The Leyland Cub CU series was a

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

manufactured by Leyland between 1979 and 1987. There was a previous Leyland Cub, the K series built at Leyland's

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

factory between 1931 and 1939. The Cub was derived from the Terrier truck chassis, and was originally built at Leyland's Scottish plant in

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

.''Buses Yearbook 2009'' (Ian Allan Publishing, 2008). It was available in three variants - CU335, CU385 and CU435, the number in each indicating the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

length in

centimetre upright=1.35, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is in-between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. A centimetre (International spelling) or centimeter (American ...

s. It was usually fitted with Leyland's 5.7-litre 6.98NV engine, though the derated 6.98DV was also an option. Most Cubs were built for local authorities and the welfare sector, and thus carried bodywork by

Wadham Stringer Wadham Stringer was an English ambulance and bus manufacturer. History Wadham Stringer was formed when Wadham merged with Stringer Motors in 1968. It was a distributor for Morris cars and British Leyland commercial vehicles. It also was an A ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

or Reeve Burgess of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. However, Lothian Region Transport took 18 CU435s with Duple Dominant bodies in 1981, while the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive bought 15 with

Optare Switch Mobility (Optare until 2020) is a British bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company is responsible for the EV operations of the group with Ashok Leylan ...

bodies in 1986. There were also four Reeve Burgess-bodied Cubs for

Southdown Motor Services Southdown Motor Services (until 1992 legally Southdown Motors Services Ltd) was a bus and coach operator in East and West Sussex and parts of Hampshire in southern England. It was formed in 1915 and had various owners throughout its history, ...

in 1983/84, and two for the

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) was the Passenger transport executive, public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester. SE ...

in 1985, originally used for services in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is an area of Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately , ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and were first based in

Northenden Northenden is a suburb of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 15,064 at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census. It lies on the south side of the River Mersey, west of Stockport and south of Manchest ...

(NN). The Cub was superseded in 1987 by another truck-derived

, the Leyland Swift.Leyland's Swift bus debut
''

Commercial Motor ''Commercial Motor'' is a weekly magazine serving the road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of ...

'' 25 April 1987 Surviving vehicles include one WYPTE example and one GMPTE example, as well as a number of non-PSV examples which are mostly used as campers. The preserved WYPTE vehicle appeared in an episode of ''

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

'' taking miners to a colliery in a 1980s flashback scene.

References

External links

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Flickr gallery
{{Leyland buses, state=collapsed Cub Midibuses Step-entrance buses Vehicles introduced in 1979