West Midlands Travel 1060, Wednesfield, 1996

            West Midlands Travel 1060 was an Alexander bodied Volvo B10M, one of six identical experimental vehicles purchased by West Midlands PTE in 1986 (1055 - 1060). They arrived along with six prototype Gardner-engined Leyland Lynx single deck buses (1061-1066), all based at Cleveland Road bus garage in Wolverhampton. Initially all 12 were used on the 501 Tettenhall service. This was reminiscent of what happened in 1967, when the erstwhile Wolverhampton Corporation Transport Department placed six new Strachan bodied Daimler Roadliners, and six new Strachan bodied AEC single deck saloons on the Tettenhall service to trial them as one-man-operation buses.  

These buses were fitted with 4-speed Voith automatic transmissions and were capable of very high speeds for service buses. They were popular with drivers and were regularly used on private hire work because of the speeds they could achieve. The 4th gear was electrically 'locked out' for normal service use, but drivers found a way of unlocking it, and high-speed runs were possible where there was the opportunity to 'let them go'!

The Volvo's remained at Wolverhampton for most of their working lives, only in their last couple of years serving with Travel Merry Hill at Pensnett near Dudley. All six had been withdrawn by early 2000, but all found new owners. 

Whilst 1055 - 1059 were sold for further use as PSVs, 1060 was acquired by the Transport & General Workers Union for non-PSV use. Converted into a mobile office and promotions unit, 1060 was for a time regularly parked up at Birmingham Central Garage at Digbeth, and later at Park Lane bus garage in Wolverhampton. Photographs on flickr show 1060 still existed in 2013.

Today, none of the six Volvo B10M survive, although 1055 had been purchased for preservation in 2007. However, structural corrosion would prove too expensive to repair, and eventually saw the bus go to scrap. 

1060 is pictured at Wood End, Wednesfield, working the convoluted 525 service from Wolverhampton to Dudley (via Wednesfield, Willenhall, Bilston & Roseville).

Photo 17th July 1996 - SD

Taken on: July 17, 1996

Tags:

C60HOM

Wood End

July

1996

West Midlands Travel

Volvo

1060

WEST MIDLANDS

Alexander

WMPTE

525

route

service

Wolverhampton

1990s

B10M « less

Sets appears in: • Britain in the 1990s • WMPTE/WMT/TWM more » • Wolverhampton « less

Camera: Plustek OpticFilm 8200i (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Plustek OpticFilm 8200i
Color Space:	sRGB
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