Penkridge Last Weeks of the 76

One thing that can be said about the Fifties and Sixties, apart from routine fleet replacement there seemed very little that changed in the bus world. It's a very different tale today as nothing seems to stay the same for long which is perhaps a good reson to take pictures of this fleeting history. Taken last summer not only was Arriva's 76 about to go so a year later the bus's Wednesfield garage would close too. This route had a long history as Midland Red introduced it in about 1968 when the long 196 Birmingham to Stafford service was cut back to Wolverhampton and the final section becoming single-deck OPO from Wolverhampton Garage as the 876. At Arriva standards vary greatly and one can take a pleasant smooth ride on similar Wright bodid VDL buses to this working from Cannock but Wednesfield had problems and buses often used to suffer from the smell of fuel leaks, vibration, and even catching fire but miraculously when I was aboard we always got there but some didn't.