Right 'en you lot - listen up ......
From 1963 onwards, Leyland Motors uprated the Tiger Cub chassis by fitting the roundly 6.5 litre 0.401 'Power Plus' engine. Gone was the sturdy 0.350 unit, and Western Welsh were not surprisingly early recipients of this revamped model. By 1968, when the final Tiger Cub arrived, the Company had taken a further 115 examples, variously bodied, into stock. A new fleet-numbering series was implemented in the 13xx series for them.
However, the 0.401 engine, whilst certainly a reasonable performer, was not without it's problems in this application. We soon had head gasket failures and piston seizures galore, and this scribe could overhaul one with his eyes shut - literally!
The unit was though, a wonderfully-logical piece of engineering for a humble apprentice to cut his teeth on.
Now to the photos:
The top one is of 1307 laying-over at Aberdare Low Level Station Yard, that town's (then) terminus that was shared with the Red & White concern.
The body was by Marshall of Cambridge, of rather spartan appearance, and one of nine delivered in 1963 carrying fleet numbers 1300-1308. This order was the last of the curved-rear BET-style bodies for WW. It's blinded-up for one of the trunk routes down along the Neath Valley to that town - operation of it being shared between Aberdare and Neath depots.
1307 would've therefore carried a red diamond.
1964 saw the arrival of 25 Tiger Cubs with Willowbrook bodies, of the ultimate BET Federation style. The observant will notice that white-coloured window rubbers were in fashion at this time.
Fleet numbers were 1309-1333.
1316 is seen at Cardiff Central Bus Station about to set off for distant Varteg Hill, way up in the Eastern Valleys of Monmouthshire.
Being based at Cwmbran, a grey diamond would have been carried.
The third shot sees 1366, the first WW bus that I ever (legally?) drove on the open road, and one of the 1966 order for 14 Tiger Cubs with fleet numbers 1361-1374.
Bodied by Park Royal to the same style, these featured an (unsuccessful) heating/ventilation system, witnessed by the lack of sliding windows.
Seen here arriving at Newport town centre from Varteg Hill, 1366 was another grey diamond Cwmbran bus.
The fourth view is of 1407 swinging into Bridgend depot off a colliery service.
It's one of the final batch of 20 Tiger Cubs that arrived in 1968 with Marshall bodies, and fleet numbers 1395-1414.
Being a Bridgend-allocated bus, 1407 carried a blue diamond.
The last photo sees 1346 (DBO 346C) heading west through Ely in Cardiff on the 301 limited-stop service to Carmarthen.
It's one of the 27-bus 1965 intake bodied by Park Royal with fleet numbers 1334-1360. Around 10 were finished to DP spec and accordingly wore the fabulous Peacock Blue/Royal Ivory livery then in vogue.
Being a Cardiff (Penarth Road) bus, 1346 had an orange diamond.
The 0.401-powered Tiger Cubs weren't entirely successful on these lengthy services either, and a policy-change was soon to see some rather special replacements arrive for these duties. They were to leave a lasting impression on a youthful Sethsmate!
All will be revealed here in due course .........
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Topic: Bus nostalgia (Read 221998 times)