DSCF5011 On board former Delaine 47 (MTL 750) at Bourne - 29 Sep 2018

Saturday 29 September 2018 (1203) - The Delaine Running Day at Bourne, Lincolnshire was themed around vehicles bodied by Yeates of Loughborough.

MTL 750, a Yeates Europa bodied Leyland Tiger Cub PSUC1/12 had been new to Delaine in March 1958 as fleet number 47 and was a dual purpose vehicle that was used on either coach work or bus service work. Features include a folding type entrance door (mainly associated with buses) and overhead luggage/parcel racks (mainly associated with coaches). The seats contain a message and warning about the possibility of the bumping of heads on the latter. Another feature of the past are the ashtrays. Horrible things to empty out with, obviously, fag ends and ash but also the remnants of soft fruit and chewing gum/sticky toffees that all had to be prised out. The ‘tee key’ (aka ‘budget key’ to some) proving very useful for that job!

Note the seat numbering. The number plates are fitted on the back of the seats - a position which often confused the passengers on excursions with ‘seats booked to plan’. Many thought that the number they were looking at told of their seat number rather than it being the number out of sight behind them!

This coach is owned by the Leicester Arts and Museums Services and was on loan to the Delaine Heritage Trust.