Liverpool Corporation XL171

XL171 seen after conversion by MCW.

HISTORY

New in 1956 as SL171 and allocated to Garston garage, it was one of a batch of six Leyland Royal Tigers with Crossley single deck bodywork that was completed at Edge Lane Works. Four (SL171-174) of the six were built as experimental One Man Operation (OMO) dual door (front entrance, rear exit) 40 seaters for trials on the 66, 77 & 88 routes. The other two (SL175/6) had a front entrance/exit only and had a fixed destination indicator showing PRIVATE in place of the usual roller blind number and destination boxes. These two buses were generally used on private hire work and on the Mersey Tunnel Night Service.

In 1952 Liverpool Corporation took over the responsibility for providing the City Centre Liverpool Airport feeder service from British European Airways. With the service came four Duple bodied petrol engined Bedford OB coaches which were numbered B1- B4. Following the abandonment of the OMO experiments, SL171- 174 were transferred to Dingle and took over the Airport service from the Bedfords, which by this time had become totally unsuitable for the service.

In 1961, SL171 / 174 were dispatched to bodybuilders M.C.W. who rebuilt the four buses into half - deck coaches, with an enormous rear boot under the rear seats. They also had lantern style windscreens and a one-piece rear window, which was to a very similar design to that fitted to Ford Anglias of the period! They were painted in an attractive dark and light blue livery and carried boards proclaiming Liverpool City Airporter To complete the transformation they became fleet nos. XL171 / 174. Whilst the four coaches had been away being rebuilt, a Crosville coach was hired for the Airport service.

The Airporters returned to Garston garage in January 1965 when Dingle closed but in August 1966 they were made surplus when the 586 service was introduced, this was a limited stop service between the City Centre and the Airport and it used five Leyland Atlanteans fitted with luggage racks. Afterwards, the Airporters saw little use except for the Lime Street Station Princes Landing Stage service connecting with the Isle of Man boats and the occasional private hire. However during a severe vehicle shortage in 1968 they were used on peak hour service duties!

XL171 seen on Park Road, Bootle

After passing to the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive on its formation in December 1969, they continued to be used on Private hires and the IOM service and in 1972 some were painted green and cream. XL171 was transferred to the Reserve fleet in February 1973 and was finally withdrawn from service on the 1st January 1974. All four of the former Airporters were sold to local community groups in 1974 for further service.

The Mersey & Calder BPG acquired XL171 for preservation in 1977 in very poor condition. Another vehicle was also obtained for spares and was soon broken up. Some work has taken place over the years there still remains a lot to be done although a replacement Leyland 600 engine has recently been acquired for it. Hopefully it will not be too long before it is restored. XL 171 passed to the Merseyside Transport Trust on its formation in May 1999.