Walsall Metrobus Farewell

I had a Saturday off this weekend (rare!) which allowed me to head off to Walsall to watch the last day of operation of MCW Metrobuses there. For the non cognoscenti, Metrobuses were double decker buses built in Birmingham from 1977 until 1989.

WMPTE, the then local transport organisation in the West Midlands, showed considerable loyalty to local industry by building up a vast fleet of these buses. These then passed to their private-sector successor (variously called West Midlands Travel, Travel West Midlands and now National Express West Midlands) on privatisation in 1986.

The fleet has been gradually running down over the past few years but they have still been part of the local scene for so long that their passing attracted a fair bit of local enthusiast attention.

I think it’s fair to say that there was a certain type of person taking photographs yesterday. Actually, there were three types: the out-and-out anoraks (plentiful), the middle aged single men with Received Pronunciation and canvas camera bags (less plentiful) and er, me (unique).

There are some photos on my Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=174936&id=663674847&l=acc13c8c74