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The Hybrids were part of a government grant, i don't think the government would have been too happy if they purchased some 12 year old tridents instead ...

The government only pays (most of) the additional costs of a Hybrid against a standard vehicles of the same make. Diamond still had to find more money than it would have cost to buy 8 standard Versas

Not many other services were listed as changing for that day, what changes will be happening?

Almost every route in Birmingham as Corporation Street closes and many other roads have changes

According to Vosa n & p 15th june the X31 route & timetable is changing from 22nd July, anyone know what the changes are?

That will be the Birmingham City Centre changes, same as every other Birmingham route that day

All it means is that the first journeys that normally start from the Fox & Goose (Ward End) will start from Saltley instead. It doesn't mean the route is changing garage.  :D

On a side note, I notice that the 120 is being rerouted to terminate on Colmore Row, yet when I checked the map on the Connected City website (before they took it off), the plan was the 120 would follow the same new route as the 127 & 128 and terminate at the Markets. I thought the whole idea of rearranging the routes was that services that served similar locations would all be grouped together? The 120, 127 & 128 all currently stop at the same stop on Corporation Street ('Buses for Warley'), and barring some minor deviations, are all used by people to get to Five Ways and Bearwood.

It was always, and still is, the 126 that is going around to the markets, so that a regular 5 min frequency is operated from Five Ways to the markets

Thanks for that. presumably you can always determine the 'offenders' ISP? one other point -I notice several more (old)  390xxx 11 car sets now in service ie -112 114 131 141- are you aware of any more?

I haven't had chance to look out for them yet, when I was at Rugby on Friday I didn't see a single 11 car!

Are there any vehicles with FMR that are in the new first livery? As most other areas in the country have buses in the new livery, and I have not seen any with First Midland Red in the new livery.

I don't think there is. The only one I know of in the Midlands so far is a Potteries Solo

The link to NXWM 4288 from the 4287 page onto 4388 instead of 4288.

Nice easy one to sort - Thanks, it is now correct

Re-10201 Your 'sneaky' post to the wiki site was equally as good as the one you 'sneaked' on the forum!- no wonder it had so many hits-you didn't give any pre cognition of what the viewer was going to find 'behind the door'...so to speak, which is why it had so many hits.Q.-is it possible to determine how many 'NON' members, ie guests, currently viewing your steam collection?-. Ps, if you, (or anyone else ) recognises 'our' photo's being duplicated on someone elses site how would you feel about it???

It depends on whether they have asked or not, I will normally always give permission for people to use my photos... if they ask....
If they just pinch them and put them on their own sites I will normally ask them to remove them and if they do not then I ask the ISP to remove them, which they will normally do.

I apologise if I am being a pain,but can I please ask Tony when he has the time (do you ever ) if he can update and re-list the garages and outstations list at the beginning of the Arriva Midlands fleet list ?
Thanks.

I will try and get them all correct later today

I think I remeber posting something like this in another topic but anyways;

What if Arriva introduced a route that operates From Birmingham - Perry Barr - Kingstanding - Aldridge - Cannock < that sounds like the most reliable route to cannock, but with the Roadworks on Moor Street ALL the buses seem to be running in convoy

Probably because they ran that service for years (the 156) and they couldn't make any money on it, so withdrew it. This isn't having a go at you Nathan, I appreciate as you are only 16 you will probably not remember the 156 going to Cannock.

Or it seemed like that yesterday in Rugby!

16458 on the 63
http://wmbusphotos.com/stagecoachMR/16458.html
16729 on the 1
http://wmbusphotos.com/stagecoachMR/16729.html

20216 on the 3
20221 on the 4

also 47038 was on the 12 with Sorry not in service stuck on the destination and a
handwritten piece of A4 stuck in the windscreen for a service number.
http://wmbusphotos.com/stagecoachMR/47038.html

Even Stagecoach beloved by some on here can have bad days!

1435 - working 70A
1446 - Working 7
1785 - Still Branded with your 37 from AG
3752 - working 1 (Walsall - Cannock)

30129 - Working 301
30128 - Working 301

Wasnt all Diamond Hybrids for service 56 becuase of the new emmission but so Far ive seen 1 or 2 on there and the rest moving on to other routes such as 301/002/007 etc

Routes 7 & 70 are both booked for B10Ls, so neither of those is unusual, 1785 isn't still branded, although whoever removed the branding didn't get all the glue off so some dirt is sticking to it making it readable again

1956 was an idea of DON THE WM BUS (millionaire)COLSTON when the union was after a one class driver pay scale.Buses were standing because of shortages of full rate/licence drivers and the minibus rate drivers were`nt allowed to drive full size buses.(union insistence and minibus licenses also came into it)By the time 1956 was converted the management were on the verge of agreeing one class drivers,so along with the costs of conversion it all became a non starter.But to be fair did WMT really want a fleet of ugly duckings running around.As i remember it 1956 spent much of its days operating the old 242 Cradley Heath-Kinver route or 297.Brockmoor-Stourbridge

That was the reason behind wanting 37 seat buses, but the engineering department were never really happy with the dart which was the main drive behind converting the fleetline instead of buying new darts of the same capacity. With its large wheels and several other modern features added it was a much higher quality vehicle than the darts of the same era. One major change was it had the complete steering column removed and replaced by that from former LT DMS2137 which at the time was in the reserve fleet having been aquired with Tame Valley. This meant it was the only new to WMPTE fleetline ever to have proper power steering

Haha no it shouldnt xD. To be honest, I used to do the same with Diamond on the 64-wait for a lance etc. Tho I do think that fleetlines are great buses and the WM ones have good interiors which are practical with the seating upstairs etc. Tho on an unusual note, has anyone else been on 1956-the single deck fleetline. Somehow a strange to look at fleetline that is a single deck(I know that Bham and Darlington had some but still) with a first generation buggy zone and penny dot flooring doesnt seem quite right!!

BCT had some single deck Fleetlines with Marshall bodywork that looked very much like 1956. But 1956 itself was indeed a standard double deck that got decapitated in an accident. Orginally i believe 6956 WDA956T. It was converted by WMT

1956 was not involved in any accident. 6956 had been withdrawn and was in store at Selly Oak and was used as a prototype to a possible fleet of single deck fleetlines. WMT paid less to 'small bus' drivers, so by converting double deckers to small single deckers they would spend less in wage costs. I believe the conversion cost was around £25,000 (or so I am told) therefore not really financially viable especially due to the Fleetlines age.

6956 was withdrawn with accident damage, but very minor damage to the front, nothing to cause the loss of the top deck, so both correct really