Created 16-May-19
Modified 8-Mar-24
Rhondda (and the BET Group generally) liked the concept of the Royal Tiger operationally but found that in practice it was far too heavy and led to larger fuel bills as well as higher brake lining wear. Pressure from operators resulted in Leyland developing the Tiger Cub, a lighter vehicle with a smaller engine. This was eagerly taken up by the BET Group who placed an initial order for 500. These were distributed around the operators and Western Welsh alone received a block of 130 in 1954 (the first actually arriving in late 1953).
Rhondda's introduction was a little more gradual although a bit earlier and the first batch would be some of the first production models to enter service, in 1953. These were 330-333 (NTG 141-144) and were PSUC1/1 chassis with Weymann B44F bodies as were all the vehicles in this gallery. They were fitted with a two-speed rear axle which gave excellent rangeability combining good performance on the many steep hills these buses had to climb with the ability to run at a good speed for the longer journeys, notably on private hire work. A suffix 'T' to the chassis designation has often been used to designate this axle variant but it was not an official Leyland designation and it is not used in this gallery.
These first four Tiger Cub buses initially had another unusual feature as they ran on single tyres at the rear. This was a further experiment in economy which would give a small reduction in weight and also improve economy by the reduction in the amount of tyre scrubbing on corners. However, it can be assumed it was not a success as the buses reverted to conventional twin tyres.
330-333 also introduced route number blinds to the fleet. A comprehensive scheme of route numbering was drawn up in 1953 (which was not the first attempt) but until these Tiger Cubs arrived no vehicle was able to show the numbers. Their adoption was quite gradual, firstly as no buses were modified retrospectively and secondly from photographic evidence it seems the concept of route numbers was not universally embraced by the crews!
In 1954 a much larger batch of nineteen identical buses arrived which were 334-353 (PNY 371-389) and the sheer quantity of these will have transformed the operation of Rhondda's single-deck routes.
1955 saw the arrival of another group of four - 353-356 (SNY 231-234). On paper these were again identical but had the later Weymann body design which didn't feature the flat panels above the windows and also had a slightly deeper windscreen.
A gap of four years elapsed before the final buses in this gallery arrived. A batch of fifteen arrived in 1959 which were 363-377 (XTG 363-377). These had bodies similar to those on the 1955 batch with two minor differences, the front sidelights were round instead of the narrow vertical rectangle of the earlier vehicles. The nearside windscreen was also in a polished frame like the driver's windscreen and this gave a more balanced frontal appearance. This batch did not have the two-speed rear axle and were the only Tiger Cub buses in the Rhondda fleet that did not.
330-333 were withdrawn in 1966 but later batches survived longer. Whilst many from the 334 to 353 batch were withdrawn in 1968, seven survived to be absorbed by Western Welsh on 1971 and be renumbered by the addition of 2000 to the existing numbers, becoming the oldest former Rhondda vehicles to be absorbed. 353-356 were similarly renumbered 2353-2356 and were withdrawn in 1972.
The 1959 batch, unsurprisingly, lasted even longer and after being renumbered 2363-2377 in 1971, the last ten in service were renumbered again with the introduction of the Red & White year-based numbering scheme in August 1974 and as a consequence 2364/65/67/70-72/74-77 became U46-5559. They lasted until 1975/76 but as can be seen in this gallery, they did not all remain at Porth. Quite a few of these received the NBC poppy red and white livery.
Earlier withdrawals tended to be sold for further use but, unsurprisingly given their longer working lives, the later disposals more frequently went for scrap.
© David Beilby
