Wigan Album

Worst Leyland trucks these.
Like the cars all rubbish when British Leyland took them over.

Escort, Cavalier, Capri and Escort van. Nothing rubbish about them.

These became Leyland Daf 80 series from 1991. Not the best lorries up against Scania, Volvo, Daf and Man.

Proper motley crew there Ozy, I can see now that Ian is not same bloke I was on about earlier, also like the Leyland truck a good work horse.

Leyland bus and truck division WAS at one time best in the World, but now defunct. Like Northen Counties bus body makers, they were the best in the World and made in Wigan. So sad they are no more.

Alan, your "best in the World" claims are a bit far-fetched.

Facts and Opinions Dek.

But they are still making Trucks and Bus Chassis in Leyland, a lot of Wiganers still involved.

So very true Alan, there are still a lot of bus chassis built at Leyland and their bodies built at Massey Bros or Northern Counties, that are still running and being used both here and abroad and are in a great condition.

Masses Brothers coach builders base at Pemberton were taken over by Northen Counties in Enfield Street. They are now defunct, sadly. They also had a workshop on Wigan Lane.

I owned a Leyland constructor (E890VNT) for 8 years with the TL11 engine and recall changing pins and bushes on rear four spring system a couple of times but generally good and a Leyland mastiff with the Perkins 540 v8 (GPF206V) okay BUT 45 mph top speed,moved on to Mercedes 25/27 etc till retirement in 2012 and my 2005 Merc was still operating till maybe 2 years back (MX05DBZ) on the MOT website.

The wagon in the above shot John was actually badged as a Scammell with the Roadtrain cab and was powered by a Cummins engine . An extremely capable motor .

A previous motor to this one was an Octopus with the Leyland TL11 engine and a Spicer gearbox . That motor would pull like a train but had the unfortunate trait of persistently overheating and blowing head gaskets .

Still , it was a nice motor to drive and although she’s probably long since been recycled into razor blades , I still retain fond memories of the old girl .

Ozy your correct as I drove the Scammell with the Roadtrain cab Cummins engine carting stone from Buxton and delivering to what was Quick Mix around 1979 before I bought my own,sorry for any confusion I was just referring my experience with Leyland in general not particularly the Roadtrain but did hear about the head gasket problems.

I was once told by a lad from Chorley who’d served his time at Leyland Motors that the TL 11 engine was in actual fact the old Leyland 680 engine that had been bored out to accept larger diameter pistons , thereby reducing the area of the coolant channel .

This in turn meant re-designing the engine cooling system , but it seems they didn’t get it quite right , resulting in the persistent overheating issue .

Also , and I make no pretence at being a motor mechanic here , but once a new head gasket has been fitted to a Leyland engine and the head torqued down , the bolts have to be re-torqued after about 50 miles or so .

I have no doubt that you know far more than I do about engines John … but unfortunately , the fitters at the Steetley workshop in Chesterton appeared to know Jack **** about Leyland engines , so consequently , the Octopus did almost as many miles over the inspection pit as the damn thing did on the road .

Shame really , as it was a cracking motor otherwise . But in the end , the Cummins engine saw off the Leyland , Perkins and Gardner engines good style in my view .
And history would appear to substantiate that view .

Also the Jake brake fitted to the Cummins was streets ahead of any exhaust brake that any of the continental manufacturers could hope to come up with …
but then that’s a different matter .

Ozy I would say you are pretty tuned in with the engine knowledge and probably know more than me.Come to think of a problem I had with the heater not working in Leyland with the TL11 even after replacing the heater radiator I had a chat with Mixer Sevices (Blackburn) and they said a 1000 to 1 chance it could be the head gasket and by gum they were reet so I’d say you know what you’re talking about Ozy respect where it’s due.