KAG 856 – Leyland Titan PD2/20

In the late 50’s Western SMT sourced their double deckers vehicles from both Bristol and Leyland taking both the Bristol LD and Leyland PD2s in considerable numbers. The body orders were sourced from Northern Counties and Alexander, KAG being from the latter.

In 1957 Western took delivery of their first batch of PD3s which were mechanically similar to the PD2, but had an increased carrying capacity. The same year Western took delivery of the last of their 97 PD2s, KAG 855-864. KAG 856 formed part of this batch and was one of the last two buses to be delivered with open rear platforms. All remaining deliveries on both PD2 & PD3s had heavy manually operated doors, otherwise the design of the bodies was similar and they retained the lowbridge layout with sunken side gangway upstairs. 

KAG 856 was one of 97 PD2/20s bought by Western SMT between 1955 and 1957. It was delivered new as ID1375 to the Western Garage at Inchinnan and operated here until 1969 when it was transferred to Dumfries becoming DD1375.

Upon withdrawal in 1971 KAG 856 was sold to Alexander (Northern) and was renumbered NRB301. It was finally withdrawn from service in the late 70’s and sold to a Dundee area fruit farmer for use as staff transport and later a workers bothy. It was rescued for preservation from a Barnsley scrapyard in 1993 and was stored at a number of locations throughout England.

Some work has already been undertaken which has involved the bus being stripped of its major components and some repairs to the bodywork. The bus was bought by its current owners in November 2003 and returned home to Scotland, joining the collection at Bridgeton in February 2004. It is anticipated to be some time before it is finally restored to the traditional Western Red & Cream livery.