Seddon Pennine RU
| Seddon Pennine RU | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Seddon Diesel Vehicles Seddon Atkinson |
| Body and chassis | |
| Doors | 1 or 2 doors |
| Floor type | Step entrance |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Gardner 6HLW or Gardner 6HLX 6-cylinder horizontal diesel engine |
| Transmission | Self-Changing Gears direct-acting air operated semi-automatic epicyclic, electric control, 4 or 5 speeds. |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 33ft (10m) or 36ft (11m) for 35-51 seats |
| Chronology | |
The Seddon Pennine RU was a rear-engined single-decker bus built by Seddon Diesel Vehicles/Seddon Atkinson between 1969 and 1974.
Seddon Diesel Vehicles were, like Atkinson Lorries, ERF and Motor Traction Ltd (Rutland), a commercial vehicle producer who bought-in and assembled proprietary components. Robert and Herbert Seddon were sons of a Salford butcher who in 1919 subsequent to World War I demobilisation bought a Commer with charabanc and van bodies, using it during the week for goods transport and at weekends to run excursions from Salford. Initially a further partner was a family-friend, a dairyman by the name of Foster, so the business was initially a partnership. Foster & Seddon also reconditioned vehicles and ran a bus service from Swinton (Lancs.) to Salford, which was subsequently sold to Salford Corporation, and held an agency for Morris Motors vehicles. In 1937 Robert Seddon spotted a gap in the commercial vehicle market for low-tare diesel-engined lorries and commenced to build his own vehicle out of proprietary units, much of the drawing work being done on his own kitchen table.
This was a 6-ton gvw forward-control lorry chassis with a 6-cylinder Perkins indirect-injection diesel engine. It was first shown at the Scottish Motor show at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow in 1938. Like Maudslay and ERF, Seddon Motors Ltd were allowed to continue producing commercial vehicle chassis for sale during World War II when many more-established makers such as Leyland Motors, the Associated Equipment Company and direct-competitor Albion Motors had all of their productive capacity diverted to the war effort.
In 1946 Seddon Motors Ltd moved to a former shadow factory in Oldham and were able to expand production from one or two a week to more than ten. At this point they introduced their first passenger chassis the Mark IV. The 26 ft mark IV and 27 ft 6in mark VI were sales successes at home and overseas. Coachbuilders for these chassis included Plaxton and a number of smaller concerns, Seddon also built their own coachwork for these models, mainly for export. Subsequently Seddon also produced (amongst a bewildering range for which Roman numbers were adopted when the firm became Seddon Diesel Vehicles Ltd in 1950) the Mark 7P. This was a short-wheelbase version of the established theme with four-cylinder Perkins engine and up to 28 seats available within a 21 ft overall length. At the 1952 Earls Court Commercial Motor show marks 10 and 11 featured vertical Perkins (P6 80 bhp or R6 107 bhp) engines mounted underfloor (when competing underfloor-engined buses used horizontally oriented engines). Although Bedford were to have success with such a layout between 1970 and 1987 the marks 10 and 11 sold poorly, with Seddon, Charles H. Roe, Duple and Plaxton bodies on the few known examples. The mid 1950s mark 16 was a 21 ft long bus with a Perkins P4 on the front overhang and the mark 17 was a six-cylinder-engined chassis to similar layout. The mark 18 of the late 1950s, mainly sold to Australia and New Zealand, with local coachwork. It had a vertically mounted Perkins P6 80 bhp engine on the rear overhang. There was also one mark 20 with a Henry Meadows 550 cubic inch horizontal rear-engine exported to Greece. The mark 23 was a front entrance front-engined bus for Kowloon Motor Bus and the mark 25P a normal control 18-seat personnel-carrier based on the mark 25 integral parcel van. The bodybuilding business, not only on Seddon and other manufacturer's buses but building lorry cabs and parcel vans for customers such as Manchester Corporation (who ran a parcel delivery service) was registered in its own right as Pennine Coachcraft Ltd (wholly owned by Seddon) in 1960.
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