Liverpool Corporation A801

A801 seen in service in Huyton

HISTORY

A801 is the sole surviving member of a batch of 50 AEC Regent III 9613As that the Corporation ordered in the autumn of 1950. Fitted with the AEC A218 9.6 litre engine manual transmission and Crossley 56 seat bodies these were Liverpool's first 8-foot wide buses. Liverpool took advantage of the extra width and altered the front destination layout to one that had two identical sized apertures, one for the final destination and the other for the intermediate via points, a three track number box sat above these. This layout became standard on all the double deck buses until the introduction of One-Man Operation in the late 1960s.

A801 passing similar sister A766.

A801 was amongst the last of the batch to be delivered, arriving in January 1952. It spent its first 7 years allocated to Prince Alfred Road garage before being reallocated to Edge Lane in November 1959. It was Withdrawn from passenger carrying service on the 1st July 1968 but it was then transferred to the Driving School were it survived only for a few more months before being withdrawn in the middle of the following January.

Along with sister vehicle A776, A801 was sold to J & P Jacobs of Long Lane, Liverpool for use as staff transport. A801 was eventually purchased for preservation by the Group in the mid 1970s but like most Crossley bodied vehicles, it suffers from severe tin worm. Like a number of the Groups vehicles it has been kept undercover for many years, until the resources become available for it to be rebuilt and once again it can grace the streets of Liverpool.

A801 seen at Burscough

Although A801 (now part of the Merseyside Transport Trust Collection) is going to be one of the Trust’s most challenging restoration projects, the Trust is confident that is has the ability to carry out the necessary work to restore the bus to its former glory.