Birmingham City Transport Daimler Fleetine - NOV 796G

1960s BIRMINGHAM DOUBLE-DECKER

The last complete batch of buses delivered to Birmingham City Transport comprised 100 Daimler Fleetlines with Park Royal bodies, in late 1968 to early 1969. Unlike those that preceded them, they had front entrances and centre exits, which layout was thought to be better suited for driver-only operation. However, West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, which took over BCT's buses in October 1969, would soon revert to buses with front entrances only for new orders.

3796, an early two-door example, entered service in December 1968, and was withdrawn by WMPTE in February 1983.

A New Career

3796 was then acquired by Birmingham City Council's Amenities & Recreation Department (later Leisure Services) in April 1983, and used for hospitality purposes at shows and exhibitions. While it had spent fourteen years as an ordinary bus, it went on to serve Leisure Services for almost twenty-two years!

Preservation

3796 was bought for preservation by a group of Museum members in March 2005, and they set about its restoration. This included reinstating destination boxes and seats that had been removed for its later role, and various other work to bring it back to original bus specification. This culminated in a full repaint into Birmingham City Transport colours in 2006.