Coventry Buses - past and present

You can get either a 20 or a 148 from the bus stops at All Saints Square in Bedworth. Alternatively, depending where you have parked, you can pick up the same buses in Coventry Rd by the Old Black Bank pub. Both buses go into Coventry by the old route, under what was the iron bridge into Bedworth Rd, over the canal into into Longford Rd, and then Foleshill Rd. You need to get off the bus outside the old Ritz cinema, just by the junction with Windmill Rd, and opposite to where the New Inn once stood. Cross Foleshill Rd and go over the New Inn canal bridge. On your immediate right you will see the bus entrance into the Arena Retail Park, you will come out at the far end of Tesco so will need to walk across the full width of all the shops to get to the Coventry Building Society Stadium. The 20 bus will be a double decker and the 148 will be single deck. Both run a frequent service throughout the day. Coming back, the bus stop is just a bit past where the New Inn once stood, but not as far as the old Vauxhall garage (can't remember the name).

A grab it while it lasts on Ebay here. A rare location of a bus next to the Rex on Corporation Street.

Hello, Just a bit of info if needed. Guy, refers to the engine block manufacturer, based in Wolverhampton. Arab utility, is a loose term describing the body design. Park Royal is the body manufacturer based in London. Our friend may be able to correct or comment on my explanation.

Guy is indeed the chassis manufacturer, Arab is their model name, Utility refers to the government wartime regulations regarding the build quality, for example this bus originally had wooden slat seating. The engine was a 5 cylinder version of the pre-war usual 6 cylinder diesel engine made by the Gardner company of Manchester.

I can't add much more to that Philip. It wasn't the Rex Cinema, as that had gone 3yrs before the bus, was it not the Rex Market(?) The bus was new in November 1943, withdrawn August 1961 and went to Leeds for scrapping in the December of 1961. Ten of those shelters were erected along Corporation Street during 1943, same age as the bus!

Hello, I tell you what! It's blinking good on here. I used to like the Guys. They screamed at high revs, but was told by a Watery lane depot man that they were a simple robust design. His name was Mr. Bryant.

Some of Coventry's Guy buses were sold to dealers in the late fifties or early sixties after replacement by new post-war buses. A few of these were exported and ended up in what was Yugoslania, now Bosnia: www.flickr.com/photos/26437251@N00/12346907073 Note how the rear platform door has been moved to the other side and hence the stairs swapped sides too.

Not much old stuff but lots of Coventry bus pictures and a few trains here at the Transport Library archives.

On tv channel That's TV today at 3.20pm was One Hundred Years of British Buses. Sorry to say I missed half of a very interesting programme covering all of the UK from Trams, Trolly Buses and Buses. Did anyone else see it?

Hello, That's the one-time lightweight summer uniform! "Hold tight"! Note the leather weather strip. This bus, built around 1947/8, was prior to the fixing technology of attaching body to chassis. The drivers cab is part of the bus body. The only firm attachment is at the rear, hence why rear exit & entrance. The drivers seat, steering wheel & mechanical controls are attached to the chassis, not the body. The development engineers did experiment with the last six supplied buses that might have included GKV 94, but I don't know. The London Transport lookalike AEC No 99 was a bonded fixing.

A little probably totally useless piece of historical info... Coventry Corporation Buses used to be located at one of two depots before the Wheatly Street garage was opened. Harnall Lane Swan Lane If I recall correctly, this sometimes raised interesting moments which bus was maintained by which garage. I understand that to resolve those interesting moments, in later years a small white badge was added to each bus with either an H or S in black letters to which garage was responsible for the maintenance.

Hello & yes The letters only appeared when the new bus fleet numbers no longer matched the vehicle registration numbering & sequencing. Harnal was even numbers, whilst Sandy Lane was odd numbers. Thank you for your post.

You're welcome. I had heard about the numbering system, but wasn't able to confirm that. So your reply has confirmed what I was originally told, and I'm grateful for that.