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Midland Red Early Days

Hugh, if you look at the buses thread you will see references to the gas trailers uses in Birmingham during WW2. They were not successful and were usually limited to one route only and that only when passenger traffic was the greatest.
 
HHG was also my grandfather. HHG separated from his wife and their daughters went with her while his only son Julian lived with him. Julian was a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and I am a Chartered Civil Engineer (ex Aston Uni) so engineering is in the blood. Another Julian Gregory was born in Birmingham just two months ago and is HHG's great great grandson. HHG in later years lived in Hampshire next door to my parents and had dogs, foxes and badgers in his house - they went in and out thro' the dog flap. I do have a photo of him as an old man if anyone wants a copy - not sure how well it will scan. I also have the original USA patent docs for his single wheel trailer dated 21/08/1917 and I wondered if the buses ever pulled these trailers. I know in rural Hampshire in the war the buses were powered by gas and I believe towed trailers ( albeit not single wheel ones). Incidentally I also have an original order for and brochures for these single wheel trailers. HHG appeared to be quite good at marketing and also took out patents around the world. Apparently HG was not easy to work with which was said about his father Alfred and probably the next two generations as well!! HHG's sofa is currently in Birmingham complete with badger claw marks in its leather. I am intrigued who JulesB is!!
I am interested to discover your research into the GREGORY family. I believe that George Johnson Gregory's wife, Ann(e/ie), was the daughter of John Elliott and Mary (nee Brown), of Croydon (who were my 3x-Gt-grandparents). I'm researching John and Mary Elliott's descendants, and would be interested to know some more about the Gregory line, to confirm, and add to my own research.

George Johnson Gregory and Anne Elliott married on 11th October 1843, at St John the Baptist, Croydon. A transcription of the marriage register gives their fathers' names as 'James Gregory' and 'John Elliott' (IGI).

John Elliott and Mary Brown married at St Mary, Newington, Surrey, on 21st April 1819 (Parish reg/IGI), and had 7 children. Anne was their second child, christened on 6th November 1822, at St John the Babtist, Croydon (IGI).

John and Mary Elliott's youngest child (my 2x-Gt-grandfather), Joseph John Elliott, was born on 14th October 1835, at Thornton Heath. Aged 16, he is said to have set sail for Australia, together with "his married sister and brother-in-law" (who I assume were Anne and George Gregory). JJE is said to have sailed "in search of gold".

After returning to England, Joseph John Elliott (in partnership with his future brother-in-law, Edmund Fry) was the founder of the photography firm, "Elliott and Fry". He married Lucy Elizabeth Fry in 1864. See; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_&_Fry & https://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/FryClarence.htm
 
2010-04-05 09:45:06

The Midland Red SOS QC "Queen Charabanc" 1927-1928.
[Corrections, additions and comments welcome.]

Only one batch of nineteen QCs was manufactured (in the second half of 1927 and early 1928). The "prototype" rolled off the production line in about July 1927 and was registered HA3666 (fleet number A667). Fourteen went to Midland Red and five to Trent Motor Traction Co Ltd (TMT). Nineteen suitable 30-seat open touring coach bodies (C60-78) were made (to Shire’s design under patent number 294,381) by Midland Red at Carlyle Works.

The five 1927 TMT QCs were given fleet numbers 600-604 and registered CH6256-6260. The chassis numbers were 501, 504, 510-512 and the bodies C66-70 (I don't know the exact correspondence between fleet, chassis and body numbers). Here are pictures of CH6256 (at the Lands End Hotel, Cornwall; you have to scroll down to find it - anyone know how to link directly to the picture?) and CH6259 (at the Clarendon Hotel, Oxford). Does anyone know the later history of the TMT QCs?

The fourteen Midland Red QCs were registered HA3666-3679. The other numbers were (respectively): fleet A667, A703, A713, A722, A724, A721, A732, A730, A733-734, A782, A780, A781, A735; chassis 390, 490, 505, 508, 514, 513, 516, 515, 523, 527-528, 522, 525-526; body C60-65, C71-74, C78, C76-77, C75. HA3666-3675 and HA3679 were made in 1927, the other three in 1928. HA3677-3678 (A780-781) were sold on immediately in 1928 to Northern General Transport Co Ltd (NGT) without entering service with Midland Red; fleet numbers A780-781 were re-assigned (to QL HA3719 and QLC HA4824 respectively). HA3667, HA3670, HA3675 and HA3679 followed in 1935. The remaining Midland Red coaches were withdrawn in 1935 and broken up in 1936-1937. Does anyone know the fleet numbers, registrations and later history of the NGT QCs?

Midland Red Volume 1 has pictures of HA3667 (pages 67-68), HA3669 (page 157) and HA3675 (page 68). Also on page 68 is a picture of the attractive BMMO "crest" that first appeared on the QC and continued to be used by Midland Red for many years).
 
Thanks for the information
My grandfather, Reginald Harry Davies, was a Midland Red bus driver in the 1920's and I attach a photo of my father and his brother stand in front of what was probably my grandfather's bus, registration HA3669. The date 1927 would tie in with the age of my father and brother. I also have some road safety medals awarded to my grandfather from that ear.132214
 
when i was apprenice one job was making the switch boxes for bmmo most of the electrics were supply'd by simms.
 
are harpers buses still around? i remember catching one from Burntwood to cars lane. every morning,it was a right boneshaker. many a time it broke down.so they put a coach on that route.it too was a wreck.you could see the road through the floor
 
Harper Brothers were acquired by Midland Red on 7/9/74. Midland Red had lost all its Birmingham and surrounding areas routes to the WMPTE so the acquisition gave it some strength north of the PTE area. Some of the older buses did not operate with the Red.
 
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I remember seeing a Harpers double decker (Fleetline or Atlantic) in Birmingham lower Bull Street, with the radiator cover at the nearside rear missing with the fan chain exposed. I looked around for a police officer to report it as a public safety risk but there was none around
 
A bus shelter serving Midland Red, which, I think was in Wolverhampton.
 

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I thought that the bus shelter looked familiar but could not palace it. I did not recognise it as Wolverhampton.
The old tram shelters, later bus shelters, are still in place in Worcester but as the street is pedestrianised they are used for bicycles.
 
when i was apprenice one job was making the switch boxes for bmmo most of the electrics were supply'd by simms.
Simms motor units. Where they in Devon St, Saltley?
I remember Simms units from my days at Lucas's in the 60's and my time at Tyburn Works Tyburn road, working on the buses in the 70's
I think I still have a Simms regulator somewhere.
 
I am attempting to research the MR Parcels Express service. Can any of of the learned bloggers on this thread point me in the direction of anything that might give some of the history of the parcels express until it folded on 2nd May 1980?
Still looking for information on the Parcels Express service, especially experiences of conductors or parcels agents.Early Stamp 1933.jpg
 
I may have mentioned these items before.

The Midland Red garage at Bearwood used to have a branch off the Bearwood Road tramline for the Parcels Express tramway service.

During a clearance at one point of old items from Bearwood a friend of mine rescued the accounts of the bus company for, I think, 1938 which included a hand written copy of the accounts for the Parcels Service. The largest item of expenditure during the year was Fodder for the horses followed by Wages for the employees. Sorry I am no longer in touch with that friend but I think he passed that on to someone in the Bromsgrove area who has an archive of Midland Red items, possibly the gentleman who runs the website http://midlandred.net/
 
This is a 1937/8 advert for Midland Red one day unlimited day tickets. These tickets excluded travel to the seaside. Didn’t know the Midland Red service went as far as the seaside. Viv.

2BBA21A3-AA5A-4625-8D73-352467C9B0D3.jpeg
 
Bit ambiguous about long distance services as I was able to use the tickets in the late 1950s on the X numbered services travelling to Nottingham, Northampton and Leicester. I believe after deregulation some doubledeckers even got to the Lincolnshire coast.
 
You would be surprised where the Midland Red went. They went anywhere where that was popular with their coach services,
Bit ambiguous about long distance services as I was able to use the tickets in the late 1950s on the X numbered services travelling to Nottingham, Northampton and Leicester. I believe after deregulation some doubledeckers even got to the Lincolnshire coast.
Agreed in the fifties did a number of long weekday journeys on the ticket, Nottingham, Leicester, Glloucester (via Cheltenham). No problems
Bob
 
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