Birmingham Corporation Buses
By Peter Walker
Part 6: World War 2
1939 - 40: The first fruits of war
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, Birmingham had as fine a fleet of modern buses as any town in the kingdom, and a final programme for the replacement of all its trams had been decided on earlier that year. Although well maintained and efficiently run, the trams were distinctly dated and no match for the brand-new buses, especially when later bomb damage obstructed the track.
Immediately on the declaration of war, 1170 employees were called up for military service. The lightly used route 2B was cut back from Hamstead to 'Ivy Bush', and the 15A/16A extended from Brownes Green in its place. Also in September 1939, the 17/35 route between Erdington and Maypole was cut back to run only between City and Maypole, numbered route 35 in both directions.
As previously planned, the Dudley Road trams were replaced by buses on 1 October 1939, but the Ladywood and Lodge Road routes were retained. The new routes were operated jointly with the Midland Red, and numbers were prefixed with the letter B in the company's series of local routes.
By November 1939, some services were cut in response to fuel rationing and increased fuel tax. In January 1940 the Lighting (Restrictions) Order, 1940 came into force, and hoods were fixed over the interior and exterior lighting, at the same time as street lighting was reduced to a minimum. In order to improve visibility, the base of traffic signs, lamp posts and tram posts was painted in black and white stripes, and a white line was painted round the bottom of all buses. At about the same time, the roofs of buses, formerly primrose yellow, were painted in camouflage, which extended round the upstairs rear window.
On 19 May 1940, a new bus service was opened between City and Quinton Road West. Many special works buses were run to support the war effort. These usually bore a number code on a board in front of the radiator grille, and sometimes carried ordinary passengers as well. On 30 September 1940, Nechells trolleybus route 7 was replaced by a new bus route 43, because the trolleybuses caused serious arcing when running to and from Washwood Heath depot with current return by the 'snake' trailing in the tram track. As the Battle of Britain raged in London, 30 AEC Regent double-deckers were loaned to London Transport in October and November 1940. Also in November, working hours were altered to enable workers to travel home by daylight, increasing the peak traffic volumes, and stops in the city centre were rearranged.
1940 - 41: Air raid damage
Major air raids in November 1940 hit Highgate Road depot, where 10 buses were damaged, and only a few nights later Hockley depot was more seriously hit, totally destroying six buses and requiring new or patched up bodywork on another 14 vehicles.
Click below for Fig 15: Hockley depot after the air raid of 22-23 November 1940. 19 buses were totally burnt out, 4 partly burnt out and 88 damaged, but all but six ran again.
In September 1941, Birmingham took the opportunity to buy a batch of 20 out of 43 brand new English Electric bus bodies built for Manchester Corporation, which were intended for chassis which the Daimler Works found itself unable to supply following severe air raid damage to its factory at Coventry. 12 of these bodies were fitted on chassis from buses damaged at Hockley depot, and four on Highgate Road casualties, leaving a reserve of four bodies. Birmingham's worst air raids occurred in April 1941, which dislocated tram services throughout the city, and required buses to operate emergency services until the damage was cleared. An indirect result of the amount of repair work carried out at this time was that the supply of blue and cream painted was exhausted and vehicles had to be turned out in grey livery.
Click below for Fig 16: When the body of Leyland 231 was destroyed by bombs in Hockley garage, a brand new body intended for Manchester Corporation was fitted on the surviving chassis. The bus gave another 13 years of service in this form until it was finally scrapped in 1954
April 1941 saw a bus route extension from Kingstanding to the Pheasey Estate, which had been built by Birmingham Corporation on land just outside the city boundary. The Corporation was able to secure approval to widen parts of Kings Road, from Kingstanding Circle to the "Trees" on the Queslett Road before the new service started. From then, bus route 29A ran through to the new terminus on the city boundary itself, buses at first carrying a board over the radiator front reading "Pheasey Estate". The Annual Report of the Transport Committee in July 1941 recorded that there were 2065 employees of the Transport Department currently in the armed forces, and that there were by then 2104 conductresses, 351 cleaners and 69 engineers working in their place. Another exceptional example of the Corporation running outside the city boundary was the trolleybus extension to the aircraft factory, later the Rover factory at Lode Lane, Solihull, opened to service on 29 October 1941. At that time the road was not properly made up and street lighting was almost non-existent. Special powers to build the line were granted through the Ministry of War Transport, while the Ministry of Works subsidised operation of the route, which was at peak hours and shift times only. Children's fares were not available.
1941 - 46: 'Utility' buses
Although the Corporation managed to keep its vehicles roadworthy, there was a desperate shortage of buses, and new additions were becoming essential. Several manufacturers had already switched over to military equipment or lorry production, but a few firms were still building buses to pre-war standards in 1940, some for overseas systems. By 1941 it had become impracticable to ship buses to remote places like South Africa and Hongkong, and so a total of` 13 Daimler buses and 68 trolleybuses intended for South Africa were passed under government control to needy British undertakings. Birmingham received just four 8ft-wide Daimler buses (1320-1323), intended for Johannesburg. As they were wider than the normally permitted 7ft-6in, special dispensation was granted for them to operate, but it was decided to restrict them to the leafy suburb of Northfield, where they ran until they were withdrawn in 1954.
Over the country, a total of about 352 double decker and 62 single-deck buses were built in 1941-42, mainly from 'unfrozen' reserve stocks held by various manufacturers, and conforming to pre-war standards. Meanwhile in 1941, the Ministry of War Transport and the Ministry of Supply had set up a body with representatives from bus builders and bus operators to develop a standard design and specification for new buses, of which the first double-deck body was completed in September 1941, and delivered to London Transport with an 'unfrozen' Leyland chassis.
Click below for Fig 17: One of the first new buses to wartime 'utility' specifications was Daimler CWG5 No 1339, with bodywork by Duple, delivered in grey livery in 1943.
The next additions to the Birmingham fleet were eight partly 'unfrozen' buses in 1942, all with Leyland TD7 engines. Six (1324-26 and 1329-31)) had Leyland bodywork originally destined for Scottish undertakings, while one (1327) had Park Royal 'utility' bodywork, and the other (1328) had a similar body by Northern Coachbuilders. All were delivered in plain grey livery. Six Guy Arabs followed with Weymann bodywork 'utility' bodies and wooden seats (1332-37) in late 1942. By the Daimler had set up a 'shadow' factory in Wolverhampton requisitioned from Courtauld's to produce new bodywork 'utility' bus chassis, and Birmingham received three Daimler CAG5 buses with Duple bodies in early 1943 (1338-40). Later that year production had been stepped up, and the first of a batch of 18 Guy Arabs (1341-58) was delivered with Weymann bodywork. By 1944 the project was well under way, and buses were again being delivered in the operators' liveries, and with a few refinements such as upper-deck rear windows. During 1944, a total of 48 Guy Arabs were built, of which 22 (1366-78, 1380-84 and 1403-06) had Weymann bodies and 26 (1379, 1393-1400, 1407-12, 1432-50 and 1454-55) had Park Royal bodies. During 1944, Daimler supplied only 14 buses, of which seven had Duple bodies (1359-65) and seven had Park Royal bodies (1385-92). At the same time, new bodies were built by Brush for the best of 50 AEC Regents dating from 1929, using the original seating, staircase and other components. During 1945, Daimler delivered 39 new buses, 26 with Park Royal bodywork (1385-92, 1413-25 and 1456-70), nine by Duple (1426-31, 1451-53), and four by Brush (1471-74). In that year the two outstanding Guy Arabs (1401-01) with Strachans bodywork were delivered. Birmingham received its last six buses to the 'utility' specification during 1946, but with more opening windows and upholstered seating, with Daimler chassis and Park Royal bodywork (1475-80).
To reduce the risk of air-raid damage, buses were parked out overnight in strategic places, but by then the worst of the bombing was over. Fuel rationing meant cuts to bus services, some of which were never restored, and fares were increased. There was also a shortage of tyres. The Annual Report for 1942 recorded that the Department employed 2576 conductresses, 376 women cleaners and 173 women as engineers. Part-time duties were being given to 359 conductors, 141 drivers and 150 women cleaners and 2150 auxiliary conductors were working as volunteers. The 1943 Annual Report recorded 2028 employees on active service, 2380 conductresses, 340 female cleaners and 200 women in engineering work; 397 part-time drivers, 172 drivers and 259 cleaners, with a further 1500 volunteer 'auxiliary' conductors.
Click below for Fig 18: The most numerous wartime supplier of buses to Birmingham Corporation was Guy Motors of Wolverhampton, who supplied a total of 105 vehicles to the Ministry of transport utility specification.
The gas producer trailer fiasco
In 1943 the Ministry of War Transport gave instructions that 10% of all bus fleets of over 100 vehicles were to be equipped to operate with producer gas, using a special trailer with a coke stove, gas washers and condensers. The Corporation's response was to equip 16 of its oldest buses, the AEC Regents, (in effect 1.4% of the total fleet), and put them on the hilly Kingstanding 33 route. Staff were provided at the Finchley Road terminus to rake out the furnace of each trailer and refuel it, and with luck it would complete a return journey without further attention. But the flow of combustible gas was too sparse and too irregular for consistent performance, and hills were a nightmare for drivers and passengers - running to a timetable was quite impossible. Moreover the exhaust gases emitted from the long flue pipe were lethal as well as being offensive - the odour of hydrogen sulphide was like rotten eggs. By early 1944 the association of bus operators demanded that they be required to use gas producers on only 5% of their fleet and finally in September 1944, the Ministry announced that "sufficient experience in the operation of producer gas-powered vehicles had been obtained" officially condoning the abandonment of the practice. (It is the writer's recollection that they had all but disappeared several months earlier, and that this was merely a rubber-stamp job by a Sir Humphrey to bury the story).
Click below for Fig 19: A gas producer trailer fitted in 1943 - 44 to AEC Regent No 484, repainted in wartime grey livery after stocks of blue and primrose paint had been exhausted.