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See Birmingham by Post Card
- Thread starter motorman-mike
- Start date
S
Stitcher
Guest
Thanks to all of you who posted those lovely old pctures. It took quite awhile to browse through them all. Very interesting. I am glad I looked at them in one of my more lucid moments because it is hard to be nostalgic when you cant remember anything.
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
These old pictures really are a delight. But I'm not so sure that I like grass in the town centre. Trees are fine - they give you shade and colour. But grass, I don't think so, it has to be mown or (much better) grazed by sheep, goats or something, but if it is, people will start to take short cuts over it and form a muddy path, unless you build a fence or hedge (also a dodgy idea, I think).
Peter
Peter
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I think you are probably right Peter. | do like New Street with its traffic free walkway, but wouldn't it look wonderful if Galloways was still standing.
Looks like with my comparison to the Paradise Street postcard that I've started a thread all of its own!
Although I little remember Galloways when it was standing it does looking back have an imposing prescence. That is why buildings become the unofficial street name rather than the one chosen.
I get very uncomfortable when I'm walking through areas that were once buildings where people worked or lived even. As though I'm trespassing on special ground.
Am I getting crusty?
Lloyd
master brummie
I always remember the old Christ Church as I cross that spot, and wonder what the first congregations would have thought if they could have known what would come later on the site.
W
Wendy
Guest
I can't believe they have put that 'beach' there again, especially with the summer we are having! sigh!
S
Stitcher
Guest
I just could not resist another lok at all these pictures. I dont suppose many of you will agree with me when I say that I prefer those old buildings to the monstrosities we have today. I no longer know anyone who goes into the city for shopping or anything else other than to catch a train or to change buses if their destination is cross city. I remember most of the buildings vividly because my mom, god bless her, used to take us into town for the CO-OP, Beehive, Fish Market, Bull Ring, Kings Hall Market, Lewis's, Greys and many others.
Again, can I say thank you to everyone who posted the pics.
Again, can I say thank you to everyone who posted the pics.
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Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Very nice pics, Phil.
I think Harborne is still a nice place. I had a distant relation who lived at 39 Moorpool Avenue, in one of those super little houses built in about 1912 for the Harborne Tenants - an early housing co-operative. He had always been an intellectual socialist, member of the Workers' Educational Association, the Fabian Society and that sort of thing, but he was quite a charmer. It must be nearly 60 years since I was last there, but it always seemed ideal to me, although it was no better appointed than the semis put up by the council and by the private builders in the 1930s. I suppose it was the layout and spaces between the houses that was so nice.
I have been meaning to have another look down there some time on my travels, but haven't made it yet. Thanks for the pics anyway.
Peter
I think Harborne is still a nice place. I had a distant relation who lived at 39 Moorpool Avenue, in one of those super little houses built in about 1912 for the Harborne Tenants - an early housing co-operative. He had always been an intellectual socialist, member of the Workers' Educational Association, the Fabian Society and that sort of thing, but he was quite a charmer. It must be nearly 60 years since I was last there, but it always seemed ideal to me, although it was no better appointed than the semis put up by the council and by the private builders in the 1930s. I suppose it was the layout and spaces between the houses that was so nice.
I have been meaning to have another look down there some time on my travels, but haven't made it yet. Thanks for the pics anyway.
Peter
Just this weekend, Mark Norton has opened up a Harborne thread in the "South Birmingham Businesses" section of his father's website, www.photobydjnorton.com
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
That is a nice picture, Phil. But what time of day or what day of the week, I wonder. Not so early, because all the stalls are so well dressed. Last Friday I walked up what used to be Petticoat Lane in London (which is now 95% rag trade) at 11.00 am, and the traders were just starting to empty their vans.
From a trader's view, though, a quiet spell is a money-loser, and can be very boring too.
Peter
From a trader's view, though, a quiet spell is a money-loser, and can be very boring too.
Peter
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Peter
The last time I was in London for a sightseeing trip only, we did both Middlesex St and Portobello Rd. I thought then how they had declined from in the sixties. I have never felt the desire to return since.
Even the markets in Birmingham went the same way. I think the day of market stall bargains have long gone.
Phil
The last time I was in London for a sightseeing trip only, we did both Middlesex St and Portobello Rd. I thought then how they had declined from in the sixties. I have never felt the desire to return since.
Even the markets in Birmingham went the same way. I think the day of market stall bargains have long gone.
Phil
motorman-mike
Brum visitor who stayed.
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
David Harvey in his "Nostalgic Look at Birmingham Trams, Vol 2", page 53 gives the full details to that picture:
The City of Birmingham Tramways Co Ltd opened the new electric tramway along the Pershore Road on 20 May as far as a temporary terminus just short of Fordhouse Lane, while the rest of the route to Cotteridge opened a month later on 23 June.
In the picture, car 242 stood opposite Elmtree Road at the entrance to the last passing loop. Just visible on the original black and white picture was the temporary paper sticker on the destination box which read "Stirchley & Breedon Cross". David adds that behind the fence on the right of the picture was the small chapel that stood on the corner of Mayfield Road.
That should satisfy all the anaraks.
Peter.
The City of Birmingham Tramways Co Ltd opened the new electric tramway along the Pershore Road on 20 May as far as a temporary terminus just short of Fordhouse Lane, while the rest of the route to Cotteridge opened a month later on 23 June.
In the picture, car 242 stood opposite Elmtree Road at the entrance to the last passing loop. Just visible on the original black and white picture was the temporary paper sticker on the destination box which read "Stirchley & Breedon Cross". David adds that behind the fence on the right of the picture was the small chapel that stood on the corner of Mayfield Road.
That should satisfy all the anaraks.
Peter.
Lloyd
master brummie
City of Birmingham Tramways Company car 242 on the newly opened Pershore Road route that would eventually go to Cotteridge. At the start, on 20th May 1904, the route ran to Mayfield Road, Stirchley, (where this photo was taken-Mayfield Road is to the side of the tram) only while the construction finished; thus the paper stickers on the destination box and the front dash which actually said 'Stirchley and Breedon Cross', the latter a bit further on!
CBT car 242 became Birmingham Corporation car 472 when the operation passed to the city in July 1911.
In this view the same car is at Cotteridge terminus - the paper stickers have gone, and the full route was opened on 23rd June 1904.
CBT car 242 became Birmingham Corporation car 472 when the operation passed to the city in July 1911.
In this view the same car is at Cotteridge terminus - the paper stickers have gone, and the full route was opened on 23rd June 1904.
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Lloyd
master brummie
We must have been reading the same pages at the same time, Peter!
I seem to recall someone (possibly the late Ray Coxon, Birmingham tramways expert extraordinaire!) telling me that the construction was complete at the original date of opening, but the line from Fordhouse lane to Cotteridge was declined authorisation by the examining authority because of the steep hill over the canal bridge by Lifford Lane: possibly extra braking gear was required. Certainly a disaster did occur on the bridge: in October 1942 car 821, left unattended at Cotteridge terminus, ran away and turned over at the bridge, destroying the upper deck.
I seem to recall someone (possibly the late Ray Coxon, Birmingham tramways expert extraordinaire!) telling me that the construction was complete at the original date of opening, but the line from Fordhouse lane to Cotteridge was declined authorisation by the examining authority because of the steep hill over the canal bridge by Lifford Lane: possibly extra braking gear was required. Certainly a disaster did occur on the bridge: in October 1942 car 821, left unattended at Cotteridge terminus, ran away and turned over at the bridge, destroying the upper deck.
motorman-mike
Brum visitor who stayed.
Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Yep, they keep getting better every time. Thanks Mike for that wonderful pic of a 44 tram and an ADC double-decker bus. At least it had pneumatic tyres by then, but it seems to have been suffering from dehydration. It must have been on the 1A route, as The Outer Circle route 11 and its early partner the 10 were run by single deck diddybuses, as far as I know until traffic built up, which I imagine was not before 1930. Shortly after that the rather crude roundabout and other islands (beloved of the then City Engineer and Surveyor [Sir] Herbert Humphries) were laid out.
The pic below shows what it was like after the 'improvements' were finished in 1932. Not a postcard, I'm afraid. The tram, incidentally, was either 451 or 452, built in 1903 at Kyotts Lake Road, Sparkhill. They outlasted the Acocks Green, and ended their working lives on the Perry Barr route on the last day of 1949.
Peter
The pic below shows what it was like after the 'improvements' were finished in 1932. Not a postcard, I'm afraid. The tram, incidentally, was either 451 or 452, built in 1903 at Kyotts Lake Road, Sparkhill. They outlasted the Acocks Green, and ended their working lives on the Perry Barr route on the last day of 1949.
Peter
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B
Beryl M
Guest
Lovely pictures all of them - Thank you - How well I remember the No. 11 Yellow outer circle bus - all memories
