#wmpte

[the-time-lord-oracle]

A WMPTE MCW Metrobus traverses Great Lister Street on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre while working route 14 from Tile Cross in the 1982-86 period. Route 14 still runs, though now enters the city via Vauxhall and Duddeston rather than Great Lister Street, and the route now extends beyond Tile Cross to Chelmsley Wood.

[the-time-lord-oracle]

For a time in the late 1980's, class 312 No. 312204 was pained in a somewhat gaudy canary and blue livery with West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive logos. The livery may have been based on the livery sported by WMPTE buses at the time, though buses definitely wore it better than the EMU did! When WMPTE rebranded as Centro in 1990, they came up with a much more tasteful colour scheme for trains operating services Centro subsidised.

[the-time-lord-oracle]

The evolution of bus stop flags in the West Midlands.

[the-time-lord-oracle]

WMPTE logo evolution:

The logos used by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive over the years; the 1970's/80's "Wriggly Worm", 1990's/early 2000's Centro, late 2000's/2010's Network West Midlands and 2020's Transport for West Midlands.

[the-time-lord-oracle]

West Midlands PTE Daimler Fleetline at the 2018 Warley exhibition. I can just about remember these buses, as several lasted in service until 1997 and I can even vaguely remember riding one on the 55 route from Shard End. These buses are significant as they were the Midlands' first standard front entrance double-decker buses and have a certain old world charm to them.

[garage-prison]

Quinton Bus Garage, Birmingham by Lady Wulfrun on Flickr.