Leyland Titan PD3/3

Western S.M.T. AD1543, MSD 407, is a 1959 Leyland Titan PD3/3 with Walter Alexander 67 seat, lowbridge bodywork and a Leyland O.600 engine.

When new it was allocated to Cumnock depot as fleet number CD1543 until 1972. From then till the end of its working life it was allocated to Ayr depot becoming fleet number AD1543. A private preservationist from Lancashire bought the bus straight out of service from Western in 1978. The bus was worked on for about two years and was last taxed in 1980. It then spent the best part of 25 years in storage in Lancashire before returning home. Whilst in Lancashire very minimal restoration work was done, so the bus had the benefit of being in straight out of service condition other than having several bits missing. It was in fact repainted in 1977 by Western and still has a 1977 Ayr depot destination screen on board! The paintwork is in fantastic condition, so it may be possible, with the help of some T-Cut and a coat of varnish to leave the original paintwork intact.

The major obstacle to restoration was the seized engine. A spare engine was sourced from another PD3 whose restoration was abandoned following vandalism which destroyed most of the interior and left the windows smashed. That engine wasn’t in the best of states either, and at year or so was spent slowly rebuilding one good engine out of the two of them.

The plan in the short term is to retain the bus in its out of service condition, as of 1978 as AD1543 and not to restore to concourse condition. The full restoration of sister vehicle MSD 408 has resulted in the best surviving seats from both buses being installed in MSD 407 while the worst seats are being retrimmed for MSD 408.