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Yes Patty, it was a 39 bus, and it dates the picture, because the buses didn't replace the 3X tram until 1 January 1950 and the last tram on the Lichfield Road ran on 4 July 1953. Peter

What a lovely picture, though the lads look a bit intimating to me. That assembly hall was a marvellous space - the sort of thing the Victorians did and took in their stride. There wasn't much waste or extravagance there. Everything was there for a good reason, not just for cosmetic imagery. I...

Have you seen the lovely story Ron ('Smudge') Smith told in one of his superb books on Hockley history? Forgotten the details now, but he describes how his sister (I think it was), who was in the box office, let him in witlhout paying, (tut, tut). Marvellous stories and brilliant drawings. He's...

Sircharles, My dad taught in the Seniors. Mainly music and art, I would think. Do you remember Harold Martin, the wood- and metalwork teacher, who had his own workshop on the right as you came in. He also got the lads to build a greenhouse and grow their own stuff. He was quite a good violinist...

My oh my, Michael, your Aston pictures have stirred some memories. I was very taken by the pic in your posting No 3, not being able to identify the location, even after Lloyd's very informative contribution in posting No 7. I also looked at the lamp post, and thought first of Handsworth UDC...

I think I remember your dad although I never went to the school, except because my dad was a teacher there from 1933 to 1957. You probably wouldn't remember him. And how come you have had blond hair for over 50 years, then? Perhaps it was the scent from the gasworks. Peter

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...

That is a teaser, Phil. First thoughts were that it would be the Big Top, but that late-1940s Midland Red bus has a lot of dents along the nearside roof domes, which I would have thought dated it to the late 50s at the earliest. That kiosk looks familiar, but how about the three old-fashioned...

Here is one of my favourite family pics, which I took on a trip to visit my gran in Grasmere Road, Handsworth in August 1965. There's also our two kids, Chris and Tom, then 4 and 2 respectively, and my wife Barbara, who became my old nan's best friend by then. 43 years later, we all went to...

Thanks, Alf. I still can't remember the name of the chap who was in charge of Brum the canal improvements before Telford, but I'll find it soon. So far as the pier is concerned, Thanks for the link to the national Piers Society. It's got me started again in that direction. Peter

Although I have a great affection for the buses I remember in Brum 50 years ago, I can't say I have much for the metrobus, although I suppose it is the last product of the old MCW works. I can remember London Transport introducing its first Metro Scania in 1975/6 - but this was always regarded...

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...

Does Burnham on Sea still have a pier. Not long ago I read on the internet that the pier was designed by the same man who upgraded the Birminghanm Canal through Smethwick before Thomas Telford took over in the very early 19th century. Forgotten his name for the moment. Peter

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...

I'm sure this subject has been covered before, starting with the same picture. It must have been taken on the last day/s of the accumulator cars because you can see the overhead pole and wires ready for the new system, fed by current from the old Corporation generating station (before the Summer...

Fascinating pictures, Wales, the one showing the backless house particularly. Was that after an air raid, or was it because of an over-zealous builder, or just neglect? If you go round the smaller towns in what was East Germany, you find many sites, now vacant, in rows of older buildings. It...

Your Meccano job is fantastic. I remember trying to build a Bristol open-top tram from my limited collection of Meccano pieces, but I was only 10 or 11 at the time, and there was a war on. Your diecast model pics are fascinating. I bought two white metal kits of the PD2 and tried to doctor them...

John 70, I reckon you're spot on. Peter 75

Mike, Just been looking at that last pic of Corporation Street in about 1949, and I'm wondering if that suspended street light is gas or electric. As I remember, there was at that time still quite a lot of gas lighting in the city centre. I believe it was quite efficient, but somebody had to go...

The surviving Soho Foundry owes much to its predecessor, Manufactory at old Soho, in Handsworth, where Factory Road becomes St Michael's Hill. This was built over an old watermill of Hockley Brook, and its brilliant originator, Matthew Boulton later met James Watt, who introduced steam power...