Birmingham City Transport's Demonstrators

From 1914 until 1969, when it was absorbed into WMPTE, Birmingham City Transport had various periods when they hired buses for evaluation. These demonstrators were tried out for a variety of reasons such as tramway feeder route development, expansion of the bus fleet, abandonment of tramcar services and expansion into the newly built housing estates in the interwar and post-war periods. This was to compare different manufacturers products, with a view to purchasing a substantial number of buses. It has to be remembered that BCT was the largest municipal operator in the UK, so this was a potentially lucrative opportunity for manufacturers. There were years when Birmingham had a large number of buses on hire in order to assess their performance, fuel economy and durability. 1923/4, 1929-34, 1937, 1946/7,1955-58 and 1960-67 were the peak years for vehicle trials, of which very few were successful due to BCT's exacting requirements. The result was a fascinating selection of buses that were tested over the years.