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Bus Stops

I always thought this was an unusual bus stop which was originally fitted as the arrow shows, but, in such a way that it was able to be removed when a delivery lorry came to the woodworking place. I tried to find a picture of the "removable" stop without success. It was on Church Rd nr Horrel Rd Sheldon.Church Rd Sheldon.jpg
 
I was quite fond of our round enamel bus stop signs, quite distinctive. I recall some had the word stage on the top, I assume a fair increment?

Were there request stops and compulsory stops too?

Were there also some in white and other in blue?
 
The compulsory stops were red and the request stops were blue. The older stops were blue or red with white lettering but the newer stops where white with blue or red lettering. Midland Red stops within the city boundary were all white with black lettering with the Midland Red logo above the words Bus Stop. Also the posts for the Midland Red were painted red instead of blue.

Also in the city centre where there were several stops in a line there were diamond shaped signs at each end of the row with a letter A or B on them with a note 'The roadway between A and B is reserved for buses' or similar wording.
 
The circular bus stop signs were unique, I am almost sure, to Birmingham. Most here will remember blue request signs and red compulsory ones . The ones I was familiar with were principally blue with white lettering but more recent times these became white with blue lettering or compulsory stops were red and similarly were red with white lettering and subsequently white with red lettering. The mounting posts changed in later days, The earlier ones had the disc centrally mounted but later posts had a curved top. This was, I believe in order that the post could be sited nearer to the edge of the pavement.
Stage signs were affixed on the top of the sign.
Tram stops were rectangular, again red and blue versions with white lettering.
Trolleybus stop signs were hexagonal. I have a feeling they were yellow or red, but I only rode on trolleybuses now and again so memory is not good here.
Midland Red did, at some point standardize with the city bus stops but theirs were white with black lettering and the famous Midland Red wheel/tyre logo.

1555002475923.png1555002576662.png1555002680314.png Newer style and curved top post - older style and post - tram stop
1555002840488.png
 
Interesting that an old Bristol/ECW coach, I think in Royal Blue Coaches livery should have got on the same photo. I am pretty sure that I have travelled on that coach in preservation.
This was a frequently vehicle in the South West:
The photo of the vehicle at The Maypole is on the Wythall Museum service 750 presumably on one of their special running days.
 
We had a bus stop outside our house on Moat Lane Yardley Brum forever, in fact, it is still there!!!!!
 
Here we go again, somewhere in the system there was a Birmingham round bus stop but it was yellow, I think it is a wartime memory, it was not a tram or trolley bus stop. I am sure,as I can visualise it now.
Bob
 
I am sure I have seen a yellow sign; in fact on a thread somewhere on BHF I have mentioned some while ago. I was of the impression that it might have been an early style, probably a request plate. I had hoped, that someone might have confirmed or commented,but no one did.
 
There is something at the back of my mind so I am not confident enough to say yes or no to having seen a yellow bus stop. Is it possible you might have seen it in a transport museum?
 
There is something at the back of my mind so I am not confident enough to say yes or no to having seen a yellow bus stop. Is it possible you might have seen it in a transport museum?
David

I have only been to Wythall once and cannot recall it there, but maybe it was and it jogged my memory at that time, although during the summer holidays as 13/14/15 year old I explored all the Birmingham bus routes, usually I was more interested in getting on the rare buses, the COX/FON Leylands, The pre-war 1938/9 AECs, the Johannesburg Daimlers an HOV Leyland, with the reg number still on the radiator, HOJ396 and of course the GOE AEC & Crossley, I am sure if it had been during this period, I would have asked Mr Wall the Inspector who lived in Court Lane about it, but I never asked, because I am sure I can remember seeing it, before I became an 'anorak' about the BCT Fleet, well buses in the West Midlands in general. Perhaps it was a tram or trolley bus route, thanks for your post.
Bob
 
What a pair we would have made Bob. You mention, more or less in my order of preference. your preferences.
The HOV Leylands, with Brush bodies, with the registration plate initially on the radiator was the fist of them i.e. 1656 and also 1657/8. I can't recall if they always remained in that position; it is my view that they probably did not.
HOV 656 entered service on 1st. March, 1948, there were some slight differences in this bus and the rest (1735 had a mechanical difference) which might be the reason the net delivery being some five months away. It is said they were based on Daimler COG5 bus 1235, which was re-bodied by Brush to a post war design. As I mentioned elsewhere on BHF, it was quite an experience to ride on the upper deck rear seats when lightly laden these buses travelled down Robin Hood Lane on the 29A. Youngsters and those who were of light weight, would find themselves bouncing up and down on the seats. I once saw DON 439 and JOC 200 but never rode on them.
This thread may refresh your thoughts Bob.
 
What a pair we would have made Bob. You mention, more or less in my order of preference. your preferences.
The HOV Leylands, with Brush bodies, with the registration plate initially on the radiator was the fist of them i.e. 1656 and also 1657/8. I can't recall if they always remained in that position; it is my view that they probably did not.
HOV 656 entered service on 1st. March, 1948, there were some slight differences in this bus and the rest (1735 had a mechanical difference) which might be the reason the net delivery being some five months away. It is said they were based on Daimler COG5 bus 1235, which was re-bodied by Brush to a post war design. As I mentioned elsewhere on BHF, it was quite an experience to ride on the upper deck rear seats when lightly laden these buses travelled down Robin Hood Lane on the 29A. Youngsters and those who were of light weight, would find themselves bouncing up and down on the seats. I once saw DON 439 and JOC 200 but never rode on them.
This thread may refresh your thoughts Bob.
All the HOV Leylands had their registrations moved off the radiator within four or five weeks, I rode 1658 in the Easter Holidays 1948, I was 12years old, by August the plate had been shaved on both sides so that it fitted under the windscreen. Rode 94 the first time on the 1, going to the County Ground with my Dad and DON 439 just a little while before it was taken out of service. JOC 200 was elusive as were the LOGs (300,301,302), the hardest one was the bus with the doors 2847. The great thing was, being a Villa supporter who used to go with my Dad to my grandmothers at Harborne after a game (and really what started it all) we used to travel in both rare buses and trams, it depended what part of the ground we were in whether we travelled 5/7 or 3x, they often used the piano front and utility bodied AECs. But eventually managed them all...and then I found Girls, far more interesting than Buses and Trains.

Bob

Bob
 
Older photographs, posted here on BHF, show bus and particularly tramcar stops right at, or very close to, road junctions. Presumably a thought was given to save passengers walking further than they needed to. It does appear that with the increase in road traffic, particularly on busier roads and after WW2, that stops were moved a little further away, for safety reasons I am sure.
I see the photo in post 15 is, in fact, a temporary stop.
 
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I put this on Adverse weather, but may be of interest on this thread. March 1966.

View attachment 138872
Could not think what was odd about the bus stop and then realised that the 'queue two deep etc,etc,' had fallen from the top. so that's why they are not two deep in a queue, they could not see it. At least in those far off days the buses still ran in the snow and I bet the schools were open.

Bob
 
Older photographs, posted here on BHF, show bus and particularly tramcar stops right at, or very close to, road junctions. Presumably a thought was given to save passengers walking further than they needed to. It does appear that with the increase in road traffic, particularly on busier roads and after WW2, that stops were moved a little further away, for safety reasons I am sure.
I see the photo in post 15 is, in fact, a temporary stop.
Yes Alan, bus stops used to be very close to junctions. There is a photo somewhere on the forum of a bus stop outside Lloyds Bank right on the Five Ways junction.
This bus stop in Harborne High Street where I caught a bus this morning is right on the junction and many times I have been trapped with my car in the side street waiting for a bus stopped right across the junction to move away from the stop.
1573060692539.png
 
I was quite fond of our round enamel bus stop signs, quite distinctive. I recall some had the word stage on the top, I assume a fair increment?

Were there request stops and compulsory stops too?

Were there also some in white and other in blue?
When I first started to go on buses alone, I did not realize the difference between request stops! I thought that's why I was standing there to get on the bus :-(
 
I guess having an almost fanatical interest in buses and trams meant that from 10 - 15 years of age I became familier with most of the city's buses (BCT and Red), what they were and where they went. If I was not on one of them I was following their routes by bicycle.
I had been on many buses and trams before I was 10 years old but that was accompanied and I went where I was taken. However, it did give me an in depth idea of where they all went and what went there, so when the time came I was fully 'au fait' with it all.
 
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