Wigan Album

1932 Leyland Tiger, bodied locally by Santus. It's very much alive and is frequently rallied throughout the country - and so much photographed. It's even been in a film - Angela's Ashes. One caption I found stated that it was used for driver-training after withdrawal from service, and was fitted with dual controls - including a second steering wheel! The earliest pic I could find of it in preservation was from 1968: http://www.sct61.org.uk/wg81a That pic, and another from 1973 on the same site, shows the bus in much the same condition as here - battered wings, faded paintwork etc..
Note that, as here, those pics show that there were two safety bars between the wheels. The restorers seem not to have the eye for detail you'd expect - more recent pics show it as only having one. I also found a pic on Flickr of it in service - with two safety bars.

There are two more pics of this bus in the album - under Assorted - Buses. One shows it at the top of town 'early 70s' - with the same number (82?) on the driver's screen... so perhaps going to wherever it was pictured here - possibly Haigh Hall.
Its present owner is listed as David Hoare of Chepstow, who runs a hire fleet of classic buses: http://chepstow-classic-buses.co.uk/ - though I can't find it pictured there.

Yet more pics in the section this is to be found in - Work: Wigan Corporation Transport - including a copy of this print. One pic shows it, presumably soon after it was sold into preservation, at a rally with the second steering position, behind the driver, still in situ. I bet there was a tustle between trainee driver and instructor if the driver didn't want to give up control of the wheel.

Indeed, this photo appears to be the same one as the one posted by Ron Hunt many years ago although I hadn't previously noticed it. Knowing nothing at all about buses, I'm curious as to what the function of the white box mounted directly above the n/s sidelight might be. Would it have been of an electrical nature or could it have been, unlikely as it may seem, a forerunner of the ' Tecalamit ' type autolube, like the ones found on many wagons? Also, it's just possible to make out the second steering wheel on this picture, once you know that one exists. I suspect that it may have been beneficial for the instructor to have had both a stronger will and stronger arms than his trainee.

the white box over the n/s side lamp was a vacuum unit to draw fuel from the tank and deliver to the engine

Eyup Ayther,
Hope you are well,long time no see,you must call in at Hindley for a brew when Blues are on. We can 'av a chat about the good old days!

Santus Motor body works was in Powell St between the River Douglas and the Drill Hall, I went in there as a schoolboy about 1947, My father,a plumber, was doing some work there,
I recall a number of buses being repaired after being returned from the war effort. I think there is a family connection with the " Uncle Joe" Santus,s