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Birmingham Buses Part 2

All the heavy air raids on Birmingham were in 1940 - 1943 which I am not sure fits with a withdrawal date of 1945. Additionally I would expect bomb blast to have shattered all the windows on the side nearest the bomb. The bus looks as if it has fallen down an incline. My theory is it was struck on the platform area and then partially overturned.
 
The photos were taken in the yard of Witton tram depot, which was the nearest Corporation property to where the incident occurred. Apparently the bus "fell into some roadworks" but details of exactly what and where elude me. I wonder if the damage to the cab (i.e. most of it missing) was the result of rescuing the driver.
 
1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg4.jpg5.jpg

No 1 location unsure maybe King Heath ?
No 2 Lancaster Circus ?
No 3 Around Snow Hill ?
No 4 Digbeth .
No 5 Unsure possible High st/Dale end.
ragga :unconscious:
 
Post 184.
Mother of God and Guardian Angels, Hurst Lane /Freasley Road, Shard End.
Multi storey flats in the background were known as the Australian blocks (called after Australian cities) in Kitsland Road, they are all now demolished.
 
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Is 1 in post 183 Sarehole Mill, Cole Bank Rd?
2 Ritchie is right, Shah Jahan restaurant behind.
3 Colmore Circus
4 Digbeth, the start of the hill to St Martins. The Police Stn is hidden behind the bus.
5 I think High St / Dale End too. Is that the start of the 'cartoons' cinema to the right? There was the "News" and the "Jacey", the other being in Station Street, but I never remember which is which!
 
Is 1 in post 183 Sarehole Mill, Cole Bank Rd?
2 Ritchie is right, Shah Jahan restaurant behind.
3 Colmore Circus
4 Digbeth, the start of the hill to St Martins. The Police Stn is hidden behind the bus.
5 I think High St / Dale End too. Is that the start of the 'cartoons' cinema to the right? There was the "News" and the "Jacey", the other being in Station Street, but I never remember which is which!

No.5 confirmed as High Street/Dale End. Here's the News Theatre (proper name) almost hidden except for the tiling by the bus. Next door (left) is the Ansells pub and next door (right) is Phillips furniture store (we can just see the letter 'S' in the bus photo).

*The Jacey in Birmingham was in Station Street. The Jacey we see in the mini-video is a central London branch of the same chain.

**If you want to see individual frames of the video, go to the bottom of the 'start' page and you can click on each frame-by-frame in the "Stills" category (saves having to struggle getting the video to pause bang-on).
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/cinema-celebrates-21st-birthday/query/Birmingham+cinema
 
Is 1 in post 183 Sarehole Mill, Cole Bank Rd?
I would agree that this is outside Sarehole Mill at the "clock-in" point (11A). I would say this was taken in 1974 as 2552 was withdrawn later that year. It ended up down at Adderley Street awaiting the inevitable tow up to Barnsley.

The bus behind looks to be a 29 (JOJ) but can't quite see which one it is 290x or 293x? The driver has got out of his cab and is probably chatting with the conductor.

I've sat on these buses at this place so many times on way home from school awaiting departure time. Happy days!
 
The fifth photo in post #186 is outside the Oxford Restaurant in Dale End. Used to go in to the snack bar there and have a toasted teacake and milkshake. Lovely interior. The third photo in that post was definitely Priory Queensway/ Colmore Circus. Behind the bus you can see the Bell Nicolson Lunt offices, below which was a Post Office, obscured by the blue arrow. The bus must be travelling towards Colmore Row or Snow Hill. Viv.
 
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No 1 Unsure , name of estate/road/church please ?

ragga :unconscious:

Originally, I thought the flats in the background were those between Duddeston Manor Road & the current Nechells Parkway and the bus location was Bloomsbury St Nechells, but realised that the bus, being from Washwood Heath Garage, could be a 14, 55 or 56, so possibly taken on those routes?. Anyway, I looked elsewhere, using the historical element of Google Earth.

Result!
The bus is photographed on Packington Avenue, with the backdrop of The Mother of God and Guardian Angels RC Church, cnr Hurst Lane/Freasley Road/Kitsland Rd. Castle Bromwich, B34 7NA - here is the Google link:- https://goo.gl/maps/Iw8kQ

The flats in the background were in Kitsland Rd, now demolished.(early 2000s)
 
In response to post 191, 252 was actually withdrawn in 1975 and subsequently sold to Barnsley in January 1976. The only possibles that meet his suggestions are
2908 and 2932 (retired 1976), or
2901,2902, 2903, 2905, 2906, 2931, 2034 or 2939 retired 1977, although of course there are many other possibilities and quite a number of the 2900 series were withdrawn in 1975,6,and 7.
However, after re-examing the picture I think it might be a 25XX.
 
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Hi All i'm after a bit of info concerning the Trolley buses and the B'ham trams. First what was the arm that went to the electric cable called? Am i right the trams only had one of these arms but the trolley bus had two? I always thought that they both used the same cables but i must be confused about that. I seem to remember that the trams had wooden seats were very noisy and very uncomfortable but the trolly buses were exactly the opposite am i right? I have looked through the forum and although there is a lot about buses i cant find the info i'm after. I hope some one can help thanks
 
Hallo Podgery,
You are correct, trams did have one arm and trolley buses two, something to do with earthing as of course trolley buses had rubber tyres and trams steel wheels. Some trams had wooden seats but the later ones had upholstery. Trams on the Alum Rock routes had a catenary as those routes didn't go under any low bridges as did the Bristol Road routes for instance where the arm swung out and low to get under the bridges.
Hope this helps.
 
Just to add a bit more information. The arm on the trams is simply called a trolley pole, some tramway systems used different types of current collectors like bow collectors or pantographs (currently used in Blackpool) but the Birmingham system as far as i'm aware just used the conventional trolley pole. The collectors on a trolleybus are known as trolley booms, I have never heard them called anything else anyway. Birmingham ended trolleybus operation pretty early, even before the trams finished and no Brum trolleybus survives sadly. Walsall & Wolverhampton used them for a lot longer and there are thankfully survivors from both fleets. One of the regular posters here is involved with running trolleybuses at the Black Country museum so he would be able to give more details.

Regards

Simon
 
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