Like the railway industry in the nineteenth century, Britain was a major player in supplying the world with buses, particularly double-deckers. The principal contributors in the mid-twentieth century were AEC, Daimler and Leyland Motors. Buses were exported throughout the world either as complete vehicles or as a chassis with locally assembled bodywork completing the bus. As early as 1911, Leyland Motors sold five single-deck charabancs to Lisbon Tramways and three to Cape Town Electric Tramways. It says something for the endurance of the British-built chassis when examples of the Daimler...

Preston Corporation Tramways was formed in 1904, later becoming Preston Corporation Transport Department. Electric trams, the majority of which were built in Preston, were operated until1935. The first buses entered service in January 1922. The department bought nothing but Leyland chassis until 1976, when three Bristol LHS midi-buses entered the fleet. The first ‘OPO’-equipped buses were introduced in December 1968 and consisted of fifteen Leyland Panthers. Preston was a staunch advocate of the Leyland Titan and operated an assortment of PD1, PD2 and PD3 models over the years. Between...

Stunning photographs documenting the final era of these iconic London buses focusing on the South of the Thames.

The Blackpool Electric Tramway Company commenced operation of a conduit system of railed vehicles along the Promenade between Cocker Street and Station Road on 29 September 1885. By the 1930s the rolling stock was becoming somewhat worn out and, following the appointment of Walter Luff as General Manager in November 1932, the fleet was revolutionised. Over the next few years Luff introduced a fleet of eighty-four streamlined cars and built a new depot at Rigby Road in which to house them. These formed the backbone of the fleet for several decades and a considerable number, although...