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Birmingham Advertisements - Early 20th Century

Lady Penelope

master brummie
Hi,

I've been asked to look for early 20th Century advertisements particularly connected to Birmingham. This is to do with the Cross-City Line, also known as The Spaghetti Line. The theme is around 1908.

If anyone has any pictures of posters etc. I'd be very grateful.

Many thanks,

Penny
 
There are lots on the "Advertising in the past" thread Penny. Might have to work through them for the period you're after - its a long thread. I'd post the link for you but seem to, somehow, have lost that function after a recent update on my tablet !
 
Perfect, thanks Viv. I tried all variations of Advertisements'/Adverts' in the search facility and have spent some time on 'Adverts of Yesteryear' but nothing really suitable. However, I shall now pass another happy hour. It keeps me out of trouble anyway!

Penny
 
Sadly Pen, quite a few of the adverts on the "Avertusing in the past" thread have no dates. But if there's any you can't work out, maybe we could try and help if there are any you're interested in without dates.
 
Thank you all. I found quite a few that might do and I'm only half way through! Plenty up for discussion at any rate. Here are a few names - Bird's Custard, Bournville, BSA, Bull Ring, Cadbury's, Dunlop, Hudson's Whistles, Kunzle, Kynoch, Lucas, Prince of Wales Theatre, GWR, & Wolsley Motors. Although, as you say Viv there are few dates, I've gone with the style of late Victorian as I don't expect things changed as quickly as they do today.

Radiorails, I'll definitely have a look at the 'trains' thread - that's a good idea as it's for a local station. I'm not actually sure what the ads are needed for as it's not 'my' station but the next one down the line but will report back Some of the members of the group went to see the new trains which are promised soon. Mind you, they've been promised soon for years!

Pedrocut, thank you - I didn't give you the full information, sorry! The stations between Lichfield and Erdington (possibly extending further depending on support) have been 'adopted' and various things are happening to make that stations more attractive. Regular litter picking takes place (at Chester Road station we live by the takeaway capital of the world I think) and all the litter from the takeaways and the houses converted to flats up the hill towards the Yenton end up under our bridge. Amazing what we find!

There were various ideas about what to call the line as an overall title, the Lunar Line was put forward among others which was felt to be a bit obscure and The Spaghetti Line was decided upon. I'm very familiar with Salford Bridge and the traffic problems which occurred and necessitated strong action - I worked in Aston Brook Street and Corporation Street and was always late for work at both places as the buses were stuck in the traffic. The trams at least had the right of way! Spaghetti Junction solved some of the problems but not all. I don't remember the building of the junction with affection as it destroyed the house my father was born in.

Again, thank you all.

Penny
 
 
Thank you all. I found quite a few that might do and I'm only half way through! Plenty up for discussion at any rate. Here are a few names - Bird's Custard, Bournville, BSA, Bull Ring, Cadbury's, Dunlop, Hudson's Whistles, Kunzle, Kynoch, Lucas, Prince of Wales Theatre, GWR, & Wolsley Motors. Although, as you say Viv there are few dates, I've gone with the style of late Victorian as I don't expect things changed as quickly as they do today.

Radiorails, I'll definitely have a look at the 'trains' thread - that's a good idea as it's for a local station. I'm not actually sure what the ads are needed for as it's not 'my' station but the next one down the line but will report back Some of the members of the group went to see the new trains which are promised soon. Mind you, they've been promised soon for years!

Pedrocut, thank you - I didn't give you the full information, sorry! The stations between Lichfield and Erdington (possibly extending further depending on support) have been 'adopted' and various things are happening to make that stations more attractive. Regular litter picking takes place (at Chester Road station we live by the takeaway capital of the world I think) and all the litter from the takeaways and the houses converted to flats up the hill towards the Yenton end up under our bridge. Amazing what we find!

There were various ideas about what to call the line as an overall title, the Lunar Line was put forward among others which was felt to be a bit obscure and The Spaghetti Line was decided upon. I'm very familiar with Salford Bridge and the traffic problems which occurred and necessitated strong action - I worked in Aston Brook Street and Corporation Street and was always late for work at both places as the buses were stuck in the traffic. The trams at least had the right of way! Spaghetti Junction solved some of the problems but not all. I don't remember the building of the junction with affection as it destroyed the house my father was born in.

Again, thank you all.

Penny
Nothing to add of substance, except that I used the cross-city line a lot in the 70s - 80s; I was just by Northfield station and my gf in Four Oaks - door to door service! Later I moved to Malvern while at Uni and could do Malvern - Uni - Four Oaks - it's like it was built for me. But today is the 1st time ever I've heard it referred to as the Spaghetti line - when did that happen?
 
Hi Everyone, just to clarify (I have a tendency to think everyone can read my mind and they can't). The term 'Spaghetti Line' was only coined very recently and not by the railway itself. In the same way that the line which goes to Stratford is known by some as the 'Shakespeare Line', the adopters wanted to give all the stations on the cross-city line, from Lichfield as far as New Street, an overall title to work with and as it goes through the Junction this was chosen. Each station has its own logo and the 'Spaghetti Line' has one too. In some ways each group of station supporters works independently and in others they work together as the 'Spaghetti Line'. Wylde Green Station and Erdington were opened in 1862 with an end of line station in Sutton (later extended to Lichfield) and our station in the middle was an afterthought, built a year later.

The term 'adopters' refers to a group of people who want to make the stations more attractive and keep them tidy. We are up against other forces as the station is just down the road from McDonalds, a chip shop two takeaways etc. We get lots of bottles and cans, broken glass, cartons etc. At Christmas one of our members made about 20 wooden Christmas trees. He also made over 100 'baubles' which the children at the local school painted. These looked wonderful and were much admired with people coming just to see the trees. Just before the holiday some bright spark broke the stars from the top of many of them.

My original post was to try to find some posters for a project that's being done at Wylde Green. My next move is to follow up Radiorails idea of some of the 'Trains' threads. Thank you Alan.

I'm sorry if I confused everyone over the name!

Penny
 
Don't know if this is of interest or even if it fits your time frame, but there's a lovely railway poster of Sutton Park. I think it's 1930s. Don't know about copyright either.The example below is watermarked.
 

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Reproduction copies seem to be on the net. such as
 
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