Liverpool Corporation L161

L161 on City Circle services

HISTORY

L161 was part of an order for 80 Leyland Titan PD2/20 chassis that were ordered in 1953. With Edge Lane Works fully at the time rebuilding trams, the bodies for this order were delivered fully completed by the bodybuilders. 50 (L91 to L140) were bodied by Duple ( Midland) with the remaining 30 (L141-L170) receiving Alexander bodywork. All had a seating capacity of 58, 32 upstairs and 26 down. Both designs of bodywork looked basically similar with only detail differences, the most noticeable being the different size of the emergency exit.

L161 entered service from Carnegie Road Garage in January 1955 although it only remained here for just over a year as it was transferred to Walton in February 1956. When Walton closed for rebuilding in October 1962, L161 along with the majority of Walton’s allocation moved to the brand new garage at Gillmoss.

With the introduction of the City Circle Shopping Service in November 1965, five Alexander bodied PD2s, including L161, were selected for conversion into dedicated buses for this service. The work involved the fitting of overhead luggage racks in the lower saloon and the fitting of a one-piece fixed display instead of the standard destination display. They carried a revised livery of cream with green window surrounds and route branding. All five operated from Garston garage between December 1965 and September 1969 when the buses reverted back to normal service condition. L161 returned to Gillmoss on the 20th November 1969, just 11days before the formation of the Merseyside PTE on the 1st December 1969.

Transferred to the reserve fleet in December 1970, it returned to Gillmoss for further service in February 1971 and lasted another twelve months. It was withdrawn and transferred to the driving school the following February, remaining in the training school until it was finally withdrawn on the 1st November 1977, thus becoming the last former Liverpool Corporation rear loader to be used by the driving school.

The bus was donated by the MPTE to the Mersey & Calder BPG for preservation in March 1978 later passing to the Merseyside Transport Trust in 1999. Over the last twenty years a lot of work has been carried out on L161 but currently it is parked up awaiting completion of other projects.

The drving school's last back loader

It was donated by the MPTE to the Mersey & Calder BPG for preservation in March 1978, over the last twenty years a lot of work has been carried out on L161, and hopefully it will be completed in the not so distant future once the necessary resources become available.

L161 in its current condition