The first steam wagon was built and run in Leyland in 1884. It was a pioneering, innovative venture that became a characteristic of Leyland Motors Limited over the next 100 years – some projects being more commercially successful than others.

Within 25 years of its birth, it was exporting products to a score of countries and assembled vehicles at factories it owned in Canada, Australasia and South Africa. By the 1960s it had over 25 major manufacturing companies in the UK and well over 100 subsidiary and associated companies overseas.

In the late 1960s the company merged with British Motor Holdings to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation which ranked as the second largest automotive company in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.

But the need to invest in its new acquisition brought the company to its knees, starved the truck and bus operation of investment to remain competitive, leading to nationalisation and its eventual demise in the 1990s.

The Leyland Society has managed to save the huge photographic archive the company accumulated over the years and is scanning this into a digital archive. It also has access to a wealth of technical information which is available to members both through the website and direct from other members.

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