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Midland Red at Digbeth

The lady nearest the camera looks just like my dear old nan, she used to catch the coach to Brighton regularly.
paul
 
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Three delightful photos from the 1960s , 1, Hagley road , 2 Stephenson st , 3 Digbeth coach station .
I wonder how many of you remember the Midland red training bus ??
ragga :fat:
 
photo two seems to show a military, 2 tonner and a land rover, parked at odd angles?? I wonder why this would have been in the obviously early sixty's photo, was Stephenson Street near the ARO.
paul
 
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Three delightful photos from the 1960s , 1, Hagley road , 2 Stephenson st , 3 Digbeth coach station .
I wonder how many of you remember the Midland red training bus ??
ragga :fat:

Channel 5 did a programme about the M1. Featured was one of the Midland Red Motorway coaches.
Even more exotic was the Forum's own Lloyd Penfold interviewed and at the wheel of the Motorway coach preserved at Wythall.
If you missed it try the one of the replay channels.
 
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Yes, Midland Red was one of the most advanced bus manufacturers in the UK - monocoque body construction, rubber suspension, front disc brakes and turbocharged diesels and the D9 buses were far more comfortable than buses today.
They even built an experimental bus with a huge flywheel in the transmission which ran, unpowered for a day or two, enabling the bus to be driven without the engine running.
Boomy
 
Channel 5 did a programme about the M1. Featured was one of the Midland Red Motorway coaches.
Even more exotic was the Forum's own Lloyd Penfold interviewed and at the wheel of the Motorway coach preserved at Wythall.
If you missed it try the one of the replay channels.
Watched on catch up. Thankyou. I remember a "double deck" motorway coach in the early motorway days, were these Midland Red? I remember, stupidly, tailgating one on a BSA scooter, quite frightening being buffeted by the air stream as the coach pulled away! My brothers bought a job lot of old Midland Red coach seats to up grade a Ford Transit crew bus.
 
Midland Red only operated their CM5 single deck motorway coaches own the M1, but I think Ribble were about the first to operate double deckers on the motorway.
The Midland Red coaches could reach 80mph, but were normally operated at about 55mph and returned 16mpg for a coach weighing just over 7 tons. Very advanced design with independent front suspension, disc brakes all round and the 8 litre turbocharged diesel engine produced more power than the Midland Red 10.5 litre engine used in their double deckers.
Boomy
 
Yes, Ribble Motor Services started trials in 1959 with their double deck 'Gay Hostess' Atlantean buses. In 1963 the fleet of them joined those with the Ribble subsidiary W.C.Standerwick. They also operated double deckers known as 'White Ladies'. They were to be seen over much of England serving many principal cities.
COACH3.jpg

Gay Hostess, livery cream and red.
 
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Nowadays people might expect something a little different from a product with that name
 
just a quick question im sure someone will know..during the early to middle 60s i used to catch the midland red 112 from the back of the old fire station to get to my aunts caravan at fradley junction..would this have been a coach or a bus..from memory think it was a bus..ps when we got off at our stop it was quite a walk down country lanes to get to fradley junction..no buses went down there and still dont..mind you i was a lot younger then:D

lyn
 
I believe the Midland Red service 112 went to Lichfield, some going on to Burton-on-Trent. As one of the longer routes it was, as far as I remember, usually single deck. However double deckers might well have been used at busier times.
Probably someone more familiar with the 'Red', which ran to northern places from the city, will reply with more detail.
 
thanks alan..quite correct 112 heading for lichfield and burton...we used to walk along the canal towpath into burton collecting blackberries ..happy days

lyn
 
Yes, Ribble Motor Services started trials in 1959 with their double deck 'Gay Hostess' Atlantean buses. In 1963 the fleet of them joined those with the Ribble subsidiary W.C.Standerwick. They also operated double deckers known as 'White Ladies'. They were to be seen over much of England serving many principal cities.
COACH3.jpg

Gay Hostess, livery cream and red.

I remember a few times going to Blackpool from Birmingham on the Standerwick-Scout double deckers
 
View attachment 79567View attachment 79568View attachment 79569

Three delightful photos from the 1960s , 1, Hagley road , 2 Stephenson st , 3 Digbeth coach station .
I wonder how many of you remember the Midland red training bus ??
ragga :fat:

I remember the Midland Red training buses as their driving school was based in Bearwood and I lived in Warley. Usually they were old coaches or FEDD double deckers. I remember at least one of the coaches had dual controls with the instructor sitting behind the driver with his own steering wheel.
 
I wonder if the vehicle you remember, David, was the converted half cab single deck bus which was withdrawn from regular service in 1952 and fitted with a full front and dual control specifically for driver training. This bus was a 1938 SOS DON type DHA 696 (2078). I lasted until around 1961 and was at Bearwood.
Others at Bearwood, around that time, specifically designated driver training vehicles were GHA 307 (2388), GHA 335 (2416) and GHA 346 (2427) all 1940 SOS SON types, rebuilt in 1950. They had the conventional half cab appearance and lasted until around 1961 in their role.
It can be certain that other non dedicated training vehicles were used - as and when needed - for driver training as shown in the post 422, by Ragga. That particular vehicle, CHA 962 (1980) a 1937 SOS SLR type coach which was withdrawn from regular service, with all the rest of the class of fifty, in 1955.
 
Lyn, I remember travelling on the Midland Red to Burton on Trent about 1962. It was a single decker bus, not a coach. It was on an trip to the then Derby airport of Burnaston, now the site of Toyota. From Burton I had to catch another operator to the nearest drop of point to the airport, somewhere along the A38, Blue Buses was the operator,and then a couple of miles walk.
I used to travel a lot under my own steam to do my aircraft spotting hobby.
I would have only been a schoolboy of 13, and planned it all myself.
Would a 13 year old be allowed, or be capable of doing this today. There molly coddled to much now. Taken and picked up from school by car , only 1 mile away.
I feel a rant coming on!
 
I wonder if the vehicle you remember, David, was the converted half cab single deck bus which was withdrawn from regular service in 1952 and fitted with a full front and dual control specifically for driver training. This bus was a 1938 SOS DON type DHA 696 (2078). I lasted until around 1961 and was at Bearwood.
Others at Bearwood, around that time, specifically designated driver training vehicles were GHA 307 (2388), GHA 335 (2416) and GHA 346 (2427) all 1940 SOS SON types, rebuilt in 1950. They had the conventional half cab appearance and lasted until around 1961 in their role.
It can be certain that other non dedicated training vehicles were used - as and when needed - for driver training as shown in the post 422, by Ragga. That particular vehicle, CHA 962 (1980) a 1937 SOS SLR type coach which was withdrawn from regular service, with all the rest of the class of fifty, in 1955.
Was this the only training bus that had the pupil and instructor side by side. I know that most training buses had the instructor behind the driver in the half cab type bus. I know in Plymouth they had an open widow behind the driver and the instructor leaning through, with no control facilities.
Bob
 
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