News | WYPTE Vehicles | Group History, Contacting Us and Supporting Us | Links News | WYPTE Vehicles | Group History, Contacting Us and Supporting Us | Links Leyland Cub (Redline) CU435 bodied by Optare
Leyland 6-98 Engine
Allison 545 Automatic Gearbox
Introducing WYPTE 1807, which has recently returned home to West Yorkshire after over seventeen years away.
1807 was first registered on Valentines' Day, 1986. It was initially allocated to Hall Ings garage, Bradford. It is pictured above on the Forecourt outside Bradford Interchange (note the Verona Green clock in the background). In October 1986 it transferred to Leeds Sovereign Street and became part of the Yorkshire Rider Leeds fleet.
1807 has a little brother, also from the Optare stable. 1705 is an ex- West Yorkshire PTE Freight Rover Sherpa with Optare coachbuilt body. This vehicle is currently under restoration, and should appear at some events later on in 2005.
Back to the Cub story, which also includes the Sherpas... Yorkshire Rider inherited a mixed fleet of vehicles, the majority ordered by the PTE in the mid 1970s and early 1980s, some vehicles from Leeds City Transport and Calderdale Joint Omnibus Committee, and some newer vehicles. A number of these newer vehicles were leased (the Cubs, the Sherpas, some Olympians, eight of the Alexander bodied Metrobuses and possibly others also). As Yorkshire Rider did not want to pay leasing charges, these vehicles were disposed of, and the older Atlanteans and Fleetlines retained.
The strange thing is that, even though the cubs lasted less that a year in West Yorkshire, thery managed to carry four different liveries across the class: 1801-1804 (which were built with 27 coach seats) were delivered in MetroCoach livery (as were all the Optare Sherpas), 1805-1808 and 1811-1815 were delivered in Verona Green and Buttermilk, and 1809 and 1810 were delivered in a yellow Bradford ShopHopper livery. In 1987, 1804-06 were repainted into Yorkshire Rider livery.
The Kirkby Central Concern (made famous by acting as disposal agents for many GMPTE standard buses) was appointed to dispose of the Cubs. 1807 passed to Kirkby Central on 8th May 1987.
On 8th June 1987, it was acquired by Owen's Coaches of Oswestry. On 14th November 1988, it moved to Mawn International Coachways Ltd of Sutton-in-Ashfield, with whom it is depicted below in Newark Bus Station (please note that the logo on the front of the vehicle reads “Maun” whereas the DVLA history paperwork reads “Mawn”; note also that the livery seperation is identical to the divisions between buttermilk, verona green and the black bumper that it carried in our first illustration).
27th April 1990 it passed to East Midland Motor Services Ltd of Chesterfield. 12th October 1992 it was on the move again, to Martins Coaches of Stone, quickly followed by Boomerang Bus Co of Tewkesbury in November 1992. 11th August 1993 saw it move to Saffords Coaches Ltd of Sandy with whom it stayed for six years.
On 4th August 1999 it passed to Martin Perry T/A Bromyard Omnibus, Streamhall Garage, Bromyard, Herefordshire.
2nd September 1999 saw it back up north, to Mawn International Travel Cons of Sutton-in-Ashfield. On 7th February 2001 it passed to Balmoral Coaches Ltd of Liverpool, then on 7th July 2002 it passed to Pilkington Buses, of Accrington. Pilkington initially intended to use it as a driver trainer vehicle, however the introduction of a minimum length of 9 metres (just under thirty feet) for vehicles acceptable for a category D (PSV) driving test (which the cub at 26 feet did not comply with) saw that plan abandoned, and the vehicle was stored, occasionally being driven around their yard, but not beyond. The vehicles' last MOT (as a class VI) expired in April 2003.
In December 2004, Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group acquired this vehicle for preservation, it returned home to Leeds on Saturday 18th December 2004, and gained its current Class V MOT two days later.
The vehicle is presently presented in red and cream livery, which will be retained for the next year or so. If nothing else, the livery, being almost identical to the late 1980s Tilling style West Yorkshire Road Car livery, presents a “what might have been” had the Cubs remained in service longer, as a small number of Yorkshire Rider vehicles (including for example WYPTE Leopard 8515) were transferred to the 'red' division and painted in such a livery. All being well, 1807 should receive Verona Green and Buttermilk livery in time for the twentieth anniversary of the demise of the Passenger Transport Executives as bus operators in Britain. Of course, should we receive an offer of sponsorship, it would go the colours of your choice tomorrow (though as you will see from some of the pictures, it is currently being used as my battering ram, for category D test practice) alternatively I would be very interested to hear from businesses who would like to sponsor its repaint into Verona Green and buttermilk, and receive advertising space on the rear and sides. So far in 2005 it has attended several rallies in and around Yorkshire, with plans to appear at several more later in the year. The owning group enjoyed a very proud moment in August 2005 when, as pictured above, the vehicle returned to its birthplace where it was posed outside the finishing shop and main office block of Optare Ltd who coincidentally have just announced a management buyout to regain their independence.
WYPTE only ordered two midibus designs (although it also trialled the Seddon and the Domino from GMPTE and SYPTE respectively); the Bristol LHS and the Leyland Cub. It is therefore particularly pleasing that a representative of each is saved, and they will attend a small number of local events together this year. They are seen below getting to know each other for the first time (as they never operated in West Yorkshire concurrently) at the Dewsbury Bus Museum open day in March 2005.
For completeness, I am trying to compile some for of record of Leyland Cubs that were built for other UK bus operators, I am aware that Lothian had a batch with Duple bodywork, and that GMPTE had two with Reeve Burgess bodywork (of which one - 1702 B702UVR - is still taxed in August 2005) but presumably there were other Cubs too?
Compiling a list of vehicles fitted with this style of Optare bodywork is much easier, as there were only these fifteen Leyland Cubs for WYPTE and fourteen Dennis Dominos for SYPTE ever fitted with it. A detailed website about the history and surviving members of SYPTE's Domino's can be found here the only other Dennis Dominos to be built were with Northern Counties' of which the Selnec Preservation Society have the sole survivor, GMPTE 1751.
To complete the 1807 page, whilst you have just read that there are two 1751's in preservation, there are also two 1807's, as GMPTE 1807 is also preserved.