21-473: The Dennis Falcon was a rear-engined single-decker bus , double-decker bus and coach chassis manufactured by Dennis between 1981 and 1993. It was mostly built as a single-decker bus , although some express coaches and a small number of double-decker buses were also produced. The total number built was 139, plus one development chassis. The Falcon was closely derived from the Dennis Dominator ,
42-630: A bid for monies from the Transport Innovation Fund . Within the bid were proposals to introduce Congestion charging in Greater Manchester . They claimed the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund would have significantly improve public transport in the area funded by charging motorists entering the city at peak times. A consultation document was sent out to residents during July 2008. In December 2008,
63-540: A local referendum voted no to the proposals. In February 2011, the Daily Telegraph reported that David Leather, chief executive of the Passenger Transport Executive, was being paid £45,000 a month, and Bob Morris, interim chief operating officer, was getting a six-figure salary. Because they were seconded staff, rather than being employees, they were supposedly not covered by the government demand that
84-421: Is being gradually replaced on the former across Greater Manchester by rebranded bus stop flags displaying the new Transport for Greater Manchester logo. To add to printed material and logos etched in glass on the side of bus shelters, GMPTE began a programme of adding their 'double M' logo to 101 railway station nameboards, train rolling stock livery, bus sides and some 'totem' pole signs outside rail stations in
105-600: The Seddon Pennine RU , the C (for continuous drive) denoted the Voith transmission close-coupled to the Gardner engine with a short propeller shaft taking drive into a straight Kirkstall spiral-bevel double-reduction rear axle. For these types the frame was raised aft of the rear axle to provide clearance for the underslung engine. The Falcon V , with Daimler-Benz V6 engines in the double-decker buses and Perkins V8 engines in
126-482: The Smart Fortwo . Some electric cars feature both rear and front motors, to drive all four wheels. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester . Until 1969, the conurbation surrounding Manchester
147-655: The Falcon HC chassis in 1985/86 for airport express services in Hong Kong . The last was withdrawn in 2001. Only six Falcon V double-decker buses were built. The first was used as a demonstrator. Two examples with East Lancs bodywork went to Nottingham City Transport in 1982 as part of their evaluation of the various new generation double-decker buses then available. High noise levels were one criticism made against them. The final three, with Northern Counties bodywork, went to Greater Manchester Transport in 1984. The Falcon
168-630: The National Bus Company bought 10 express coaches with Duple Goldiner IV bodywork to National Express Rapide specification. These were based on the Falcon V chassis. They were split between Western National (5), Yorkshire Traction (2), National Travel (West) (2) and West Yorkshire RCC (1). But they proved unreliable and did not last very long in National Express service. Kowloon Motor Bus purchased 20 Duple Laser bodied coaches based on
189-496: The PTE took over the bus fleets of 11 municipalities, and operationally, the organisation was split into three divisional areas, Northern, Central, and Southern: SELNEC branded its fleet with its corporate orange and white livery and the 'S' logo. The 'S' logo was coloured differently in each division: magenta for Northern, blue for Central and green for Southern. For corporate operations, the parcel operations (inherited from Manchester), and
210-651: The PTE, and had to compete in the deregulated market. In preparation for privatisation, the company was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South on 31 December 1993. Both companies were sold to their managements on 31 March 1994, and sold on to major groups in 1996: GM Buses South to Stagecoach in February, GM Buses North to FirstBus in March. GMPTE and the GMPTA worked with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to produce
231-596: The abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council in 1986, a new Passenger Transport Authority was created to administer the GMPTE, made up of councillors from the Greater Manchester district councils. In the same year, in order to prepare for bus deregulation , the PTE's bus operations passed to Greater Manchester Buses Limited (trading as GM Buses ) in October 1986. The company was owned at "arm's length" by
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#1732873154348252-533: The acquisition of Warburton's Coaches in November 1975 and Lancashire United Transport and Godfrey Abbot in January 1976. The public branding applied to buses and signage used the shorter name Greater Manchester Transport , displayed in upper and lower case Helvetica next to a distinctive orange double 'M' logo. The logo, first seen around 1974, is still in use today on bus stops and transport information literature, but
273-452: The area during the 1990s. This idea was later extended to a full re-design of the bus stop flag in 2000, (used first on primary bus routes, now extended to the entire GMPTE area) resulting in a unified corporate appearance containing the 'double M' logo on bus, train and tram stops. The PTE sponsored several new railway stations on existing lines in the 1970s and 1980s including Flowery Field , Godley , Hag Fold and Ryder Brow . Following
294-544: The coaches, was even closer in frame-concept to the Dominator. Single-decker buses were based on the Falcon H and HC chassis. Six English municipal operators bought Dennis Falcon single-decker buses between 1981 and 1993: Leicester bought the first Falcon in 1981, with Duple Dominant Bus bodywork, and added six more between 1983 and 1984. Despite selling these to Thamesdown Transport in 1987, Leicester later purchased sixteen more Falcons between 1991 and 1993, including
315-696: The coaching fleet, the 'S' logo was in orange In the early 1970s, SELNEC began to promote a project to construct an underground railway beneath central Manchester, the Picc-Vic tunnel . The scheme aimed to link the two main railway stations, Piccadilly and Victoria with a tunnel. The project was eventually cancelled on grounds of cost. On 1 January 1972, SELNEC PTE acquired most of National Bus Company 's North Western Road Car subsidiary with buses, services and depots in Altrincham , Glossop , Oldham , Stockport and Urmston . The corporate orange and white livery
336-538: The front half of the chassis being identical. The original horizontal-engined Falcon H had a layout recalling that of the Bristol RE with the longitudinally-mounted Gardner engine driving forward above the Dennis-built portal rear axle to a Voith gearbox and reversing unit which then took drive rearward into the driving-head of the axle. The later Falcon HC had a more orthodox continuous driveline, resembling that of
357-540: The ground. Rear-engined vehicles almost always have a rear-wheel drive car layout , but some are four wheel drive . This layout has the following features: This layout was once popular in small, inexpensive cars and light commercial vehicles. Today most car makers have abandoned the layout although it does continue in some expensive cars, like the Porsche 911 . It is also used in some racing car applications, low-floor buses , some Type-D school buses , and microcars such as
378-529: The last Falcon built. Hartlepool Borough Transport bought twelve dual door examples. Six with Wadham Stringer bodies in 1983 and the other six with Northern Counties bodies in 1985. They remained operational into the days of Stagecoach Hartlepool buses. National Bus Company subsidiary Alder Valley added one Dennis Falcon HC to its fleet in 1983, with Wadham Stringer bodywork of semi-coach specification. In 1990 and 1993, three British Bus subsidiaries purchased Falcon single-decker buses : In 1982,
399-584: Was applied, with the 'S' logo in brown and the name "Cheshire". (Most of the NWRCC operations bought by SELNEC were in the old county of Cheshire ). When the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 the executive was replaced by GMPTE, with the Greater Manchester County Council replacing the joint transport authority. The PTE also acquired the bus operations of Wigan Corporation with 130 vehicles. Further expansion saw
420-551: Was divided between the two administrative counties of Lancashire and Cheshire and a number of county boroughs , such as Manchester, Salford, Stockport or Bolton. To comply with the Transport Act 1968 , on 1 April 1969, the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was formed. SELNEC stood for South East Lancashire North East Cheshire , a joint authority of the various local councils. From 1 November 1969,
441-459: Was replaced by the Dennis Lance . Rear-engine design In automobile design , a rear-engine design layout places the engine at the rear of the vehicle. The center of gravity of the engine itself is behind the rear axle. This is not to be confused with the center of gravity of the whole vehicle, as an imbalance of such proportions would make it impossible to keep the front wheels on
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