Collection: The Transport Museum, Wythall

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Existing collections, including the subjects or themes and the periods of time and /or geographic areas to which the collections relate

  Buses, coaches, battery electric road vehicles and fire appliances of Midlands operators and builders except where it has been necessary to look nationally to obtain a representative of a manufacturer’s products. In pursuance of this, the Trust’s vehicle collections comprise:

  Vehicles representing the contribution made by the former Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited to the passenger vehicle industry, from the viewpoints of both the Company as the largest provincial operator of buses and coaches and their technical contribution to the design and manufacture of buses and coaches.

  Vehicles representing the several former municipal bus operators in the County of West Midlands, and their successors, Transport for West Midlands.

  Transport for West Midlands as of June 2024 is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority and thus includes the following organisations who operate bus services:

  ‘Constituent Authority’ means any local authority listed below:

  • Birmingham City Council
  • Coventry City Council
  • Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
  • City of Wolverhampton Council

  ‘Non-Constituent Authority’ means any local authority listed below:

  • Cannock Chase District Council
  • North Warwickshire Borough Council
  • Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council
  • Redditch Borough Council
  • Rugby Borough Council
  • Shropshire Council
  • Stratford-on-Avon District Council
  • Tamworth Borough Council
  • Telford & Wrekin Council
  • Warwick District Council
  • Warwickshire County Council

  Vehicles representing the products of bus and coach chassis and body manufacturers which were based within the County of West Midlands.

  Representative vehicles of municipal and company operators within the bus route network of the former Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited, including the successor operating companies to the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited and Transport for West Midlands.

  Landmark British bus and coach designs, including representatives of chassis and body builders not covered in 1) – 4).

  Battery electric road vehicles representing national production.

  Fire appliances operated within the region.

  Archives pertaining to Midlands public transport and United Kingdom battery electric road vehicle builders and operators, in particular photographs, cine, video and DVD, book library, manufacturers’ technical literature including catalogues and manuals, publicity and point of sale material, ticket machines, timetable books, timetable leaflets, destination blinds, uniforms, engineering drawings of Midland Red and MCW manufactured vehicles, toys and models, and similar ephemera.

  A collection of memorabilia and artefacts associated with the design, building or operation of Midlands public transport and United Kingdom battery electric road vehicles, in particular bus stops and other roadside furniture.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC