It was difficult to choose a picture from the ones snapped in a few spare moments at Donington Park on Sunday, but this trio of Walsall liveries buses sparkled in the brief afternoon sunshine and epitomised the effort that goes into making SHOWBUS more than a bus rally, it is also a display. Not only did the three buses end up parked together, the two in normal Walsall blue were side by side and the Transbus Trident ALX400 was parked beside too more buses recently painted in historic liveries by National Express West Midlands. The two Fleetlines, from Wythall Transport Museum, are interesting buses in themselves with their Northern Counties bodywork, 116 (XDH516G) was a standard quirky Walsall dual door model with the short 27ft 6in chassis, narrow front door and sliding centre door. Bought at the same time was 56 (XDH56G) which could not be more different, besides its unique pale blue livery it was 36ft long with folding doors front and rear. Whilst 116 had the fairly standard Gardner 6LX engine, 56 had a vertically mounted Cummins, it remained unique. The Trident is NXWM 4601 (BX54DDJ) whichich was painted earlier this year.
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