WMPTE 121N, Eve Hill, Dudley, 1973 - a photo on Flickriver

WMPTE 121N, Eve Hill, Dudley, 1973

            WMPTE 121N, formerly Wolverhampton Corporation 121 was a Guy Arab V with a Weymann built body. The bus was one of ten AEC AV590 engined Guy Arabs delivered new in 1963 (112-121). They were oddities in the fleet, all other Wolverhampton Arab Vs being fitted with the standard Gardner 6LW oil engines. This came about through the influence of the Chief Engineer, Mr Martin who was ex London Transport and an  enthusiastic believer in AEC products. However, the Corporation had an allegiance to Guy Motors and a history of using Gardner engines going back to the late 1930s. Against these odds, a few AEC buses were purchased by Wolverhampton. These were five AEC Renowns (182-186), three AEC Reliances (705-7) and six AEC Swifts (708-13). 

Under WMPTE ownership and whose huge fleet was mainly Gardner engined, these AEC powered Guys had short lives. All ten were withdrawn between early 1974 and late 1975. 

Walsall ran a number of AEC buses, so it's surprising that 112 to 121 were not transferred to Walsall Garage in the early 1970s. Instead Gardner engined Guy Arabs went to replace Fleetlines coming from Walsall to Wolverhampton.   

Returning to the picture, 121N was never repainted out of its Wolverhampton colours. It was withdrawn in January 1974 after the upper saloon was fire damaged. Disposal was to Harwood (dealer) Barnsley in May 1974. Hartwood sold and exported engines, and generally sold the hulks of the buses to other dealers to scrap. 
 
121N is pictured climbing Wolverhampton Road at Eve Hill out of Dudley, heading back towards Wolverhampton on the 58 route in late 1973. Until the 5th March 1967, the 58 service had been operated by trolleybuses, but 6-years later, this section of the route was already devoid of any remnants of the former trolleybus infrastructure. 

Today, the scene remains very recognisable from the 1973 image. The famous 'Ye old struggling man' pub is a now a fast food take away, but the building still stands.

Taken on: October 23, 2021

Tags:

121

121N

Wolverhampton Corporation

WMPTE

WEST MIDLANDS

Guy Arab

Arab V

route

service

eve hill

dudley

1973

1970s

The struggling man

pub

banks's

aec

engine

av590

vw beetle

petrol station

national petrol

Ye Olde struggling man

Ye old Struggling man « less

Sets appears in: • Britain in the 1970s • Dudley and the Black Country more » • WMPTE North Division • Wolverhampton Corporation Transport « less

Groups appears in: • Remembering National Petrol.

Camera: Plustek OpticFilm 7600i (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Plustek OpticFilm 7600i
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Pixelmator 3.5.1
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