MIDLAND RED LEYLAND BUS

Between 1923 and 1970 Midland Red built its own buses but, from time to time, urgent needs for more new vehicles meant buses were purchased from outside manufacturers. 100 Leyland Titans were bought by Midland Red in 1952-3 with bodies modified to suit the company's styling ideas.

SHA 431 spent all its service life working from Birmingham Digbeth garage on routes from Birmingham to Coventry, Malvern, Solihull and Stratford. It was sold in 1967 to Foster Brothers, manufacturers and retailers of gents clothing. Fosters painted it green and used it daily to transport staff from their old factory in inner Birmingham (Bradford Street) to new premises in Marshall Lake Road, Shirley.

Preservation

In 1971 it was purchased, in poor state, for restoration and passed to the 1685 Group in 1977. As far as we know, this is the only one of the 100 buses left. After a period in store, a massive amount of restoration work to original condition was undertaken by the Group's volunteers and completed in August 2010.