Messages

The Excels all originated with Choice Travel for the 171 service. I cannot remember if they had them new or second hand though...

The Spectra's are of no problem at all to the Birmingham low emission thing, but will be going reasonably soon due to their age! The Presidents on the other hand look like they could cause a slight problem, but they could easily transfer out to WB/AG for newer buses to be transferred into Central (although that'd involve BC receiving Gemini's or ALX400 B7TLs unless some other dubious swaps happened!)

The 126 branded ones are definitely Voith, as they only have 3 gears! Thanks for the confirmation of the Pershore Road ones, there not vehicles I frequently travel on (and whenever I catch the 45/7 I seem to get an older Trident, or B7TL) so wasn't sure. :)

In the original message, it says it was going towards WA/the 51 route. Think the answer will most likely be that it was going to Walsall. Not at all uncommon to see buses from other garages in Walsall...

The latter Wolverhampton Tridents (126 branded ones, and a few others I think but don't know exact numbers) are also Voith, and I presume (but not certain) that the Pershore Road 46xx Tridents are also Voith (if anyone can confirm that'd be great!). Basically, the Y-TOHs, BX02s and BV52s are all voith, with the BJ03s, BL53s being ZF. There is then a split with some BU04s being ZF, some being voith. Its been that long since I travelled on a BX54, I can't remember what they are! To avoid questions like this further down, all of the B7TLs are ZF except the ALX400s which are voith - apparently the Coventry Gemini's are also Voith, but I've had conflicting stories on this one!

Hybrids do run the 24 from time to time, and I have seen them making an appearance on Sunday's. It would seem logical to use them (presuming drivers are type trained!). I suppose the lack of use on Sundays is probably the reason they're still shiny, compared to the diesel Enviro400s we had around the same time (although they aren't too bad!)... they must be given a good polishing each weekend! :)