Liverpool Corporation L320

L320 in service in the mid '60s

HISTORY

L320, one of a batch of 35 Leyland Titan PD2/20s with Crossley bodywork was officially allocated to Edge Lane garage on the 15th September 1957, the day after the last tram ran in service in Liverpool. It had probably entered service the day before, as the tramway operation of the 6A to Bowring Park and the 40 to Page Moss was gradually replaced by buses from Mid-day on the 14th.

These 35 Titans (L310 to L344) were ordered at the same time as the 35 AEC Regent Vs (A233 to A267) in order to complete the Tramway Conversion Program. These orders were extended by a further 25 chassis each so as to cover for the closure of the Liverpool Overhead Railway which closed in December 1956.

L320 remained allocated to Edge Lane throughout its working life with the LCPT and the MPTE until it was withdrawn on the 17th December 1973. It then became one of a number of Ex Liverpool PD2/20s to be converted into play-buses, L320 finally ending up in the Runcorn/Widnes area as a community play-bus.

After ending its days as a play-bus, the Mersey & Calder BPG acquired L320 in 1984 for use as a donor vehicle for spare parts, as the body structure has extensive corrosion and it has also been totally stripped of all its bus fittings and seats, fortunately, it has remained stored undercover for over twenty years awaiting this fate. Whilst its restoration is not impossible (Former garage towing bus, L252 was also acquired for spaces a few years ago and the body was carefully dismantled with the view of using the parts to re-build L320 should anyone was willing to do so), it is questionable whether the time, effort and money would be better spent restoring one of the other vehicles in the collection especially as a basically similar bus is already in the process of being restored. However it would be a great shame if L320 was scrapped after all this time.