Coventry Buses - past and present

Thank you for that info. I am not patronising you, to say that your IT & file access skills are without question. That is why I feel comfortable to ask you. Regards B'ham, I was always more at home driving in London rather than B'ham centre. I think that my mum was the same. The problem with the train from Coventry was getting to the station first. I know even the stopper trains in the old days were faster than the bus, but the bus went from our city centre

We caught the Midland Red in Holyhead Road, near where Grayswood Ave joined it. I can cheerfully say that, despite driving some 3/4 million miles, some of that in Detroit, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, TRNC, etc., I always steadfastly refused to drive in London! From Coventry Climax, a lot of us went to the mechanical handling exhibition at Olympia in '74. No-one realised that the coach driver didn't know London, until we got lost on the wrong side of the river. It was quite a nightmare getting to Olympia, and I decided that I didn't know London well enough to venture there. As for B'ham, I wanted to find the ATV offices in central B'ham the year before. With all the one-way streets, and me driving I and my passenger did about 9 ever-decreasing circuits of the city centre before we finally found a way to get to it. Keep seeing it, and not being able to turn in its direction lost its amusement factor after a while. and when we got there, it was the wrong place.....

That makes sense, the three bells for reversing was from a standstill. The conductor would be hanging off the rear of the platform as the bus reversed into Purcell Road. Aged about 6 or 7, I was always insistent that I wanted to wait after we got off the bus to watch it reverse. I used to get taken to Birmingham on the Midland Red by my mother a couple of times a year. Frankly, I used to dread it. I never liked their buses, always remembering the distinctive clutch judder as they pulled away. The journey seemed endless, although was probably no more than an hour. Then it was a drag round Lewis's, C&A, Rackhams etc, which we didn't have in Coventry. Then another bus back to Pool Meadow. I live in Sutton Coldfield now, but still hate shopping in Birmingham.

Another Midland Red Coaches double decker, Leyland PD2 in Stratford Blue livery (almost). Conductor Chad can be seen in uniform complete with ticket machine.

I love that pic, Heritage. I have a Stratford blue single decker, which as soon as the railway is in action (new year time), we will have it in service. The destination blind says Evesham.

We were off to the the Leyland Day at Gaydon a couple of months ago. Like the D9 double decker this bus earns its keep and is not a museum piece. You can actually drive these buses at Driver Experience Days held at Mallory Park see http://www.wheels.co.uk

I had full driver training in 1979. (Class 4). I learned to drive in a five speed modified 'bmmo'(painted blue) double decker based at Nuneaton. The gear arrangement was called an HV. The fifth gear went off fourth with no neutral. If I was in fourth, it was so easy to go into fifth when I hoped that I was changing down. I got into a mess a few times to start with. No laughing please. I drove for several charities over the years, but my insurance & health certificate was not renewed after 1994.

And even worse than shopping in Birmingham is working in Birmingham!!! The "50s-Art-Deco" BMMOs had a distinctive sound, too, didn't they? In the days when trams still ran in Brum, I loved them. Especially at night, with all the flashes from the overhead pick up, and the lights inside going off over the points and junctions. The sound of the bell. I so wished we had them in Coventry still at the time. We went to the Tramway Museum (Crich) last year and that always brings back happy memories for me. A highly recommended trip from Coventry , but a long way from here!

I think that Pam & I will be going to Solihull this Wednesday, not Telford. Service No 82 from Pool Meadow stand E. at eight mins' past the hour. The 10.08am is often full before it leaves Coventry. Another example of a good service from Coventry. Best wishes.

I had forgotten the Barrs Hill girls. Having to catch the 13, Broad Lane to The Woodlands it was normal for a number of Barrs Hill girls to be on the bus from Toll Bar End. These planned to get off in Corporation Street opposite the Gas Showrooms but sometimes they missed their stop. One morning several made it all the way to Broad Lane. I believe the same sort of fun and games happened with Stoke Park and Caludon Castle. Happy days.

No fun and games for me one morning #%^* I missed the school bus to St. Joseph's - Kenilworth and had to wait for a service bus and that took half an hour. I was not alone as there was another girl late too. We asked the bus conductor if they would drop us off outside the school which he kindly did (must have felt sorry for us) and that cost us a Saturday morning detention %^*_+# Happy days indeed !!

When did you ever come across a female of our species who could navigate?? Hahahaha!! Two bits about the Spencer Avenue bus stop. One stupid practice that I saw from some bus conductors was to ring the bell so that the driver pulled away before all the KH lads were on - and that wasn't amusing! It nearly caused an accident several times whilst I was at the school Also at that junction: one day when I was waiting for the bus, a Berkeley 3-wheeler with L-plates came along Warwick Road, and turned left into Spencer Avenue, then swung over the road and stopped with the front wheels against the far kerb. The driver - he was on his own, despite L-plates - then got out, leaving the engine running, went to the back, lifted the single wheel off the road, and swung the back end right round, so as to point the car to Warwick Road again, got back in, and drove off, turning left back into Warwick Road. Those cars weighed only about 7 cwt total, so it was easy to do. Why did he do that? Well, if you had a motor cycle licence, you could drive a three-wheeler on it, provided you disabled the reverse gear....... I've never seen anyone do that since, though!

Thanks for both replies - this pic is exactly how I remember it as you drove past the main gate. Regards Bof

Hi, I lived in Freehold St from 1942 to 1953, then went to Korea. Bus garage just around corner from The Chantries. Will try find picture of bus garage I have somewhere. David .

Three bells was NOT the emergency stop bell code mate ! Three bells was the FULL UP bell code, 4 bells was the emergency stop code. Sorry about that. Peter w