Withdrawn Vehicles

[2900]

BCC used go home around sevenish in those days  they missed a trick there they could have cleaned up , inter working of the 87/120 boards kicked in from 1830 hrs if I remember correctly.

[2900]

At Hockley the 8/ 65/ 120 were the branded using mercs I think the 66 might have been, the 65 was very short lived mercs could cope with volume of passengers. It wasn't long after 65/67 transferred to Perry Barr. I,m sure lea hall mercs were branded I use see them by Mathew Boulton / Aston science park sides I can picture brown branding not the service number.

[2900]

Thinking back I remember the old drivers saying if it wasn't for the travel card we,ed be finished on the 120s , BCC took all the cash customers. Look how things have changed. I did get to know the Bcc drivers at the time, they use to boast about there money bag how heavy it was grinning ear to ear cause they got a percentage of it.

[BK63 YWP]

Thinking back I remember the old drivers saying if it wasn't for the travel card we,ed be finished on the 120s , BCC took all the cash customers. Look how things have changed. I did get to know the Bcc drivers at the time, they use to boast about there money bag how heavy it was grinning ear to ear cause they got a percentage of it.

@2900 what happen to BCCs 120 route? Why was it withdrawn

[PM]

Thinking back I remember the old drivers saying if it wasn't for the travel card we,ed be finished on the 120s , BCC took all the cash customers. Look how things have changed. I did get to know the Bcc drivers at the time, they use to boast about there money bag how heavy it was grinning ear to ear cause they got a percentage of it.

BCC seemed busy on there, wasn't it every 10 mins each operator at one time? Pity frequency wasn't kept as high as Diamond kept it on the 16, if I remember correctly, as on the 63, 87 maybe 74 as well Thandi or some independent came on the 120, competed mostly with Diamond where 120 became unviable, was withdrawn and then the other competing operators moved on somewhere else so TWM had no competition on the 120.

[979]

1704-1707 were branded for the 120 service at hockley garage from new and very smart they looked to. It did look odd though in the evenings when 87/120 boards inter worked , I think back I still can't believe single deckers were put on the 87,s woefully inadequate , use to leave behind many many passengers . On flip side you would have double deckers from the 87 boards on the 120 where it wasn't required ,go figure.

They did look smart and the AC was excellent on top of the drivers cab.

[598]

Are you positive 1707 was branded? I definitely know that 1703 to 1706 were because I've seen pictures of then but I've never come across one showing 1707 as being branded. If anyone can shed any light it'd be greatly appreciated

[Stu]

BCC seemed busy on there, wasn't it every 10 mins each operator at one time? Pity frequency wasn't kept as high as Diamond kept it on the 16, if I remember correctly, as on the 63, 87 maybe 74 as well Thandi or some independent came on the 120, competed mostly with Diamond where 120 became unviable, was withdrawn and then the other competing operators moved on somewhere else so TWM had no competition on the 120.

Yes, I do recall at one point the 120 had TWM and BCC (then Diamond) operating every 20mins, so there was pretty much a bus every 10mins, this was before Sunny Travel joined the party, and the route became saturated, although Sunny only operated between Birmingham and Oldbury. I seem to recall TWM's service being less frequent when Metrobuses were the norm, I guess the transition to single decks warranted the frequency increase, as the TWM buses were often full I used to prefer getting the BCC and Sunny buses instead. I think that BCC/Diamond then withdrew when TWM increased their frequency to 15mins, and BCC's passenger numbers further dwindled.

How times have changed for this route! At one point TWM didn't even bother running evening or Sunday journeys, as they were tendered out to Midland Red West.

[37351ml]

The brown branding on the Lea Hall mercs was for the 94 service. This would be around june 99.

[uniquicity]

Are you positive 1707 was branded? I definitely know that 1703 to 1706 were because I've seen pictures of then but I've never come across one showing 1707 as being branded. If anyone can shed any light it'd be greatly appreciated

This is correct. 1703-6 were 120 branded.

[2900]

You,ve got me thinking now was it branded or not , I do  know there were 4 of them definitely 1700s these were last to arrive at Hockley late autumn time I recall , the 8,s were late 1690,s and some 1700s .

Sunny killed off diamond on the 120s basically the drivers were all In touch with blue tooth head sets letting each other know what's going on the route. They were good bunch of lads who always stopped where ever to give a lift into oldbury when nx service 120s got held up some where. Saving my skin many a times.

[x68]

At Hockey 1651 to 1655 were branded for 65 1660 to 1666 for old 68 service 1698 to 1702 for cross city 66 later rebranded for 8.1703 to 1706 for 120. 1707 was never branded and for some reason did not have a video camera when new. On a side note 2 occasions 65 service has been tried to convert to single deck one with lynx's and one with Mercedes and each time had to revert to double deck.

[Eric Shaw]

There are now 5 bendies parked neatly at Miller Street. Is this to clear Lea Hall?

[598]

There are now 5 bendies parked neatly at Miller Street. Is this to clear Lea Hall?

It is yes

[James4368]

3601 , 4004 and 4018 outside of Miller street now

Update 08:50
All 3 shunted back into depot now