On the Buses

Our visit to the Wirral Transport Museum at Taylor Street, Birkenhead, started with a trip on the Heritage Tramway from Woodside Ferry - and for a very reasonable two quid return which included entry to the museum. What a great set up. Restored Wallasey tram No. 78 was rescued after more than 30 years on a farm in North Wales and is now on the blocks again for further attention. I am too young to remember the Wallasey trams but my dad insisted that he knew each one by number from the sound it made before it came into view around the corner.

Talk about “All Our Yesterdays.” Within 10 minutes, I was re-introduced to someone’s diminutive younger brother who had tagged along with us big boys for extremely important park football matches in the early 60s and who now re-appeared as a knowledgeable senior volunteer at the tram depot, a former pupil of mine who had only recently chucked away his geography exercise book with my name on the front [probably about time] and additionally I’d recognised a picture on the notice board of a former colleague, who is also a long-standing member of the tram team.

With memories evoked at every turn, we were soon face to face with the familiar, two-tone yellow Wallasey double-decker bus alongside its old rival, the blue Birkenhead version. These vehicles were still bursting with the same civic pride that they possessed at the time, with their recognisable registration plates - HF for Wallasey and BG or CM for Birkenhead, municipal heraldry adorning their flanks as well as those distinctive colour schemes. Shared services [route numbers 9, 10 and 11] provided Birkenhead buses with legitimacy to wander into Wallasey’s air-space and vice-versa, but the point was that we always noticed the difference. I think they even smelt different when you climbed on board.   

The livery of the Wallasey buses was described as “sea green,” which more accurately described that on the trams that preceded them, but it was actually and emphatically two shades of yellow. This was apparently due to a mix-up over an enquiry about the colour the new vehicles were to be painted. The reply had come back to “see Green,” meaning ask Mr Green, who was the manager at the time. In any event, our yellow buses were always referred to as sea green thereafter.

Two close friends worked on the buses, completing many years’ experience between them as driver and conductor and, of course, they had some stories to tell as a result. Suffice it to say that they enjoyed their work and that the merry japes characterised by the now uncomfortably dated “On the Buses” sit’ com’, were, in reality, seriously understated.

The next big day at the museum is the Wirral Bus and Tram Show on Sunday 2^nd October 2016. Get along there if you can. You will not be disappointed. The model railway, displays, photographs, explanatory panels and the range of beautifully restored and fully operational buses and trams are guaranteed to provide a glow of contentment. The association with places, people and events from times past makes the present so rewarding - and youngsters are assured of a fun day out as well.