Tuesday 30th September 2025
Another month end so here’s more miscellany I’ve spotted on my travels over the last few weeks but not blogged about.
Gatwick Express takes over Eastbourne
I’ve featured the mess that is GTR’s train branding in previous roundups, but, noticing Gatwick Express liveried trains out in force in Eastbourne station (above photo) and throughout the East Coastway line last Monday morning coinciding with Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander’s, approval of the Airport’s second runway and a target to increase the number of passengers using public transport to 54% gave pause for thought. Perhaps this development will result in the GatEx frequency finally being restored to every 15 minutes to and from Victoria (as it needs to be now) and the withdrawal of the scandalous premium priced tickets (as that needs to be done now). Stewart Wingate, managing director of UK Airports, which owns Gatwick said “we will work very closely with government to boost the number of people getting to Gatwick by public transport, particularly by rail”. Good luck with that.
Regency expansion in Eastbourne
It’s not just Gatwick Express expanding into Eastbourne, so too the Brighton & Hove Bus Company (B&H) which last week stepped in to replace Stagecoach’s withdrawn hourly route 54 between Eastbourne and Uckfield. B&H is using its Regency branding to dovetail the route into the mini network it runs between Brighton, Lewes and Uckfield with either Tunbridge Wells or Heathfield as well as from Lewes to Hailsham and Eastbourne. This newly acquired three bus route increases B&H’s frequency to three buses an hour on the busy corridor between Eastbourne, Polegate and Hailsham, which until July 2023 was the exclusive preserve of Stagecoach, but now very much shared with Brighton & Hove on an equal basis.
I took a ride on a mid morning northbound journey on Monday last week which carried 20 passengers, 12 of whom travelled as far as Hailsham and eight were on board north of there. Nick, who drove the bus told me he’d been on an earlier peak journey from Uckfield which had around 50 college students on board.
It’ll be interesting to watch any further developments on this corridor not least as Stagecoach has also been struggling with its route 51 between Eastbourne, Hailsham, Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells having reduced the frequency from half hourly to hourly in March and now reducing it again to roughly every 75 minutes “to improve punctuality”. I caught the bus due to leave Tunbridge Wells at 12:45 last Monday. Although I saw the bus on layover as scheduled, it failed to appear at the first stop at Royal Victoria Place until 12:52 making for a late start. However the driver had made this time up by Heathfield and was even a couple of minutes early by Polegate, so that journey wasn’t having an issue with timekeeping.
B&H launched another new route on Sunday – the 3X crossing the city from Hangleton to the University at Falmer. I took a ride yesterday and will report on this and the other high profile new limited stop route which began at the weekend (TfL’s Bakerloop BL1) in next week’s blog.
Ticket office closed and TVMs not working
I don’t often use Preston Park railway station just north of Brighton station but started my journey to Didcot Parkway there one Monday morning this month and found the ticket office closed, a frozen screen on the ticket machine by the entrance and the one on the island platform also freezing every few seconds.
As the Thameslink train we were all waiting for duly arrived into the platform many of us were still without a ticket which set me wondering what the official line is of what to do in such circumstances?
All the more so with the current poster campaign at stations used by Thameslink trains which threatens passengers with a £1000 fine for travelling without a ticket.
It’s no good thinking you can buy one from the Thameslink app on a smartphone. As the journey involves a cross London connection on the Underground or Elizabeth line it’s only issued as a traditional orange ticket, with the app insisting “collect from station”, which is no help when the ticket office is closed and the ticket machines aren’t working.
I emailed Southern/Thameslink to ask what I should do in such circumstances again and Samantha replied “if you do have this type of issue in the future, you can board the train without a ticket and explain this to the staff onboard,” which of course is a bit tricky on a Thameslink train as the driver is the only member of staff on board. However she did add “tickets can be issued onboard or bought at the destination in this situation.” I’m not sure the staff would accept my tale at the Elizabeth line’s ticket gate exit at Paddington (there are no gates between Thameslink and the Elizabeth line at Farringdon), but we’ll have to see. (In the event as I was not pushed for time I alighted at Hassocks where I’m known and got through the ticket gate to buy a ticket from there.)
Nice display at High Wycombe
I noticed this rather attractive display of artwork on the footbridge at High Wycombe station when passing through earlier this month…
… and was particularly intrigued by this montage of road signs.
It’s the culmination of a year long project by Buckinghamshire New University seeing 20 pieces of unique vinyl artwork “skillfully created and produced by students and technicians using a community informed brief to reflect the history and heritage of our wonderful town”.
What a wonderful clock
Meanwhile at Uxbridge Underground station I noticed the wonderful looking clock at the entrance to the platforms was showing the correct time and a lovely old Buffet sign was still in situ, albeit pointing to a closed café – which is a shame.
And another throwback in time was the cigarette machines on display outside Sweet Express in the station foyer. Obviously no longer in use.
What a cover up
My thanks to blog reader Max who sent me the above photo of a ticket machine display at Brighton station which rather unhelpfully covers up the amount payable with an arrow saying “Please press to confirm purchase”. This comes up a couple of seconds after the screen appears meaning you have to be alert and quick to know how much your paying.
Bargain travel on the Metro
Thanks to Simon for sending me this message on social media confirming passengers with a concessionary travel pass can buy a Metro Gold Card giving a year’s travel on the Tyne & Wear metro, Shield Ferry and trains between Newcastle and Sunderland for just £15 if you’re a resident of Tyne & Wear and £24 if not. That’s quite a bargain and a great offer. Maybe other ‘metro’ and tram systems could do likewise?
Promoting your rival
Regular blog commentator and Diamond Bus’s most fanatical fan, Richard Jones, sent me the above photo of a National Express West Midlands E200 he spotted in Merry Hill bus station sporting a so called heritage livery of The Birmingham Coach Company. Except as Richard points out that company ended up as part of what is now Rotala owned Diamond Bus, thus it’s rather odd that NatEx are promoting its rival’s heritage – especially if it ends up on route 3 from Merry Hill to West Bromwich via Rowley Bridge which “basically was originally Birmingham Coach Company 217 & Stevensons 238”.
Update: please refer to the many comments below for more on what seems to be a highly controversial blog snippet.
One way West Ham
It does annoy me when passengers ignore the obvious measures London Underground staff make to install a sensible one way system of walking to and from the Jubilee line platforms at West Ham with barriers and prominent signs…
… but, sadly, there’s often the odd gap, which lets selfish people nip through and walk against the flow of everyone coming towards them.
Aghhh!
Shutters remain shut at STP
Over at St Pancras there’s very much a one way in and one way out of the Thameslink part of the station as the shutter over the central entrance/exit to the ticket gates has been broken and remained closed all month.
As have two of the escalators been out of action for ages, but surprisingly the staff make passengers walk up and use the working escalator for passengers going down to the platforms.
Usually, if there’s a choice, the convention is to provide an escalator for passengers ascending and not descending.
Toilet news
In this month’s toilet news I noticed this rather cosy set up for the two hand dryers in Dartford railway station. If you use one, the other one isn’t accessible with the person blocking it and vice versa. Still, at least the ratio of two wash basins to two hand dryers was a welcome development.
Meanwhile over on East Midlands Railway’s rather beleaguered and tired looking Meridian Class 222 trains I’ve come across a few examples recently of doors not working and hand written messages to let passengers know what to do.
On another train I found the accessible toilet out of use…
… and the toilet in the next carriage out of action too meaning there were only two working toilets on the busy five coach train from Nottingham. Not good.
And not just toilets and toilet doors that don’t work, but corridor doors too.
Meanwhile in more toilet news, the scourge of graffiti covering the inside walls of toilets on all Thameslink Class 700 trains eased during the summer as there was obviously a concerted effort to get on top of the problem by cleaning it all off. But it’s now back again and I just can’t understand with all the security at train stabling depots, with cameras everywhere, how Thameslink staff and British Transport Police haven’t caught the offenders who are prolific in their criminal activity. I won’t show a photo of the damage they cause but it must be hugely frustrating for the cleaning staff.
Why the one minute difference?
‘Smithys Transport Page’ on X pointed out a curious anomaly on the latest timetable for Stagecoach route 9 in Aberdare where the six minute duration evening journeys between Glynhafod Terminus and the bus station run at different times on school days (Sch) to non school days (#Sch) including one at 19:50 running one minute later on a school day. Very odd.
Why the two minute difference?
On a similar theme I received an email from GWR last week with the worrying subject heading: “Roger, there are changes to your journey”. It was to tell me the return journey from Truro to Paddington I had booked a ticket on for Sunday afternoon had been changed …. “We’re sorry but there is a change to your journey” I read, worried it might throw my travel plans into limbo. But it turned out the 12:57 from Truro was going to take four hours and 41 minutes to Paddington instead of four hours and 39 minutes with a two minute earlier arrival.
Don’t you love software systems that can’t discriminate? This dramatic timing change even meant I could travel “on one of the two services immediately before or after your original train, using your existing ticket”. LNER please note – that’s flexibility! None of this £20 extra for 70 minutes malarky.
Stay off ‘of’ the tracks
I hesitate to include this one sent to me by OntheTrains (on X) as I’m also prone to typos in these blogs, but over at Southern, its poster imploring passengers to ‘stay off the tracks’ contained the message ending “… and we will arrange the safe retrieval your item” and presumably the safe insertion of the word ‘of’ too.
Sign up for WiFi
More annoying WiFi sign ups from train companies which want you to tell them everything before allowing you to log on while others, like Transport for Wales just let you click one icon and you’re connected?
TfW make it so straightforward whereas c2c wants your name, email, date of birth and postcode…
… Avanti West Coast want all that and your mobile phone number…
… ScotRail want you to complete a travel questionnaire every time you get on a train…
And finally, on recent travels I noticed EMR are another straight forward one click and your on WiFi except it’s useless with a poor signal.
Oh, and one more thing. It was easy to connect to WiFi on my journey on route 11 with NCT…
… but I don’t know what I did, but four minutes later I was kicked off.
And talking of betting kicked off, I also tried signing up to EMR’s new look Digital Pay As You Go ticketing trial which tracks your movements through GPS in true Big Brother fashion so it knows how much to charge you.
Again, I don’t know what I did, I thought I was just filling in the application form, but this was the response…
Dundee South
Some stations with long platforms divide them up into an A and B or even C as well. I noticed at Dundee, Platform 1 is referred to as either 1 South or 1 North which was a new one on me for this practice. I haven’t noticed it anywhere else unless readers can let me know where to look.
I did notice the gap between the LNER Azuma train arriving at the platform and the platform itself was somewhat large, especially with luggage. Indeed worse than the recently featured Worcester Foregate Street and Gainsborough Lea Road.
About time reply from DVSA
Readers will recall my tale of woe back in July when trying to catch the infrequent and costly to run route 15 in Cambridgeshire. I never did receive a reply from the Combined Authority but following my follow up email of 27 August to my original communication of 22nd July, I finally received a reply from Karen who’s a “Bus Compliance Co-ordinator and Remote Enforcement Examiner at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and Remote Enforcement Office.” Quite a job title.
I didn’t have the heart to reply that her acknowledgment fell outside my “window of tolerance” for such communications.
All in good time for Avanti
My recent Scottish adventure involved catching the 11:30 Avanti West Coast departure from Euston and I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear Platform 7 was announced 25 minutes before departure time, which was a record in my experience.
Over on neighbouring Platform 6 was this new Hitachi Class 807 Evero train (807010) with all seven coaches wrapped in vinyl with messages proclaiming “Together we roll” which I assumed was promoting inclusivity, although it was difficult to see what it was.
I hope the woke warriors don’t get overly upset.
I see Avanti confirms on its website the train livery “celebrates ethnicity following an idea from colleagues to represent and celebrate people across the Avanti network”.
So that’s all good.
Peak hour loadings on Sunday evenings
Please can someone at Southern, or GTR, or Shadow GBR or the DfT or the Treasury – anyone, anywhere who can make decisions in the rail industry – please look at the provision of service on the Brighton Main Line on a Sunday evening coming out of Victoria. There simply are not enough trains running for the numbers travelling as I found on Sunday leaving Victoria at about 18:15. Passengers were left behind at Clapham Junction simply because there was no more room on board. Maybe running 12 coach instead of eight coach trains using spare units stabled in sidings on a Sunday would help.
More miscellany next month.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
Am I missing something? The photo of the NXWM E200 shows it in Coventry livery, rather than that of Birmingham Coach Company?
Darryl in Dorset
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The livery is identical to the second generation which was used by Birmingham Coach Company on its Mk1 Leyland Nationals of which many photos can be found on Flickr in the exact spot on the same routes which I demonstrated to Roger.
The bus was transferred from National Express Coventry who have never operated in the Black Country save for a few CT Damilers at Harts Hill in the 1976 vehicle shortage which were hated by the former Midland Red drivers.
I doubt I dawned on West Travel that they were using a bus in the exact sake colours as its main direct rival used & the livery was very very familiar across on the then network of services operated by Birmingham Coach Company.
National Express West Midlands has many heritage liverys running in the Black Country including WMPTE Suburban Express & Walsall Corporation and now one in its historic livery of its main rival.
I doubt anyone in the Black Country would have a clue what a Coventry Corporation bus looked like but in its lookie likley mode would directly associate this with Birmingham Coach Company who usec the exact same livery for many years & of course many outsiders also class a West Bromwich Albion v Coventry as a local derby. It isn’t no classes Coventry as being in Brum & The Black Country it is its own City miles away!
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it’s obviously a nod to the old Coventry Corporation colours, it even says Coventry Transport on it alongside NX Coventry. There’s no mention of the Birmingham Coach Company, Diamond or its heritage anywhere near the bus. It’s just a pseudo Coventry livery on a bus that has been transferred to a different depot! The reds aren’t even the same shade.
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Its obvious its a nod to The Birmingham Coach Company who have operated in this area since 1986.All the heritage NXWM buses have corporate logos.The colours are identical to Birmingham Coach Company Mk1 Leyland Nationals WBN 473T , YYE 291T YCD 79T & WBN 470T which operated in the area.
Whether or not it has Coventry Trsnsport on its side is irrelevant
ITs not in Coventry & Coventry Corporation never operated in The Black Country
The Birmingham Coach Company & its current name Diamond Bus West Midlands HAVE been part of The Black Country for 39 years.
To dismiss the nearly four decades they have been the Number 2 operator in Birmingham & The Black Country is ludicrous.
Companies have come & gone but Diamond has seen every off everyone & is now as much a part of Black Country Bus History as Midland Red, WMPTE & West Midlands Travel.
From the opinions I gathered over the last few weeks the majority of actual bus users have commented to me its nice have Diamonds old colours back again.
Whatever the armchair pundits keep whining on & on about West Midlands Travel Limited have accidentally put on to its Black Country network a bus that is painted in its biggest rival of 39 years heritage colours of the late 1990s!
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I’m sorry but are you suggesting that NX went to the trouble of painting a bus in exactly the same livery as a handful of Leyland Nationals from almost forty years ago and operated it themselves in Coventry for a few years, miles away from the operating area of the Birmingham Coach Company, and covered it in NX Coventry and Coventry Transport fleetnames before transferring it to the Black Country, and the reason they did this was to honour one of their direct competitor’s history?
it’s not just what 99% of people think, a bus in a Coventry heritage livery that’s transferred and awaiting a repaint? I’m struggling to grasp why Roger has even included the image, the explanation doesn’t make sense. I doubt that anyone at NX Coventry even gave it a second thought.
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No West Midlands Travel Limited have allocated a bus painted in an livery I believe was Coventry Corporation for operation at National Express Coventry.
However West Midlands Travel Limited have transferred the bus to National Express West Midlands garage at Pensnett & consequently the vehicle now is operating in area where National Express West Midlands biggest rival Diamond Bus whose heritage livery in the 1990s was inditical.
Therefore in The Black Country National Express West Midlands are running an E200 in an identical livery to its biggest competitor in the 1990s DIAMOND BUS
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The real “official” (officious?) line on Thameslink for passengers faced with no functioning ticket sales at their starting station is for them to board and then be stopped at a central London station and be accused of the Byelaw offence of boarding a train without a ticket!
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Was just about to observe the above!
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It’s one of NX’s heritage liveries of former constituent companies….and Coventry!! The heritage liveried buses are of former corporations that were incorporated into WMPTE.
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The “Coventry transport” (sic) fleetname is rather a giveaway!
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I’m a bit confused by Richard Jones (above)! Is this or isn’t it Coventry Corporation colours? Looks a lot like the buses I remember there?
Even as an enthusiast, I have never been much convinced by ‘heritage’ colours. Just have a decent livery now (which most don’t!).
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You may regard this livery as Coventry Corporation however around the late 1990s Birmingham Coach Company used an identical version across The Black Country including in Merry Hill Bus Station where the photo was taken.
Having been on this vehicle numerous times over the last few weeks on NXWM 3 & 15 it has been very surprising how many older passengers have remarked to me along the lines I much prefer this to Diamonds current blue colours.
Coventry Corporation means nothing to older passengers in The Black Country however many remember Diamonds Red & Cream which was identical to this.
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I do understand your point Richard. It was a shame to see this bus transferred away from Coventry when others of the same type in standard grey with blue band have remained in the city. I don’t understand why one of those couldn’t have been transferred instead. Coventry’s unique livery is slowly being whittled away.
There was great hype when the Travel Coventry livery and branding was introduced, then improved by introducing the National Express Coventry blue scheme, only now to see it reduced to just a blue stripe. I’m assuming under franchising, any Coventry uniqueness will completely disappear. There has always been a reluctance with Coventarians to consider themselves part of the wider west midlands conurbation. This is a former Coventry City Council employee writing by the way!
This Enviro200 was repainted when the Enviro400 that was wearing the same livery became due for withdrawal.
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Likewise and I am also fairly certain that Coventry Daimlers operated in Birmingham and the Black Country.
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As I stated previously during the 1976 Vehicle Shortage WMPTE used CT Damilers in the CT livery from Harts Hill Garage on the 246 now NXWM 6
They were hated by the former Midland Red drivers of which my late uncle was one & were swiftly blocked by the union at the time & replaced by WMPTE Jumbos although a few Coventry Damiler Fleetlines made it to Dudley they were in WMPTE colours & very short lived compared with the Hull Atlanteans but that is another story…..
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NO one in either Dudley, Halesowen, Cradley Heath or Brierley Hill where it is operating know what a Coventry Corporation bus is given its
It is clearly in the livery of Birmingham Coach Company of Leyland Nationals YCD 79T or WBN 480T or WBN 473T to name just three which conpeted against West Midlands Travel & is Diamond Bus West Midlands today.
It is clear to anyone in the Black Country National Express West Midlands has bus operating in the heritage livery of a rival operator as seen on National Express West Midlands Service 15 today which ironically competes against Diamond Bus 226 between Kingswinford & Merry Hill.
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Yes but they can read. It does say it quite clearly.
There were many vehicles that never ran in that livery – many wore the “stepped red” livery and never carried that layout, plus the other livery variations.
There is an irony in the after 30 years or more of blue buses dominating (after WMPTE took over Midland Red’s local operations and later into WMT era) that the major operator adopted a red based scheme (though that is now being superseded by battleship grey). Meanwhile, the smaller operator (not an insurgent now after nearly 40 years) was red but now has a blue livery.
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Well from asking actual passengers waiting in Merry Hill Bus Station today as the e200 was on the 15 taking me to one of our other offices who they thought the red and cream bus was based on everyone said who were waiting and were over 50 The Birmingham Coach Company as they clearly identified the late 90s version of the livery which was the generic version which replaced the original cream & red zig zag livery.
The alternative livery at the time was Red, Cream & Black & introduced the original Diamond Route branding on key services competing against West Midlands Travel at the time.
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Of course they did. We can imagine that there was a febrile energy – virtually no other subject was discussed as people loudly opined on a bus livery that was carried by some (not all) buses of one operator for a period in the late 1990s.
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I chat every day to those at the bus stop waiting with me.
Being the Black Country people are always very happy to chat about the bus service and are always friendly.
Perhaps where you are people are more insular compared with here.
Today I mentioned to about half a dozen over 50s about the livery of the E200
Every one of the linked it to Diamond Bus previous livery of Red & Cream as the company is so familiar in the Black Country
After all for the last 39 years it’s has been the second largest operator in Birmingham & The Black Country over nearly four decades.
Those that actually use & depend on the bus network always praise Diamond Bus West Midlands far more than National Express West Midlands but unless you actually use its services you would never know .
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No, they’re not insular and very happy to talk about the weather, the economy, the council, their families, and many other topics as well.
They don’t spontaneously discuss the colour of a bus nor remark how it looks similar to a livery carried by some buses 25 years ago. Somehow, it’s just not in the forefront of people’s minds…
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It is when I am at the bus stop mate 🤣
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I would imagine what actually happened, if anything at all, is Richard said to some random people at a bus stop “Don’t you think this bus looks like blah blah blah” and they nodded along thinking that may be the quickest way to end the conversation, not having the foggiest what this random guy talking to them was on about and wishing their bus would hurry up! I think only someone with an unhealthy obsession with Diamond and hatred of anything else wouldn’t be able to understand the reality of the situation regarding this vehicle and its livery.
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Some Coventry Daimlers were based at Acocks Green garage for use on the 11 Outer Circle during the final weeks of that route as a two person crew operated service.
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In addition a number of BMM0 D9 ended thier days at BCT garages I remember a number at Quinton after they had been withdrawn alongside the inferior Guy Arabs .
By 1977 when crew operation ended on the 11 it was very much anything goes with WMPTE very much as it is today with NXWM.
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D9s did not run from any former BCT garages: certainly Malcolm Keeley’s authoritative history of the PTE does not mention any such allocation. A few did run from Walsall for a few weeks during 1976.
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Its described as an heritage livery for Birmingham Coach Company as it was in the Black Country in those colours in the exact 90s.
Coventry Corporation never operated around Dudley & Brierley Hill however Birmingham Coach Company did in that exact livery & still does as Diamond Bus but is now blue.
The decals are irrelevant.
As for BMMO D9s living on the Blackheath/ Quinton border all my life they were most certainly based at the old Quinton Garage now a Tesco & used on the 34 from Quinton College Road to City Centre now NXWM 19.
I used to use the service in the peaks with my mum coming back from the old QE so Keeley is wrong they were allocated to Quinton in 1977 just before the Midland Red Maintenance Contract at Carlyle Road expired.
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The decals are fairly important and they clearly show that whilst it is a heritage livery, it is for Coventry Corporation. Those so bothered will probably spot that.
Birmingham Coach Co operated with a range of different livery layouts. Some vehicles did have a livery similar to that, others wore one with more cream and red skirt/roof, others a two tone red and black roof with limited cream, and latterly, a red skirt and black roof with white replacing cream. Many BCC liveries were enjoyed including some Roger’s Brighton and Hove machines that were sold and turfed out with just the change of fleetname.
More pertinently, given the heritage and history of bus services, older people will be more inclined to recall BMMO, whilst many younger will simply think it’s another of the many red vehicles that are in the area. For most people, it’s just a red bus on a route operated by a company that operates red buses.
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A little strange that no photo or written evidence of D9s on BCT routes exists, unless you or someone else can come up with some! By contrast the use of Coventry CVGs by Hartshill garage is well attested. The TGWU branch there was cooperative,as was that at Stourbridge where several Birmingham standards ran in 1974/75. Dudley branch was less so and I wonder if it was them that refused the Coventry vehicles?
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BMMO D9s were allocated to Quinton Garage & were used on Service 33 & 34 which operated in the peaks from Quinton College Road to City Centre the terminus of which is no longer there & short walk from my then home.
Back in the 1970s I used the 33 & 34 to and from the old QE & untill the WMPTE maintenance contract expired with Midland Red at Carlyle Works n 1977
They were never allocated to the Quinton 9 which shared the terminus as this was usually Fleetline operated in this era.
They also never appeared on the 22 23 or 24 from Quinton Stag.
I can remember my late uncle actually going on strike as they refused to drive the Coventry Damilers & oddly can remember him not getting strike pay at the time at WMPTE. In the end they were swapped for BCT JUMBOS although the middle doors weren’t used at the ex Midland Red garages.
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Ahh yes the takeover of the 54 which doesn’t benefit the residents of Brighton and Hove in anyway. Mr Wills building his monopoly.
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If Mr Wills has the drivers to drive the 54 good luck to him, if it means Stagecoach can utilise their staff to cover the apparent driver shortage in Eastbourne then it benefits that town as well.
I can use a 24 hour Networksaver on the route too!
John Nicholas
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Or you could buy the £10 discovery ticket covering more operators. Why restrict yourself to 1 operator.
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Discovery is an excellent ticket, it used to be available in weekly form as Master Rider.
The multi operator East Sussex Day Ticket is now available on B&H App, I asked face to face at the highest level for Discovery to available on B&H App with QR code. This was rejected outright with the “logic” so few are sold, hardly surprising as it is not advertised.
Take it from me using a paper ticket without a QR code before 10am is a right pain, let alone night services.
John Nicholas
Aboard 20 minute late 23 creeping across the downs to Woodingdean in bearly moving traffic with my MetroVoyager!
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The auto correct changed Quinton Road West to Quinton Stag – Apologies
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Do not summon me in your irrelevant debate 👍
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B&H is struggling to retain their own drivers and the reliability of prime routes is horrendous.
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Another “bonus” with the Gold Card on the Metro is that the 9:30 Monday to Friday start time doesn’t apply in July and August, and between Xmas and new year.
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I find hand dryers noisy and a nuisance, so I dry my hands by wiping them against either my shirt or my cardigan, immediately below my armpits, about thirty times which quite suffices. At church, ordinary towels are offered instead and like me, at home, the church is in a hard water area so freshly laundered towels almost have the quality of “sandpaper” (either at home or at church).
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Signed up yesterday for the new digital PAYG trial on the Harrogate to Leeds line. Will be testing it out on Thursday.
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A comment on TfW’s WiFi.
A couple of years I had to wait about 45 minutes at Shrewsbury for my train. I wanted to do some work but there appeared to be no WiFi on the station itself. However I was able to connect whenever a TfW train was standing in the adjacent platform, so quickly sent and received emails before it departed!
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“This newly acquired three bus route” in the section about B&H 54 bus.
Should this be: This newly acquired third bus route?
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The original is correct – it means a route with a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 3.
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I enjoyed this edition immensely, thank you. Random capitalisation, as in the broken shutter notice at STP, is on my personal (long) list of things that annoy me. RC/UIC
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Escalators At Liverpool Street when the up escalator onto Bishopsgate is out of use you have to walk up the stairs. Logically, the down escalator would be reversed. Admittedly, there is the option of the lift, although not near the stairs.Barry Coppock
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It is noted that Stagecoach have given up a route in the Eastbourne area, and seem to be struggling with another. I wonder if this might be related to the fairly basic Stagecoach website and lack of printed timetable leaflets? GoAhead seem to be managing well with its attractive website and printed timetable leaflets.
Just saying . . .
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Coastway West also uses the Gatwick Express trains… but only on services that don’t go to Gatwick!
Mik Jones
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Thank you Richard Jones for clarification. I’m not sure why the livery was described in the blog as “heritage livery for the Birmingham Coach Company” when it is clearly heritage livery for Coventry albeit in the “wrong” place. The Coventry fleet names do however give a clue……
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It is clearly in the samwBirmingham Coach Company livery used in the same area in the late 1990s.
No one in the Black Country would have a clue about Coventry Corporation colours but they remember when Birmingham Coach Company used the exact same livery .
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So what you’re actually saying is that BCC used Coventry Corporation colours? And that because of that, you believe West Midlands Travel Ltd t/a NXWM shouldn’t celebrate that part of its history?
Seems a fairly strange idea to me.
I don’t suppose many people in the Black Country would care anyway; it’s just a red and cream bus to most.
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I think if it you attribute this to National Express Coventry celebrating its history then the E200 would be of far more relevance in the City of Coventry than the Black Country where it is clearly in the heritage livery of The Birmingham Coach Company now Diamond Bus West Midlands.
As Coventry Corporation ceased to exist in 1974 & this is the livery used by The Birmingham Coach Company Limited based 33 miles away in Tividale in the 1990s I fail to see the relevance of connection you are making.
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I was forced to travel without a ticket on Saturday 😟. I had been on a walk from Sunningdale (reached by the quirky no. 1 bus from Windsor now operated by Thames Valley), across Chobham Common to Longcross. This is a small station with no road access and no ticket machine, though well provisioned with waiting rooms and a very good announcement system. There is a Permit to Travel machine (out of order) which my son assures me is probably the last one on the network. I only needed to travel two stations to Egham, my home station, hardly enough time to find staff on the train, so explained to the lady on the barrier at Egham why I hadn’t got a ticket and she let me through without question.
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I think there is a Permit to Travel machine at some small stations in the Southampton area – e.g. Millbrook, Beaulieu Road, possibly others?
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It appears I am correct, or at least was correct in May 2025, as per this very useful FOI request to South Western Railway. The requestor states that these five stations have the only remaining PERTIS machines in the country – I don’t know if that’s true:
Millbrook
Redbridge
Beaulieu Road
Longcross
Holton Heath
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/permit_to_travel_pertis_machines_2
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The original Birmingham Coach Company livery was cream with Red zig zag band & applied wholly except the dual door Brighton & Hove ones.
It was then followed by the Red & Cream arrangement which the E200 has alongside the Diamond Route branding which was Red Cream & Black.
As Midland Red ceased to operate in the Black Country in December 1973 I doubt many would associate it with that.
Midland Red West post 1986 deregulation in the Black Country was Red Cream & Black & didn’t bear any resemblance to the E200
National Express West Midlands red livery was a different red & plain overall with gold relief.
Choice had a spell in overall Red with no relief while PMT RED RIDER was a vibrant Red & Yellow.
Coventry Corporation has no relevance in The Black Country & anyone who thinks the vehicle would be regarded as therds here doesn’t know The Black Country where Coventry is just know as a far off city with a bombed out cathedral.
Funny enough the NXWM Birmingham Coach Company E200 was in Merry Hill Bus Station earlier & asked some over 50s what they thought of the classic colours of the Birmingham Coach Company bus & every one remarked it was better than the current blue…………………..
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In addition growing up in the 1970s WMPTE Birchley Crossings & Quinton garage and Midland Red Cradley Heath garages were all equi distance for biking to them fromm home.
I really was spoiled for choice with variety at the three nearest garages & a very lucky boy having both Midland Red & WMPTE garages on the doorstep.
I still have my old ledgers with the allocations & routes somewhere in my loft gathering dust!
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Pity that cafe (former station buffet) at Uxbridge is still closed. It used to be an excellent Italian cafe which did lovely pasta/spaghetti dishes of vast proportions as well as the usual station-cafe fare.
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Together we roll . The typeface seems to be the same as the series of Cadbury’s Mini (Chocolate) Rolls packaging has.
The GWR 2min variation I assume it is easier to write software that just checks a difference. Adding in a “Sense” subroutine check is additional complexity therefore it is best to send out every variation when it occurs. The late time at a destination may make an interchange more difficult and thus is good communication
JBC Prestatyn
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The 4 flat escalators at Manchester Airport leading from T1 to ‘The Station’ have not worked for years. Shows how much the Airport cares about those who use buses, coaches, trams and trains.
Paul Kirby, Wetherby
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I wonder at what cost, and indeed who actually paid for the “celebrating ethnicity” vinyls defacing that Avanti train? Apart for a few hot-spots around the UK some sixty years ago, the vastly diverse transport industry, road and rail, has never had a problem, with staff from all backgrounds working happily together. Costly “celebrating” such a situation in 2025 is ridiculous and totally unnecessary. It smacks of young “Woke” managers having just recently left a political meeting at University. Probably accounts for the “Pride” liveries which sprout up every Summer too.
In my days in the Staff Office at the London Underground, the only problem we encountered was mixing various West Indian backgrounds…. The Trinidadians didn’t get on with the Barbadians etc. etc. A few years down the line when I opted for life as a Conductor, I was actually the first White Conductor at Bromley to be rostered with our second Black Driver in 1963 (we only ever had a couple more over the next twenty years!), and we became firm and lifelong friends within the first two hours of working an RF on the 227.
Many other issues raised in this blog underline how present day management, whilst probably working like whirlwinds with spreadsheets, i-pads and constantly on their phones, terrified at losing their jobs after a wrong word spoken at a meeting or a staff complaint, simply do not see the basics. “Local issues” are simply over-looked in the frenzy of “contract compliance” or sometimes simply nobody available to effect a simply repair on a ticket machine or toilet door.
Terence Uden
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What a load of rubbish. I am not 100% sure in this scenario, but usually with new trains like this the vinyl is added instead of the standard livery. (example is the Eurovision train with LNR which was plain white and now is back to that, ergo no money “wasted” on additional vinyl.
Many people have fought to improve the “white men’s club” stereotype of the railway over the decades and thankfully it’s a lot more modern these days than your mindset which should stay in 1963.
Money spent on equality and diversity schemes improves the wellbeing and emotions of staff and customers, which has a positive impact on the railway and is better for society as a whole.
I hope you are complaining just as hard about benefit money being spent on red paint for mini roundabouts in your area too.
Daniel C
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Greater Manchester residents can add Metrolink and local rail to their bus pass for £10 per year
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In the West Midlands County all trains & metro in addition to the bus are free to usE from 09:30 weekdays & all day weekends and bank holidays to all concessionary pass holders at no extra cost. An pre 09:30 add on is also available for a small fee.
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Same in West Yorkshire I believe (except that they don’t currently have a metro or tram system!)
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Here in North Yorkshire, the concessionary pass starts at 09:00 on weekdays, but there’s no concessionary pass holder “train” benefit (I think West Yorkshire get 50% off journeys wholly within WY)
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When did that change? We caught a tram from Black Lake to the centre of Birmingham and our bus passes were rejected by the machine. They worked in Sheffield on their trams.
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Concessionary Passes have been valid after 09:30 & all.day weekends since 30th May 1999 on West Midlands Metro.
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In fact only West Midlands residents can use concessionary passes on trains and trams in the Transport for West Midlands area.
Peter Hale
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Anyone who resides outside the West Midlands County would know there Concessionary Passes are valid on BUSES ONLY.
Why would anyone who wasn’t a Transport for West Midlands Concessionary Pass holder think they could you it on Trains or Metro in the West Midlands County?
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It was mentioned as to ALL concessionary passes by yourself just a few messages up
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All Concessionary Pass holders recieve free travel on Bus & Metro & Train in West Midlands County.
All refers to Senior & Diabled.
All refers to all pass holders.
Pass holders who live outside West Midlands Combined Authority are aware that Concessionary Passes are valid on Buses Only.
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Is the Coventry Transport heritage livery E200 permanently allocated to the Black Country or does it travel around the WMPTE area to celebrate all the former municipal operators?
If the former then residents may confuse it with another local operator.
If the latter then it doesn’t matter as next week there could be a Walsall Transport sky blue bus running which will be equally meaningless in this specific locality.
Peter Brown
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It has been transferred from National Express Coventry to National Express West Midlands at Pensnett garage permanently as it was surplus to requirements by NXC & NXWM have won a number of Dudley TfWM tenders & have also transferred routes from WN to PN utilising E200s.
In addition National Express Coventry will shortly be all electric double decker allocated with a number of routes in Coventry not retendered by NXC that were utilising E200.
There is a Walsall Corporation blue Scania but is permanently based in Walsall but it does get deep into Midland Red country around Halesowen in the evenings & Sunday on the tendered 4H which is operated by Diamond in the daytimes.
The E200 in the looky likey Birmingham Coach Company colours is getting a lot of comments in The Black Country despite the comments on here saying its clearly Coventry Corporation as the operating area has no relevance to Coventry Corporation but everyone knows Diamond Bus history as the Birmingham Coach Company.
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I think York used to have North and South platform ends. I found it much simpler as I knew which way north was, and if you didn’t it was no harder to look for signs saying N and S than for A and B.
The unhelpful down escalator at St Pancras may have been always previously used running “up” to avoid conflicting passenger flows at the top or bottom. Over time the drive mechanism gets worn asymetrically and reversing it can cause it to jam leaving to no escalator at all.
…and that reply from the DVSA may say more than you think. I read it as a subtle way of saying “We’re getting lots of complaints about that route/operator but can’t say anything official until we’ve looked into it fully”.
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Roger, I think there is some confusion about the E200 at Merry Hill – I believe this vehicle is in a Coventry Corporation heritage livery. Of course Travel West Midlands linage includes Coventry Corporation when absorbed within WMPTE. So…sorry a non story – no promotion of competition. Kind regards, Ian.
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It’s created a lot of good debate though! Probably the most for a good while! 😂
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Is it really “good debate” though, or just one deluded person vs everyone else?
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Diversity and Inclusion – Not Sure. There always seemed to be in BR and LT a ceiling of management beyond which the labouring West Indian (and Pakistani engineers) Road Staff didnt progress, even inspector (route controller) or driver trainer seemed to be barred until more recent years.
However if recruiting for say Transport Managers from the degree entry pool , most ethnic minorities were not really studying to undergraduate level anyway ( we had at University a number of Chinese and Phillaphines students who were on a banking and finance stream , along with Indians on the Accountancy Courses, The Jewish students were mainly doing Legal / Barrister degrees with the Arabs doing Sociology. There were a whole load of one year legal executives / secretaries who arrived en masse from South Africa one year.
This has filtered down into preservation age too as despite say a literal long line of proud service of Indians on Indian Railways, there is hardly any participation from the commonwealth countries in bus ownership on the preservation scene or working in the museum and preserved railway background or front of house. Maybe it is a money thing – no spare funds or a set of different family priorities.
JBC Prestatyn
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As a Herts disabled bus pass holder, I took advantage of the Tyne and Wear Gold Card to explore the Metro as part of seeing every British Rail station the other year. Stayed in Newcastle and Sunderland a couple times, so it made sense. At £24/ year it is definitely good value for money, I would take advantage of it if I lived nearer to Newcastle.
As a Cheshunt resident, I wish I could pay a set sum annually to TFL to essentially make my bus pass the same as London’s Freedom Pass and get the rail and tube entitlements, even if off peak only. Freedom Pass holders can travel to my area on the Overground for free when the best I get is a railcard discount, not the only area just outside London like this and it isn’t fair. I spent most of my life living in London until 2017, I should be able to benefit as I still use TFL routes more than anything when it comes to public transport. All boroughs that get TFL services (bus or train) should benefit from the same concessions as anyone at a London address.
Also Sheffield Supertram is free for all ENCTS holders, whilst Nottingham offers 1/3 off of day tickets on its trams to all ENCTS holders.
Aaron
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Hi Roger, enthusiast from Coventry here.
Just to clarify, the livery on the NXWM E200 originates from Coventry Corporation. I know many locals in the Black Country associate it with Birmingham Coach Company, which ran a very similar version in the 1990s, but NXWM’s intention wasn’t to promote a rival. It was chosen to reflect Coventry’s bus heritage before the recent transfer to the Black Country.
Might be worth a mention here that while the livery is officially Coventry, its similarity to BCC’s colours explains why some people see it differently. That way readers get the full picture.
Hope that clears this up
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I regard ‘Stay off the tracks’ as regular English, how many would add the ‘of’ nowadays.
As someone who lives in London, this ‘diversity’ thing feels very artificial, something that was once part of everyday life has been turned into a ‘public/private partnership’ and damaged as a result.
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Thanks to “enthusiast from Coventry” for pointing out the obvious. This vehicle IS in Coventry heritage livery and just happens to have been transferred to another area where an unrelated operator happened to have a similar livery a while ago.
I’m not sure why another contributor continues to suggest this is not the case?
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Well I was on the actual bus today from Merry Hill to Kingswinford on the NXWM 15 & that is most definitely the livery of The Birmingham Coach Company in the 1990s in the area the much loved operator operated then & continues to operate today providing a Diamond 💎 class service to The Black Country.
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No doubt you complain in Cornwall that the “Transport for Cornwall” liveried buses are just TfL London Bus liveried too!
Daniel C
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I am not aware that Transport for Cornwall or Transport for Lomdon operate in Birmingham & The Black Country & as such cannot comment on your points raised.
We do however have a dedicated West Midlands Bus livery of Red for Transport for West Midlands Partnership Routes if that is of any help to you.
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Daniel didn’t say they did – you’re either not intelligent enough to actually understand what he wrote, or you’ve realised he’s bang on so need to deflect his point (really badly!)
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If you have to resort to personal attacks on an individual you have lost the argument.
For the record I am intelligent enough to hold a BA(Hons) in Business & Finance, an Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies & Professional Accountancy Qualifications….
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It isn’t only the railway companies that struggle with getting things mended. For example, when I parked at Waitrose in Peterborough last week (because it’s handy for short visits to the Station), 50% of the parking ticket machines were out of order. But on Monday this week they all were – and one had a scruffy (ie torn) A4 sheet of paper attached with Sellotape and carrying the handwritten message “Out of Order, 1 hour free parking”.
Ian McNeil
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Harry Grayson. Going back to the Brighton main line I regularly travel from Angmering on Sunday evenings. These trains are only 8 not 12 coaches and are always packed and standing after Gatwick . It is also really a disgrace that that is no proper Brighton to London Victoria fast service by Southern which used to take 49 mins stoping at East Croydon and Clapham Junction before it was switched to GatwickExpress which omits East Croydon and Clapham but takes over an hour, with Clapham having no direct service to Brighton now except on Sundays or if there is a strike time table when ironically the service is better !
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Can Richard Jones explain why Coventry fleet names were put on this vehicle if all along the intention was to ‘celebrate’ another operator?
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The vehicle was from National Express Coventry & in Coventry I persumb it has a relevance to the former municipal fleet.
Not knowing anything about Coventry as I have only ever visited it once in my life other than its brutal shopping area & bombed put cathedral I can’t comment.
However by West Midlands Travel Limited bizarrely transferring the vehicle to National Express West Midlands at Pensnett it is now operating in the heart of Diamond Bus operating territory and matches exactly The Birmingham Coach Company livery of the 1990s.in its Merry Hill heartland.
Thus National Express West Midlands has a vehicles operating in its biggest rivals heritage livery.
You really couldn’t make it up when I understand there a number of E200 still at National Express Coventry in the new standard grey livery which could have been transferred instead.
With its bizarre love of heritage liveries National Express West Midlands has ended up hilariously running a vehicle that matches its biggest rivals heritage livery & everyone wonders why Mobico is in its financially perilous state.
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I think we can all see that this is a non-story.
In short, it was an e200 based in Coventry that was repainted and gained a commemorative livery of the erstwhile Coventry Corporation, complete with both heritage fleetnames and the modern NX Coventry fleetname.
Then, as a consequence of changing fleet requirements, it’s been reallocated to work elsewhere. The livery is reminiscent of one of the four main liveries that Birmingham Coach Co had during its existence though doubt NX management gave it a moment’s thought – they didn’t even remove the Coventry names. It’ll be battleship grey soon enough.
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The Birmingham Coach Company Limited is not erstwhile but actually is still trading as Diamond Bus Limited.
Previously it was registered as :
THE DIAMOND BUS COMPANY LIMITED
THE BIRMINGHAM OMNIBUS COMPANY LIMITED
GO WEST MIDLANDS LIMITED
THE BIRMINGHAM COACH COMPANY LIMITED
with its registered office since incorpation at
Hallbridge Way, Tividale, Oldbury, West Midlands, England, B69 3HW
with company number 02531054
It was previously known in Birmingham & The Black Country or its operation of Mk1 Leyland Nationals many of which carried an Ivory Cream & Ivory livery in the 1990s identical to the National Express West Midlands E200 operating currently in Diamond Bus own core area which has been transferred recently to NXWM Pensnett creating the bizarre sight of a National Express West Midlands E200 painted in a heritage livery of its main rival Diamond Bus Limited.
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The quote was “the erstwhile Coventry Corporation” – no-one suggested that BCC/Diamond was erstwhile.
The vehicle SN15LCZ was repainted in Coventry livery in April/May 2022. It still retains Coventry Transport AND NX Coventry fleetnames and it’s simply been reallocated.
The livery is reminiscent of one of a number of livery variations that BCC employed during their time. That’s all.
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I fully agree its amazing given West Midlands Travel Limited love of heritage liveries that they now have a vehicle in The Black Country in the heritage colours of its biggest rival operator.
It is truly wicked to have the iconic colours of The Birmingham Coach Company back in The Black Country.
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The iconic colours… I have to say that I always associated BCC with the red and cream zig-zag and, taking your advice and looking on Flickr, there seem to be many more examples of that livery on many more vehicles.
To be honest, it looks much more iconically Central SMT.
As it has Coventry fleetnames on front, rear and sides, I doubt anyone is getting confused
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I didn’t say it was amazing! It’s just a red e200 TBH
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But it’s NOT in the heritage livery of the Birmingham Coach Company! It’s in the livery of COVENTRY CORPORATION as has been explained ad nauseum!
The fact that the colours and layout are similar and that the vehicle has been transferred internally within NX is what we call a ‘coincidence.’
I now think beyond reasonable doubt that the directors of the Birmingham Coach Company, in the mists of time, admired the livery of Coventry Corporation so much that they decided to adopt it as their own fleet colours. There can be no other possible explanation for it.
They probably knew that they were on to a winner and that the inhabitants of Merry Hill and the Black Country would appreciate seeing the colours from Coventry on their local buses, given the close proximity and great bond between Coventry and Birmingham. Case closed.
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It is in the heritage livery of The Birmingham Coach Company aka Diamond Bus of the 1990s.
West Midlands Travel Limited msy have painted it Coventry colours & it operated for National Express Coventry.
Now it is in The Black Country at Pensnett Garage of National Express West Midlands its livery is exactly the same as the heritage livery of its biggest rival Diamond Bus.
Whatever any armchair enthusiast tries to believe National Express West Midlands has a bus in daily service painted in the heritage colours of its biggest rival Diamond Bus.
No in the Black Country couldn’t care less about Coventry 33 miles away but after 39 years of Diamond Bus competing against National Express West Midlands and its predessors from speaking to passengers over the last few weeks Black Country people recognise the heritage Diamond Bus livery ftom the 1990s on a National Express West Midlands bus.
Unfortunately armchair enthusiasts completely fail to understand the history of 39 years of Diamond Bus in The Black Country
Thankfully Black Country folk do
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Rubbish no in the Black Country has any association with Coventry.
I am currently sitting on a Prospect Coach contracted to West Bromwich Albion FC from this evenings game in Norwich.
I have just asked 12 Baggies supporters on the coach if they class a match against Coventry as a local derby.
Every one of them said NO .
Coventry has no relevance to the Black Country & is simply another City in England.
In fact I have only ever visited Coventry City Centre once in my life.
Why on earth would we go there?
Conversely National Express West Midlands currently have a E200 operating in The Black Country in the heritage colours of its biggest rival Diamond Bus.
Coventry has no relevance to those of on this side of Brum & the adjoining Black Country.
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Well this thread certainly went sideways.
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Isn’t that Coventry Corporation livery on the E200 Roger, it looks like it says Coventry Transport on the side.
Regards, Alan Younge
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It is & would be relevant in Coventry.
However the bus is now at Pensnett Garage of National Express West Midlands over 30 miles from Coventry
In its current operating area in The Black Country it is now in an indintcal livery to Diamond Bus heritage livery of The Birmingham Coach Company.
The people of the Black Country have no connection with Coventry.
What has unbelievable occurred is National Express West Midlands now have a heritage livery bus running in the Black Country in the 1990s livery of its main competitor.
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Has this been renamed the Richard Jones blog.? The vehicle is blindingly obviously in the last Coventry Livery, presumably it meandered around Coventry until that depot became all electric and then transferred to the Black Country.
I don’t think any normal passenger would associate a bus with Coventry Transport on the side with Birmingham Coach Co, no would they care. No doubt at some time NXWM will get it repainted
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Well how wrong you are yesterday I was waiting in Merry Hill Bus Station & the bus arrived on the 15 to Womborne.
I asked all the over 50s in the queue what they thought the bus was ?
Everyone one in the queue said it was the old Diamond colour’s.
Thankfully those who actually use Diamond Bus West Midlands & remember its heritage.
Unfortunately armchair enthusiasts have NO idea of the 39 year history of Diamond Bus in The Black Country & how much it has influenced bus history in the West Midlands.
It really has been amazing looking at the posts made that armchair enthusiasts have no idea how much Diamond Bus is liked over National Express West Midlands by those who have actually used them for nearly FOUR DECADES!
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In the list of “things that never happened”, this is right up there!
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Yeah I was expecting that.
I actually recorded the conversations with the passengers in Merry Hill Bus Station with thier & permission on my Android & TfWM are well aware I have ICO permission to do so sharing footage of problems on our network.
Armchair enthusiasts can moan & protest as much as they like but older passengers I have met over the last few clearly associate the livery with Diamond Bus.
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There is definitely a strong connection and deep local relationship between Birmingham and Coventry for all to see. The fact that you can go from one to the other by train in just ten minutes shows just how close the two are!
The Birmingham Coach Company should have stuck with their imitation of the Coventry livery as that enviro looks very smart indeed.
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No I know cares about Coventry it is just another City in England.
Its laughable you think anyone from Dudley, Cradley Heath, Blackheath, Quinton , Bearwood, Halesowen, Harborne or Edgbaston could get to Coventry in 10 minutes its over 30 miles away.
I am a proud Brummie but living on The Black Country side of the City on the Quinton/Blackheath border we have as much association with Coventry as Aberdeen.
However in these areas we do associate with Diamond Bus after 39 years of operation although it is quite bizarre to see National Express West Midlands having an E200 in its biggest rivals heritage livery .
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It’s more laughable that you think people actually believe your assertion that folks are independently stating that it reminds them of an operator livery that disappeared more than 20 years ago.
It is clearly important to “a fanatical fan” – not to the general public
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I am not aware that Diamond Bus as it traded as since 1990 has disappeared from the streets of The Black Country twenty years ago or are are suggesting I am currently imagining sitting on Diamond Bus 24H ?
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Isn’t this about the operator livery of Birmingham Coach Co and didn’t that livery and fleetname disappear in the early 2000s?
I don’t doubt you’re sat on a Diamond Bus. I am suggesting that you are imagining that this livery issue is more important to some “fanatical fan” than the actual general public, most of whom really couldn’t give a monkeys
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Diamond Bus branding began on routes 16, 310 & 410 in 1999 & progressively applied to the whole fleet.
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The Birmingham Coach Company as a fleetname disappeared over 20 years ago. People doubtless don’t care about it nor the legal history of Diamond Bus.
The only person who seems to care is Richard Jones, fanatical fan of all things relating to Diamond Bus.
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Diamond Bus has been part of The Black Country for 39 years this month & is one of the largest employers in Sandwell.
Its contribution to the economy in Sandwell is widely recognised with its corporate headquarters in Tividale whilst Diamond Bus West Midlands has recently been voted Employer Of The Year in Redditch recognising the excellence of Rotalas operations in the West Midlands.
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When the West Midlands PTE was formed, it included Coventry and the Black Country which provides the association between the 2 areas. It’s nice to see that the Birmingham Coach Company in its many liveries chose to emulate the Coventry livery here and this bus having been transferred to Pensnett is a great example of how things come round in circles. We now have the WMCA and the mayors (both Richard Parker and Andy Street) work across the Black Country, Birmingham and Coventry so the link remains!
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Coventry only became part of the West Midlands PTE in 1974 although it was originally created as West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority in 1968 featuring Birmingham, Walsall, West Bromwich & Wolverhampton.
Coventry hasn’t been part of it since it was formed.
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so there is an association then between them!
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I would have expected anyone from Coventry to associate themselves with Warwickshire rather than Brum & The Black Country.
No one I know is remotely interested in Coventry save for the Championship League.
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Perhaps we’re missing something… working by the strange logic of Richard Jones’s fevered imagination and by extension…
Geoff Howle clearly adopted Coventry Corporation colours for a handful of Birmingham Coach Co Nationals, evidently in a heartwarming and inclusive tribute to the former municipality operation.
Therefore, if Richard Jones believes it is a heritage livery of BCC…well it can only be because Geoff Howle was paying a heartfelt tribute to Coventry Transport. Hooray to Geoff and his love of Coventry
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Without the hard work , diligence & entrepreneurship of Geoff Howle in creating The Birmingham Coach Company we would not have the sucessfull premium quality operations in the West Midlands today of Diamond Bus.
Rotala have built on his legacy and continued to build business to the hugely successful operations the West Midlands know benefits so greatly with DIAMOND BUS.
There isn’t actually a joint 4 route .
National Express West Midlands run the :
4 Walsall to Blackheath
4M Walsall to Merry Hill
4H Walsall to Hayley Green (Evening & Sunday)
Diamond Bus run
4E Walsall to West Bromwich
4H Walsall to Hayley Green (Daytimes)
The routes within the common sections are run as a Partnership with Transport for West Midlands.
The accusation that Diamond Bus hang behind NXWM is both ludicrous & laughable especially as each operator serves different destinations
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You can just imagine an aged gent wandering around the bus shelters at Merry Hill asking the grannies what livery the bus ‘over there’ reminds them of. It’s amazing that he wasn’t carted off to the local asylum. And after all red buses in the West Midlands, in the eyes of a senior citizen , would be Midland Red, and none of these new fangled interlopers. And the route would have a D in front of it to denote a Dudley local.
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Midland Red hasn’t operated in The Black Country since 3rd December 1973 save for a handful of cross boundry services.
Anyone born on that day would be approaching 52.
I suspect very few people remember Midland Red now in the Black Country.
Red Buses are now synomous with National Express West Midlands.
Red & Cream buses are synomous with The Birmingham Coach Company as it grew rapidly from 1986 to become West Midlands Travel biggest competitor.
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Nobody’s arguing with you. We’re just saying that the bus in the blurry image Roger is showing has absolutely nothing to do with the Birmingham Coach Co or Diamond routes or Diamond buses. It’s JUST in the historic livery of Coventry, there’s no need to read into it. Obviously you seem to have a bee in your bonnet about the ties between Coventry and Birmingham but it has nothing to do with this livery.
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I dont know anything about Coventry City Centre save for its brutalist shopping centre & bombed out cathedral & having only ever visited it once in my 57 years its totally irrelevant to me compared to Birmingham & The Black Country.
The E200 is clearly in an heritage livery of Diamond Bus & would have been sern regularly in Merry Hill Bus Station in the 1990s.
From memory I dont recall seeing any Coventry Corporation buses in Merry Hill over the years only in the main National Express West Midlands & Diamond Bus and a handful of independents mainly on Centro/TfWM contracts.
Its been hilariously to see a NXWM bus in the heritage livery of its main rival in The Black Country.
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“The E200 is clearly in an heritage livery of Diamond Bus” – apart from the highly visible Coventry Transport and NX Coventry fleetnames.
There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.
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The livery is identical to the heritage livery of Diamond Bus of the 1990s so well know in the Black Country.
Basically Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
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Perhaps they remember Midland Red West then?
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We seem to be going around in circles here. The E200 is not in a heritage livery of Diamond Buses, nor Birmingham Coach Co.
The bus was painted into a historic Coventry and it even tells you that all over the bus. This livery resembles one carried by a small independent on a handful of vehicles from three decades ago that nobody really cares about. The vehicle has simply been transferred to an area where WMT faced competition from this independent.
The E300 is not there to honour, celebrate or remember anything other than Coventry Corporation. The chance that maybe the Birmingham Coach Co copied Coventry’s livery for a few rusty old Nationals is neither here nor there as they adopted many different paint applications.
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The E200 transferred from Coventry is in an identical livery to one used by Diamond Bus in the 1990s.
National Express West Midlands has a heritage livery bus in the exact same iconic colours of its biggest rival Diamond Bus.
It is in Merry Hill Bus Station again today on NXWM 2 then the 222 & bringing back memories when that livery dominated Merry Hill Bus Station in the 1990s with Diamond Bus.
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are Diamond buses at Merry Hill blue? It must be a limited group of people that connect Birmingham Coach Company and red buses with Diamond and blue?
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DIAMOND BUS are blue since distinct liverys were introduced after Rotala purchased the company as:
BLACK DIAMOND in The Black Country
BLUE DIAMOND in Birmingham
RED DIAMOND in Worcestershire.
After National Express West Midlands made a decision to move to a crimson red livery a corporate blue across Diamond Bus West Midlands.
Historically for its first decade its liveries were Red & Cream based whist Go Ahead moved to Red & White during its disastrous tenure.
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I think we are all waiting for Richard Jones to admit, possibly for the first time, that he is wrong, and his knowledge of the West Midlands bus market is not as comprehensive as he makes out. When I saw the picture I thought immediately that’s the old Coventry livery as I remember on Fleetlines and CVGs, and the name Coventry Transport is a bit of a giveaway.
we are also baffled as to why he is the only contributor to this blog who thinks Diamond’s operation in the West Midlands is nothing better than average. Go and look at the frequent 4, a joint NXWM/Diamond route and see how the Diamond buses tend to hang behind the NXWM ones. Or possibly go and look at Burton , where the award winning immaculate MIdland Classic operation has been replaced by the boringly average Diamond. I see they have finally given up the majority of their school services after an avalanche of complaints about reliability from parents and Staffordshire County Council.
They won’t be missed .
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I don’t think anyone has the patience (or life expectancy) to wait for Richard Jones to admit he’s wrong, mainly because no matter how much evidence and explaining you give him, he’ll never understand that he actually is (hence I can’t see a single response agreeing to him). I’m surprised an informed professional such as Roger even included it in his blog, unless it was just to stop Richard pestering him, hence he “most fanatical fan” reference making clear Richard is just an obsessive.
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How am I wrong?
E200 875 of West Midlands Travel Limited is clearly painted in the heritage 1990s colours of Diamond Bus.
Whatever the armchair enthusiasts who never use Diamond Bus think no one on The Black Country would associate this vehicle with Coventry Corporation it is clearly painted in the colours in The Black Country of National Express West Midlands biggest rival.
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Can I just ask Richard the reason why he thinks NX painted this E200 into this heritage livery in the first place? We might get somewhere…
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I cannot comment on Diamond Bus East Midlands unfortunately as I rarely use them.
I can only comment on the excellent premium quality service offered by Diamond Bus West Midlands.
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The 4 is a Transport for West Midlands Partnership Route.
National Express West Midlands operate
4 Walsall to Blackheath
4M Walsall to Merry Hill
4H Walsall to Hayley Green (Evening & Sundays)
Diamond Bus operate
4E Walsall to West Bromwich
4H Walsall to Hayley Green (Daytimes not Sunday)
The service has an agreed timetable between both operators & coordinated by Transport for West Midlands
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I’ve searched Flickr for a Leyland National in an identical livery, but haven’t found one. Plenty of variations on a red and cream theme, though not one that matched the E200.
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I’ve had a good look too but only found a couple with anything that resembles the E200. The livery used by the Birmingham Coach Company used a much lighter red, as the Coventry bus is more of a wine or burgundy colour. There doesn’t seem to be much of a resemblance to me.
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I think it’s time to close comments on this blogpost!
Roger
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