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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...
- Thread starter oldMohawk
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Think 'Derit' came from 'Dirty' Mike. So was the dirty end of town, 'cos of all those stinking tanners! Viv
Stephen0002002
master brummie
Sorry to bring this healthy discussion back to serious basics but I cant see the lady in the short skirt on that other balustrade pic. 
Hi Stephen. As you're interested, from a .... ahem ... historical point, here she is pushing a pram. Looks like the sort of getup I wore, but in the late 60s. Brazen hussey, as we'd jokingly say!Viv.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Thanks Mike - I will have to have a look at Carl Chinn's book because I'm starting to wonder about other street names.
DavidGrain
master brummie
An End was a small village. There are several Ends in the Black Country
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Yes some of the streets do look tidy, maybe less packaging and street cleaners helped. There was one problem in Victorian and early Edwardian times, namely the 'stuff' horses and animals left on the streets. The first pic shows Deritend in 1903 and the right side gutter looks interesting. The second pic shows New street early 1900s and we wondered how women in their long dresses coped !
A click on the pics links to the posts ...
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ironfighter
Brummie babby
I would imagine they are on their way to market. My mother was born at 699 Coventry Road, Small heath in 1911 and remembers livestock being driven towards town as a regular thing. On one occasion a Bull got loose and chased her and her friend Dorothy Sutton, whereupon they had to take refuge in the Catholic Church.
I Am Nico
master brummie
The pig on the right looks like a Tamworth.
The bottom picture looks like a school outing, stand in two's children. The little boys look to have a uniform. Saw a photo bfeore Nan burnt it of her aged 6 with her classmates iin a big pinafore, I hadn't realised that boys wore heavy lacework collars too. I didn't realise that some cows wore split iron shoes either if they had a long way to be driven. Was told that in Cumbria.
The bottom picture looks like a school outing, stand in two's children. The little boys look to have a uniform. Saw a photo bfeore Nan burnt it of her aged 6 with her classmates iin a big pinafore, I hadn't realised that boys wore heavy lacework collars too. I didn't realise that some cows wore split iron shoes either if they had a long way to be driven. Was told that in Cumbria.
ironfighter
Brummie babby
oldMohawk you are quite correct, the man in uniform has an inverted chevron and a star on his left sleeve, these are long service distinctions.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Hi ironfighter - I not sure which post I mentioned it in, was it the pic below from #535 ?
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I noticed the bloke on the bike caught in this forum pic giving a clear 'right turn' hand signal which makes me think of my car driving test so many years ago. I sure I was tested for hand signals,
arm straight out = turning right
arm making circling motion = turning left
arm moving slowly up and down = slowing down
I think learners these days are advised about hand signals but don't have to demonstrate them during the test ...
arm straight out = turning right
arm making circling motion = turning left
arm moving slowly up and down = slowing down
I think learners these days are advised about hand signals but don't have to demonstrate them during the test ...
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I noticed the bloke on the bike caught in this forum pic giving a clear 'right turn' hand signal which makes me think of my car driving test so many years ago. I sure I was tested for hand signals,
arm straight out = turning right
arm making circling motion = turning left
arm moving slowly up and down = slowing down
I think learners these days are advised about hand signals but don't have to demonstrate them during the test ...
I'm a retired Driving Instructor, Mohawk. The arm signals became obsolete during the 1970s for motorcycles (about the time compulsory helmet wearing was made an exemption for turban-wearing Sikh people).
I think the two-finger sign will get you through the Test nowadays, whether you are on a motorbike or in a car...
Took my first PSV test in 66 then took the PCV test in 98, as well as the theory test I found the practical test many times more difficult, one fault I almost failed on was calling a car forward past parked cars as there was no way I could get past, something that you have to do most days due to the narrow Cornish roads. Of course the examiner was correct but I'm afraid habit took over.
Sorry just realised that I've gone off the main threadeach:
Sorry just realised that I've gone off the main thread
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oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I suppose when we look at the people in these old pics it makes us think of the past and long ago I remember my driving test in Witton. During some of it I was stationary in a traffic jam and saw a women waiting on the pavement wondering whether to cross in front of me, so I politely waved her across. At the end of the test, the examiner handed me the pink pass slip with a stern lecture that I must never wave anyone across the road again.
The clear hand signal man is wearing a gaberdine mac, belted at the waist. I think it was standard wear in the 1950s. Most schoolchildren wore them too. Very few schools still have them. The tram is at the Birchfield Rd terminus but is the stop behind the tram a bus stop and/or tram stop? Seem to remember seeing photos of different signs attached to lamp posts with 'trams stop here' on them so wondering if the stop behind the tram is just for buses. Viv.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
All my teenage mates wanted gaberdine macs and I remember saving up to buy mine, thought I looked very smart in it. Tram stops were different to bus stops and usually had 'cars stop here' written on them, I've noticed them in forum pics. The No 6 tram line from town merged over to the other line and parked in the positions shown in the forum pics below. When the tram stopped the conductress pulled the pole away from the overhead line and walked it round to put it on the other line. I remember the driver (motorman) spinning the brake wheel off with a ratchet noise and locking the controller before he went to the other end to drive the tram into town. The lorry in the first pic is driving up the side of the tram and I'm pretty sure those buses could too. Not a convenient terminus but there wasn't so much traffic in those days. The advert on the tram is amusing 'Typhoo Tea for Indigestion' !!
[URL='https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=38737&p=454318#post454318']
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[URL='https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=38737&p=454318#post454318']
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Interesting, thanks. Did wonder how the trams were made to go in the opposite direction. When you say 'conductress' does that mean that most had female conductors ?
Gaberdine macs look to have military connections, in fact I think Burberry originally designed the WW1 mac for soldiers. In the 1950s I can remember men going to work in a gaberdine mac and wearing a beret, bit like Michael Crawford in 'Some Mothers Do Av Em'. And some carried their lunches in a canvas gas mask shoulder bag. All hints of a military past I think. Viv.
Gaberdine macs look to have military connections, in fact I think Burberry originally designed the WW1 mac for soldiers. In the 1950s I can remember men going to work in a gaberdine mac and wearing a beret, bit like Michael Crawford in 'Some Mothers Do Av Em'. And some carried their lunches in a canvas gas mask shoulder bag. All hints of a military past I think. Viv.
DavidGrain
master brummie
Both tram photos had Midland Red buses behind them as this was in those days the limit of Birmingham Corporation tram working therefore any bus stops beyond this point would have been Midland Red bus stops. Midland Red continued to operate to the Scott Arms on behalf of BCT until May 1958 when the Corporation took it over as the 51.
I Am Nico
master brummie
In my district here which is quite old, there is a traffic island. The older residents told me that this is where the tram turned round, as there was only one set of rails. The tram straddled a round device in the centre of the the five ways on which it turned round on, or the device turned it. Did the trams have corporate City colours like the 'buses now? I went on one when the Black Country Museum first opened, I think it was plumb anc cream or brown and cream.
I wore a navy gaberdine mac for school in the 60's turned up which mum turned down as I grew. I liked them because the linings were different which helped to recognise mine when I hurtled out of school. Some children used their mac belt buckles as a weapon for which they were rightfully punished. Some girls had gaberdine macs with baggy hoods attached, we used to put snow in and the unsuspecting child pulled her hood up and got a surprise. This made one girl cry so I felt really bad and never did it again. At 11 navy gaberdine macs became part of the school uniform but it wan't cool to wear them in your teens. I had to, till I grew out of mine. Black Barathea jackets and Crombie coats were banned. I think they had red linings? Or bay City Roller Coats with Royal Stewart tartan lapels.
I wore a navy gaberdine mac for school in the 60's turned up which mum turned down as I grew. I liked them because the linings were different which helped to recognise mine when I hurtled out of school. Some children used their mac belt buckles as a weapon for which they were rightfully punished. Some girls had gaberdine macs with baggy hoods attached, we used to put snow in and the unsuspecting child pulled her hood up and got a surprise. This made one girl cry so I felt really bad and never did it again. At 11 navy gaberdine macs became part of the school uniform but it wan't cool to wear them in your teens. I had to, till I grew out of mine. Black Barathea jackets and Crombie coats were banned. I think they had red linings? Or bay City Roller Coats with Royal Stewart tartan lapels.
DavidGrain
master brummie
Nico From 1933 to the enforced closure of the system in November 1941 Coventry trams were maroon and cream as were the buses prior to the takeover by WMPTE
I have only seen trams with controls at both ends in Brum so there was no need to turn the tram on a turnstile. The overhead power arm was reversed with the attached rope and the rope was tied down at the back of the tram (the former front). The driver would then operate the controls at the other end. The conducter would move down the tram and flip all of the seat backs over to face the other way....good to go. It seems to me that there was a large radius track at The Licky Hills terminous and the trams drove around this without having to go through the above procedure but they were all equipped to do so as far as I know. Maybe this occurred in other places also.
When steam trams were used though, there had to be a place to either drive around or reverse and turn...as in the Old Square, which had both methods over time. The steam engine had to be at the front. Both ends of the tram were identical, including staircases and sliding saloon doors. The sliding door was closed behind the driver, separating him from passengers.
When steam trams were used though, there had to be a place to either drive around or reverse and turn...as in the Old Square, which had both methods over time. The steam engine had to be at the front. Both ends of the tram were identical, including staircases and sliding saloon doors. The sliding door was closed behind the driver, separating him from passengers.
Centenery Square
Transit, Allegro estate, a smartley dressed lady striding confidentley. College of food and domestic art and a man
head downwho is probabley no longer alive, does any body think of him. I wonder. Poinyent photo, wonderfull. (sorry about spelling)
Transit, Allegro estate, a smartley dressed lady striding confidentley. College of food and domestic art and a man
head downwho is probabley no longer alive, does any body think of him. I wonder. Poinyent photo, wonderfull. (sorry about spelling)
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