Tamworth bus bows out in style
A much-loved Tamworth bus took retirement this week, after clocking up nearly a million miles on the streets of Staffordshire. Arriva Midlands bus number 3505 was the final example of the company’s Scania ‘OmniLink’ buses and has proven a firm favourite with passengers over the years, as well as with their drivers and engineers.
Delivered new to Arriva’s Tamworth depot back in 2008 the bus spent many years working busy commuter services into Birmingham before moving across to the company’s nearby Derby depot for further service last year.
While others of its type have reached the end of the road, bus 3505 is getting a new lease of life having been donated by Arriva to The Transport Museum at Wythall as part of its collection of over 90 buses - many of which have connections to the historic Midland Red company who served Tamworth until 1997 when the business was rebranded as Arriva.
“We’re proud to have been serving the people of Tamworth for over 100 years” said Toby J France, Head of Commercial at Arriva Midlands. “The vehicles cared for by Transport Museum Wythall tell a fascinating story of our history through those years, and it’s fantastic to support them in continuing to tell the ongoing story of public transport in the Midlands as we look towards a future where people choose to leave their cars at home, with less congestion on our roads and cleaner air for the next generation.”
Adam Marsden, Young Trustee at Transport Museum Wythall said "We're extremely grateful to Arriva for generously donating bus 3505 to our museum. We maintain a collection of over 90 preserved buses, bringing the story of bus transport in the Midlands and surrounding areas to life through the decades. This new addition is ideal to represent the changes within the bus industry over the late 2000's and 2010's and I look forward to seeing visitors for years to come remember the times they would have travelled on this type of vehicle in service."
A special event showcasing bus 3505 as the Museum’s latest addition will take place on Saturday 20 September, with several of the Museum’s collection of classic Midland Red buses also on display at Statfold Barn Railway on Sunday 21 September. Full details of these and other events are available on the museum’s website https://www.wythall.org.uk