Liverpool Corporation 1054

1054 seen outside Garston Station in the '70s

HISTORY

1054 was one of 110 Leyland Panthers (1001 - 1110) delivered to Liverpool Corporation in 1968/69 making Liverpool Britain's largest user of the Panther. 

Although the standard chassis wheelbase length was 18 ft.6 in. Liverpool opted for a non-standard 17ft 6in wheelbase. They were powered by the Leyland 0.680 engine, similar to that fitted in later Atlanteans but mounted horizontally in line with a semi-automatic Pneumocyclic gearbox. Many other components used on the chassis were also standard with those fitted to the PDR1 Atlanteans.

Sister to 1054, 1057, seen in the original livery

All the Panthers were fitted with M.C.W. 47 seat dual door bodywork with a distinctive stepped waistrail (1035 only had 45 seats) and there was provision for a further 24 standing passengers. These buses painted in cream with green window surrounds, a reversal of the normal livery to signify being one man operated. 

They introduced a new style of fleet numbering on pressed metal fleet number plates with the chassis make now represented by the 1st digit rather than the conventional prefix letter.  This system eventually became 1000s - Leyland's, 2000s - Bristol's, 3000s - Daimlers, 4000s - Metro Scanias, 5000s reserved for Leyland Titans but was never used, 6000s - Leyland Nationals, 7000s - dual purpose vehicles.

The 68 route (Aigburth to Seaforth) was the first route to be converted to one man operation with the introduction of Leyland Panthers on the 1st of July 1968 with routes 46 and 99 following shortly afterwards. As with most of the country, high capacity single deck buses quickly dropped in favour with the introduction of double deck one man operation, resulting in the under utilisation of these buses. 

By the mid 1970's large numbers of  Panthers were stored in various depots awaiting recertification.  Eventually the first were withdrawn in 1977 and during this year and 1978, 53 were sold, the majority going for scrap but 19 went to Chesterfield Corporation while 7 went to Hulley & Sons of Baslow in the Peak District. During 1977/78, 24 were rebuilt to single door layout by removing the centre doors and installing luggage racks and in 1979 a small number, including 1039 which is also now preserved, ventured across to the Wirral Division for a few months until the delivery of some Nationals.

Back to 1054, it had managed to survive with both doors and was eventually withdrawn in April 1981, the final year of Liverpool's Panthers.

1054 seen after purchase from Liverpool Airport in the '90s

After withdrawal, it passed to Liverpool Speke Airport Authority for use on Passenger/Terminal transfers.  Here it saw intermittent use for a number of years before coming surplus with the opening of the new Terminal Buildings.

It was donated for preservation in 1989 and was stored until February 2003 and is currently undergoing restoration at Burscough. For more details see the Restoration page. Sister Panther 1076 was recovered from a layby in Ambergate during February 2008 and will provide some much needed spare parts for 1054.