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Birmingham Buses Part 2

Whats just as interesting is as far as I know many of those allover advertisements were painted on to the bus, no fancy vinyl graphics.
 
They were all fully painted buses. I was the records clerk for the Advertising Company at the time - Jointly owned by British Rail/ National Bus Company.
I recall they were about £3,600 for the year + painting costs (twice - had to paint themn back afterwards!)
Brian
 
sandon road.jpg

Heres another one avertising the newtown shopping centre .
with technology back then I wondered , how long it would have took them to hand paint one bus ?
ragga :fat:
 
That bus is a no. 5 at the no. 6 terminus in Sandon Road. The 5 or the 5A as it normally ran used to work cross city with the no. 7 to Portland Road. Then I remembered that in the last days of the no. 6 it too was linked with the no. 5. It was somebody with no thought for the history who renumbered the Perry Common to City route as no 7.

After the no. 6 was stopped, I did see an occasional bus in peak times run to the Sandon Road terminus showing no. 9E
 
ragga said:
View attachment 82917View attachment 82918View attachment 82919

Surely we all remember these mobile advents around on our buses !!

No 3 Unsure possibilties around Hall Green ?

ragga :fat:
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Yes I certainly remember these buses in the early 70's in these liveries. There was also a Yellow Pages one as well. "Let your fingers do the walking!" it said!

The Everton Mints bus is as far as I can see at the roundabout on Robin Hood Lane and crossing over Highfield Road on its way to Baldwins Lane.
 
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No 1 Harbourne garage
No 2 Cotteridge
No 3 Bristol road i think , did any of these breakdown vehicles ever get preserved ?
No 4 Quinton terminus i think , the bus at the bungy what advert is she sporting ?
No 5 Soho road .
ragga :fat:
 
No. 5 is definitely the Quinton terminus but I have had difficulty placing it it. I don't remember the shop as Liptons as it became the Co-op and is now closed. The large building behind the buses is the Reel Cinema which many people will remeber as the Essoldo and the Quinton Methodist Church is on the right of the picture. The buses must have been in a buses only road from the Hagley Road to Ridgeway Avenue which has now disappeared.
 
David i'm glad its not only me having trouble placing the Quinton terminus on modern maps, in fact I have been looking for a while in sheer frustration at Google maps trying to pinpoint where the former terminus of the 9 was, my intention was to drop by there on my last visit to take a photo. The 9 had been extended to Stourbridge by the time I first visited Brum.

Simon
 
Simon

The Quinton terminus has changed over the years but has always been somewhere in the College Road area (Note the College Road on the destination of one of the buses although not accurate at that time) The building of the M5 also contibuted to the changes. It is possible to get an approximate date of the photo from the combination of the two buses although I haven't looked up their respective dates.

We always referred to the no 9 as "The Quinton 9" but never used "the" in any other destination. It was many years later that I discovered that "The Quinton" was actually the correct place name when I saw the church name board "The Parish of Christchurch, The Quinton".

Years ago I was watching the Lottery Draw with great hopes when Alan Dedicoat, "the voice of the balls" called the 9 as "The Quinton 9", in great puzzlement to the rest of the country.
 
I have identified that location in Quinton on Google maps, it is slightly changed from the above photo but identifiable from the Methodist Church. As far as the buses go, 3383 was new in 1964 to Moseley Road Garage, I don't have notes on when it was allocated to Quinton Garage but it was in Hockley in 1978. 4109 was new in October 1971 (the first of a batch for Quinton which were 4109-4135).

Another thing I have just noticed is that (straining my eyes) both buses have ticket equipment but the "pay as you enter" plates over the nearside headlamps are blank or perhaps turned backwards. Also there seems to be a lot of bus crews about which suggests conductor operation. Does anybody know offhand when the 9 went OMO?

Simon
 
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No1 Perry barr .
No 2 Hockley ........ my favourite:fat:
No 3 Harbourne .
No 4 bit grainey , Washwood heath.
ragga:fat:
 
thats a cracking pic of hockley garage ragga...show some of the old buildings and houses as well

cheers

lyn
 
Astoness said:
gosh bob you are lucky...what a great momento from hockley garage...

lyn
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FRom 1970-1980 I used to visit a commercial vehicle repair garage in Brum. The clock was on the garage wall. I recognised it as a clock that was in most if not all BCT garages. I asked how come it ended up in the garage workshop. I was told that when the BCT changed the time clocks and general time clocks from wind-up to electric, all of the wid-ups wre skipped. The owner of the workshop just happened to be the one who removed the skip from the bus garage. He gave the clock to me in 1976 as a wedding present.
 
6918 said:
David i'm glad its not only me having trouble placing the Quinton terminus on modern maps, in fact I have been looking for a while in sheer frustration at Google maps trying to pinpoint where the former terminus of the 9 was, my intention was to drop by there on my last visit to take a photo. The 9 had been extended to Stourbridge by the time I first visited Brum.

Simon
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The Quinton 9 , when I used it, travelled along the Hagley Road passing the Cinema and then Turned a sharp left passing the point were those two buses are parked on the one photo, it then turned into Ridgeway Avenue traveled a short distance and parked approximatley where the Methodist Church's front entrance is.

On leaving it would travel to the end of Ridgeway Avenue turn left into College Road and then after a short distance turn a slight left ending up at the traffic lights at a point roughly in front of the car park of the Kings Highway. It would then turn right back onto the Hagley Road facing towards the City.

here is a photo taken way back with a Fleetline there, the Hagley Road is in the background.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48235702@N06/7128318951/in/set-72157632107404086
 
Hello Bob: Does your clock look like the one in this link. I have a similar one in my kitchen. Ours came from a railway station waiting room in Scotland
years ago. It was on a special station clock system and doesn't have the box on the back. There are two holes underneath the clock face where the wires came down to connect to the electric system on the station. Sadly, the face on our clock was in awful shape but my husband did an excellent restoration job on it and you would never know the difference. He is a graphic designer and that helped. The one on this site is worth 750 pounds...amazing.
A great piece of transport memerabilia for you Bob. https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/antiquedetail.asp?autonumber=163990
 
jennyann said:
Hello Bob: Does your clock look like the one in this link. I have a similar one in my kitchen. Ours came from a railway station waiting room in Scotland
years ago. It was on a special station clock system and doesn't have the box on the back. There are two holes underneath the clock face where the wires came down to connect to the electric system on the station. Sadly, the face on our clock was in awful shape but my husband did an excellent restoration job on it and you would never know the difference. He is a graphic designer and that helped. The one on this site is worth 750 pounds...amazing.
A great piece of transport memerabilia for you Bob. https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/antiquedetail.asp?autonumber=163990
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Yes. The very same. I had mine overhauled about 20 years ago, it's due for another on soon I should think.

In side entrance to the Art gallery/museum in Congreve street until recently there was an exact copy of this clock except for one thing, it was about 5 feet in diameter. It hung from the ceiling. Swinden and Co were in temple Row.
 
Bob Johnson said:
Yes. The very same. I had mine overhauled about 20 years ago, it's due for another on soon I should think.

In side entrance to the Art gallery/museum in Congreve street until recently there was an exact copy of this clock except for one thing, it was about 5 feet in diameter. It hung from the ceiling. Swinden and Co were in temple Row.
Click to expand...

Looking at the clock advertised in greater detail, I see it has a 'Fusee' wheel. This is the device for keeping time more accurately. Mine doesn't have this.
 
All this is great stuff. My late grandfather was a BCT man and was known as "Ted Hemmings", although this was a mis-spelling of his real name. As I understand it he was an Inspector mainly based at Rosebery St and Quinton, then Selly Oak just prior to retirement. I know he taught a lot of drivers to drive a bus.

Does anybody have pix of JOJ833 or JOJ852?
 
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I think I have that picture, it's in one of the books about BCT. Cant remember which. I expect the Post and Mail archives might have the original.
 
I buy a lot of old BCT photos as well as the books, I will see if I have any of either 2833 or 2852. At Wythall they have an archive as well as the actual vehicles so if all else fails it's worth asking there.

Simon
 
damaged.jpgdamaged 1.jpg

Any ideas when and where this accident happened to this bus ??
Thank you all in advance .... ragga :redface:
 
OG 424 AEC Regent/Vulcan 1930 Withdrawn 1945 I have no other information except that several sister vehicles were being withdrawn at that time. Had it been withdrawn earlier I would have questioned war damage unless it had been kept pending a decision.
 
An awful amount of damage to the bus. I wonder how the driver fared as the cab has been ripped open. It suggests, maybe, that the bus hit an awning such as that in front of Greys department store. There were other awnings probably similar in other places in the city. It will be interesting to see what did happen and when. As no other detail is to hand for me. other than the withdrawal date already mentioned, I might suggest this happening before WW2: if this was so then the body of the bus was rebuilt in the same style rather than another body fitted. WW2 rebuilds often were of the austerity type.

But hopefully someone will provide accurate facts for us. :friendly_wink:
 
It is interesting to see that the lower windows on the left side of the bus have been compressed but the upper windows are relatively normal.
 
I think the damage on the left hand side is compatible with heavy impact on the right hand side which had the effect of pushing the upper deck over comprssing the lower deck windows and ripping out the rear bulkhead. This is why I first thought of bomb damage rather than a road traffic accident
 
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