Transport Museum Wythall (TMW) is rolling out events galore this years with several major anniversaries being celebrated. Following a record 2022 when the museum saw a 50% uplift in visitor numbers to 15,000 and the launch of the award-winning AEC Regent restoration. The plan for 2023 is bigger and better still, says museum spokesman Denis Chick, with a full calendar of events. The museum opens its doors for 2023 on 1 April.
Firstly, important new additions to the museum’s operational fleet will be revealed at Easter Bank Holiday running days on 9 and 10 April. Making their debuts will be 248 NEA, a 1963 West Bromwich Daimler CVG6 Metro-Cammell Orion, and WDA 835T, a 1978 MCW Metrobus which was displayed at the 1978 Commercial Motor Show and which will be the subject of a special Metrobus display at the ‘Wythall Busfest@Gaydon’ event on 1 July.
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On Sunday 21 May the museum will host the first Harrington Gathering since 2016, paying tribute to the coachbuilder’s magnificent buses, coaches and car conversions. Ninety years of the Guy Arab will be celebrated at the Spring Bank Holiday event on 29 May, marking nine decades since the Guy Arab, built in nearby Wolverhampton, was launched, with special runs on visiting examples of this iconic vehicle alongside several of the museum’s former examples. The ever popular Model Bus Federation Gathering will also be held at this event.
BON 472C, a 1965 BCT Daimler/MCW Fleetline single-decker will also join the running fleet this year, making its debut at the same event. One of the year’s most enjoyable events is expected to be when the Routemaster Association partners with the Museum to bring the capital’s buses to a Midlands audience on 17 and 18 June. A variety of types will be on show and providing free passenger rides.
By special request, the planned Bristol gathering is moving to 8 and 9 July from a slot earlier in the year, attracting more vehicles from afar in the warmer weather. This year marks 40 years since the closure of the firm’s Brislington works and 75 years since the start of manufacturing Bristols in that location. Also being commemorated is 75 years since the last Birmingham tram ran.
Monday 28 August will see 25 years since low-floor easy access double-deckers entered service in the UK being celebrated, so Wythall’s 1998 Optare Spectra and 2002 Dennis Trident 2 will lead a display of these vehicles. On 10 September, the museum joins with the National Express Historic Society to bring today and yesterday together for a day.
On 1 October TMW celebrates rear-engined buses, the mainstay of provincial fleets across the UK since they gained ground from the early 1960s. TMW’s tribute to these workhorses will include Atlanteans, a model launched 65 years ago, plus Fleetlines, Olympians, Metrobuses and more.
Finally, 29 October sees the museum’s Twilight Running day, offering atmospheric bus rides into autumnal darkness.
Wythall Busfest@Gaydon
TMW isn’t just confining events to its Wythall museum. Busfest@Gaydon will take place at the British Motor Museum on Saturday 1 July, following a very successful rally in 2022 despite the heavy rain. Two significant themes will include a celebration of Daimler buses, this year marking the 50th anniversary of the last example leaving the firm’s Radford works in Coventry. It’s also ‘MCW Metrobus 45’ as 2023 marks 45 years since the Metrobus went into full production, with the line-up led by TMW’s own 6835, one of five pre-production vehicles for West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive built, exhibited and operated in Birmingham.
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