Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster
Encyclopedia
The Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster, sometimes simply known as the Leyland Worldmaster, was a mid-underfloor-engined bus chassis built by Leyland between 1954 and 1979.
Sales ran from 1954 to 1979 by which time more than 20,000 had been built making it Leyland's most successful bus. In comparison, by 1985 approximately 17,000 Leyland Atlantean
s had been built, Leyland Leopard
sales terminated in 1983 after deliveries totalled over 12,000. In global terms only the ‘Old Look’ GMC single decker (around 30,000 over thirty years production run), the Mercedes-Benz O303 (38,018 over 18 years) and the Bedford SB
(45,000 over thirty-eight years) beat the Worldmaster for overall sales. The Worldmaster was an unequivocal success for Leyland and an aptly named model.
Operators in every inhabited continent bought Worldmasters, big markets were western and southern Africa, Australasia, South and Central America, the Middle-East (notably Israel), the Caribbean and continental Europe, both Eastern and Western bloc.
Other than these two batches, the only home-market orders for Worldmasters were for the RT3/2 coach version, which attracted a small band of devoted followers comprising Gliderways, Smethwick
, Birmingham
; Smith’s Tours, Wigan
and Ellen Smith Coaches of Rochdale
. Gliderways used Harrington
coach bodies whilst the Lancashire operators chose Plaxton
, based in North Yorkshire. Between these three fewer than ten coaches were sold, at the time the Tiger Cub
and AEC Reliance
dominated the underfloor-engined single-deck coach market. The arrival of the L1/2 Leyland Leopard
in 1959 followed by the PSU3 version in 1961 confined UK-registered Worldmasters to a trickle of undelivered export chassis, one of which (an ERT2/2) went to Happiways of Manchester in 1963, bodied by Duple (Northern) in the former H. V. Burlingham
factory. Like Smith of Wigan, Happiways became part of today's Shearings Holidays.
The RT3/2 was withdrawn from home market sale in 1961 and the RT3/1 in 1964 .
in Spain produced an LERT1 whose frontal aspect resembled the Edsel
car, and many other coachbuilders made pan-continental names bodying the Worldmaster, DAB
in particular, able to respond in 1959 to a short-notice order from Poland's state tourism authority, became favoured by and eventually taken over by Leyland. Other globally notable coachbuilders to body Worldmasters include Ha'argaz and Merkavim in Israel, Jonckheere
, Van Hool
, Marcopolo
, CCMC and NZMB.
Rhodesian Railways specified a 6x2 version of the Worldmaster with Leyland-Albion non-reactive suspension for the rear bogie. By 1960 Leyland South Africa developed a version of the Worldmaster with front-vertical engine, but this was discontinued after the 1962 merger with AEC in favour of the stronger-selling AEC Kudu. Later the Guy Victory J and the Albion Clydesdale were available for this market sector. A notable use of Worldmaster units was in two BUT 9641T trolleybus chassis, formerly London Transport Q1 class vehicles, that the Santander Trolleybus company rebuilt to 11-metre length with extended front overhang.
Eventually the PSU3/5 Leopard relegated the Worldmaster to markets requiring very heavy-duty chassis. Australia and New Zealand gradually converted to the Leopard from the first half of the 1960s whilst Worldmasters continued to dominate sales in the Nordic areas of Europe until at least 1971 but thereafter even Norway and Finland took to the Leopard (Sweden preferring its own Scania and Volvo chassis). From the mid-1970s West Africa was the last stronghold of substantial Worldmaster orders, Lagos Municipality in particular favouring the type, using Marshall and Willowbrook dual-door bodies to an outline resembling BET
standard Leyland Leopards but with bigger tyres, greater ground clearance and an inherent toughness of character no Leopard ever possessed.
did the same with its 17 WT class ERT2 touring coaches in 1970-71, removing the seven-year-old CIÉ/Ogle Associates bodies and sending the refitted chassis to Belgium where they received new Van Hool
Vistadome bodies, as the WVH class they continued to serve CIÉ well, the last examples being retired in 2002, examples of the WVH class are also preserved. Some former Glasgow Worldmasters were sold to Australia in the early 1970s, extended to 11m, and rebodied.
Egged in Israel rebodied 40 buses in the early 1980s.
Corporation who took ten manual RTC1/1 in 1965 and ten semi-automatic RTC1/2 in 1967/8 in both cases with dual door Charles H. Roe
45-seat bodies, the PSU3 Leopard was more closely related to this model than the preceding L1/L2. The PSU4 Leopard replaced both the Royal Tiger Cub and the L1/L2 Leopard by 1968.
, Scania
and Volvo
, and tied-down by the dead weight of the British Leyland car division (particularly Austin-Morris) no cash was available for an updated replacement for the Worldmaster. It was replaced by the Leyland Leopard
after 1979: the last Worldmasters were bodied in the early 1980s and some are still in service.
Later export-only Leyland single deckers were to find much less success, types B21 and B52 not proving strong sellers, the rear-engined Tiger amounting to one demonstrator, and the B82 Ranger comprised 34 chassis, one 12m long and the rest 10m, all of which were sold to CUTCSA of Montevideo, Uruguay (a major Olympic and Worldmaster customer) who built their own bodies for them.
Description
Succeeding the Leyland Royal Tiger underfoor-engined heavyweight single-deck bus or coach chassis which sold more than 6,000 from 1950 to 1956 was a difficult call, but Leyland answered it with the Royal Tiger Worldmaster, it retained a substantial steel ladder-frame chassis to which operators could fit a coachbuilt body of their choice. A Leyland O680H horizontal engine (the smaller-volume O600H was optional but rarely chosen) was mounted at the middle of the chassis frame, driving back through a pneumocyclic semi-automatic gearbox to an overhead-worm rear axle, steering was via a worm and nut mechanism .Sales ran from 1954 to 1979 by which time more than 20,000 had been built making it Leyland's most successful bus. In comparison, by 1985 approximately 17,000 Leyland Atlantean
Leyland Atlantean
The Leyland Atlantean is a model of double-decker bus built by Leyland in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1986....
s had been built, Leyland Leopard
Leyland Leopard
The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...
sales terminated in 1983 after deliveries totalled over 12,000. In global terms only the ‘Old Look’ GMC single decker (around 30,000 over thirty years production run), the Mercedes-Benz O303 (38,018 over 18 years) and the Bedford SB
Bedford SB
The Bedford SB was a front-engined bus chassis built by Bedford Vehicles in the United Kingdom. It was launched at the 1950 Commercial Motor Show as the replacement for the Bedford OB....
(45,000 over thirty-eight years) beat the Worldmaster for overall sales. The Worldmaster was an unequivocal success for Leyland and an aptly named model.
The range
Leyland coded the Worldmaster RT, export versions were prefixed E, unless they had the low ground-clearance frame, prefixed C, designed for paved-road markets which required lower step heights, this was dropped in the wheelbase and overhangs and arched over the axles, whereas the RT and ERT had a straight frame. Left-hand drive Worldmasters were either LERT or LCRT, to tabulate the basic range:| Model | Wheelbase | Overall length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| RT1 | 20 ft | 35 ft (nominal) | Up to 12m in real life |
| RT2 | 18 ft 6in | 33 ft (nominal) | 11m bodies by 1962 |
| RT3 | 16 ft 2in | 30 ft (nominal) | Only type marketed in UK |
Operators in every inhabited continent bought Worldmasters, big markets were western and southern Africa, Australasia, South and Central America, the Middle-East (notably Israel), the Caribbean and continental Europe, both Eastern and Western bloc.
Home market
Very few Worldmasters were sold in the UK. Glasgow Corporation took 30 RT3/1 from 1956 with Weymann body frames finished by the corporation's skilled tram-builders over the next two years. Halifax Corporation took ten with complete Weymann bodies in the same year.Other than these two batches, the only home-market orders for Worldmasters were for the RT3/2 coach version, which attracted a small band of devoted followers comprising Gliderways, Smethwick
Smethwick
Smethwick is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the edge of the city of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
; Smith’s Tours, Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
and Ellen Smith Coaches of Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
. Gliderways used Harrington
Thomas Harrington Ltd
Thomas Harrington & Sons Ltd was a coachbuilder in the county of Sussex from 1897 until 1966, initially at Brighton but from 1930 until the end in a purpose built Art Deco factory at Old Shoreham Road, Hove.-Overview:The company began with the construction of horse-drawn carriages...
coach bodies whilst the Lancashire operators chose Plaxton
Plaxton
Plaxton is a builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Scarborough, England.-History:The Plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in Scarborough in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton.-Beginnings:...
, based in North Yorkshire. Between these three fewer than ten coaches were sold, at the time the Tiger Cub
Leyland Tiger Cub
The Leyland Tiger Cub was a lightweight underfloor-engined chassis built by Leyland Motors between 1951 and 1970, most as 44-45 seat buses, with a smaller number as coaches...
and AEC Reliance
AEC Reliance
The AEC Reliance was a single-deck bus or coach chassis with a mid-underfloor-mounted engine, built by AEC in Southall, west London, England between 1953 and 1979. The name had previously been used between 1928 and 1931 for another single-deck bus chassis....
dominated the underfloor-engined single-deck coach market. The arrival of the L1/2 Leyland Leopard
Leyland Leopard
The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...
in 1959 followed by the PSU3 version in 1961 confined UK-registered Worldmasters to a trickle of undelivered export chassis, one of which (an ERT2/2) went to Happiways of Manchester in 1963, bodied by Duple (Northern) in the former H. V. Burlingham
H. V. Burlingham
H. V. Burlingham was a coachbuilding business based in Blackpool, Lancashire from 1928 until 1960 when they were taken over by London-based rivals Duple Motor Bodies Limited. Duple initially renamed Burlingham as Duple but in 1969 they closed their Hendon factory and concentrated production in...
factory. Like Smith of Wigan, Happiways became part of today's Shearings Holidays.
The RT3/2 was withdrawn from home market sale in 1961 and the RT3/1 in 1964 .
Export
North America and the UK were the only areas in the world in the 1960s and 1970s where a passenger was unlikely to find a Worldmaster. Israel was the largest market with more than 5000 units had been in service, most of them had locally built bodies. More than 3,600 chassis were built at the Leyland Ashdod plant in Israel. They served as interurban, urban, coaches and even as trucks. Many had been rebodied during the 1980s. In India, Portugal and Spain examples even had double-deck bodies fitted. Almost all markets produced their own styles and makes of coachwork, for example Casaro of Italy produced a Ghia-styled coach on LERT2 with a flamboyant grille, ribbed anodised-aluminium skirt panels and large tail fins. This was reproduced as Matchbox Toys number 40, "Leyland Royal Tiger Coach". AyatsAyats
Ayats is the trading name of Carrocerías Ayats SA, a Spain-based coachbuilder. The company constructs a range of coach bodies on a variety of chassis, and also manufacture their own integral products. Their products are used throughout Europe. The company was established in 1905 by Mr...
in Spain produced an LERT1 whose frontal aspect resembled the Edsel
Edsel
The Edsel was an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. Consequently, the Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars on the Edsel's development,...
car, and many other coachbuilders made pan-continental names bodying the Worldmaster, DAB
Danish Automobile Building
Danish Automobile Building was a Danish bus manufacturer based in Silkeborg. It was in existence from 1912 until 2002....
in particular, able to respond in 1959 to a short-notice order from Poland's state tourism authority, became favoured by and eventually taken over by Leyland. Other globally notable coachbuilders to body Worldmasters include Ha'argaz and Merkavim in Israel, Jonckheere
Jonckheere
Jonckheere is a motor coach and bus builder, founded in 1881 by Henri Jonckheere in Roeselare, Belgium. Presently, the company is known as VDL Jonckheere.-History:...
, Van Hool
Van Hool
Van Hool NV is a Belgian coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, coaches, trolleybuses, and trailers.The company was founded in 1947 by Bernard van Hool in Koningshooikt, nearby Lier, Belgium. In the early years, the company introduced serial production and exported their products all over Europe...
, Marcopolo
Marcopolo S.A.
Marcopolo S.A. is a bus manufacturer founded on August 6, 1949, in the southern Brazilian city of Caxias do Sul, state of Rio Grande do Sul. The company manufactures the bodies for a whole range of coaches, e.g. microbus, intercity and touring coach...
, CCMC and NZMB.
Rhodesian Railways specified a 6x2 version of the Worldmaster with Leyland-Albion non-reactive suspension for the rear bogie. By 1960 Leyland South Africa developed a version of the Worldmaster with front-vertical engine, but this was discontinued after the 1962 merger with AEC in favour of the stronger-selling AEC Kudu. Later the Guy Victory J and the Albion Clydesdale were available for this market sector. A notable use of Worldmaster units was in two BUT 9641T trolleybus chassis, formerly London Transport Q1 class vehicles, that the Santander Trolleybus company rebuilt to 11-metre length with extended front overhang.
Eventually the PSU3/5 Leopard relegated the Worldmaster to markets requiring very heavy-duty chassis. Australia and New Zealand gradually converted to the Leopard from the first half of the 1960s whilst Worldmasters continued to dominate sales in the Nordic areas of Europe until at least 1971 but thereafter even Norway and Finland took to the Leopard (Sweden preferring its own Scania and Volvo chassis). From the mid-1970s West Africa was the last stronghold of substantial Worldmaster orders, Lagos Municipality in particular favouring the type, using Marshall and Willowbrook dual-door bodies to an outline resembling BET
British Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
standard Leyland Leopards but with bigger tyres, greater ground clearance and an inherent toughness of character no Leopard ever possessed.
Rebodies
Ellen Smith found its two Worldmaster RT3/2s too good to scrap after a decade of high-mileage use, instead they were fitted with new Plaxton bodies in 1968 and 1970, the latter coach is preserved. CIÉCIE
-Organizations:* Cambridge International Examinations, an international examination board* Cleveland Institute of Electronics, a private technical and engineering educational institution — the International Commission on Illumination...
did the same with its 17 WT class ERT2 touring coaches in 1970-71, removing the seven-year-old CIÉ/Ogle Associates bodies and sending the refitted chassis to Belgium where they received new Van Hool
Van Hool
Van Hool NV is a Belgian coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, coaches, trolleybuses, and trailers.The company was founded in 1947 by Bernard van Hool in Koningshooikt, nearby Lier, Belgium. In the early years, the company introduced serial production and exported their products all over Europe...
Vistadome bodies, as the WVH class they continued to serve CIÉ well, the last examples being retired in 2002, examples of the WVH class are also preserved. Some former Glasgow Worldmasters were sold to Australia in the early 1970s, extended to 11m, and rebodied.
Egged in Israel rebodied 40 buses in the early 1980s.
Firemaster
A 12 ft 6 in wheelbase version of the Worldmaster with O680H engine, five-speed gearbox and two-speed rear-axle with the radiator relocated to the UK nearside just ahead of the rear-axle was sold from 1958 to fire-appliance builders as the Leyland Firemaster, the unique selling-point being that a water pump with power take-off from the transmission could be fitted at the extreme front of the chassis allowing the Firemaster to nose-in to incidents and be ready to deploy water hoses in half the time of conventional front-engined fire engines. Only Manchester and Glasgow Fire Brigades really took-to the idea and the project was dropped by 1962-3 as it had proved unprofitable.Royal Tiger Cub
For many markets in Western Europe the LOPSUC1 Tiger Cub was underpowered and the LCRT3 Worldmaster too heavy, thus in 1960 the 17 ft 6in wheelbase Royal Tiger Cub LRTC was launched for 10-metre bodies with O600H engine and option of either synchromesh or Pneumocyclic transmission. Worldmaster-type axles and ten-stud wheels were used in a frame derived from the export Tiger Cub. A right-hand-drive version went to New Zealand, Australia and to DoncasterDoncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
Corporation who took ten manual RTC1/1 in 1965 and ten semi-automatic RTC1/2 in 1967/8 in both cases with dual door Charles H. Roe
Charles H. Roe
Charles H. Roe Ltd. was a Yorkshire coachbuilding company. It was for most of its life based at Crossgates Carriage Works, in Leeds.In 1947 it was taken over by Park Royal Vehicles. Two years later, along with its parent, it became part of Associated Commercial Vehicles in 1949, which was merged...
45-seat bodies, the PSU3 Leopard was more closely related to this model than the preceding L1/L2. The PSU4 Leopard replaced both the Royal Tiger Cub and the L1/L2 Leopard by 1968.
The end
By the mid 1970s Leyland were losing global bus and truck sales, particularly to MercedesMercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, Scania
Scania AB
Scania Aktiebolag , commonly referred to as Scania AB or just Scania, is a major Swedish automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles - specifically heavy trucks and buses...
and Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, and tied-down by the dead weight of the British Leyland car division (particularly Austin-Morris) no cash was available for an updated replacement for the Worldmaster. It was replaced by the Leyland Leopard
Leyland Leopard
The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...
after 1979: the last Worldmasters were bodied in the early 1980s and some are still in service.
Later export-only Leyland single deckers were to find much less success, types B21 and B52 not proving strong sellers, the rear-engined Tiger amounting to one demonstrator, and the B82 Ranger comprised 34 chassis, one 12m long and the rest 10m, all of which were sold to CUTCSA of Montevideo, Uruguay (a major Olympic and Worldmaster customer) who built their own bodies for them.
Books
- Jack, The Leyland Bus Mark Two, Glossop 1984
- Kaye, British Buses 1945-68, London 1969
- Brown, Plaxton 100 Years, Hersham 2007
- Townsin in Smith (ed), Buses Annual 1965, London 1964
- Townsin, Duple 70 years of Coachbuilding, Glossop 1999