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See Birmingham by Post Card

Its too blurred & pixellated to see clearly - the original or a better scan might be better - but I think the route shown is "PORTLAND ROAD 7". The bus is one of the 1930/1 AEC Regents, and Colmore Row is one way so its post 1933.
The original is extremely blurred, while I don't want to argue with your dating, the Valentines serial number is clearly recorded in their archives as 1927, but they could have reissued and even rephotographed but kept the same serial number. Nothing is straightforward in the postcard world.

Bob
 
From the Iron Room, Birmingham Libraries...

“The Clive Davies postcard collection [MS 2703] consists of over 8000 postcards, and provides an illustrated history of Birmingham and surrounding suburbs, and of the production history of post cards, through a series spanning from the late 19th century, through to the 1990s.”

 
Another pre-1915 view. A curiosity is the street lighting. There are low level lamp posts with gas lighting and high level lamps. I wonder if the high level were new fangled electrical ones? Presumably they would be difficult to service and light at that height by the lamp lighter - assuming there was one of course.
 
Clevedon Road had a single tram track as can be seen in the photo (post 1971). This was the outbound track to Cannon Hill, route 37. Due to the narrow streets in most of of Balsall Heath trams only ran in one direction on many roads, returning t town using another road. This earned the area the nickname of the Chinese Railway.
 
Another pre-1915 view. A curiosity is the street lighting. There are low level lamp posts with gas lighting and high level lamps. I wonder if the high level were new fangled electrical ones? Presumably they would be difficult to service and light at that height by the lamp lighter - assuming there was one of course.
Our road has 'high-level' lighting (yellow) and 'low-level' lighting (white LED). The low-level lighting is a relatively new thing, we have gone through many generations of high-level lighting, heads, arms and poles being replaced singly, in pairs and altogether.
The high-level lighting in Lichfield Road would have been serviced using tower wagons, something that survived into the early 1960s I think in Birmingham. Nowadays the low-level lighting doesn't even have an arm to prop a ladder against. Either a hydraulic platform would be used or, in the case of the ones in our street, they are made to swing down to the horizontal.
 
The high-level lighting in Lichfield Road would have been serviced using tower wagons, something that survived into the early 1960s I think in Birmingham. Nowadays the low-level lighting doesn't even have an arm to prop a ladder against. Either a hydraulic platform would be used or, in the case of the ones in our street, they are made to swing down to the horizontal.

The dreaded H&S legislation has banned Tower wagons in favour of 'Cherry Picker' hydraulic platforms, likewise ladders are a no-no - it has to be scaffolding towers now.
 
Another pre-1915 view. A curiosity is the street lighting. There are low level lamp posts with gas lighting and high level lamps. I wonder if the high level were new fangled electrical ones? Presumably they would be difficult to service and light at that height by the lamp lighter - assuming there was one of course.

The tall poles supported the tramway overhead wires, not lighting (although later they would hold the electric street lights).
 
The tall poles supported the tramway overhead wires, not lighting (although later they would hold the electric street lights).
Look closer at the Lichfield Road photo! The pole on the right-hand side behind the tramway pole is most definitely a lighting column.

lpole.jpg
 
Sorry, hadn't noticed that. Made at the MacKenzie & Moncur foundry at Edinburgh, these (former) Arc lamp poles were used by Handsworth UDC as well as many other places in the country, Some survive in Westminster, I believe, and one of the Handsworth ones was rescued for the tramway Museum at Crich, Derbyshire and erected there. Its not there now, I hope it has survived.
 
Looking again at the photo in post 1968 there does seem to be only one high level electric lamp, at the road junction. Today it might well be a camera! :eek:
 
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