Oxford N Burlingham Seagull Wallace Arnold

A completely new model, the Burlingham Seagull represents a golden age in coach travel and what better company livery to launch this 1950s coach in 1:148 scale than Wallace Arnold. Coachbuilder H V Burlingham’s roots go back to Blackpool in the 1920s when founder Herbert Victor Burlingham realised the potential in transporting day visitors to Britain’s seaside resorts and it was not long before their reputation caught the attention of coach firms beyond Blackpool. For the 1950 Commercial Motor Show, Burlingham introduced two new coach designs based on the Leyland Royal Tiger and AEC Regal IV chassis. Both had a 37 seat capacity and centrally opening doors. The differences between the two saw the AEC with teardrop shape wheel arches and a straight waist rail with vertical window pillars, while the Royal Tiger had a curved waist rail, angled window pillars and an ellipsoid moulding sweeping from the front to the rear of the coach. The Royal Tiger had been liveried in the colour scheme of one of Burlngham’s key customers Woods of Blackpool for the show, who traded under the name Seagull Coaches. As a result the Seagull name became an integral part of the coach, which was subsequently known as the Burlingham Seagull. It became the definitive coach of the age, purchased by most of the large coach operators of the day, including Wallace Arnold. Our model is painted in the pale cream Wallace Arnold colour scheme with bright red wheels and deep red interior seating. Registered OUA 814, the destination blind tells us the bus is ON TOUR. The Wallace Arnold name and their key tour destinations are printed in red and gold across the rear. Note that the sweeping silver masking along the sides of the coach identifies it as having the Leyland Royal Tiger chassis option. The company was eventually taken over by Duple Motor Bodies Ltd of Hendon but eventually went back to its Blackpool roots before disappearing completely in 1989.