Coventry Buses - past and present

The corporation owned 700 Daimler buses over the years. There are at least ten surviving, some of the others are pictured here.

This colour maroon. I must say I prefer and miss the original colour. Was it always called maroon, as I had a feeling it was closer to what I used to call "liver"? But I would be interested to know the original recipe (if there ever was one), i.e. was there a shade chart in those days?

The colour used for the trams was described as chocolate or maroon, though as far as I know, no colour photos exist. There are paintings such as this, but the scene is supposedly 1936 whereas the artist, GS Cooper was only born in 1935. The colour was changed to a lighter shade, called Marshall Red about 1970.

I was given permission by Dave Cooper to include these scans of some of GS (Sid) Cooper's fabulous work in my gallery of Coventry buses and trams

Thanks MR. I have just stepped back over 40 years, buses and backgrounds.

Thanks McSporran and MR I think you have settled my question regarding colour, with the suggestion chocolate was included early on for the trams. I second Dreamtimes enthusiasm for the pictures, I too spent at least half an hour, looking at the detail as well as the transport. The signs on the shop in Pool Meadow, the slot machine on the wall, the Traffic jam down Trinity Street, I remembered the "Imperial" typewriter at high level on the shop front in Trinity Street. Timothy Whites looked so pristine and real, I was wondering how the tram was going to pass the bus in Broadgate,it was almost photographic and so real .

Hello all, Can someone help with my query, regards the picture of single-deck 244. The allocation of Coventry transport buses between the two garages, prior to the opening of the Wheatley St Garage, was that all even numbers were Harnall Lane based whilst all odd no's were Sandy Lane. Why is Sandy Lane being shown on the blind? Is that where it is housed now, or what?

Well spotted. When 244 was originally at Coventry (1940-49), there was no Sandy Lane garage, but the restored bus has now been fitted with a post war destination blind that includes it, and the photo was taken in 2012 when the bus was actually at Sandy Lane, the site of the garage is now used as storage by the transport museum!

Hi & thank you Mcsporran, I love your eta picture of the Coventry bus ticket. I remember the green (workers return) version issued before 9am. Although not valid as a return, conductors would often still have the green ticket rolls in their ticket machines, when I was on my way to school. Thanks for the info on Sandy Lane garage, I didn't know that. You have a good day. I am off on the "country" bus today "stagecoach" No56, meeting a friend for coffee in Bedworth. Don't tell anyone, but I will call in at "ALDI" for a square jar of chutney. Shhhh, don't tell anyone that I am shopping at Aldi. Pam will cut me out of her will if she finds out, or "put me board up". Best wishes.

The precise colour of the buses was recently discussed on the Coventry Transport Forum, it seems the livery was changed by the new manager Ronald Fearnley in 1933 from Lake and cream to Coventry Maroon and cream. Lake was the standard colour used by LMS railways between 1923 and 1946 before it too became maroon. The difference is illustrated here. Regarding Sandy Lane, the bus garage there opened in September 1954 and closed in 1986. It is now used by the Transport Museum and can sometimes be visited on the annual heritage open days. There are many interesting exhibits stored there that cannot normally be shown due to space restrictions.

Details announced

Star attraction for me today at the Didcot Transport Rally and Bus Running Day was our old friend EVC244 - Coventry Transport 244, Daimler COG5/Park Royal, dating from 1940

Hi all Eight years have passed by since the UK's introduction of the national bus-pass for older people. Sadly, there is still so much ignorance about where it can & cannot be used, so I will summarise the basics. The UK mainland bus pass is in three categories. England, Scotland & Wales. Scotland & Wales each have their own, as indeed we have our own in England. ENGLAND bus pass. Anyone who has an English bus pass issued to them, can use that bus-pass, so as to have free travel on any local bus service, anywhere in England. So, for example, if you live as I do in Coventry, I can travel free on any local bus, anywhere in England. If you live in Cornwall, you can use your bus pass to travel on any local Coventry bus or Birmingham or Liverpool, just as I can use my bus-pass to do the same. What you cannot do is use it on any non-local bus, like National Express. In addition, Coventry residents, who have a Centro issued bus-pass, can use their bus-pass to travel anywhere in the West Midlands County on the trains, but that is only a current perk, given by Centro. That could be withdrawn at anytime, but the free pass on buses is an act of parliament. I have opened this topic, as today, I have again heard such mis-informed chat on a bus that I have travelled on today. I do hope this helps. Remember this info is current as of now. A future change of government could always request a change in the parliamentary act. Just chat, I was waiting for the first bus to come along at Hen Lane this morning, to take me to the Ricoh railway station. I was in the company of folks with shopping bags who were going to the Ricoh shops. The first bus to arrive was the 360, the circle bus which is soon to be withdrawn due to lack of usage. The shopping ladies & one gent, said they could only use their pass on the Coventry transport buses & not the 360, or stagecoach. The bus driver called out to them to come aboard. It's hardly surprising that the 360 service is being withdrawn with this kind of ignorance & miss-information.

Ha, we went on that today! Kids enjoyed it.

Hi all 360 Replacement Information.