London Transport ‘TD’ Type Single-Decker Bus
Built by Adrian Ashford in October 2002
The ‘TD’ class of bus entered service with London Transport in 1948. They had Leyland ‘Tiger’ PS1 chassis with Weyman bodywork (TD1–31) and Mann Egerton bodywork (TD32–131), seating 30 passengers, and were crew-operated.
Provision was made for a sliding door to the front entrance although none were so fitted; suprising as it may seem today, the regulations at that time actually prohibited the fitting of doors to buses in the Central London area.
This is a model of one of the Mann Egerton-bodied batch, and is nominally a rebuild of a similar model originally constructed over 20 years ago; the original is featured in Modelplan № 86.
In building the present model, every effort has been made to reproduce the prototype more accurately, with the aid of additonal photos — only one small picture was available when the original was built. Consequently many changes have been made in the construction of the model, particularly the bodywork.
The chassis features steering and leaf-spring suspension, and the model is driven by a Meccano ‘Power-drive’ unit, which drives the rear wheels through a fully-operational clutch, 4-speed and reverse gear-box and differential. Power for the motor is supplied by 8 ‘C’ size alkaline batteries carried at the rear.
This model was built between June and August 1995.