SLHS: Stratford Blue Buses

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Taken from the Key Buses website below:

“We recall a distinctive and small BET fleet that survived to the end of the 1960s as a subsidiary of Midland Red, but which is commemorated in a heritage vehicle with today’s Stagecoach successor

Iain MacGregor visited the Midlands in September 1963 where his attention was drawn to Stratford-upon-Avon Blue Motors, better known as Stratford Blue.

This was one of the smallest BET group subsidiaries, with just over 40 vehicles, technically a subsidiary of the huge Midland Red, but that was not at all obvious as it not only had its own livery but also pursued its own vehicle purchasing policy. Other than a couple of coaches, all its postwar purchases were of Leylands.

It had been trading since 1927, was a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty’s Midland General company from 1931 to 1935. When it acquired the business in December 1935, Midland Red made clear that it would be run entirely separately. That came to an end in January 1971 when the National Bus Company absorbed it into Midland Red and eliminated its identity.

One coach appeared in an NBC-style Stratford Blue livery in 1985 and new owner Western Travel developed its own interpretation of name and colours for Midland Red (South) routes in the area from 1990. Stagecoach corporate identity snuffed it out again after it bought the company in 1993. When it pulled out of Stratford in 1999, a new Stratford Blue took its place, passing through various hands until Stagecoach bought it from Ensignbus in 2007, mainly for the lucrative open-top sightseeing tours.

Early last year, Stagecoach Midlands painted an Alexander Dennis Enviro400- bodied Scania N230UD in traditional Stratford Blue livery to mark 90 years since the company started trading and also 70 years of the Omnibus Society’s Midland Branch.”

Further Information..

Special interest website: KeyBuses: StratfordBlue
Not open yet, and focusing on road transport only, see preserved buses here: Stratford Transport Museum

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