The Lemon Fool

Birmingham bus that survived the Blitz restored for £500,000

BBC News

It's a double decker bus with a remarkable history spanning more than 90 years - and now AEC Regent 486 has a new lease of life after a painstaking restoration that's cost £500,000.

Though I don't recall any bus looking quite like that one externally, those internal photos look very familiar.

But, not that bus, the other one: "YARDLEY WOOD GARAGE"

OMG! Instant recall of rising panic as I realised how late I was going to be for school.

You are a young lad. We had some borrowed Oldham Corporation double deckers early in the war years, plus a London Transport ST with an open staircase. It had netting on the windows and that famous notice "I trust you'll pardon my correction. That stuff is there for your protection." Fougasse, I think. Do you remember Utility buses with wooden seats?

If you look for a picture of a Leyland TD1, from the early '30s, they all tended to have that "piano front" look.

Apart from the London Transport museums, there are quite a few collections of preserved and reconstructed buses around the country. These days they are collecting recently retired vehicles which are often preserved by operators as "Heritage" vehicles, much in demand for weddings, for example.

TJH

tjh290633 wrote:You are a young lad. We had some borrowed Oldham Corporation double deckers early in the war years, plus a London Transport ST with an open staircase. It had netting on the windows and that famous notice "I trust you'll pardon my correction. That stuff is there for your protection." Fougasse, I think. Do you remember Utility buses with wooden seats?

No, I don't think so - trams? I can just recall trams operating in Birmingham and obviously tramlines lived on long after they ceased operation (4 July 1953).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Corporation_Tramways