the Midland General ONUs

In 1950, Midland General was owned by the British Transport Commission. An order for 30 Weymann lowbridge bodied, AEC Regent III chassis double deckers was outstanding; but only 10 of these were required and delivered (the remaining 20 were offered to London Transport, thus forming the first batch of RLHs). These became UK Registration Numbers ONU 630-639, delivered in 1950.

The ONUs were generally garaged at Mansfield (Sutton Road), which was extended in 1952. On occasion, they visited Langley Mill garage (Station Road) for repairs. However, it is thought that 421 to 426 were the only vehicles allocated to Mansfield initially, with the remaining vehicles 427 to 430 coming later.

The bridge that necessitated use of lowbridge vehicles was just south of Bestwood village. It carried a railway branch line, from Nottingham (Midland) to Mansfield and Worksop line, into Bestwood colliery (grid reference SK549472).

The ONUs were withdrawn in 1968, probably being replaced by Bristol Lodekkas.

Routes

It is known that these lowbridge buses ran on at least the following routes:

• B8 - Mansfield - Rainworth - Blidworth - Newstead Abbey Gates - Papplewick - Linby - Hucknall - Papplewick - Bestwood - Nottingham
• B9 - Mansfield - Rainworth - Blidworth - Newstead Abbey Gates - Papplewick - Bestwood - Nottingham (infrequent service)
• C3 - Mansfield - Clay Cross
• D1 - Mansfield - Chesterfield
• D4 - Ripley - Chesterfield
• D5 - Sutton - Chesterfield
• D6 - Alfreton - Clay Cross

The buses also ran on other routes, but these were also served by highbridge vehicles.

Fleet Info

See the following pages:

• Fleet History and Current Status List
• Fleet Identification Numbers

Differences to RLHs

Interior

From recollections, interior differences of the 'ONU's compared to the first batch RLHs were:

• Seat cushions finished in fluted blue leather, except for the downstairs squabs (vertical cushions) which were covered with blue and grey moquette, edged with blue leather trim. (RLHs used the same mainly brown moquette on all cushions as other contemporary London buses RT, RF, GS etc)
• Backs of seat squabs finished in blue vinyl (instead of green)
• Side walls and staircase area painted blue (instead of mainly brown)

Exterior

From photographs and recollections, exterior differences were:

• Additional air vent grilles on exterior: one above each upper deck front window
• 3 piece front destination blind display (route number, via points, ultimate destination) instead of single blind display
• No nearside destination blind display (instead of one positioned above the platform), but instead a 2 piece rear display (where the RLHs had none)
• Both front sidelights were of a different, smaller type. Also, the offside light was positioned on a small bracket on the side of the bus, facing forward, rather than being on the front facing panel work.
• Access panels on the lower exterior, behind the front wheels (nearside for the batteries and offside for the air tank), were hinged upwards (instead of being removable panels kept in place with T key locks)
• Access hole on offside lower panel work just behind fuel filler, presumably for a fuel tank gauge (RLHs had none)
• No beading fitted along body sides between decks (the RLHs had beading which formed the 'cant rail' area, painted with a cream band)

The following exterior changes were made after a few years service to some (if not all) vehicles:

• Different 'rear view mirror' design and positioning on both sides
• Front registration number plates were changed to square types fitted under windscreen (instead of under radiator)
• At least by 1963, orange plastic lens type fixed indicator lights had been retro-fitted on both sides, quite far back from the front, behind the cab (instead of LT's retro-fitted hinged 'ears' at the front corners)
• Re-styling of the rear, replacing curved inwards bottom panels with squared types (in order to simplify future accident damage repairs) and introducing a 'bumper'
• Front destination blind windows replaced and moved further apart, entailing removal of beading underneath the ultimate display (this created a rather more ugly arrangement since the white painted area was interrupted)

Other Similar Buses New to Midland General Group

The following two batches were also on the AEC Regent III chassis, but had Weymann highbridge (instead of lowbridge) bodies:

An earlier AEC Regent II (0661 type) chassis was also fitted with both lowbridge (but with a smaller cab window than the RLH) and highbridge Weymann bodies as follows:

NB There were also various other Regents acquired from independent companies, but they did not have Weymann bodies.

History of the Midland General Group

The Midland General Omnibus Company (MGOC) was formed in 1920 as a subsidiary of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramway Co., and began operating bus services two years later. It operated in an area within and surrounding Derbyshire. Within 7 years, it had become the largest operator within the Midland General Group, after which it continued to expand.

The Midland General Group was owned by the Balfour Beatty group (an important member of the electricity supply industry). The Group composed of three operators:

• MGOC (probably at Langley Mill near Ripley, Derbyshire),
• Notts and Derby (N&D, at the same location), and
• Mansfield and District (M&D, at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire)

MGOC and N&D buses were liveried in blue and cream whilst M&D buses wore green and white.

When the electricity industry was mostly nationalised in 1948, Balfour Beatty sold the Midland General Group also, to the British Transport Commission. The ONU buses were in fact the last buses ordered by Balfour Beatty, although they were not delivered until 1950 when the BTC was in charge. The three operators then became known as part of the Tilling group. There were no more new buses delivered to MGOC or N&D until 1953.

After the formation of the National Bus Company the Group was split up between Trent Motor Services (taking N&D) and East Midland Motor Services (taking M&D) at the start of 1969. However, the Midland General fleet were allowed to continue to run in their blue colour scheme, which was unusual as most NBC companies took the corporate livery.

Soon afterwards, at the end of 1971, MGOC was also absorbed: this time into Trent Motor Services.

The trading name Midland General has been used since.

Books

the Prestige Series No. 21: Midland General

by John Banks

1st Edition - June 2003

Publisher: Venture Publications Ltd

ISBN 1898432899

17cm x 24cm, softback, 64 pages, 80 B&W illustrations

Midland General: with Notts & Derby

by Alan Oxley

1st Edition - December 1999

Publisher: Robin Hood Publishing

ISBN 094885412X

26cm x 22cm, hardback, 138 pages, B&W illustrations

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following for their contributions towards this page:

• Mr Tony Powell (B8 and B9 routing, depot allocation, low bridge allocation 2005-08)
• Mr Paul Chambers (who trawled through hundreds of his photographs, and provided recollections)
• Listings BB103, BB104 and BB105 - Weymann Metal-Framed Bodies - published by the PSV Circle 1974-1975

Web Links

• Heanor and District Local History Society (link added 2004-10-21, checked 2020-05-16)
• Notts+Derby Bus Page... MGO by Simon Bramley (link checked 2004-10-21, 2020-05-16)
• Midland General Omnibus Company (link added 2020-05-16)

Defunct Web Links

The following pages used to exist online

• Notts+Derby Home Page - was at http://www.notts-derby-bus.info (link not working 2006-07)
• Lincolnshire & East Yorkshire Transport Review... MGO Route Map - was at http://www.leytransport.i12.com/mgmap.htm (link updated 2004-10-21, site gone by 2020-05-16)
• Preserved Buses of Midland General and Notts+Derby by Brian - was at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/brysworld.mgo.nd (linked added 2008-01-06, site gone by 2020-05-16)
• Message board on the history of the Langley Mill and Heanor areas, and one of the previous topics was to list the MGO bus routes- was at http://www.chatarea.com/HeanorDistrictLocalHistory (link checked 2004-10-21, site gone by 2020-05-16 )

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