Leyland Titan PD3/6 with bodywork by Massey L35/33R, new in 1958.
| 311 PHJ 950 | 312 PHJ 951 | 313 PHJ 952 | 314 PHJ 953 |
| 315 PHJ 954 | 316 PHJ 955 |
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SCT '61 Southend Corporation Bus Fleet Details 311-316 |
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| 311-316
Leyland Titan PD3/6 with bodywork by Massey L35/33R, new in 1958.
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The legal length for two-axle double deckers had been relaxed to 30' for buses entering service from the start of July 1956 but it was not until 1958 that Southend took six Titans to the new length, 311-6 (PHJ 950-5). Leyland designated this chassis as the PD3/6, and the Massey bodies accommodated 68 seats. As the highest capacity buses of the time, they were usually employed on the Rayleigh routes 1,7 & 8. 311-6 were the first Southend buses with flashing trafficators - progress indeed! Usually known by their nickname 'long Leylands', these 6 buses were the favourites of many crews over the years. 312 was badly damaged in August 1967 in an accident in the underpass at Benfleet Station - later repaired and returned to service. Click on any of the photos for a larger image and more details. |
311 at Victoria Circus ... | 
... and 313 at the same place |
313 speeds along Thorpe Bay Seafront in 1962 in original livery. |
312 in September 1964 | 
311 repainted in the 'simpler' livery, seen in Southchurch Road in January 1965 | 
314 on a grey February day in Victoria Station forecourt |
313 in April 1965 on an unusual duty for this batch | 
315 in the depot in 1971 |
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Over the winter of 1970/1 four of batch were modified to replace the Daimlers as open-toppers. Internally, 311-4 had a somewhat curious appearance. The sunken gangway was covered over but not removed so that the lower saloon retained its lowbridge character, while on top in went the wooden slatted seats that had graced their predecessors, only of course the Daimlers were 7'6" wide and the Leylands 8', resulting in a much wider gangway than demanded by the C & U Regulations! The first photo shows the livery adopted when they were first converted, all cream save for a narrow blue band just below the top and the other two show the final livery. They lasted until 1980, 311 being the last to run in July 1980.
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312 in the original open top livery in August 1974 | 
311 in the revised livery in August 1976 | 
… and another view of 311 one year later |
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The other two in the batch, 315/6, lingered on to be Southend's last lowbridge buses, 316 making the farewell trip on April 8th 1978.
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316 in April 1975 | 
… and again a month later on driver training duties |
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Surprisingly, all of this batch of PD3s are still in existence. 311, 312 and 316 are in Germany, 313 is with the London Bus Export Company, 314 is preserved in the care of Dave Atkins of Classic Omnibus, Folkestone and 315 is preserved at the Castle Point Transport Museum. For further information, see John Lidstone's article on the Southend Titan PD3s in the December 2000 edition of Preserved Bus. |
311 seen with Harmony Inns | 
313, minus the screen upstairs front, with Sundecker | 
... and on a promotion in Germany in 2003 |
314, back in Southend for a rally | 
315 at Castle Point |
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Many thanks to Richard Delahoy for his kind permission to include extracts from his book in this page and also to Richard, Paul Harrison, Ian Banks and Steve for supplying some of the pictures. |
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