A gathering to mark the 85th anniversary of the Bedford OB coach is among dates in the diary for Transport Museum Wythall during 2024.
The celebration will be held on the weekend of 18 and 19 May, and the museum is working to bring as many surviving examples as possible to Wythall then. It wants to attract over 30 of the iconic type and says that the event will be in memory of Tim Wootton, who is described as “the leading light in OB preservation.”
Already expected are “a bumper number” of visiting OBs, including several surprise vehicles that the museum says will be new to the rally circuit. Some of those exhibited will give rides to visitors around local country lanes in recognition of the OB’s long association with rural areas.
Mr Wootton died in 2017. Before that he was involved in the staging of gatherings marking the 70th and 75th anniversaries of the front-engined model, of which a number survive as heritage vehicles with coach operators in addition to those owned by preservationists.
Noted by Wythall is that while 73 OBs were built between the model’s introduction in 1939 and the outbreak of World War II, production boomed after the cessation of hostilities and almost 13,000 had been constructed by 1951, leaving the OB as “one of the most popular PSVs of its type.”
Among other dates in this year’s diary at Wythall is a celebration of 120 years of Midland Red on 6 October, with a display of both the museum’s own former Midland Red vehicles and visiting examples, including members of the operator’s early coach fleet.
The museum will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of Birmingham to Druids Heath route 50 – still operated by National Express West Midlands – on 26 and 27 May, and stage a London comes to Wythall event on 15 and 16 June in partnership with the Routemaster Association. That will see various former London buses visit.
List of all events at Wythall in 2024 here.
