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New Street City Centre Birmingham

Birmingham Corporation erected all the bus stops within the city boundary for both the Corporation buses and Midland Red buses so they used the standard Birmingham Corporation post but substituted a round Midland Red flag. Normally Midland Reds inbound into the city stopped at Corporation stops but had their own stops outbound. I think this stop was because it was alighting only as it was the last stop with Midland Reds then turning right into New Street to load for routes to Walsall and Sutton Coldfield. By 1964 the Midland Red bus station would have been built so the terminus would be just one more stop to the bus station so no one would wait for a bus here.
Perhaps that is what he told Dad, selective hearing, he was a strange man, although he knew I was interested in buses, he did not appear to be, never invited me to the garage or anything like that and could not or would not answer my questions on the new buses etc (circa late 40s)

Bob
 
I think you are referring to this type of bus stop from a Phyllis Nicklin photo in Moseley
View attachment 147566
You will notice that this is the old type of white on blue sign. Later signs had blue on white. The actual post I particularly remember of this shape was near where I lived as a boy and what was odd to me was that it was on the 201 Midland Red bus route which crossed over the city boundary onto the Worlds End Estate in Quinton. In Smethwick and Oldbury on the main part of its route, there were standard Midland Red concrete posts with a square Midland Red flag.
You legend, exactly what I meant, but how odd that stop plate looks, it was obviously waiting for the blue on white, of course I do realise how difficult it must have been for us not knowing then (like our lucky children later) that because there ws not a picture of a bus, it was where one caught a bus.........cynicsm

Bob
 
You legend, exactly what I meant, but how odd that stop plate looks, it was obviously waiting for the blue on white, of course I do realise how difficult it must have been for us not knowing then (like our lucky children later) that because there ws not a picture of a bus, it was where one caught a bus.........cynicsm

Bob
I think that this type of bus had the the blue replace with red compulsory stops example half way down a hill to stop speeding or stops that was usually had a number of passengers pick up. Blue was request stops where passengers had to signal that they required the bus or tram
 
Ell,

Nice photograph of the old Shell-Mex offices (in the 1950s) on the right, but your weather looks much like ours at the moment.

Maurice :cool:
 
Ell,

Nice photograph of the old Shell-Mex offices (in the 1950s) on the right, but your weather looks much like ours at the moment.

Maurice :cool:
I worked for Shell-Mex and BP Ltd at Five Ways in the second half of the 1960s. I think it was about a year or so after the move to Five Ways that I started as most of the rest of my work colleagues still spoke about Bennett's Hill as a very recent move.
 
My brother-in-law was there from about 1955 to 1959, David, and when I moved from BCT to Lucas GKS, he followed me! But we both moved south to Dorset in early 1961, so our paths would never have crossed. :)

Maurice :cool:
 
Two images of the run up to Christmas. The first in December 1958, the second in December of the following year. Where exactly was the first image taken ? (Images from the British Newspaper Archive). Viv.

8C7F2C6E-5B10-474A-A919-3AAF20129246.jpeg

C0F9E1D2-DD72-43BB-99A8-781EC97D8141.jpeg
 
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A slight quirk I have just noticed. In 1959 the Mayor of Birmingham was John Lewis, and 60 years later the ex managing director of the firm John Lewis is Mayor of West Midlands
 
Wondering if the shop in the first image post #354 was Woolworths, top end of New Street. The steps at the rear could be the exit onto Stephenson Street, Viv.
 
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