Coventry Buses - past and present

We had a nice little trip on the upper floor of a double decker down to Keresly... And the kids poked around inside some of the older buses. Seemed to be very popular, the coffee shop was doing a roaring trade! (Esquires do a nice coffee as well.)

Yesterday we took our Grandson to the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford in Aberdeenshire. Primarily for me as a new exhibition has opened based on the Great Train Robbery with the vehicles used and other exhibits (the money was loaded on the train at Aberdeen & Glasgow before further pick-ups in England Anyway I digress. The reason for the posting is that I was surprised at the exhibits which were on loan from Coventry's Transport Museum - vehicles & cycles. There was even a photo of the James Starley Memorial Statue on Greyfriars Green. Outside was an 'Alvis' built Scorpion Tank used in the Falklands Conflict. The only 'downside' was the weather dull with heavy cloud, odd shower and the temperaturs didn't go above 1 degree !

I caught the bus from Sandpits Lane every day to school at King Henry VIII, from 1961, they used to come down St Nicholas St, to the bottom of Hale St and then turn left and come up Trinity St. Some time around 1965 ish they changed the routes and the 16 and 16a terminated in Broadgate, which is when they used to come round Broadgate and stop outside Owen's, then you had to get the 15 or 17 to get to school. On one occasion I was sat in my favoured position, front seat top deck, and as we came down St Nicholas Street the lights by the canal basin were red, but we sailed straight through them, down to the old grammer school, and they careered around the corner before slowly coming to a halt by the Hippodrome. We all had to get off the bus there, and the conductor explained that the brakes had failed.

Hi all There are some changes to the times of our 360 (circle service) starting tomorrow. Also sadly curtailment of some late evening services. The last 360 to leave the University Hospital is 20.15 & 20.25, so they still cover for the finish of visiting times. 360 Timetable It is a pity that folk do not realise the convenience of this service, which connects with more pubs than on any other bus route.

Thank you for that Philip,I didn't know the times were changing. I do use that bus to get to Cannon Park once a week. Glad you let us know.

Maybe not but it says "India" on the tyres!

musta bin a long time since you last looked at the tyres Dutchman - was it a good year

Doing some research on Bedworth in 1914 I have just found the following cutting from the Midland Daily Telegraph dated 7th September 1914.

As noted earlier, the first corporation bus service had started on 30th March 1914 using 6 Maudslay open-top double deckers for a service to Stoke. A second service to Hearsall Lane started on 3rd May when the Stoke frequency was reduced. Two Daimler buses were ordered in July to complement the service, but these were never delivered when war was declared in August. The service was suspended when the chassis were commandeered by the War Department. The Stoke service ended on 30th August and the Earlsdon service the following week. The bodies were not required and these were subsequently sold to Sheffield Corporation. In total, 90,954 miles were covered and 698,409 passengers were carried, generating over £3440 in income. In addition, compensation of £594 per chassis was received. There are some photos of the event commemorating the 100th anniversary of this first service here. It has recently been discovered that at least two of these buses survived the war. They turn up in 1921 rebodied as a single decker and a charabanc, both painted silver, far away at Ilfracombe in Devon where they were being used by a company running sightseeing trips for tourists.

Hi all Easter Bus Services Please scroll down to see bus service details. In general, Friday is a Saturday service, whilst Monday is a Sunday service.

Once again I inform you that the Monday service doesn't apply to us at Lentons lane because we don't have a Sunday service. Without private transport we are once again confined to barracks for two days. Maggie Thatcher and her privatisation of the public bus services has a lot to answer for.

Hi all Whilst returning from a Belgrade coffee morning, where the topic of whether pigs have wings or even whether £5 was sufficient for the "Owl & Pussycat" to stow away with, I saw this in Coundon today.