End of Season Twilight event thwarts the rain makers!
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Published: 28/10/2019
Despite a day of persistent heavy rain, Transport Museum Wythall’s ever-popular end of season Twilight Running Day was braved by hoards of enthusiasts. Running from 11.00 to 19.00 on Saturday October 26th, a wide range of Wythall’s collection was on service, defying the flooded Worcestershire roads with a nostalgic atmosphere present both inside and outside of the vehicles. Is there anything more evocative of bus travel on a pre-1970s autumn night than the yellow hue of tungsten bulbs through misty windows reflecting on the wet road surface?
In addition to a wide range of Wythall’s collection, including the return to the road of Midland Red CM6T Motorway Express Coach BHA 656C (in the 60th anniversary year of the M1 motorway) and, following a full repaint, Red and White Bristol MW DAX 610C; several visiting vehicles ran on the very busy timetable of 35 departures in total. The visiting vehicles on the timetable were:
Roger Burdett’s Burton Corporation Guy Arab FA 9716
Keith Billingsley’s WMPTE Volvo Ailsa prototype TOE 527N
The full list of Wythall’s vehicles on the timetable:
GHA 337 BMMO SON, CVP 207 BCT Daimler COG5, 6545 HA BMMO S16, JOJ 245 BCT Leyland PS2, FRC 956 Trent Leyland PD2, BHAx399C BMMO D9, JOJ 548 BCT Guy Arab, JNN 384 Barton Transport Leyland PD1, BHA 656C BMMO CM6T, DAX 610C Red & White Bristol MW, UHA 956H BMMO S23, NOA 462X West Midlands MCW Metrobus, CUV 219C London Transport RCL Routemaster.
Reserves: PDU135M Coventry Daimler Fleetline, XDH 56G Walsall Daimler Fleetline
Visiting vehicles on static display included:
Midland Red C1 coach KHA 311 (3311) making its first appearance since its full restoration by Steve Byrne.
First Midland Red Dennis Trident 2 VX54 MUA (33404) in pre-war Midland Red livery celebrating 100 years of the 144 Route
Lee Hobson’s Metrobus prototype SDA 832S (6832).
TMW spokesman Denis Chick said, “We were expecting the atrocious weather to quite literally put a damper on visitor numbers but true to form, this much anticipated event drew plenty of enthusiasts. Clearly the evocative atmosphere of an old bus lit up on a wet night can also be a big crowd-puller!”
