Coventry Buses - past and present

If you go to the CCT-Society website, the Glossary defines the bell signals.

This one of 16 scans uploaded to my site today

Oh, those lovely buses, Now I am feeling homesick again, and I did so 'enjoy' Thank you Midland Red.

I remember many years ago, once jumping on a bus whilst it was stopped at the traffic lights outside the Coventry Telegraph offices and the conductor (conductor, gosh, those were the days!) telling me that I wouldn't be abe to do that much longer as the new buses had DOORS on them! ... and I didn't believe him!

Many of you will know that it is 100 years since the formation of Coventry Corporation Transport (CCT). To celebrate, a new exhibition, 'Tickets Please' will open next week at the Parsonage Heritage Centre in All Saints Square Bedworth. Whilst the exhibition will be formally opened on Friday 3rd February, Saturday 4th will see a visit from an ex Coventry Transport vehicle and many local enthusiasts are expected to attend. It will run until the end of April. Friday 3rd will also see the official opening of the nearby 'Nurse's House' which will feature a silk weaver's cottage and an overflow exhibition from 'Tickets Please'. Both heritage centres are operated by the Bedworth Society.

Hope to see some of you in Bedworth today for the transport exhibition.

Hello. You have jogged my memory about buses. A lot of years ago I worked for Hilditch demolition and scrap and he bought a load of old Coventry buses for scrap and we sorted one out that was running OK and went to Blackpool in it, there was about 20/25 of us we went from Pool Meadow and had a banner down the side saying : Blackpool or bust. We took it in turns to drive and it took us ages to get there because they was not the fastest of vehicles. Just for a laugh we stopped at a few bus stops and people actually got on, what a laugh we had. The bus we went on got broke up with the others when we got back, and I remember the engines were exported [Gardners] There is a photo around of us in Pool Meadow before we went, I will try to find out whose got it and put it on here.

Daimler CVG6 I presume? (The "G" stands for Gardner diesel engine).

There's a website for Coventry buses here LINK

Hi & thank you There are also lots of Coventry transport photos on Flickr Hope you like.

It was a bad day when Coventry Corporation Transport was absorbed by West Midlands. My dad's last job was as parts driver at Sandy Lane garage and he absolutely loved his job. In, I think,1988 an empty suit somewhere in Birmingham decided to rationalise the maintenance department. My dad returned one lunchtime to the garage and found the gates shut and chained. A manager told him to pass the keys to his van through the railings and told him the place was shut for good and he was redundant! A very long series of serious health issues quickly followed and I've no doubt many other Coventry people were adversely affected also.

Hi Walrus again The pain of what is sometimes called progress is hard to swallow, & I feel your vibes in the human cost for your dad. I am not fit for much nowadays, my eyesight is very variable, sometimes hopeless, I struggle to type on here sometimes, but at my age I at least have had a full working life. Your post tells the history from the ground. Thank you for that. I still have a chat some mornings with a eighty year old driver. Welsh. Came here because the pension scheme was better than the valleys' as he says. He often wanders into the transport museum. Best wishes.

It wasn't an empty suit that made the decision, but the Thatcher government's ideological commitment to privatising public transport.

Thanks for your best wishes Philip. I'll be in Coventry very briefly this week, unfortunately to attend my uncle's funeral at Canley Crem. He came originally from Bradford Street off Harnall Lane in Hillfields. Unfortunately the area was flattened but Bradford St consisted of two terraces of 4 or 5 storey houses and the attics formed one continuous workshop. Some of the machinery for the silk looms was still there, it was great fun to climb the steep stairs up to the workshop. All gone in the headlong rush to modernise in the 60s. I guess we thought we were building something better.

Hi Walrus You will not be out of my thoughts this week.