As a bus enthusiast my golden age was the Sixties and I've never quite got over it's passing. But especially looking back other times have had their highs too and this view of a Midland Red Leopard heading out of Birmingham without a care in the world for Hereford brings back pleasant memories of still nice solid more traditional buses and very interesting times.
Awfull coaches that dominated the 192 well into Midland Red West days and totally unsuited for what is a local bus service between Halesowen,Hagley & Kidderminster. Leyland Lynxes eventually replaced these heaps and the service continues today with Diamond Bus using E200s between Halesowen & Kiddeminster & 66plate Optare Solos between Kiddeminster & Ludlow.
ReplyDelete777 was a coach (rather than the CDPs which preceded it on ME duties) and I assume it was inherited by MRW from the MR Coaches fleet; it's certainly got a coach door rather than a bus grant one. As ClentBoy says, totally unsuited to what had by then become an all stops local bus route.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great shame that the wonderful trip that was the X92 through from Birmingham to Hereford now means using five separate bus routes to cover the journey.
And that version of the Midland Express livery didn't suit many vehicles. It doesn't look too bad on 777, though. I preferred the Venetian blind variant, though!
Yes 777 came from Midland Red Coaches. These yellow and red schemes got a bit monotonous and predictable a bit like all the minis marketed as a "Hoppa" or "Nipper". The blind sceme was about the best thing the NBC came up with, they remained unified without all looking the same although a few did share the same colours.
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