Daimler white steering wheels

[Christmas]

I've been trying to find out just exactly why many Daimler buses, particularly Fleetlines, had a white steering wheel.

I'm not sure if Leyland offered similar on the Atlantean but who would be responsible for their fitment? The manufacturer or maybe a fleet engineer?

What was the benefit of the wheel being white rather than black?

 

[jp4712]

It’s complicated! in some cases, the operator may have wanted something modern and modish - bear in mind that when the Fleetline debuted at the 1960 Motor Show, the car world was still full of fins and chrome.

However, some fleets - and the best example I can think of is Lancashire United Transport - colour coded steering wheels according to the height of the bus. At LUT, single deckers had black steering wheels; low height double deckers had white steering wheels; and normal height double deckers had red steering wheels.

That said, and especially once low railway bridges started to disappear, garage fitters weren’t too fussy so long as the thing fitted: and they started to get slightly mixed up…

 

[PG]

I hadn't really thought about it until now but although I drove lots more Atlantean's than Fleetline's your observations do indeed ring true. All the Fleetline's had a white steering wheel while all the Atlantean's were all black. I seem to recall photos of some PDR1 or PDR2 featuring a white steering wheel but not on the subsequent AN68.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

A lot of Bristol Lodekkas had white steering wheels too - certainly Western / Southern National did.

 

[PG]

Unsurprisingly white steering wheels often developed an off-white appearance.

 

[Bristol LHS]

Nice side-by-side pic of a Busways Atlantean (South Shields) and Fleetline (Sunderland), both Alexander-bodied, which illustrates the diference:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27204054@N07/2892951050

Busways Atlantean and Fleetline (Peter Barclay)

Preserved Busways Alexander-bodied Atlantean 268 and Fleetline 838 at the 2006 Seaburn rally https://www.flickr.com/photos/27204054@N07/2892951050

 

[jammy36]

However, some fleets - and the best example I can think of is Lancashire United Transport - colour coded steering wheels according to the height of the bus. At LUT, single deckers had black steering wheels; low height double deckers had white steering wheels; and normal height double deckers had red steering wheels.

Plymouth Corporation did something similar to distinguish between 7'6" wide buses and 8' wide vehicles, with their first batch of 8' wide Leyland Titan double deckers having white steering wheels as an instant visual reminder for drivers.

I think Bristol Tramways & Carriage Co Ltd used a similar system with all vehicles over 7'6" wide having white steering wheels.

Although white steering wheels could quickly look a little grimey, they did have the advantage of not leaving dark marks on uniforms when they started to degrade.

 

[GusB]

I've been trying to find out just exactly why many Daimler buses, particularly Fleetlines, had a white steering wheel.

I'm not sure if Leyland offered similar on the Atlantean but who would be responsible for their fitment? The manufacturer or maybe a fleet engineer?

What was the benefit of the wheel being white rather than black?

Plymouth Corporation did something similar to distinguish between 7'6" wide buses and 8' wide vehicles, with their first batch of 8' wide Leyland Titan double deckers having white steering wheels as an instant visual reminder for drivers.

I think Bristol Tramways & Carriage Co Ltd used a similar system with all vehicles over 7'6" wide having white steering wheels.

Although white steering wheels could quickly look a little grimey, they did have the advantage of not leaving dark marks on uniforms when they started to degrade.

I seem to recall that it was to remind drivers that the vehicle they were driving had different dimensions to other vehicles, whether it was to differentiate between 7'6" and 8' wide vehicles, or lowbridge/low height and highbridge buses.

 

[PG]

Nice side-by-side pic of a Busways Atlantean (South Shields) and Fleetline (Sunderland), both Alexander-bodied, which illustrates the diference:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27204054@N07/2892951050

Thanks for that. However this has set me thinking (dangerous I know ) that both those buses were produced by Leyland so presumably when Fleetline production transferred from Coventry they shipped all the white steering wheels up north and carried on fitting them!?

 

[DunsBus]

Thanks for that. However this has set me thinking (dangerous I know ) that both those buses were produced by Leyland so presumably when Fleetline production transferred from Coventry they shipped all the white steering wheels up north and carried on fitting them!?

As an aside, I remember a number of the Busways Fleetlines receiving black steering wheels in later life.