BVBG - TD130

TD130

Leyland Tiger PS1

As purchased

September 2005

Loading for transport to our shed, Sept 2005

TD130 (JXC323) has recently been sold by Group member Roy Adams. It is in need of major restoration, and will be leaving the Group as soon as its new owner arranges accommodation for it.

Vehicle details

TD130 is a Leyland Tiger PS1 with a Leyland 7.4 diesel engine and bodywork by Mann Egerton to London Transport's specification.

Vehicle history

TD130 was registered on 26th September 1949 and was allocated to Tottenham Garage. During its relatively short life with London Transport, the bus worked out of eight central area garages until being withdrawn from passenger service at Kingston Garage during 1962. It then spent a further period with the Chief Engineer's Department before being sold in January 1964, reportedly for £75, to Hills Patents Ltd, of Staines. They painted the bus blue.

Over two years passed before TD130 was sold again, passing through the hands of several preservationists before ending up stored in a barn in Sussex.

In 1988 the bus was bought by a group called the TD130 Preservation Fund, in Godstone, Surrey. The group returned the bus to the road for the first time in nearly ten years, and rallied it for two seasons. By 1991 it was again stored in a barn and advertised for sale.

TD130 was bought from the group at the end of 1991 and brought to Bristol.

Type history

The TD class were a more or less standard Leyland Tiger single-deck bus as supplied to many provincial and national bus operators all over Britain. They were purchased by London Transport as a stop-gap measure after the war, while trials took place of various designs of a proposed standard model to replace LT's ageing fleet of single-deckers. These trials eventually produced the superb RF class, of which over 700 were to enter service during the early 1950s.

A total of 131 TDs were bought by LT. The first batch, numbers 1 to 31 had Weymann bodies. However, another 100 were ordered from Leyland Motors and these were fitted with bodies built by Mann Egerton, but with a number of LT design features, including seats that were compatible with those fitted to the RT class.

All TDs had front entrances, but none was fitted with doors, due to regulations imposed by the Metropolitan Police.

Of the class of 131, only four now survive, TDs 89, 95, 118 and 130.

Current situation

The vehicle is in need of restoration and the owner has decided to sell it in order for this to take place.