Roller Blinds - Did I imagine this?

[Westy]

We know the normal convention is the terminus on the top blind & via on the bottom one.

I have a vague memory of a Wolves area vehicle displaying Penn on the bottom blind & blank on the top blind!

Was this a mistake, or did some garages put terminuses on the bottom blind.

(Or have I imagined it?)

[ilovetea4370]

I seem to recall Acocks Greens B10L and B6LE both having destinations on the bottom before they left (although it was one blind rather than 2, they just printed the destinations underneath the via points).

[MW]

I seem to recall Acocks Greens B10L and B6LE both having destinations on the bottom before they left (although it was one blind rather than 2, they just printed the destinations underneath the via points).

Those blinds, for example on the 37 would say

Birmingham

Via points

Solihull station.

A 37 to Solihull would be in such a way that Birmingham is hidden. On the way backtheyd do it up a bit so Solihull is hidden and Birmingham showing.

[Westy]

To be honest I was talking about the PTE days!
Mind you Walsall have also done it on the Bloxwich corridor with the 302, where I think Lower Farm via Bloxwich is next to Walsall Garage on the single displays so they can display ' Via Bloxwich , Walsall ' !

[Gareth]

Westy, you probably remember correctly. I've seen photos of the odd bus in the 70s with the Upper blind and lower blind reversed. And each time, it seemed to be a Walsall or Wolverhampton bus. Probably just a mistake done on a Friday afternoon!

[Tony]

I seem to recall Acocks Greens B10L and B6LE both having destinations on the bottom before they left (although it was one blind rather than 2, they just printed the destinations underneath the via points).

Those blinds, for example on the 37 would say

Birmingham

Via points

Solihull station.

A 37 to Solihull would be in such a way that Birmingham is hidden. On the way backtheyd do it up a bit so Solihull is hidden and Birmingham showing.

That is not correct. The blinds were printed properly with via points above the final destinations in both directions

[Westy]

Westy, you probably remember correctly. I've seen photos of the odd bus in the 70s with the Upper blind and lower blind reversed. And each time, it seemed to be a Walsall or Wolverhampton bus. Probably just a mistake done on a Friday afternoon!

Heres a question, thinking about it, for our Wolves posters.

Did a 553 ever appear in service showing Wolverhampton on the top blind & Penn on the lower blind at the same time?

Again another vague memory.

(I used to knock about with a guy at school, whos dad was a Walsall driver back in the PTE days. Shame Im not still in touch with him. Tony, dunno how long youve had connections with Walsall depot, but the guys surname was Nawaz!)

[Stu]

I seem to recall Acocks Greens B10L and B6LE both having destinations on the bottom before they left (although it was one blind rather than 2, they just printed the destinations underneath the via points).

Those blinds, for example on the 37 would say

Birmingham

Via points

Solihull station.

A 37 to Solihull would be in such a way that Birmingham is hidden. On the way backtheyd do it up a bit so Solihull is hidden and Birmingham showing.

That is not correct. The blinds were printed properly with via points above the final destinations in both directions

It's just the drivers couldn't always find the right one for the route they were on!

Most of the time they'd just give up and find the nearest appropriate one, especially as the routes changed more than the blinds.

For a time after the 32 was withdrawn, and the 31 extended to Shirley, the B6LEs and B10Ls that got used would have to use the 32's 'Shirley Bills Lane' destination.

And one evening I remember a B10L doing a short 37E from Solihull to Camp Hill Island having to display the old 36's 'Sparkbrook' destination (showing via 'Olton Boulevard and Tyseley').

I bet AG are glad all their buses have LED displays now.  ;D

[Justin Tyme]

To be honest I was talking about the PTE days!

The first set of PTE standard blinds for Walsall, in the early 70s, had several destinations on the lower blind.  Maybe this followed Walsall Corporation tradition.  The next set of blinds for Walsall followed the PTE norm of having most destinations on the upper blind.

I think Wolverhampton's destinations were on the upper blind, but I stand to be corrected.

I do recall a silly situation at Coventry when it finally had PTE standard blinds.  Destinations appeared on the upper blind, but "Pool Meadow" and "Broadgate" appeared on the lower blind, so it was common to see displays like:

   18  CANLEY                       or    20  BEDWORTH
         POOL MEADOW                        BROADGATE

on Fleetlines all day.  Surely not the intention!

And who else remembers Perry Barr's early 70s lazy upper blind for the 40D - "LOZELLS AND ASTON" ?  Did I see a B7TL/ALX400 on the 46 showing "Lozells and Aston" a few months ago, or was that a mirage?

[Dylan4579]

Still is I saw a town bound omnilink displaying that

[Mike K]

We know the normal convention is the terminus on the top blind & via on the bottom one.

I have a vague memory of a Wolves area vehicle displaying Penn on the bottom blind & blank on the top blind!

Was this a mistake, or did some garages put terminuses on the bottom blind.

(Or have I imagined it?)

Westy, you definitely remember this correctly. Penn was an anomaly in appearing on lower blinds on Wolverhampton vehicles, despite being an outbound destination. I certainly saw it on a number of vehicles on the 553 in the early 80s. I tried to find a picture of one on Flickr a while ago but all I could find were later pictures with Penn on the upper blind.

[Stuharris 6360]

In Stourbridge, the Fleetlines used to display

298 Top Blind  STOURBRIDGE

Bottom Blind    PEDMORE FIELDS

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

Well I'm all for the bottom blind showing the final destination/terminuses and the top blind the via points, because after all, take the 246 it goes through Russells Hall, Pensnett and Brierley Hill before it gets to Stourbridge!

I know its not the best example as it only had one blind but take Tony's photo of 2957 the blind starts with the Via points, Meriden, Airport/NEC then at the bottom is the final destination, that makes more sense to me anyway

[927KHA]

The PTE Leyland Nationals at Stourbridge, when on a town service, the top blind would show LOCAL SERVICE and bottom one would show the destination. I remember this on my old local route, the S46, before services were revised in 1976,