Reading Transport has always had a look of it's own reflected in the vehicles it bought, but another characteristic was that it sort of glanced over it's shoulder and looked to see what London was buying for it often seemed to copy them, and a good example was this MCW Metropolitan double-decker which was hoped with a chassis and running units by Scania might be a better buy than what the lackluster Leyland organisation had to offer. It's downfall though was over-sophistication and rust. Nevertheless not only did they buy thirty-three of these, in 1983 they acquired another twenty-one from London Transport so perhaps they could still be a good bus if well looked after and loved . No 120 looked not only smart but still rather impressive as it sped off from Reading Station for Ereleigh Road.
Yes, I remember them well. This particular example was one of two that went on a goodwill visit to Reading's partner town of Düsseldorf in Germany, carrying schooldchildren on an exchange programme. It kept the German flags on the front for many years after that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Andy, it was nice to read your comment I'm glad you liked it. As I said in my text, Reading mirrored LT in some ways and exchange visits to friendly foreign cities was a regular feature often linked to boosting UK trade.
ReplyDeleteMetropolitans were fantastic vehicles - rode on them a lot in Newcastle. Of course Reading also snapped a few ex Tyne and Wear examples to add to their own and ex LT examples
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