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Excellent video of 6835 - some great sound effects. I must admit I don't recall 6835 having the narrow cream band and black window surrounds but I'm sure the guys at Wythall have done their research. 2001 onwards had the wider cream band and blue window surrounds (but black skirts) - also 7006 and IIRC - strange what 35 yrs odd does to the memory!!

Must admit I don't remember a Titan at Walsall.

Did it have a regular route?

It was only there a couple of years before they all got moved to one garage not sure which.  It used to go on the 51 a bit

They were all moved to PB.

They started off at different garages like the Titans:-
6831 - Washwood Heath
6832 - Coventry
6833 - Dudley
6834 - Wolverhampton (Cleveland Rd/Bilston St)
6835 - Perry Barr

6831 was around for some time before 6832-6834 appeared and all had non standard stripes and black window surrounds. 6835 entered service after the 1978 motor show (ie some months after the others) and had more standard livery and what became standard castle moquette orange seats. Not sure whether the other interior finishes on 6831-6834 were standard Fleetline colours but probably!

All were later congregated at Dudley in the way the Titans were moved to Perry Barr.

Metrobuses started to be withdrawn in small numbers around 1989 (before the last entered service) some famously ending up with Stevensons and competing with TWM (via breakers) - I seem to recall some of these early ones were withdrawn in that era, no doubt having had a hard life at Dudley and it's hills and fullish daytime utilisation then. I guess it was to save cost and volume of maintenance repairs at that time, particularly with new buses coming.

It's to be hoped 6832 continues to survive as one of the earliest production Mettobuses (or were 6831-6834 pre production)

For the record Titans (I think) were:-
7001 - Perry Barr
7002 - Selly Oak
7003 - ?
7004 - Walsall
7005 - Coventry
My memory is sketchy on these and I though one was at Washwood Heath possibly? So please correct if anyone knows!! The Coventry one had stick on Leyland adverts on every window when I saw it.

Not necessarily - it takes a lot for most people to put pen to paper or to complain on the internet. Not all PCV drivers are squeaky clean so let's not kid ourselves. Most are however.

Crikey, if the driver said that he needs re-training at the very least.

The matter ought to be reported because the company shouldn't be allowing people to interface with the public like that. As for the traffic law transgressions, those could be picked up from the on vehicle recordings. Suffice to say the driver is in charge of a large, heavy potentially lethal weapon - running red lights is off the scale in terms of transgressions - the driver's also in charge of his passengers (customers).

Put it another way - if you got such alleged rude and deplorable service from a supermarket and saw their staff, for instance, blatantly selling alcohol to under age people, what would you do? I would not shop there again and report them for illegal behaviour.

Sorry to all the pro drivers and NXWM fans/employees on here but it's as simple as that. (and I'm a huge bus fan and NXWM fan)!!

Back in the 70s this sort of behaviour was commonplace - indeed I was once traveling on a BCT Fleetline on the 24 in Colmore Row and outside the Birmingham City Council offices (yes it's an ancient story from the days when buses went through Victoria Sq and New St) the driver stopped in the middle of the road leapt out of his cab and ran down the road and took a flying kick at the drivers door of the car in front!!!) the one that got me most riled was the Bristol Road guys at Navigation St who would close the doors and drive off as soon as a gaggle of passengers walking from the city centre got within a couple of yards of them. This was a standard occurrence!!!

So thank The Lord for better standards of driving, customer care and on bus monitoring these days. Buses were lethal back then and occasional bad apples should indeed be reported.

Any idea of when the new envrios  will entre service
at PB & Wb

The 20 short Enviro 200s should start to be delivered in the next two weeks

Two weeks - v soon then. Are any long ones expected for WA (or maybe even YW) to replace B10Ls ....... or B6s (at Walsall)

[due to arrive in the West Midlands in August]

@Winston i'm sure i read somewhere that NX are having the new MMC Euro 6 E400's.

Will double check now to see if i can find the article i read

It will be good if they are going to all be MMC's, as it's pretty damn stylish. I think ADL have excelled themselves on this project, the revamp appears far superior to Wrightbus Gemini 3. The MMC may be part of the reason why NX have chosen ADL solely for the next five years.

I don't think I've seen two different articles that actually state the same quantities...... ???

I'm sure that the first batch are the normal E400 diesel and also the xmas deliveries.

The first batch due to arrive in the West Midlands in August have now been allocated fleetnumbers, registrations and body numbers. They are on the main site at
http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/fleetlist/4700-4879.html
Changes at the DVLA and closure of the Birmingham LVLO mean these are being registered by Alexander Dennis.

Short E200s will probably arrive before these.

Do we know if the E400s or new single deckers will be used for the Commonwealth Games contract before being used in normal service? Or will existing vehicles be used?

Automatics had the same box and sounded the same - London DMSs just started in second and changed up on full throttle.

Ah London Transport - great in many ways, and loved by most - but fancy re-designing elements of a highly successful vehicle thereby making them grossly unreliable!! Not the only example IIRC - didn't they have a batch of AEC Reliances which they re-designed - which also became grossly unreliable (RC class)?

I know they had to do a lot to get the unions to allow people to drive their buses (such as raising the driver position of a Fleetline so the driver was almost at horse bus level - touching the lower deck ceiling almost) - I'm surprised they didn't have to fit them with offside sliding doors!! But much of the tinkering seemed to be engineering and beaurocracy led.

There must have been a vast amount of public money wasted in those far off days!

Automatics had the same box and sounded the same - London DMSs just started in second and changed up on full throttle.

No wonder they broke down so often!!

Not much to see really, although 4135 was in the dead box awaiting its new engine presumably, but also missing its front grill.

Just an observation - this bus must have had a small fortune spent keeping it on the road in recent years - could it not be a candidate for first Trident to be put out to grass in semi-retirement in the training fleet?  :-\

I would have thought the investment placed in it would be an incentive to keep it out in service for as long as possible

It just seems to be never ending!!

Not much to see really, although 4135 was in the dead box awaiting its new engine presumably, but also missing its front grill.

Just an observation - unless it's my imagination this bus must have had, comparatively, a small fortune spent keeping it on the road in recent years - it wasn't that long ago it was away for work for a week or more - could it not be a candidate for first Trident to be put out to grass in semi-retirement in the training fleet at some stage soon?  :-\

@lynx1103 - Passenger Champion? What's that mean when it's at home?

@Liverpool Street - I'm guessing they've been trained in exemplary customer service - perhaps like Waitrose compared to Aldi. Unfortunately the word champion applied to everyday tasks as a dreamt up Managememt/HR/marketing term makes me think of Champion the Wonder Horse - not what's intended at all I guess. It wouldn't have happened in BCT days (or WCBC Transport days for that matter  ;)

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one then ;) haha That's the one with Frankie Laine? [Or Lane, either way]

Indeed Frankie Laine sang the theme song along with Rawhide and Blazing Saddles - though he wasn't told before he did it the last one was a parody of old western films, a comedy involving such gems as baked bean eating cowboys and severe farting!! Off topic - smacked wrist.....sorry mods.

They are allocated to all 19 designated 301 drivers

Passenger champion is just an idea in a fight back to compete against diamond on 301.

WB 40 drivers have the same Hi Viz

One driver on Bradford Place rota has blue hiviz as he trains new drivers on routes
Known as buddy driver before they go out on there own.

Thanks for clarifying - anything which improves customer service has to be a good initiative.

@lynx1103 - Passenger Champion? What's that mean when it's at home?

@Liverpool Street - I'm guessing they've been trained in exemplary customer service - perhaps like Waitrose compared to Aldi. Unfortunately the word champion applied to everyday tasks as a dreamt up Managememt/HR/marketing term makes me think of Champion the Wonder Horse - not what's intended at all I guess. It wouldn't have happened in BCT days (or WCBC Transport days for that matter  ;)

Thanks Tony. 4142, 4349 and 4353 are marked in a sort of pinky bridge over the first two columns. Are these repainted but not photographed?