West Midlands Fleetlines at fifty

Part two - Fleetlines and The Bristol VR bus

The last of the first batch of two hundred Fleetlines (one hundred Park Royal and one hundred Metro Cammell) concluded in 1972, with the last numerically being 4235. Happy overall with these, the PTE wished to place a repeat order of four hundred, with two hundred of each consisting of Park Royal and Metro Cammell bodywork. But, although, both bodybuilders eagerly snapped up those orders, Daimler, owned by a British Leyland at the beginning of it’s well documented problems in the seventies, was only able to supply the PTE with two hundred Daimler Fleetline chassis. These would all be delivered over the course of two years. 

The PTE decided to place the Fleetline chassis under the Park Royal bodies ordered, the first hundred  becoming 4243-4342, which were delivered throughout 1973. The most notable difference between these and the earlier batch, was the interior being fitted with white formica, as opposed to the previous, BCT inspired yellow, whilst the seats were now covered in an all red PVC, replacing the previous grey edged red covering. Although this batch was intended for the South Division Birmingham garages, where they would ultimately spend their entire lives, a few started their lives at the North Division’s Wolverhampton garages. But those temporary loans acted as a stop gap for a batch of buses that would become synonymous with Wolverhampton and Walsall!

Bristol VR

By 1973, British Leyland had a monopoly (which was soon about to break) in the British Bus Industry, with the Daimler Fleetline being one of three double deckers that the company supplied for the industry. Unfortunately, this was a time when Leyland were struggling to complete the orders placed with it (industrial relations problems being particularly prevalent at the time) and Leyland were unable to accept an order for the two hundred Fleetlines that the PTE desired. Therefore, whilst Leyland were able to supply one hundred Fleetline chassis for the Park Royal (another company that was part of British Leyland) bodies, the PTE turned to another Leyland model to be placed under the  Metro Cammell bodies on order. 

This was the Bristol VR (the third double deck chassis then supplied by Leyland being the Leyland Atlantean) introduced in 1966 originally with a longitudinal fitted engine (the Bristol VRL) but became more commonly fitted with a transverse engine, (the VRT.) By 1973, the Bristol VR was the standard double decker for most National Bus Company subsidiaries, mostly with ECW bodywork, but was available to be fitted with other bodies, with the PTE examples ending up as the only examples of the type to be bodied by Metro Cammell. 

Like 4243-4342, the first hundred VRs, 4344-4442 featured the new white interior and all red PVC seats. The VRs were instantly recognisable from the outside, though, due to the front radiator grill and the engine bustle at the rear being shorter than that on Fleetlines. I suspect the main reason the PTE had chosen VRs as a Fleetline substitute, as opposed to the Leyland Atlantean (WMPTE was unique amongst the PTEs in not ordering any new Atlanteans, though the undertaking did acquire them from the Birmingham, Coventry and a solitary example from the Walsall fleets, as well as buying second hand examples from Kingston Upon Hull, to help spread one man operation, in 1975) was because the VRs featured the PTE’s favoured Gardner engines. 

The VRs were allocated to Walsall and the Wolverhampton garages, where, aside from occasional loans elsewhere, they would be associated for their whole lives. 

Image: Bristol VR / MCW (WMPTE STANDARD) with another operator

Midland Red And Coventry Takeovers

The 3rd December 1973 takeover by the PTE, of Midland Red’s services within the about to be formed West Midlands Metropolitan County, would see D11/D12/D13 Alexander bodied Daimler Fleetlines enter the PTE fleet, whilst the actual commencement of the County Council, on 1st April 1974, saw the PTE’s boundaries alter to match this, the council becoming the PTE’s new political masters. This bought the fleet of Coventry City Transport into the PTE which featured a large number of Fleetlines (not unnaturally, as this was the city where the chassis was built, though the operator had courted much local controversy by purchasing the rival Leyland Atlantean for it’s first rear engine purchase in 1964!) which featured a variety of body styles from Willowbrook (who also bodied those Atlanteans), Neepsend, ECW, Park Royal and, what would ultimately emerge as the undertaking’s standard, East Lancs, with another twenty such buses being on order, which would become the PTE’s 4447-4466. Coventry also had an option on a further eighty Fleetlines, which the PTE, desperate for new buses, would exercise, though Leyland’s woes were such that these wouldn’t appear for another three years! And only forty would feature East Lancs bodywork. More about these buses anon! 

More Park Royal Bodied Fleetlines & Metro Cammell Bodied VRs

The second two hundred buses of the 1973 order began to arrive in December 1974, when the first of the second hundred Metro Cammell Bristol VRs (4630-4729) arrived. These were of an identical specification to the earlier VRs and again, were allocated to Walsall and the two Wolverhampton garages. 

The second hundred Park Royal bodied Fleetlines (4530-4629) would begin delivery in January 1975 and, again, would be allocated to South Division garages. The first fifty, however, would feature Leyland 680 engines, more commonly fitted to Leyland Atlanteans and identifiable by their deeper pitch. The engines were ordered due to difficulty in sourcing sufficient Gardner engines. The Leyland engine Fleetlines would be split between two garages with a former Leyland tradition, with both Perry Barr and Yardley Wood having once being home to 1948 vintage Leyland PD2z. Perry Barr would be allocated 4530-4557, with Yardley Wood gaining 4558-4579.

4580-4629 would be fitted with the more traditional Gardner CRG6LX engine, and were also allocated to various South Division garages. Particularly noticeable were 4586-4605, which were split between the ex Midland Red garage at Sheepcote Street, and the former BCT garage at Moseley Road, originally closed on 5th March 1972 but was reopened on 3rd December 1973, to operate the ex Midland Red services taken over by the PTE, that were previously run from the Birmingham Digbeth garage that was kept by Midland Red. As the ex Midland Red services hadn’t yet been converted to the PTE’s standard Autofare exact fare ticketing system, these Fleetlines were fitted with ex Midland Red setright ticket machines, with the drivers continuing to give change when required. This would continue until 16th November 1975, when Sheepcote Street and Moseley Road were closed, with buses and routes mostly reallocated to ex BCT garages, with several services revised from that date, integrating ex BCT and Midland Red services. Autofare would spread to the other ex Midland Red garages at this time. 

We would like to thank Mark Fitchew, a very knowledgeable bus enthusiast and bus driver for the help with putting this blog series blogs together. Keep your eyes open for the next remaining part of this blog series, which will be published very soon!

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