The Leyland Octopus (Commercial Vehicles Archive Series)

Product Information

On the other hand, Walsall Corporation Transport, under the guidance of its famous General Manager Mr R Edgley Cox were enthusiast exponents of the trolleybus, and advocated that the trolleybus service between the two towns continued until at least 1967. However, the coming of the motorway age was upon them, and it was clear that the planned route of the M6 Motorway connecting the Midlands to the Northwest would sever the route at Bentley. Construction of the M6 began in 1963, and by 1965 had reached Bentley, near Walsall. The decision had by then been taken by the powers that be, that trolleybuses would not be allowed to cross over the new motorway, effectively ending any possibility of the through service continuing beyond 1965. By using lightweight components, such as a pressed steel rear bogie assembly in stead of cast iron—Leyland has produced a haulage vehicle which can compete in payload terms with the maximum capacity artic which can be legally used on the UK roads. From this point of view it will appeal to operators who do a lot of motorway work with smaller but heavy loads. The American production house gave Tony the go-ahead to organise his vehicles. The original need was for 15 running tippers but, after the various machines had been pooled together – some of which that had been parked up for two decades, the best he could cobble together was 12 plus two more earmarked for being blown up. In 1920, Leyland Motors produced the Leyland Eight luxury touring car, a development of which was driven by J.G. Parry-Thomas at Brooklands. Parry-Thomas was later killed in an attempt on the land speed record when the car overturned. Rumours that a chain drive broke were found to be incorrect when the car was disinterred late in the 20th century as the chains were intact. At the other extreme, they also produced the Trojan Utility Car in the Kingston upon Thames factory at Ham from 1922 to 1928. Seddon Motors of Oldham were late-comers to the eight-wheeled market, surprising the industry with their DD8 and SD8 models in 1958. With a choice of Gardner or Cummins diesel engines, the model was available in long (17ft 9in) or short (14ft 6in) wheelbase form. Within four years of their launch the SD8/DD8s were replaced by re-engineered 24-8-6LX and 24-DD8-6LX models. These featured a restyled cab, now with four headlamps and a new design of fully-articulating two-spring rear bogie.

The Leyland Landtrain was produced between 1980 and 1987, specifically for export markets. [16] A bonneted design, it was built in the UK and exported in completed and kit form, the latter for local construction in Kenya and Nigeria. [17] Comet [ edit ] A closeup of the cab, showing the wonderful detail that is quite visible. But many would likely never look close enough to notice the almost hidden detail lurking behind the silver grill; if you look closely, you will see that the master die makers from Meccano managed to show the vertical tubes of the radiator. How intricate that work must have been, and since it is barely visible, my guess is they did it because they could. The Leyland driver who came on the trip found it easier to take the seat out if the steering wheel was removed, although this is theoretically unnnecessary. An over-centre catch mechanism keeps the cab in its tilt position which is only to an angle of 30 degrees. A Power-Plus 0.600 140-b.h.p. diesel is employed, with the clutch and gearbox in unit with it. The light-alloy box has forward ratios of 7.24, 4.61, 2.75, 1.69 and 1 to 1, with reverse of 6.5 to 1, and the option of an additional overdrive ratio of 0.76 to I. The new double-drive bogie uses lighter versions of the Leyland double-reduction rear axle and has the usual Leyland non-reactive four-spring suspension. Ratios of 5.55, 6.13 and 7.71 are offered. Telescopic dampers are fitted to the front axles, and a steeringspecification change is the use of Burman recirculating-ball gear without servo instead of Marks cam and double roller with servo.The First World War had a profound effect on Leyland Motors and the company concentrated on building 5,932 vehicles for the British forces. At the height of the war Leyland was employing over 3000 people. North Works and Farington had expanded, South Works had come into existence as had a factory in Chorley and a steel works with its own power plant was built. Meccano was aware of changing designs, and knew their Foden models were due for an update, so in later 1952, the new, second version Foden models were made available. 1952 catalog The Leyland Comet was introduced in 1986, also designed for export markets mainly in the developing world. As such, it was a no-frills vehicle of a simple and sturdy design, with five- or six-speed transmissions rather than the multi-speed units used on European models. The cabin was a simplified all-steel version of that used by the Roadrunner, designed to enable local assembly. The three-axle version is called the Super Comet. [18] Diesel multiple units [ edit ] Threading my way through Tony’s farm property, which included a worryingly narrow snake-through past some barns and his ornate metal driveway gate complete with stone posts, and we’re away. Despite the age of the design, I’m surprised at the agility of the Octopus even though I am initially battling with the vague gear change quality and eye-wateringly narrow country lanes. Edwin R Foden broke away from the family Foden concern and started making his own diesel powered lorries in 1933 using some proprietary units such as Jennings cabs and Gardner engines. Growing rapidly to become a leading manufacturer of heavy vehicles, their fist eight wheeler was the C16.8 followed in 1947 by the 6.8, a completely new design with a Jennings V-fronted cab. In 1954 the ultra moden KV range was released with its oval grille and wrap-around windscreen. It became a fifties classic.

The G-series cab was built in Bathgate and was available with several different names, such as Terrier, Clydesdale, and Reiver. After this cab was replaced the tooling was shipped to Turkey, where BMC's Turkish subsidiary built it as the "BMC Yavuz" and then as the "Fatih" (with Cummins engines) from 1986 until 1996. Three generations of Spurriers controlled Leyland Motors from its foundation until the retirement of Henry Spurrier in 1964. Spurrier inherited control of Leyland Motors from his father in 1942, and successfully guided its growth during the postwar years. Whilst the Spurrier family were in control the company enjoyed excellent labour relations—reputedly never losing a day's production through industrial action.

The Octopus comes to life

Leyland Motor Corporation forms after Leyland Motors absorbs Standard-Triumph International and Associated Commercial Vehicles during the preceding years. The power unit is the Leyland L12 series developing 220bhp – in essence it’s the same prime mover fitted to the Marathon tractor unit, albeit without a turbocharger. This engine was originally an AEC design called the AV760 – AV denoting automotive vertical and 760 its size in cubic inches. Engine factoids… At the 1960 Earls Court Show a new eight wheeler was displayed on the Scammell stand, the Routeman MkI. This had a grp cab with wraparound windscreen, shared with the handyman tractive unit. Engines were either Gardner or Leyland, and most were supplied with 8x2 drive, though there were a few 8x4s and some 6x2s, as Scammell had no other rigid chassis at the time. Less than 100 Routeman Is were built between 1959 and 1962 before the introduction of the Michelotti-cabbed Routeman II. Without doubt the Octopus is a motorway vehicle. It cruised happily at 96.5km (60mph) on M6 and rarely dropped below 641cm/h (40mph) even on the more hilly sections. Fuel consumption was better on this section of the test than for some of the A roads. This was probably due to the higher axle ratio employed. Although a lower ratio of perhaps 6.4 to 1 would probably improve the figures over A roads, motorway consumption would suffer. A further indication of the possible need for a lower axle ratio came when the Octopus failed to start on a 1 in 5 gradient although it had performance to spare on the motorway. A management buyout made the bus division independent for a short period before it was sold to Volvo, who integrated Leyland models into their range before gradually replacing them with Volvos as they aged.

Copies of the new regulations are available from the British Plastics Federation, 47-48 Piccadilly, London, W.I.An early manufacturer of steam lorries, Atkinson failed to survive the economic depression of the late 1920s. The company re-formed in 1933 with production concentrating on diesel lorries and entered the eight wheeler market in 1937 with the L1586, a handsome "assembled" lorry using Gardner, David Brown and Kirkstall running units. An improved model L1586, popularly referred to as the "Bow-Front" was introduced in 1952. It became a classic of the Fifties. Overall fuel consumption for the 1171.9km (728.2 miles) of the test route was 37.7 litre/ 100Iun (7,5mpg)—even better than the figure of 38.7 litre/ 100km (7.3mpg) obtained a year ago during CM's road test of the Leyland Buffalo, which was carrying only 300kg (6cwt) more than the Octopus. When it is realised that the Octopus completed the course 29min faster than the Buffalo, this fuel consumption is very good indeed.