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Midland Red at Digbeth

RoyMcC, I remember him well, I saw him most often at the into city stop at the wheatsheaf.
I really don't believe I have given that man a thought since I left the Red in the late 70s. You mention him and suddenly I can see him all over again.
 
Roy if you go to the Search box and put in 'Bull Ring Print' there is a a memory on that thread of the chap on the 3 wheeler that you asked about. It was an answer I posted (post #53) when John70 also remembered him. We only knew him as "Bill" and he wasn't employed by the Red. He was very wellspoken and told us he always listened to the BBC Home Service (now Radio 4) and read 'The Times' newspaper when not 'on patrol' as he called it. This meant he was always up to date with current news. He was also always on the lookout for VIP cars especially on the Coventry Road and had a list of famous folks he had seen go by. All his entries in his notebooks were recorded with the time and mileage reading from a mileometer on the front wheel of his 3 wheeler. I think he had an eye for our conductress's as he knew them all by name and would be able to tell us which time journeys we would see them on! He didn't have as much regard for BCT crews as they were always "too busy to wave" to him. We used to feel quite sorry to see him struggling to push his bike up the hill at Hobs Moat on his way home but he still gave us a cheery wave. I often wonder what became of him as he lived alone with his elderly mother. He was probably older himself than he looked but would never tell us how old he was if asked. ("Bit older/younger than you dear boy/young lady" he used to say.
Mike
 
Thanks for the story and info Mike, brought back some good memories. Before I leave the thread to you resident Brummies here's an interesting picture of a Dublin bus recently, just having had its roof ripped off by an overhanging tree. Fortunately none of the 12 passengers were on top
 
Earlier in the thread were photos of 4773, the prototype D9. I include one of those photos again to contrast it when brand new with how it looks more recently whilst awaiting some T.L.C. At least it lives on...
 
motorman-mike said:
Earlier in the thread were photos of 4773, the prototype D9. I include one of those photos again to contrast it when brand new with how it looks more recently whilst awaiting some T.L.C. At least it lives on...
Click to expand...
As you say Mike, at least it lives on, lets hope it gets back on the road one day, is it owned by the same chap who has 3002and a few others do you know?. John70
 
Hi, can anyone recall a'bag lady' who spent her day betwixt the bus garage and surrounding market area? My Dad (who spent the last years of his working life as doorman at the ministry of defence) used to call her Annie and was always concerned if he hadn't seen her for a while. She was well known in the area, and I remember her clearly. She became my focus and inspiration for a short story I wrote (for my GCSE- at the mature age of 45!) st around the market/St Martins Church. Maybe I could put the story on site? Anyone know where to post if I do?
Jan Hedger
 
If you would like to see what the the Former Midland Red Digbeth Bus/Coach Station looked like in 2006 Before it closed down and before it closed down in 2007 the please go to


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZccYDuHXO4Q"]YouTube - Digbeth Coach Station Before the Rebuild 24 April 2006[/ame]
 
Going back to BMMO days here is an explanation of the stars seen on the left sleeves of long serving platform staff that may interest any folks that may have noticed them and wondered what they were all about. Birmingham City Transport had a similar scheme but included stipes as well.
 
hi all
anyone know the number of the midland red bus that ran from the bear public house bearwood to dudley zoo??
regards
paul stacey
 
paul stacey said:
hi all
anyone know the number of the midland red bus that ran from the bear public house bearwood to dudley zoo??
regards
paul stacey
Click to expand...


Hi Paul,

My 1970 timetable shows four services between Bearwood
and Dudley, the X93, the 120, 125 and 140. The only one
showing the Bear as a waypoint was the 120. This service
continued into Birmingham.

Kind regards

Dave
 
hi dave
thanks for the info, I remember as a small boy in the 50's my dads and my day out was to the zoo,you will proberly even know the type of bus single decker the one the driver sits next to the engine and there is a little roof extension over the engine and a rear get on off door.
regards
paul
 
good afternoon all
i have just read with interest your midland red stories looked at the pictures of buses and i was wondering if there are any photos available of the 160 bus route that my family used to use when we lived on kingshurst iused to catch this bus every morning to get me to work to meet up at the gate at saltley so that i could get the no 8 to newtons that was my place of work , and the buses were always packed.
phil
 
paul stacey said:
hi dave
thanks for the info, I remember as a small boy in the 50's my dads and my day out was to the zoo,you will proberly even know the type of bus single decker the one the driver sits next to the engine and there is a little roof extension over the engine and a rear get on off door.
regards
paul
Click to expand...

Not with the doorway at the rear, paul, all Midland Red single deckers had front entrances except a few in solid tyre days.
Here's one of the last, a 1940 model currently under restoration at Wythall museum.
 
hi Lloyd
many thanks you are proberly right it was many years ago, unfortunately I cannot open the the photos and view them for some reason, I had no problem with the old format of photos , I have asked but to date I have had no reply, dave g did send me a message but it was to technical to understand, I had a stroke in feb only slight but it has damaged my cognience slighty hence the spelling mistakes, shame really as it has dimmed the experience of the forum for me.
regards
paul
 
paul stacey said:
hi dave
thanks for the info, I remember as a small boy in the 50's my dads and my day out was to the zoo,you will proberly even know the type of bus single decker the one the driver sits next to the engine and there is a little roof extension over the engine and a rear get on off door.
regards
paul
Click to expand...


Hi Paul

Just picked up your reply, and I was a bit puzzled at the 'rear entrance'!
I think there was something special about those old single deckers which is totally missing from modern buses. Perhaps a comparison would be a coach built car of the 1930s compared with a Ford Mondeo!

Those 1950's trips to Dudley Zoo were special for me too, but I've never been back.

Kind regards

Dave
 
hi Lloyd
Thank you so much, it was a real treat to see all those photos of the dear old midland red from my reclections it was the the very same bus as 2418, thanks again.
regards
paul
 
Hi Dave 89
yes it was a special time, those long years ago, our family never had much in the way of money but my childhood is stroon with happy memories once we alighted from the bus the castle on the hill and all the animal sounds was so mysterious. The midland ice cream man on his tricycle with all the flower beds round the entrance magical truly magical, course not very PC to-day.
regards
paul
 
paul stacey said:
Hi Dave 89
yes it was a special time, those long years ago, our family never had much in the way of money but my childhood is stroon with happy memories once we alighted from the bus the castle on the hill and all the animal sounds was so mysterious. The midland ice cream man on his tricycle with all the flower beds round the entrance magical truly magical, course not very PC to-day.
regards
paul
Click to expand...


Hi Paul

You've brought it all back, do you also remember the aquarium?
I'm not a 'PC' person, but thinking of the cramped cages some
of the big cats were kept in, I very much doubt they enjoyed a
day at the zoo as much as we did!

Kind regards

Dave
 
motorman-mike said:
4087 John, which many at Digbeth thought must be an LD8 when I told them the number. As you know, all our LD8s at Digbeth were in the 4000s. I would welcome a pic of 4087 if anyone could oblige. By coincidence some 4 years later I found myself driving 4088 which had been cut down to become a mobile workshop and was run on tradeplates. Meanwhile here is LD8 4035. Another coincidence is that it was in a Ford Popular like the one by it that I had my first unofficial driving lessons (in a mate's dad's Pop) This mate used to have me drive a complete trip round the Inner Circle bus route from Highgate Road but always towards Moseley Road direction. Although I had a provisional licence he insisted we didn't use L plates because as he said, without them "you had to get it right or attract attention" (this was because he had learnt to drive himself that way with his Dad). The things we used to do!
Click to expand...
Hi. Mike. Just found a photo of 4086, getting close.
 
philbee said:
good afternoon all
i have just read with interest your midland red stories looked at the pictures of buses and i was wondering if there are any photos available of the 160 bus route that my family used to use when we lived on kingshurst iused to catch this bus every morning to get me to work to meet up at the gate at saltley so that i could get the no 8 to newtons that was my place of work , and the buses were always packed.
phil
Click to expand...
Heres one Phil.
 
john70 said:
Hi. Mike. Just found a photo of 4086, getting close.
Click to expand...
Many thanks John, I'm guessing that might be a Banbury D7 because of the City of Oxford saloon sharing the picture, but can't place the location. The City of Oxford saloon looks to be going to Bicester but not sure of that either. Seeing the bloke in the uniform with shoulder flashes reminds me of the letter we received with our first uniform on joining the Red in BMMO days.
Mike
 
hi john
just seen your reply to my post about the 160 many happy hours where spent on the bus before lambrettas and cars took over my travelling mode, looking at the regs of the buses it would have been about 1967 and i would not have been using them so much them but i remember when front loading buses came on route i always tried to catch them, i remember it used to terminate at the mountford pub ,then fordbridge road then finally the kingshurst pub after that i used to walk / cycle to my aunts at shard end and catch the 55 , because it was cheaper ! happy days
phil
 
Mike / Lloyd. Just spoken to Vic Wilson and told him about this site. He was very interested and is going to check it out. Watch this space. John
 
Hi Lads, my wife Enid and I were married on the 28 August 1954, on the
Sunday afterwards my brother took us down to Digbeth Coach Station to
get the coach to St Ives in Cornwall for our honeymoon. Cant quite remember but I think it took ten hours! would that be about right for those
days, ? Its a good job we had a lot to talk about, what we didnt know at the time was that our love affair was to last 54 and a half years. cheers
Bernard
 
Well it was known as the Friendly Midland Red in those days Bernard (or did you maybe travel in some other company's coach?). Ten hours would certainly have been about right. It used to take 5 hours to get to London before the M1 opened.
 
jfc said:
Mike / Lloyd. Just spoken to Vic Wilson and told him about this site. He was very interested and is going to check it out. Watch this space. John
Click to expand...

Thanks for that jfc. Nice to hear from you - hope you are well, you haven't been on here lately
Mike
 
Bernard67Arnold said:
Hi Lads, my wife Enid and I were married on the 28 August 1954, on the
Sunday afterwards my brother took us down to Digbeth Coach Station to
get the coach to St Ives in Cornwall for our honeymoon. Cant quite remember but I think it took ten hours! would that be about right for those
days, ? Its a good job we had a lot to talk about, what we didnt know at the time was that our love affair was to last 54 and a half years. cheers
Bernard
Click to expand...
It used to take 8 hrs plus to get from Stockland Green to Torquay in the middle sixties and this was overnight. A38 most of the way with two stops, one at Gloucester and the other near Wellington. Used to love watching the sunrise on the way down but hated the jams on the Exeter bypass on the way back. Also remember crawling up Redhill in our Bedford Vals whilst other companies Leylands etc flew past.
 
Hi Mike, yes I am almost sure we went by Midland Red coach to Cornwall all
those years ago the Midland staff were always more friendly than the BCT, the ex/bus men seem to have found a forum within a forum on this
site, it must great to talk over old times with so many of your old mates.
I can remember the first week I did on afternoons at the Post Office, it was 1pm til 9 six day week, on Saturday lunchtime you collected a padlock
key, and walked to the Bull Ring to meet the, Midland Red from Sutton Coldfield the driver would have a bag of mail behind his seat with a chain
and padlock, you gave him the key to undo the bag, and then walked to
the sorting office, This was a way give Sutton a later collection on Sat;
Oh Happy Days, where,oh where have all the years gone??? cheers now
Bernard
 
Great memories Bernard. I remember in the early 1960's we used to take a bag of mail from the Bull Ring out to Marston Green Tavern weekday mornings. The postman used to put the bag on front nearside seat and chain and padlock it to the seatframe. On arrival at the Tavern another postman was waiting with a key to take the bag off us.
Mike
 
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