Wythall Rides
The Transport Museum
at Wythall in the West Midlands is a real cornucopia for the transport
enthusiast. Majoring on buses and
coaches from the Midlands region of the United Kingdom the museum also has a
variety of vehicles from other parts of the UK and on an open day a number of
guest buses and coaches arrive for the public to inspect and ride upon. During 2020 the world-wide coronavirus
pandemic put a stop to many events and museum openings, but the Transport
Museum at Wythall put in a number of safety measures and following government
guidelines the Museum opened and during October ran their annual ‘Autumn
Running Day’ on the 4th and on the 25th of the same
month, the ‘End Of Season Twilight Running Day’. The independent transport videos cameras
were present at both events and filmed them for you to enjoy. As is implied by the title of this programme,
our cameras took rides on seven different vehicles and put a further camera in
the cab of one of the buses for a drivers eye view, so you can experience first
hand of what it was like back in the day.
On our first visit we take a ride on a former Coventry Transport Daimler
Fleetline, 135 (PDU 135M) from the Museum to the Maypole roundabout and back
again. The second ride also to the Maypole
is onboard former Birmingham Corporation 2707 (JOJ 707) a Metro-Cammell bodied
Daimler CVD6. This lovely bus is one of
the residents of the Museum. Our third
ride is onboard LPT 328, an AEC Regal III with a Burlingham half-cab coach body
dating from 1950. This coach was
originally operated by Gillett Bros. of Durham, but has come out of service
from Silver Star of Caernarfon in who’s livery it carries.
October 25th was the date of the
‘End of Season Twilight Running Day’, a day of mixed weather conditions! Our first ride of the day to the Maypole is
onboard 21 (RAU 804M), a single-deck Leyland Atlantean formally operated by
Hulleys of Baslow. This interesting bus
began life with Nottingham City Transport as 555 (OTO 555M) with an East Lancs
H77D double-deck body. The body was
removed and chassis extended and rebodied with a new East Lancs single-deck
body and after proving unsuccessful with that operator it was sold on. At the Maypole we change buses and ride back
to the Museum onboard 271 (OWE 271K), a Bristol VRTSL6LXB, also with an East
Lancs body, but this time formally operated by Sheffield Transport and now
resident at the Museum. Our next ride
out to the Maypole is onboard former Coventry Corporation Transport Daimler
CVA6, 94 (GKV 94) that carries a Metro-Cammell body. The bus has undergone a major restoration and
looks and sounds excellent, as you will see!
Our final ride is a real treat for you.
We have put a camera inside the cab for the driver’s eye view of the
road ahead and one inside for the passenger’s experience. The vehicle is 2418 (GHA 337), a Midland Red
SOS “SON” with a Brush body seating 38 passengers. This lovely little bus first entered service
in 1940 and is part of the collection at Wythall. You will certainly enjoy the experience as we
travel to the Maypole and back.
Our
programme concludes with scenes of the buses coming and going in the twilight,
lights glowing and windows steamed up with final scenes shot as the visiting
buses leave for home as night falls.