Great Yarmouth Corporation Leyland PD2 EX6566 joins the fleet
Only a few miles away from our Museum there used to thrive the blue Great Yarmouth Corporation buses, serving a compact area between Caister and Gorleston with Great Yarmouth itself lying in between. So far we have lacked a Great Yarmouth bus to show to our visitors, however suddenly we find ourselves the owner of a GYT bus which, apart from a fresh coat of paint, needs very little work to make it fully presentable. We are greatly indebted to Mr. D R MacGregor of Hedingham Omnibuses for donating Great Yarmouth 66 to us.
12th January 2009
No. 66 is EX 6566, all all-Leyland PD2/1 56-seater first licensed for traffic in its home town on 1st January 1950. It was one of a batch of ten (nos. 61-70) ordered by the Corporation’s General Manager Mr. H A Blackburn for about £3,630 each. They were needed to meet growing demand in the days when Great Yarmouth was really booming as a holiday resort and it carries Leyland’s own standard type of ‘all-metal’ bus body which could once be found all over the country in both low and highbridge versions. These Leyland-built bodies were amongst the very best on the market in terms of soundness of construction and potential longevity and it was a sad day when the company abandoned bodybuilding in 1954. Powered by the 0.600 9.8 litre oil engine and with a driver friendly synchromesh gearbox, the standard Leyland PD2 was an excellent and economical vehicle to drive and maintain.
Great Yarmouth Corporation ran no. 66 until the end of the 1965 summer season and in January 1966 it was sold, along with three others, to the legendary Jack Mulley who ran Mulley’s Motorways based in Ixworth, Suffolk. Jack was a real character, and something of a preservationist too, with a special liking for Gilfords which had been his first coaches and had helped him to amass his modest fortune. No. 66 ran for Mulley’s Motorways from November 1966 for two years and then lay unused until it was bought for preservation in March 1974. After passing through several ownerships it finished up a few years ago in its original Great Yarmouth blue and cream livery with Hedingham Omnibuses who looked after it well in their main depot at Sible Hedingham. It has appeared at a number of rallies while in their ownership, including a visit to our Museum.
The bus has already gained a Class V MOT and plans are underway to give the vehicle a complete repaint during the winter of 2009/10.
The bus has already gained a Class V MOT and plans are underway to give the vehicle a complete repaint during the winter of 2009/10.