Walsall Corporation Daimler Fleetline XDH 516G

WALSALL'S SPECIAL FLEETLINES

Walsall Corporation Transport's General Manager, Ronald Edgley Cox, had views on bus design that were either innovative or eccentric. After lengthening several older buses, when Walsall moved into the rear-engine era, he decided his Daimler Fleetlines should be of shorter length.

The front overhang was much reduced and the earlier examples only had a sliding door behind the front axle. This design was later modified to include an additional narrow door ahead of the axle. Northern Counties built the bodies and around 100 were in service by the time the Walsall fleet was taken over by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in 1969.

WMPTE was keen to eliminate conductors and this bus was converted to driver only operation in 1970.

Preservation

The Walsall Daimler Fleetlines were retired by 1981 except for no. 116, which became 'semi-preserved'. It re-entered service in May 1985, after considerable attention but still wearing PTE colours with lettering commemorating 100 years of public transport in Walsall. But there was no room for buses like 116 in the post-1986 deregulated era and it arrived at Wythall in November 1986. David Taylor has extensively restored the bus, repainting it into Walsall's distinctive blue livery.