New To: Trent Motor Traction Company Ltd

Chassis: Leyland Titan PD3/4 572846

Body: Willowbrook 57985 H41/32RD

Status: Awaiting Restoration

History

Delivered in 1962 as part of a batch of 22 similar vehicles, 1054 is fitted with a Willowbrook double deck body, seating a total of 73 passengers, 41 upstairs and 32 downstairs. This batch of vehicles were the first in the Trent fleet to take advantage of a change in the Construction and Use Regulations which allowed vehicles to be up to 30 feet long. This enabled a larger seating capacity.

1054 had an uneventful service life and was withdrawn from service in 1976 as part of the fleet renewal programme. Here its life with Trent would have ended, had it not been the disastrous fire at Trent’s Meadow Road Derby garage on the night of 23rd July 1976. The fire destroyed forty buses and damaged twelve others.

This fire led to the reinstatement of a number of recently withdrawn buses, of which 1054 was one. In October 1977, 1054 was modified for use as a driver training bus. At the time if a driver required an all types licence, enabling the driving of any bus, the test had to be taken on a manual gearbox double deck bus. Part of this conversion involved the removal of the destination equipment and the bulkhead behind the driver. At this time the bus was also repainted into the allover white service vehicle livery.

In 1987, 1054 was repainted into its original livery of Ayres Red and Cream, to promote Trent’s heritage. It was adopted by a group of Fitters and Drivers, appearing at rallies up and down the country. As part of the restoration, the bulkhead and destination equipment were replaced. For a number of years, 1054 saw little use but it was used on free bus services as part of Trent’s 100th birthday celebrations in 2013.

When NHVC took on Hucknall garage we were asked to house the vehicle along with Tiger Cub 191.

Relevance To The Collection

1054 is the last surviving Trent Leyland PD3