1958 Leyland Worldmaster ERT 1/1 (MTT 34)
Leyland Worldmaster ERT 1/1 — MTT 34
The vehicle
| Year | 1958 |
|---|---|
| Make / model | Leyland Worldmaster ERT 1/1 |
| Fleet number(s) | MTT 34 |
| Manufacturer | Leyland Motor Co Ltd, Lancashire, England |
| Model/number | Royal Tiger Worldmaster ERT1/1 |
| Engine | Leyland EO.680 6 cylinder 11.1 litre Diesel, 150bhp, horizontal, centred, under floor |
| Transmission | Fluid flywheel with pneumatically controlled, actuated 4 speed semi-automatic 'Wilson type' epicyclic gearbox |
| Brakes | Drum type, air operated |
| Suspension | Leaf Spring |
| Body: Manufacturer | Howard Porter (1936) Ltd, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Body: Construction | (Not recorded) |
| Body: Seating | 49 Adults (as built) |
| Length | 35ft 0in (10.67 metres) |
| Width | 8ft 0in (2.44 metres) |
| Wheelbase | 18ft 0in (5.49 metres) |
| Height | 10ft 0in (3.05 metres) |
| Unladen Weight | 13ton 6cwt (approx 13.5 tonnes) |
| Status | Not recorded in the crawled source — confirm operational/restorable/spares status with BPSWA before publishing. |
The story
The Riverton Bus Service P/L based in Barbican Street Riverton, bought the bus new along with three others. These purchases were over a period 1955 to 1959. It was the last of these buses to enter service in June 1959 as No 9. At the time, the Riverton District was changing from a rural market garden area to residential and a reliable bus service was crucial to the success of these changes. By 1960 the company was in some difficulty meeting the demands for its services and sought help from the WA Government. This resulted in the Riverton Bus Service being absorbed into the Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT) from 14th May 1961 and No 9 became No 34 in the MTT fleet. The bus was based at the Causeway Depot in East Perth for the next 18 years until withdrawn in June 1979. The Kiwanis Club purchased the bus and used it for member transport for a number of years. No 34 was then sold to a local charter operator, Van Kuyl of Kelmscott who used it for school and charter work. It moved on in 2005 and was converted to a mobile home. In 2007 it was bought by a BPSWA member who painstakingly restored it over three years to closely represent its appearance during its time with the MTT. In January 2014, the Bus Preservation Society of WA purchased No 34 with the aim of retaining it for the future as part of Perth's Public Transport History.

Photos
Captions above are auto-derived from the source filenames as a starting point — a volunteer should confirm/replace them with real what/where/year/photographer credits per the Design System's imagery rules.