in earlier posts, arrived. The previous month had seen the arrival of another seven closed top examples. Again powered by the 0.600 engine these were numbered DL918-924 and carried the registrations 918-924GTA. Park Royal bodies built by Roe were once again fitted but differed from the previous batch by having interior fluorescent tube lighting and an illuminated advertisement panel on the offside. As with any relatively new design the Atlanteans weren’t without teething trouble. Some problems were generic and occurred not only to DG’s 37 vehicles but to the type as a whole, whilst others were more specific to the Roe body. Problematic areas on the first batches included weak front suspension components, failing prop-shafts and stress fractures of the chassis’ rear frame at the engine mounts. There was also failure of the cooling fan drive-shaft, clutch problems exacerbated by difficult repair access, leaking window surrounds and tyre blow-outs caused by braking heat not dissipating from inside the rear wheel arch. All vehicles were brought up to scratch mechanically by 1962 at Devon General’s expense. The Roe bodied vehicles proved even more troublesome. The 1960 deliveries suffered from water ingress through the body panelling caused by extensive flexing of the floor areas and upper waist rail. Park Royal supplied strengthening kits for both decks in order to try and rectify the problems. This was only partially successful and the worst affected vehicle, No.916, was sent back to Park Royal for a month for in-depth investigation. The vehicles fitted with illuminated advert panels proved susceptible to battery drain if the lighting was left on without the engine running. The set-up was soon dispensed with! The operational areas covered by Atlanteans contained Torbay’s hillier routes including many in Torquay and the Foxhole area of Paignton. A lack of performance whilst heavily laden on these routes saw a handful of vehicles across all batches being fitted with turbochargers in an attempt to increase power output. The units were designed and built by Eberspacher of Germany in conjunction with Simms, and fitted by Devon General. Unfortunately, although the concept is one that increases an engines peak power, any turbo is inefficient at low engine revs, such as pulling away on a hill. In this respect the exercise only realised moderate success and caused excessive wear to many of the engines components. On Jan. 1st 1971 the entire collection of Atlanteans, together with the rest of Devon General’s stock passed to the Western National Omnibus Co. Ltd. The following post will look at their history subsequent to this date.