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Midland Red Early Days

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I know I have posted this before but I can not remember where, I think it was this picture and M.Mike commented on the 144 Malvern bus. I have posted it here because of the two old single deckers and the Midland Red Bus Station sign. The view is looking towards Hill Street from Worcester Street 1946.
 
Stitcher said:
View attachment 75727
I know I have posted this before but I can not remember where, I think it was this picture and M.Mike commented on the 144 Malvern bus. I have posted it here because of the two old single deckers and the Midland Red Bus Station sign. The view is looking towards Hill Street from Worcester Street 1946.
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Afraid I cannot place location. Can you be more specific. As I remember it Worcester Street was on the other side of New Street Station from Hill Street. I know there was a Midland Red enquiry/parcels office in Worcester Street but I never knew that it was described as a bus station.
 
I am afraid we need Mike or Lloyd once again, I have posted what was on the picture and could not add anything to it.
 
This is looking along Station Street from the Worcester Street junction, towards Hill Street (the 'flat' bit of it!) in the far distance. The Market Hotel, on the corner of Dudley Street, is visible centre background.
All of this area fron Dudley Street towards the camera was later cleared and buried under the Bull Ring Centre, principally the Midland Red Bus Station at road level.
 
This mishap took place on 27th May 1949 on the canal bridge in Lode Lane Solihull. The single decker travelling from Solihull had just crossed the bridge which was very narrow at the time and on a slight bend, and swerved to avoid the double decker. The road was wet and slippery as it was the first rain for several weeks and the bus skidded, hit the bank and rolled over. I was on the single decker making my way to the front to get off at the Rover Works when it happened. Fortunately the side windows broke and many of us fell out onto the road otherwise we may have been crushed. I believe the only injuries were a girl who had a broken collar bone and a woman with a nasty foot injury.
Bus_Accident.jpg
 
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jukebox said:
This mishap took place on the canal bridge in Lode Lane Solihull. The single decker travelling from Solihull had just crossed the bridge which was very narrow at the time and on a slight bend, and swerved to avoid the double decker. The road was wet and slippery as it was the first rain for several weeks and the bus skidded, hit the bank and rolled over. I was on the single decker making my way to the front to get off at the Rover Works when it happened. Fortunately the side windows broke and many of us fell out onto the road otherwise we may have been crushed. I believe the only injury was someone who had a broken collar bone. I'll try and find the exact date - it would have been between 1947 and 1949.

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Fantastic photo. Trevor and I both drove on the 175 in the 1960's/70's by which time the road had been widened and the bridge renewed to as it is now. I didn't know of this accident so thank you for posting about it. It would be interesting to know the number of the single deck involved.
 
The accident described in post #1418 was on 27th May 1949 (I have amended the post). Unfortunately the original photo isn't clear enough to see the registration number of the single decker.
 
The single decker is an S6 type, registrations HHA 601-700, new 1946. Not an accident I'd heard of, either.
7th of May 1949 was a Friday, (also the death day at 55 of Robert L Ripley, of Ripley's "Believe it or not").
 
Image (5).jpgI have a bad feeling that I have posted this before but I can not find it anywhere. It is a 'horse bus entering Paradise Street from Easy Row about 1910. It says that the BMMO was was formed in 1904 and after an unsuccessful trial over three years using motor buses they reverted to horse buses and carried on with them until1912 when a reliable electric-petrol bus was introduced.
 
Not a picture I've seen before Stitcher, it places the Canal offices position relative to Broad Street for me.
Yes those facts about reverting to horse buses is correct other than the date which was 1907, only a few had been replaced anyway as the motor operation was just experimental.
The best motors were subsequently moved down to Deal in Kent, where BMMO started a subsidiary company called Deal & District, which subsequently became (after amalgamation with other companies down there) the East Kent Road Car Company.
 
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Have not seen that before. Always amazed how the passengers seemed to ride on top with abandon. Looks a bit too tippy for me. Hard to imagine how many horses must have been around in those days.
 
Because everything was much slower in those days. accidents as we know them would have been non-existant I suppose Rupert, but as you say those horse buses do look very unstable.
 
Some time ago I posted on this thread a comment about Liyell Ltd a bus operator trading under the "Midland" name with allover red livery. It has just been announced that the company with its 61 vehicle fleet has been taken over by Arriva Midlands
 
...and I thought that was going to be the former Midland Red Kidderminster and Redditch areas, which Firstgroup wants to dump, er...sell.
 
ccc.jpeg-----ccc2.jpeg I do not have a date for these.
I know that there is/was a couple of pics of gas powered buses somewhere so I hope these are different.
 
Further to my earlier post about Arriva taking over Liyell trading as "Midlnad"

[h=1]OFT examines Arriva takeover[/h]
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The Office of Fair Trading is examining the take over by Arriva of Liyell of Wednesfield, which trades as Midland. It is asking “whether this acquisition has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.”

Midland operates 60 buses and has 110 employees. The takeover was announced by Arriva in August. Arriva has in the meantime given undertakings to the OFT that it will not make any changes to the Midland business, nor will it make any move to integrate it with its own Arriva Midlands operation. Comments on the takeover have to be made to the OFT by 18 October.
 
Lloyd said:
George John Rackham, b. 10th August 1885 at Shropham, Norfolk.
d.4th q. 1974 Chiltern.
See below for more on Rackham.
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Lloyd/Thycaline. Chaps, there is a Midland Red connection actually, going back to 1906 Rackham joined Vanguard as a 21 year old draughtsman. At that particular moment in time, the Vanguard backers were in fact, the same Birmingham chaps who had started BME/BMMO and the pre-BET "chief engineer" of BME/BMMO, George Pollard, was by now chief engineer at Vanguard.
 
I do not know if anyone has noticed this before and that is that the photo on page 13 of Malcolm Keeley,s book Midland Red Bus Garage of the Birmingham General Omnibus Dept, Taunton Road Brum still exists have a look at Google Earth, the chimney brest appears to me the same that plus I have plotted the building with the Kelly's Directory's if so then does this make it a contender for the oldest transport related building in Brum still standing ? the earliest I have traced this building back to is 1899
 
I assume you refer only to road transport, as many canal and railway structures far predate horse bus and tramway properties.
Witton Tram Depot, originally a steam tram depot was built in 1882.
Silver Street (Kings Heath) steam tram depot (now International Stock) was built 1887.
The Farmfoods shop at Coventry Rd/Yardley Rd jcn (formerly Staples, and earlier a car showroom) was also a steam tram depot from the same era.
 
This is what the place looks like now https://www.flickr.com/photos/dofartshavelumps/9220389475/

horsencart said:
I do not know if anyone has noticed this before and that is that the photo on page 13 of Malcolm Keeley,s book Midland Red Bus Garage of the Birmingham General Omnibus Dept, Taunton Road Brum still exists have a look at Google Earth, the chimney brest appears to me the same that plus I have plotted the building with the Kelly's Directory's if so then does this make it a contender for the oldest transport related building in Brum still standing ? the earliest I have traced this building back to is 1899
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Thanks David. I like the outfit of the man posing in front of the bus, looks like suitable driving clothes. Viv.
 
That was probably the conductor. Before 1944 the drivers and conductors wore different uniforms as they reported to two different managers who reportedly were not on speaking terms with each other.
 
The man standing by the bus is either a driver, or an engineer foreman, by the riding boots which they would wear. Conductors would usually wear more normal footwear.
David is right, the divers were employed by the engineering department under Loftus George Wyndham-Shire, whilst conductors were traffic dept men under Orlando Cecil Power. The two had a BIG falling out just before WW1, which was never resolved even when Shire retired in 1940.
The bus is brand new in the photo, it hasn't even had the lifguard rails fitted between front & rear wheels.
The location isn't known to me, but it could be just before delivery from the Tilling Stevens factory in Maidstone, Kent. It certainly isn't the stables at Bearwood, or the 'motor garage' in Tennant St, Ladywood.
 
On Saturday 21st September there will be a local history exhibition in St Mary's Church Hall, Bearwood Road/St Mary's Road. According to the information I have there will be some exhibits relevant to the Midland Red. Don't have any more details.
 
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