Leyland National Mark II

819 & 820  BVP819V & BVP820V

At the formation of Midland Red West in September 1981 the new Company only acquired two Mark II Leyland Nationals (819 BVP819V and 820 BVP820V). They were part of the last batch of Leyland Nationals and the only Mark II vehicles, which were delivered new to Midland Red. These were part of a 1980 batch of 25 vehicles 807-31 (BVP807-22V & EOV823-31V). Apart from being Mark II type vehicles they differed from the remaining Leyland Nationals in the fleet as they were built to the cheaper specification due to the severe financial difficulties Midland Red was in at the time. The vehicles lacked the rear roof-heating pod as they had under seat heaters, internal lighting way by way of small fluorescent lights rather than normal large lighting units associated with Leyland  Nationals and the vehicles lacked above seat luggage racks. Whilst many operators were moving away from plastic seat covers these vehicles had the same dark brown plastic seats as was in the S, T and V registration Leyland National Mark I vehicles. 819 and 820 entered service at Kidderminster in April and June 1980 respectively. Following the merger of Midland Red West and Badgerline in 1988 the group decided to concentrate all the Mark II Leyland Nationals with Badgerline and so 819 and 820 were withdrawn from Midland Red West service in May 1989 and were moved to the Bath Garage of Badgerline where they took the fleet numbers 3535 and 3536 respectively.

Fleet Number

Registration Number

Vehicle Type

Seat Capacity

Date New

Date Withdrawn

Disposal

819

BVP819V

Leyland National Mark II 06760

B49F

Apr-80

May-89

Badgerline as 3535

820

BVP820V

Leyland National Mark II 06761

B49F

Jun-80

May-89

Badgerline as 3536

1201-6  A201-6YWP

In 1983, Midland Red (West) Ltd. ordered six new Leyland Suburban National Mark II buses 1201-6 (A201-6YWP) for use on limited stop Midland Express operations. The vehicles entered service in April 1984 and were painted in a White, Yellow and Red NBC Midland Express livery and featured DP47F coach seats and overhead luggage racks. Four were allocated to Kidderminster (1201-4) and two at Worcester (1205-6). The vehicles mainly operated the X92/3 and 372/3 services. Following the merger of Midland Red West and Badgerline in 1988 the group decided to concentrate all the Mark II Leyland Nationals with Badgerline. This was even though consideration was given to moving all six vehicles to Redditch for use on the X5/6/7/8 group of limited stop services that were at the time running into Birmingham City Centre. All six vehicles were withdrawn in April/May 1989 and moved to Badgerline for use on services running from the Marlborough Street Garage in Bristol. The vehicle took the fleet numbers 3501-6. Whilst with Badgerline 3506 (A206YWP) was destroyed by fire. The remaining five vehicles were later sold on to Eastern Counties who re-seated the vehicles with bus seats and removed the electronic destination displays.

Fleet Number

Registration Number

Vehicle Type

Seat Capacity

Date New

Date Withdrawn

Disposal

1201

A201YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07755

DP47F

Apr-84

May-89

Badgerline as 3601

1202

A202YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07756

DP47F

Apr-84

May-89

Badgerline as 3602

1203

A203YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07757

DP47F

Apr-84

May-89

Badgerline as 3603

1204

A204YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07758

DP47F

Apr-84

May-89

Badgerline as 3604

1205

A205YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07759

DP47F

Mar-84

Apr-89

Badgerline as 3605

1206

A206YWP

Leyland National Mark II 07760

DP47F

Apr-84

Apr-89

Badgerline as 3606

905 & 908  BOU5V & BOU8V

In August 1999 First Midland Red acquired two Leyland Nationals Mark II’s from First Cymru for use on Schools routes at Worcester Garage so as to release Dennis Lance vehicles for other services. The vehicles were new to Bristol Omnibus in 1980 and had only spent a matter of months with First Cymru. The vehicles had been numbered 3530 and 3531 respectively in the Bristol fleet and 798 and 799 respectively in the First Cymru fleet. 905 entered service in November 1999 at Worcester after it was down seated from 52 to 49 seats and repainted red and cream. 908 entered service in September 1999 at Worcester in the acquired livery of green and yellow but with a red and cream front added. 908 was repainted fully into Red and cream the following month in October 1999. With the arrival of Dennis Lances 218-20 from First Cymru both vehicles were withdrawn in May 2002. The vehicles did see use at Hereford Garage as well as Worcester. The Company looked at converting at least one of the vehicles into a driver trainer to replace HHA101L but this idea was abandoned and both vehicles were sold for scrap early in 2003.

Fleet Number

Registration Number

Vehicle Type

Seat Capacity

Date New

Date into FMR Fleet

Date Withdrawn

Disposal

905

BOU5V

Leyland National NL116L11/1R 07026

B49F

Jul-80

Nov-99

May-02

Rigley, Carlton for scrap March-03

908

BOU8V

Leyland National NL116L11/1R 07080

B49F

Jul-80

Sept-99

May-02

Rigley, Carlton for scrap January-03