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Midland Red at Digbeth

Yes, I noticed you had commented. I tend to get lost with all the different threads and I wondered if it was in the right place. I posted it because of the D9, not the location.
 
Many will have seen the mock up London Routemaster replacement bus known better as the 'Borismaster' due to come into production soon (Pic 1) but better looking and aleady built for testing in Macedonia (formerly in Yugoslavia) is the Skopje Routemaster (Pic 2). 202 of these are to be built in China with the odd two being open toppers. Whilst based on the London RT as much as a Routemaster, surely with the set back front axle there is a decided BMMO D9 look about this rather amazing bus. Perhaps Lloyd can produce a Midland Red computer image for us. (hint, hint):D
 
Whilst based on the London RT as much as a Routemaster, surely with the set back front axle there is a decided BMMO D9 look about this rather amazing bus. Perhaps Lloyd can produce a Midland Red computer image for us. (hint, hint):D

The Carlyle Works section of my computer has produced this Chinese-built double decker suitable for both Midland Red and London Transport...
 
This taken on what was called ( The Patch) at digbeth which was in Mill Lane and where buses were parked in the open over night etc. its an S14 bus which had single rear wheels,I drove it quite a few times.
 
View attachment 63470

This photo must have been taken @ digbeth with a nice looking advertisement .
I assume that it lit up @ night .......... ragga :)

Thanks for the memory ragga. Like john70 I drove 4671 many times, mostly on the 170/2 routes from Acocks Green to Wythall and the 173/174 routes Acocks Green to Yardley/Sheldon. As you say, the advert panels would light up from a seperate switch when the interior lights were switched on. Because of the M&B advert carried throughout it's working life it was known to all at Digbeth as 'the beer barrel'. The illuminated advert on the offside was for Park Drive Cigarettes.
 
Hello M. Mike, I am surprised more has not been posted about the Track, the 175, oh god you must remember it. We sometimes used C5s on the route.
 
The Carlyle Works section of my computer has produced this Chinese-built double decker suitable for both Midland Red and London Transport...

You beat me to it Lloyd, I thought I would have a dabble and managed this (but couldn't get rid of the front entrance!)
 
Hello M. Mike, I am surprised more has not been posted about the Track, the 175, oh god you must remember it. We sometimes used C5s on the route.

That's right Trevor, it could be a killer LOL. They used the 36 footers on there mostly to clear the crowds! The C5's were great for timekeeping but short on seats and hopeless for the conductor when we got a standing load.;)
 
Thank you Mike and John 70 , i was going to ask wether there was another
advertisement on the other side but i already posted it , I collected many
numbers of Midland red buses when i was little lad but i do not recall
then on the single deckers only on the double deckers .
ragga :)
 
As far as I know ragga, 4671 was fitted with illuminated advert panels as an experiment that was not followed up on any other single deckers. (Lloyd may know more).

Regarding the wreck above, without a fleetnumber and /or registration number visible it would be hard to say. Certainly S6, S8, S10 and S12's similar in appearance worked those routes from Digbeth.
 
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Re the 'wreck' in post #391, where was this? Is it still there?
Not an S6 (they were narrower, with different windscreen surrounds) but certainly one of the S7-12 types.

S12 3744 is currently under restoration at Wythall (I was working on it Thursday!)
 
Nice photo Lloyd ........ as to the wreck post 391 , i found the caption to it
it says its BMMO S8 and also

was recovered from a scrapyard in Cambridgeshire, with vehicles on it's roof, hence the large dent.
It is 3290 (JHA890)

ragga :)
 
Thanks ragga, I did see the bus there (Joe Hunt's yard at Molesworth, Cambs) but surrounded and covered by cars.
 
I have said recently that I am slowly going through my books and papers, ooh what a job. Anyway, the latest book I am browsing is all about life in Britain a hundred years ago, I found this picture which is really a two page spread taken at Eastbourne Pier. I have put it on here because I just know that Lloyd will tell us the charabanc models and names. I am joking Lloyd, the charabancs are touting for business for day tours with holiday makers who used to swarm to the pier wherever a seaside town had one.
View attachment 64133
stitcher.
 
I see the one on the left doesn't seem to have any lights in the front. "Day" excursions only
 
Lovely 1920s charabanc picture, Stitcher. The registration of the one on the right (DB 1861) appears in a list on the Dennis Society website. It was delivered on 23 April 1920. "DB" was a Manchester registration mark, but Dennis Brothers (Guildford, Surrey) appear to have used it as a factory mark. The other charabanc looks very similar (except for the lights!), so I would guess that they are both made by Dennis. The Dennis radiator badge is pictured below.
 
Hi all, sorry for my absence (work and recovery from it!). The two 'Charas' are on Dennis 4-ton chassis, similar to this preserved London double deck one. The 4-ton was a 'subsidy' design, its purchase price being subsidised by the government - but the vehicle was then subject to 'call up' if there was a national need for vehicles by the armed forces. The history of this is the knowledge that large numbers of mechanically propelled vehicles were used to great advantage during WW1, but during peacetime there was not the need to hold large stocks of vehicles, so long as they could be quickly acquired when the need arose.
The fact that one is registered in Stockport (DB - a series that ran from Dec 1903 to Jun 1929) - and the other locally in Eastbourne (HC, ran from Apr 1911 to Sept 1949) probably means the DB one is second hand. Both chassis would have been built at the Dennis factory at Guildford.
 
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