Midland Red D7 Restoration Update

Transport Museum Wythall took on a new challenge in late 2022, the restoration of Midland Red D7 double decker number 4482, the only existing D7 with a viable restoration opportunity. The 350 D7s could be found throughout Midland Red’s large territory and were very much a ‘work horse’, especially in the Black Country. 

After starting an appeal through our website and UK Bus newspapers and Magazines, we also applied for, and won a grant from, the UK Department of Levelling Up through their Community Ownership Fund (COF). This grant was for 50% of the costs and resulted in an excellent promotion of the project that has enabled us to source sufficient donations from members and the general public that has met our target costs without the need to use our ringfenced restoration budgets.

The COF fund commented that this was the first donation of its type in that they typically work towards the restoration of building but the significance of the project to the history of transport was sufficient to accept it.

Restoration is a complex business as you never know how long a project will take until the vehicle is stripped down. We now have a program that will bring the D7 back to Wythall for painting in October this year and be ready for launch early 2026.

We extend our thanks to the COF team and all the other donors for their support.