Coventry Garage

[paulb1973]

is there anyway of finding out what happened to a particular bus im wanting to know the fate of the old coventry fleetline 6750

I don't have a definitive answer, but 6750 (SDA 750S) was withdrawn in 1989, so a really early casualty. That being so there is always a chance it was sold for further use - but I've been through all my 'Fleetline Factfile' booklets of 1994-97 published by D.Hill (remember them!) and there is no mention of any further use for 6750. It is safe to say this one was scrapped. But it is worth checking on Flickr etc, there are a number of pictures of this vehicle in its WMT days on there, the uploader of some claims 6750 gave service at Harborne garage! Seems rather unlikely - I suspect he has confused 'HN' which was Harnall Lane and briefly used at Wheatley Street before 'WT' was adopted. Finding out who scrapped this vehicle could be trickier.

[Tony]

6750 was sold for scrap in 11/89

It's one of the few buses from that era I never traced the buyer for.

[don]

6750 was sold for scrap in 11/89

It's one of the few buses from that era I never traced the buyer for.

Would this be shown in the PSV Circle West Midlands fleet history (haven't got a copy myself - seem quite rare at rally sales stands).

On the question of splitting the Coventry fleet between H and S on the basis of odd and even numbers, I wonder if the temporary curtailment was to do with the thorny issue (in Coventry) of conversion to one person operation? The last conductors in Coventry finished in September 1980. The timing seems to coincide. The last PTE conductors of all (North Division) finished in Dec 1980. This may have been a prompt for the Union to ask for the Coventry buses to be split equally.

[Beano2211]

4776 now at Coventry, 4836 gone for paint

[paulb1973]

4776 now at Coventry, 4836 gone for paint

This is the start of the 4830-42 batch turning blue presumably. Once these are treated, only 4881-94/4983-95 from an Enviro 400 point of view, will need doing [with 4763-76 already done] and that'll be a while yet. 4203-24/4396-424 won't go blue and I assume 4450-54 and Bendi's 6012-21 probably won't either.

Single decks 840-44/71-75 are still fairly new and 2153-77 may be treated in the 2018-19 timeframe, going by a repaint every 5-6 years.

[Beano2211]

This is the start of the 4830-42 batch turning blue presumably. Once these are treated, only 4881-94/4983-95 from an Enviro 400 point of view, will need doing [with 4763-76 already done] and that'll be a while yet. 4203-24/4396-424 won't go blue and I assume 4450-54 and Bendi's 6012-21 probably won't either.

Single decks 840-44/71-75 are still fairly new and 2153-77 may be treated in the 2018-19 timeframe, going by a repaint every 5-6 years.


Think they're staying blue/white

[JoNi]

4453 livery is still in good shape.
Amazed the city associates itself with Sky Blue seeing the football team has all but disappeared into oblivion.
A "Wasps" livery could be more appropriate but dirt does show up on black, and dark grey for that matter!

[t.w.moore]

Beano.s entry above..I am lost... Just what is going blue mean, these buses are sky blue, and I understood 4203...the oldest bus in numeration could be replaced  with others when we receive the next batch of Enviros from Walsall depot. Can someone explain.

[Beano2211]

Beano.s entry above..I am lost... Just what is going blue mean, these buses are sky blue, and I understood 4203...the oldest bus in numeration could be replaced  with others when we receive the next batch of Enviros from Walsall depot. Can someone explain.

Blue means the new two tone blue like on the 47**s, not sky blue/white, don't think we are getting any more Enviros from Walsall now 4776 is here. I believe the Enviros now going for repaint will come back in the current blue/white and not two tone blue.

[Tony]

Blue means the new two tone blue like on the 47**s, not sky blue/white, don't think we are getting any more Enviros from Walsall now 4776 is here. I believe the Enviros now going for repaint will come back in the current blue/white and not two tone blue.

'Sky Blue' predates the football club for association with Coventry (The following is taken from a local history page)

By 1400 Coventry was manufacturing something like 3,000 whole cloths each year,
a whole cloth in contemporary parlance being 24 yards long and almost 2 yards wide. It would take two individuals around eighty hours to weave a single cloth on a medieval loom, and twenty times that long to produce the thread itself. In addition to these "broadcloths" the city also made a host of lesser textiles such as caps, lesser cloths and stockings.

To answer the question we posed at the start we need to concentrate on the dyers, whose guild was formed around 1400. Medieval dyeing relied upon the use of a variety of natural dyes, some more expensive than others. Brazilwood made a cheap red dye, but one which rapidly faded; madder produced a more consistent russet red colour.

Most popular of all, at least in Coventry, was the cloth dyed blue with imported woad. Cloth stained with woad came out a pale blue, roughly the colour of a Coventry City footballer's shirt.

This did not mean that, to wear a garment of Coventry cloth, you had the choice of only two colours. Both madder and woad acted as "background" colours, and once the broadcloths left Coventry (mostly for export to the Continent) further dyes were often applied to them. Ships with Coventry cloth headed for Gascony in France, and to Spain and Portugal, and regularly returned with woad to dye the next set of cloths.

And thus, by the High Middle Ages, the colour one associated with Coventry was blue, as blue as the heavens that seemed to smile benignly upon the city.

It did not smile benignly for ever, of course. Ask any Coventrian and they will tell you that all the great Coventry trades have come and gone at some point, from cloth and cap making to ribbons, watches, bicycles, sewing machines and cars.

Nevertheless - like the cloths themselves - the Coventry cloth trade took a long time to die. Even as late as Tudor times it was still possible to make a decent profit from the city's first native industry. But by then the sky blue had faded' new materials and new dyes had elbowed out the old colour. Come the 17th Century, the industry had given way to ribbons.

Indeed, when the Corporation, and then the football team, adopted sky blue their colour, it was probably consciously nostalgic, looking back to the heady days when Coventry Blue was as famous as Lincoln Green.

[t.w.moore]

Tony..just great I should have known. I do like the colours.

[Adam 404]

I believe the Enviros now going for repaint will come back in the current blue/white and not two tone blue.

I truly hope that this is not the case!

However, the people of Coventry see the two tone livery as having free wifi (though 4775 doesn't have adverts for it, or a name for that matter!) so they may think that the others will have free wifi as well which would disappoint them!

It is odd if it is the case though as Birmingham, The Black Country and Dundee will be in the two tone livery and Coventry will start to lag behind in the old version.

[paulb1973]

I truly hope that this is not the case!

However, the people of Coventry see the two tone livery as having free wifi (though 4775 doesn't have adverts for it, or a name for that matter!) so they may think that the others will have free wifi as well which would disappoint them!

It is odd if it is the case though as Birmingham, The Black Country and Dundee will be in the two tone livery and Coventry will start to lag behind in the old version.

I assume 4836 is getting the newer two-tone blue, otherwise that would mean at least five more years of blue/white - which would be a bit daft. I know there's no hurry to do the Coventry Enviro's, but they may as well start now.

[John]

I assume 4836 is getting the newer two-tone blue, otherwise that would mean at least five more years of blue/white - which would be a bit daft. I know there's no hurry to do the Coventry Enviro's, but they may as well start now.

Our 33 Enviro400s have received the new livery so I don't see why not the Coventry buses can not get the blue version. Seems a bit pointless repainting them in their current livery unless there is a good reason behind it. About time Coventry got some buses in the new livery

[Adam 404]

874 has been branded for the 23 / 23A service (Like 875)

https://www.facebook.com/369276339910972/photos/a.436337133204892.1073741997.369276339910972/656315387873731/?type=3&theater