Transport Museum Wythall Midland Red Running Event on October 3rd

Published: 09/07/2021

Will Wythall set a record?

Transport Museum Wythall’s Midland Red special running event on Sunday October 3rd looks set to be a record day. The event commemorates 40 years since this iconic Birmingham based bus operator, one of the largest English bus companies, was split into six new regional entities in September 1981 by the National Bus Company. 

The event will remind both enthusiasts and the travelling public of the variety and engineering excellence that the company brought to the region in over eighty years of operation as, not only did it run services over a wide area; from the Welsh border in the west to Northamptonshire in the east, Derbyshire in the north to Gloucestershire in the south; it also built its own vehicles in Birmingham. 

The museum’s Midland Red collection is the largest under one roof and includes a wide variety of the company’s vehicles from 1913 to 1976, many in running order. On the event day the museum intends to run eleven of its own vehicles with many more visiting from private owners and collections. The museum will show examples of SON, S12, S16, S22, S23, CM6 Motorway Express, LD8, D9, the unique D10 prototype, a D12 fresh from restoration plus a Leyland National. Visiting vehicles will include a C1 coach also fresh from a ‘nut and bolt’ restoration (joined by another C1 in private ownership), a C5 motorway coach, another D9, S15, S22 and S23 plus more.

TMW is famed for its ‘happy hour’ service when buses will run an intensive service from the museum to the Maypole on the Birmingham city boundary. We intend to set a 21st century record for the numbers of MR vehicles we can muster for public service on a single day. It should be a sight to behold.

Full details of all the museum’s vehicles listed above can be found at www.wythall.org.uk/bmmo.asp. Early booking for this unique event is recommended, just visit the website. 

If you would like to join us with your Midland Red vehicle or bring along a trade stand please email: jim.munro@wythall.org.uk

The Wythall Mueseum YouTube channel can be found here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/wythallmuseum