On The Buses!

I enjoyed another night camping just outside of Birmingham. It was a bit warmer last night and this morning I enjoyed breakfast outside in the sunshine! Not bad for the end of March!

Right next door to the campsite is the Wythall Transport Museum, so I decided to go take a look before I drove back home. It was their first day open for the season. I thought it would be a quick visit but what an interesting museum!  It kept me enthralled for about 3 hours!  

The site has a collection of over 90 buses from pre-WW1 to the 70s and maybe beyond! The museum is run by volunteers and I have to say it was probably the best and most professional volunteer run museum I’ve ever been to. I don’t normally take a particular interest in buses, but being in the travel industry, I do appreciate the history of all modes of transport, not just aircraft. It is the social history which I find particularly fascinating and this museum did an excellent job in portraying that.

The info sheet I’d seen showed that today was not a day when they do bus tours, but obviously plans changed, because soon after I arrived they set out on the light blue double decker shown in top left of the collage, and off we went on a 30 minute tour of the nearby countryside. Noisy and bumpy and smelly but great fun!  We even had a bus conductor come around to give us each a ticket from the machine around her neck. Brilliant!

Not only do they have buses but also a vintage fire engine and a large collection of electric vehicles including milk floats (milk delivery vans). See Extra photo.

On the same site is a miniature steam railway club who give rides during the museum open days. It’s also a popular site for car clubs to meet and today there was a Daimler club meet. After spending time in the main indoor part of the museum I grabbed some food from my van and had a picnic in their pretty gardens and watched the trains go by. Maybe another time I’ll have a ride on one.

It was a great outing and if you’re ever passing Junction 3 of the M42 near Birmingham, it’s definitely worth a visit. Open weekends from the end of March to the end of October, bank holidays and Wednesdays during school holidays (Mar-Oct).