SCT'61 Articles
Southend Corporation Bus Fleet
Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmasters RT3/1 with Glasgow Corporation / Weymann B44F bodies, new in 1956/7, purchased from Glasgow Corporation in 1966.
Later in 1966 another five saloons were acquired in apart exchange deal with MilIburn Motors of Preston, who acquired deckers 281/3-6 (and some cash!) in exchange for FYS 667-9/86/72, which became Southend 210-4. They were 10 year old Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmasters with 44 seat bodies, built by their previous owner, Glasgow Corporation, on Weymann shells, part of a batch of 30. As new they had dual entrance 40 seat bodies but were all later converted, while still in service with Glasgow, to single entrance.
The Worldmaster was an almost indestructible export model and the complete opposite in specification to the Aberdonians, with the big 11.1 litre 0680 engine and pneumocyclic semi-automatic gearboxes (both features then new to Southend). At 7t 9cwt their unladen weight was almost two and a half tons more than the Aberdonians, and nearly as much as the Massey bodied PD2's!
211 at Bournes Green in April 1966, just after entering service
210 outside Central Station
212 outside Victoria Station
... and 210 six years later at Pier Hill, just before withdrawal
All the Worldmasters were withdrawn in 1972. 213 was the last to go on October 31st that year and then for 3 years it was owned by Southend Stadium and used as a greyhound transporter - the other four all went to a local dealer in early January 1973.
Many thanks to Richard Delahoy for his kind permission to include extracts from his book in this page and also for supplying some of the pictures.
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