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Birmingham Buses Part 2

DavidGrain said:
I hesitate to contradict Lloyd on bus matters
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Don't worry, I'm quite capable of being wrong!
DavidGrain said:
...but I can say that Midland Red regularly operated on the B82 route at weekends, probably with just the one vehicle. As Lloyd will know in those days there were nearly always three BCT buses at the B82 stop in Bearwood Bus Station and regularly I would see a Midland Red among them at the weekends. I knew someone who worked in the offices at Bearwood and he would do overtime at weekends as a conductor and his regular job was on the B82. He told me how busy this route was as he would still be loading at the first stop on Bearwood Road oposite the Midland Red Garage when the next BCT bus would be turning out of Adkins Lane from the bus station. He was always greatful if his driver would slow down on Waterloo Road to let the B86/B87 go past at the Cape Hill junction.

Conversely when i worked in Smethwick in the 1960s I would often see at lunchtime a BCT bus, a rare sight on Smethwick High Street, on a B85 shortworking to St Pauls Road Smethwick.
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Yes, I wasn't thinking about weekends, and it was something a scheduler from Bearwood told me about 'Mileage Adjustments' made within the joint agreements. Thanks for the correction!
 
My brother-in-law's mother was a bus conductress (clippie) on the Outer Circle route in the late 1940's. She was based at the Wellhead Lane garage
and these photos of a young girl playing by the buses at Wellhead Lane garage were taken there. A forum member advised that the registration number
was HOV 711.
__
 
1486.jpg does anyone of you have more knowledge than me where to find this bus ?
I have never seen it on my visits to wythall , is it still in preservation ?
Thank you ragga :pride:
 
ragga said:
View attachment 77537 does anyone of you have more knowledge than me where to find this bus ?
I have never seen it on my visits to wythall , is it still in preservation ?
Thank you ragga :pride:
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Hi. Ragga.
I am sure it is still in preservation and privately owned but not sure who by, pretty sure Lloyd or Motorman Mike will know though.
 
ragga said:
View attachment 77537 does anyone of you have more knowledge than me where to find this bus ?
I have never seen it on my visits to wythall , is it still in preservation ?
Thank you ragga :pride:
Click to expand...

Yes, 1486, one of the first post-war buses delivered to Birmingham (Harborne garage was its first base, actually) is still in fine condition tucked away safely not far away from its home city. It is a Daimler with an AEC engine (even though the two makers were competitors!) and a Metro-Cammell body, which survived by a second career as a staff bus for Elkes Biscuits of Uttoxeter, then standing in a scrapyard whose owner just 'never got round' to cutting it up.
 
6860785842_e81c7293bf_b.jpg A delayed thank you Lloyd for investigating the whereabouts of 1486
the only imformation about 1486 i found is from the 1980s , i wish i can find
out where it is today !!.......... ragga :pride:
 
1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg4.jpg5.jpg

Some more classics for you all to see .......
No1 location unknown.
No2 Harborne Garage .
No3 Baldwins i think !
No4 Hockley Garage .
No5 Yardley Wood Garage ........ ragga :unconscious:

 
ragga said:
View attachment 78334View attachment 78335View attachment 78336View attachment 78337View attachment 78338

Some more classics for you all to see .......
No1 location unknown.
No2 Harborne Garage .
No3 Baldwins i think !
No4 Hockley Garage .
No5 Yardley Wood Garage ........ ragga :unconscious:
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More nice period stuff, thanks ragga.
No 1 could be almost anywhere in Birmingham suburbia, possibly Fox Hollies Road? No 3 is at the Baldwin terminus, the cobbled drive to the pub car park and the telegraph pole are still there! https://goo.gl/maps/BFVt

Keep 'em coming, please!
 
23.jpg45.jpg

Thanks for the comfirmation Lloyd ... two more photos ... No1 Quinton garage I think !
and poor old Roseberry Street prior to demolition .
ragga :stung:
 
Yes that's Quinton ragga.
Rosebery St was originally a tram depot, opened in 1906. It closed in 1968 and the bus services were moved to Quinton and Hockley depots.
 
Lloyd said:
No 1 could be almost anywhere in Birmingham suburbia, possibly Fox Hollies Road?
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I'm going to suggest that No. 1 is on the Outer Circle at the Fox & Goose stop with the driver about to leave the lay-by and head for Stechford. There used to be a Bundy clock at this stop and also the Beaufort cinema but sadly neither of those artefacts are there today.
 
I think you are right there Ex B28 , It does look like that the driver is about to drive away from the Beaufort
after turning his key and he is looking down towards Stechford island where the fair is always is .
thank you B28 ............. ragga :stung:
 
WOW ,What happened there Lloyd ? and where was the photo taken ?
while were on the subject of crashes can you remember this crash in
warren farm road Perry Common around 1970 ?
ragga :unconscious:
34.jpg2.jpg
 
It's at a Wolverhampton or Walsall garage, ragga. By the looks of it, the bus turned right as a lorry was overtaking.
Yes re the Warren Farm one, I've got the Evening Mail press cutting somewhere (still not fully unpacked from moving!) If I remember, the coach driver was killed or very badly injured. Was the coach on a school run or similar?
 
Pic 83...Happen in 1969, just a few weeks before we moved from Aston to Warren Farm Road in October of that year, apart from the driver wasn't any of the children killed ?, it was and still is a dangerous spot, not so bad these days due to the speed bumps, and without the prefabs not being there a better view of what is coming.....
 
Lloyd said:
No. Nor did the same garages under the WMPTE...

View attachment 78475
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The interesting thing about 2645 is it was one fitted with the illuminated side panel, the only other one of the early Daimlers was 2762. Most of the illuminated panels went on on a lot of MOF guys and quite a few JOJ guys,based Miller St, Washwood Heath, Acocks Green and Quinton. 2645 was originally based in Coventry Road, 2762 I think Lea Hall.
 
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