Wythall Operating day 15/06/13

Wythall Transport Museum operating day and celebration of 65 years of the Morris 'J' type van 15/06/13

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Posted on: 17th June 2013
Updated on: 20th June 2013

The Wythall Transport Museum near Birmingham is home to a magnificent collection of Midland Red and Birmingham City Transport buses (among others) as well as a fine collection of battery-electric vehicles. The weekend of 15/16th June provided an opportunity to ride in some beautifully restored classic buses and admire the line up arranged by the Morris J type register to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the production of the first of these delightful vehicles.

Morris J van line up

Verdict

Better than today's buses?

Birmingham Corporation 1953 Guy Arab VI with Metro-Cammell bodywork leaving on its second ride of the day

The transport museum at Wythall is open every weekend between March and October, but there are only limited opportunities to actually ride on one of their beautifully restored buses. This event offered an opportunity to do just that, but without it being as busy as it can get on one of their major operating days over bank holiday weekends. There were two buses running when I visited on 15th June and thanks to their owner's generosity rides were free. I was particularly impressed by the 1953 Guy Arab VI MOF 9. It may have been 60 years old, its top speed may only have been 30 mph and it did produce a cloud of blue smoke pulling away, but it rode very smoothly, not rattling and squeaking over the potholes like many modern buses do. And, even better when the engine idled you didn't feel like the vibrations were going to shake you off the chair (as I did on a Dennis Dart I rode on recently). So I think the chap who wrote to my local newspaper complaining about one of the vehicles used on a route near me (the bus in question, I recollect, got lost and then broke down) and suggesting the company had borrowed from the museum might have been pleasantly surprised if they had! The other bus giving rides was a 1965 Bristol MW6G single decker with ECW coachwork. The 8 litre Gardiner engine made a beautiful sound - as you can hear in the video! Our driver did very well squeezing round a parked removal van - I think the scratch you can see down the edge of the roof on near side in the video where the Bristol is parking up after our ride may have been acquired previously rather than marks left by the sickening screech as the trees scraped past.
The lovely miniature railway on the site, operated by the Elmdon Model Engineering society, was running too.

J vans

The line up of J type vans had been organised by the J type Register as part of a series of events to mark the 65th anniversary of the appearance of the first J type at the 1948 Commercial Motor Show. An impressive line up of the diminutive 10cwt vans was achieved, including Royal Mail and GPO vehicles, a van driven over from Sweden for the event and two J types repatriated from Australia and New Zealand respectively. The line up of vans was also contained the J type's Austin variant and its younger JB type cousin, both introduced when the J type was updated in 1957. Production of the JB and Austin 101 ended in 1961.
A nice touch, and one that I was pleased to be able to see, was getting all the owners to stand next to these wonderfully restored vehicles; they are, after all, the people who's dedication has seen the vans preserved for future generations to enjoy too.

UMO 938's owner, Ken Cooke, sign wrote this roof board specially for the occasion

Owners line up

There was only very minor issue, for me, with what was otherwise an excellent event. I like the J type vehicles and find them interesting. However, I'm not J type aficionado and don't know too much about the vehicles and their histories. I realise that this is the sort of event which would mostly be attended by members of the J type register who no doubt know a lot about their subject. But not everyone would have been. So I, and probably other more general transport enthusiasts, would have appreciated there perhaps being some display or something up near the line up of vans to explain a little about the history of the J type and advertise the Register organisation too. I'm sure if I'd plucked up the courage to ask an owner about their vehicle they would have been very helpful. But it might have been nice, for shy and retiring types like me anyway, if there was a bit of card in the window which perhaps showed the van's age and what work it used to do, or perhaps still does - it looked as though some of the vans (such as 5003 NX which carried signwriting for 'Huff, Puff, and Away!' creative balloon decor) were painted up for modern businesses.

The museum

I had visited Wythall before some years ago now so it was good to be able to enjoy the exhibits in the museum's three main halls again. The Power Hall, which opened in 2007, was especially good because a wide range of vehicles were arranged thoughtfully around the hall with clear and informative displays explaining about the vehicle, its role and historical significance. I was particularly interested by the museum's oldest vehicle, appropriately one of the first exhibits you come to, a Tillings-Stevens design from 1913 which had solid wheels and a top speed of just 12mph. I was also taken by the Bedford SB coach which had a typically British feature - orange roof glass to give the impression of permanent sunshine!

A view across the Power Hall. Note the informative displays

Existing manufacturers couldn't meet Midland Red's demands. So they built their own! (1925)

The collection at Wythall contains some historically priceless vehicles, including an example of the first Midland Red designed and built vehicle in 1925, which, if it weren't for another clear and informative display, the significance of this lucky survivor would have been lost on the vast majority of visitors. The museum is also home to the last single decker built by Midland Red, and a seemingly very ordinary looking bus, the BMMO D10 double decker which marked the final development of Midland Red's engineering, confounding the bus industry by successfully fitting their new 10 litre engine under the floor while keeping enough ground clearance and head room and the overall height low enough. The example preserved at Wythall was one of only two ever built.
The museum also houses a fascinating collection of battery-electric vehicles which preserve an important part our less glamorous past. Here too, the role and significance of the different vehicles, even the ones in the throws of on-going major restorations, was clearly explained.

Conclusions

Overall, an excellent event which was well attended and offered superb value for money with a good variety of things to see and do. The bus rides were good fun, and the museum itself is set out very well, with the vast majority of vehicles having accompanying information displays. The line up of J type vans was also interesting and made the day a bit more special, but might have benefited with some information for the more causal visitor.
If you haven't visited the museum before I can highly recommend visiting at any time, but you may enjoy your visit even more if you are able to go along over the August Bank Holiday weekend when they are holding their major operating day on the Sunday and Monday. You can find out more about the museum and these events here.

Midland line up. Left to right: SHA 431 - 1953 Leyland PD2/12 Special with Leyland bodywork - Midland Red asked Leyland to make it look like Midland Red's own designs, BHA 399C 1965 BMMO D9 - the second last double decker to get a BMMO body - those in later batches got Willowbrook bodies, MHA 901F 1968 BMMO S22 a type designed for longer distance bus services and occasional use on private hires, UHA 956H a 1969 BMMO S23, the last buses built by Midland Red which, including this example, had their bodies finiished by Plaxton to finish them faster. It spent all its life with Midland Red at Kidderminster garage until withdrawal in 1981. It has been preserved in the slightly lighter poppy red of the National Bus Company to represent that part of Midland Red's history. And finally, 6545 HA a 1964 BMMO S16 - the last Midland Red bus built with a 'Crash' manual gearbox. It was part of the second run of these vehicles to use up the 8 litre engines and manual gearboxes BMMO still had in the warehouse even though the design had been superseded by the S17 with its larger engine and semi automatic transmission