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Badgerline and so 819 and 820 were withdrawn from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Date Withdrawn |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 |