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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
 
6166802593_3dbd0877b0_b (3).jpg6925352463_33cebc36d6_b (2).jpguntitledxcd (2).jpg

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
 
ragga said:
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:
Click to expand...

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
 
Radiorails said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
Radiorails said:
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.
Click to expand...

I remember a few times going to Blackpool from Birmingham on the Standerwick-Scout double deckers
 
ragga said:
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:
Click to expand...

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!
 
Radiorails said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
I am not sure Bob, if it was a single example, I get the impression it was. However, it may be the reason some of the CHA coaches were used; at least the instructor would be alongside rather than behind the trainee.
I expect a 'Red' expert might put us out of our misery soon. :D
 
Elmdon Boy said:
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!
Click to expand...

Elmdon Boy. I never got round to doing the Burton-on-Trent/Derby run although it was on my list to do sometime. I agree with you about kids today. I travelled all over the Midlands at about the same age as you with a packet of sandwiches in my pocket on Midland Red 5 shilling Childs Day Anywhere tickets.

Incidentally one of my first jobs was with Shell-Mex and BP and one of the customers I dealt with was Derby Aviation at Burnaston. I remember the opening of East Midlands Airport at Castle Donnington and the massive amount of fuel that we delivered to fill the tank farm there. Derby Aviation became British Midland based at EMA. The airport was owned by a consortium of local authorities when it was first opened.
 
DavidGrain said:
Elmdon Boy. I never got round to doing the Burton-on-Trent/Derby run although it was on my list to do sometime. I agree with you about kids today. I travelled all over the Midlands at about the same age as you with a packet of sandwiches in my pocket on Midland Red 5 shilling Childs Day Anywhere tickets.

Incidentally one of my first jobs was with Shell-Mex and BP and one of the customers I dealt with was Derby Aviation at Burnaston. I remember the opening of East Midlands Airport at Castle Donnington and the massive amount of fuel that we delivered to fill the tank farm there. Derby Aviation became British Midland based at EMA. The airport was owned by a consortium of local authorities when it was first opened.
Click to expand...
Nice to see a fellow SM&BP employee on this forum. I Worked at Manchester A/P for a number of years when Frank Coughlin was the TM at EMA and Tom Parker and later Peter Keating were Group TM's. I started at Kingsbury in 1969 before moving to Shell after the split.
 
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DavidGrain said:
Elmdon Boy. I never got round to doing the Burton-on-Trent/Derby run although it was on my list to do sometime. I agree with you about kids today. I travelled all over the Midlands at about the same age as you with a packet of sandwiches in my pocket on Midland Red 5 shilling Childs Day Anywhere tickets.

Incidentally one of my first jobs was with Shell-Mex and BP and one of the customers I dealt with was Derby Aviation at Burnaston. I remember the opening of East Midlands Airport at Castle Donnington and the massive amount of fuel that we delivered to fill the tank farm there. Derby Aviation became British Midland based at EMA. The airport was owned by a consortium of local authorities when it was first opened.
Click to expand...
Those were the days when as a child in the school holidays, you could buy your Midland Red child day ticket or the railway cheap day return and roam free and unhindered across the Midlands by bus and train and no one had to worry about you and you did not have to worry about what you were doing and no one thought it strange. My mother in law had a saying if you want a cake bake it and I applied it to my children, so except for Sports events, Dad's taxi was not used for carting them around the village, they had their bikes or there was the bus and the only time that I ever moved them was when the last bus was gone and it was to dark/wet for the bike. As a child we never had a car until after I left home and the only free rides I got were from hitch-hiking.....once came back from Leominster to Bearwood aged 14, using my thumb. I felt as safe as houses.
Bob
 
Just spotted Radiorails post about the Red's training 'SON's'. Prompted a dig into the past as I remembered my first day - after leaving the RAF - on another (yes, there was more than one) dual control ex coach. After half an hour, and because I had been on Matadors and used to a crash box, we returned to Bearwood and I never went out again in a dual control. In fact , looking back at my 'log' I got my PSV within the month. I believe when the C1's started to be withdrawn a couple were converted to dual control and replaced the (then) time-expired SOS's.

Wonder if anyone remembers any of the instructors ?


Driver Training.png
 
Nigel, without knowing it we probably saw each other at that time as the junction by Warley Library in Bleakhouse Road was a favourite place teaching the reverse round a corner for the Midland Red driving school. I was aged 13 at the time you were doing your training and a regular visitor to the library.
 
DavidGrain said:
Nigel, without knowing it we probably saw each other at that time as the junction by Warley Library in Bleakhouse Road was a favourite place teaching the reverse round a corner for the Midland Red driving school. I was aged 13 at the time you were doing your training and a regular visitor to the library.
Click to expand...
HI David, Probably you did see me, hope I never mounted the kerb . . . Seem to remember we did most of the reversing in the Bearwood Garage yard - between cones.
 
Nigel Edwards said:
Wonder if anyone remembers any of the instructors ?
Click to expand...

Billy King was in charge at Bearwood, and I went with Obi Grainger for my assessment on 3311, and Frank Field for my type training as I already had a licence. S16, S17, LS18 and D9. I also talked my way into a trip to Stourbridge & back on a D7 ("Not necessary, we haven't got any still in service" "4114's still at Dudley, and you never know I might have to..." "You're just wheel-happy. Come on then!")
 
Elmdon Boy said:
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!
Click to expand...
was it the 112 and x12 single decker bus?
 
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