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Birmingham Trams

The 'chara' is heading out of Birmingham - more likely on an express service to Cheltenham, Bristol and/or the south west.
Did not recognise use the direction, it was a tongue in cheek comment mainly because to see them in street scenes is unusual, I remember them as the bus my grandmother loved when she took me on one of her regular summer outings and the two places I mentioned were her favourites, I had not seen them used on Express routes, because living in Erdington I was used to the red roofed GHAs on the X99 etc. Thanks for clarifying matters.

Bob
 
I had not seen them used on Express routes, because living in Erdington I was used to the red roofed GHAs on the X99 etc. Thanks for clarifying matters.

Bob

By 'Express' I meant long distance, like London, Manchester etc, as well as coastal destinations in the summer.
 
Car 407 was new in 1912 and withdrawn in 1949. Soon repaired i guess.
It was was on route 50 which went from High Street to Moseley Road/Trafalgar Road. The route 50 was withdrawn in 1949 and converted to bus operation.
 
This eBay postcard shows a tram in Colmore Row in the 1940s ( according to the eBay description). I notice the destination boards above the shelters are covered over. And what on earth is the man doing crouching to the right of the tram ? Viv.

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Actually the trams on the Soho Road stopped running in 1939. During the war all the signposts were taken away. This probably also applied to the destination signs on the tram shelters. This was when there was a fear that German paratroops could land in the centre of Birmingham and get on a no. 74 tram to Dudley. I am only partially joking here.
 
looks to me viv as though the man is finishing laying those white strips although i have no idea what they are for

lyn
 
My guess it is just prior to WW2 and the covered signs are part of the preparations for changeover to buses . There do not seem to wartime markings on the bus or the tram The person crouching is open to guesses but I think it is connected.
 
1939. As has been said, the signs on the shelters are covered due to the change over to buses (the new bus route signs are probably under them). The poster in the upstairs window of the tram is the notification to the public of the trams finishing on Soho Road, and details of the replacement buses. I'd guess that the man in the road is marking the road to segregate the traffic - the trams and the buses that replaced them ran opposite direction to the otherwise one way scheme in Colmore Row. Probably the last day of tramway operation on those routes, Saturday 1st April 1939.
 
This photo is supposed to be 1949. I think the lady to the right is a conductress. Maybe she was retained in the job post-WW2. Were many women kept on as clippies after the War ? Viv.

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When a a young boy, would go up the Licky's with dad on the tram from Edgbaston, the clippy was often a girl, Viv. this would be early 50's, my mom worked out of Harborne as a clippy in the mid 50's too.
 
This photo is supposed to be 1949. I think the lady to the right is a conductress. Maybe she was retained in the job post-WW2. Were many women kept on as clippies after the War ? Viv.
Car 424 probably in Hill Street, with the entrance to Queens Drive behind, at the city terminus of the 39 to Alcester Lanes End via Balsall Heath. Yes some women conductors were kept on after hostilities, but not replaced as they left until the late 50s or early 60s when staff shortages meant they were needed again.
 
Car 424 probably in Hill Street, with the entrance to Queens Drive behind, at the city terminus of the 39 to Alcester Lanes End via Balsall Heath. Yes some women conductors were kept on after hostilities, but not replaced as they left until the late 50s or early 60s when staff shortages meant they were needed again.
Answer yes women did continue on the trams until they stopped running
 
As an aside to the Tram system in Birmingham my involvement in utilities in the 70’s ; the amount of redundant tram rails and associated infrastructure we came across when excavating to lay new pipe and services. These items were well laid and built and took some effort to remove.
On the positive side the volume of the old blue and grey granite setts that would be exposed and removed.
Where the majority were taken away as surplus, I recovered enough to build a lovely garden path and BBQ area in my first house . The setts were of a size (depth) you could cut them in half and double the surface area, a little hard work but the finish was wither it
 
I am looking for information on the "Parcels Express Messengers" run by Cain & Cartwright of 67/9 Stafford Street, Birmingham. Later operating as "Parcels Express Messengers Co. Ltd" Warwick Passage, Corporation Street, Birmingham, Can anyone help?
 

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There are some adverts for staff in the 1910s for the Warwick Passage address (no. 3) in the newspapers.
 
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