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Birmingham buses

MOF 68 turning from Navigation Street as HOV 935 swings into Hill Street with two passengers standing on the open platform... reminds me of those days when we all used to do that ...:rolleyes:
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Great picture, Phil, I used to use 48 route twice a day between the city and Albert Road, Kings Heath, though if I missed one I would occasionally use a 49 or a 50.

Maurice
 
MOF 68 (3068) new in 1953 and passed to the PTE in 1969. A Harborne garage bus I believe and was a Guy Arab IV. HOV 935 (1935), new in 1949 lasting with BCT until 1967. A Daimler.
Route 21 (Bordesley Green to Kingstanding) was an original route number, along with the 22, ( City to Bolton Road) which took over from tram route 22 in 1930. They were replaced by the 28 in 1935 although they ran under their original route numbers on short workings. The route 21 shown on the bus (MOF 68) was introduced in 1957. Extended to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in 1967. It took over from route 20 which commenced in 1957. Route 48, on the Daimler, was to the Maypole via Balsall Heath replacing tram routes in October 1949. Extended to Druids Heath in 1966. The photo must be between 1961 and 1966 it would seem as it has the gold style fleet numbers in the waistrail.
 
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I never knew about the 21 Bordesley Green to Kingstanding, must have been after I left, the Kingstanding buses when I was there were 29, 29a and 33 and I think 5 and 5a for Perry Common
 
Radiorails said:
MOF 68 (3068) new in 1953 and passed to the PTE in 1969. A Harborne garage bus I believe and was a Guy Arab IV. HOV 935 (1935), new in 1949 lasting with BCT until 1967. A Daimler.
Route 21 (Bordesley Green to Kingstanding) was an original route number, along with the 22, ( City to Bolton Road) which took over from tram route 22 in 1930. They were replaced by the 28 in 1935 although they ran under their original route numbers on short workings. The route 21 shown on the bus (MOF 68) was introduced in 1957. Extended to the Quenne Elizabeth hospital in 1967. It took over from route 20 which commenced in 1957. Route 48, on the Daimler, was to the Maypole via Balsall Heath replacing tram routes in October 1949. Extended to Druids Heath in 1966. The photo must be between 1961 and 1966 it would seem as it has the gold style fleet numbers in the waistrail.
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Like Eric I never knew about the 21, I always thought that was one of the Weoley Castle routes or was it the route that the model utility Guy Arab FOP bearing Bolton Road carried? The two on the platform are probably ready to drop off the platform at the top of Hill Street or was there a stop at the bottom?

Bob
 
I thought I had the pic below in this Buses thread but can't find it but I have it in another thread ... a good example of open platform riding!
oldMohawk said:
It's Corporation Street and that man on the bus platform reminds me that I often did that until buses with driver operated doors appeared and our jumping on and off moving buses ended
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I am sure that this photograph was taken in 1962. In one of my books there are two other photographs taken in the identical place; the only differences are the vehicles and passers by, everything else is virtually identical. In one of the other photos, a bus on route 55, a passenger on the platform can be seen.
HOV 813 (1813) a Daimler, new in 1949 lasting until 1963 The 14 group of routes commenced in 1933. During the late 1950's the city tried many demonstrator buses from Guy, AEC, Crossley, Leyland and Daimler. All usually ran on the 14 group services but a rare sight was one of them on other routes. The future orders for these companies depending on the outcome of the trials. Leyland and Daimler were the preferred choice and ten of each of these companies models - Atlantean and Fleetline - were bought for comparison purposes.
The DOC registered Leyland Atlantean was one and is on the 43 route which replaced trolley bus route 7, ( a former tram route) which was the very first trolley route in the city. WW2 curtailed the trolleys use and were stored for the duration, never operating in the city again. The exterior differences of the Atlanteans and Fleetlines were small both being built at Saltley. However the internal differences were more noticeable, the Atlanteans had tungsten bulb lighting and the Fleetlines the first with fluorescent lighting. They also introduced the TO CITY and FROM CITY box. That must have helped visitors to the city immensely. The winner was Daimler, who received an order for 300 Fleetline buses.
 
I never knew the 21 as a cross city route. If it had been it would in BCT days have had a different number on the reverse journey. What I do remember about that route is that it did not run along Broad Street but went to Five Ways via Holloway Head and Islington Row. On the other hand the night service NS21 did run via Broad Street as I remember going home on the NS9 and being followed by the NS21

I remember that in Harborne it turned left at the Green Man but I do not know its route after that
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about the original route 21. It was superceded by the 28 in 1935, as I mentioned in post 1383. The 21 was used only for short workings so would not have been cross city after that date. However there were cross city services operated by BCT which had the same route number in either direction. The 28 seems to qualify and most certainly the 29 and 29A did. Eventually, in the run up to PTE days, the 29/29A did get separate numbers.
 
The mention of night services reminds me that the only night service that went anywhere near where I lived was NS37 to Hall Green. Once at the city boundary there was a very long walk home. Fortunately the need to use that service was very occasional.
 
Radiorails said:
MOF 68 (3068) new in 1953 and passed to the PTE in 1969. A Harborne garage bus I believe and was a Guy Arab IV. HOV 935 (1935), new in 1949 lasting with BCT until 1967. A Daimler.
Route 21 (Bordesley Green to Kingstanding) was an original route number, along with the 22, ( City to Bolton Road) which took over from tram route 22 in 1930. They were replaced by the 28 in 1935 although they ran under their original route numbers on short workings. The route 21 shown on the bus (MOF 68) was introduced in 1957. Extended to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in 1967. It took over from route 20 which commenced in 1957. Route 48, on the Daimler, was to the Maypole via Balsall Heath replacing tram routes in October 1949. Extended to Druids Heath in 1966. The photo must be between 1961 and 1966 it would seem as it has the gold style fleet numbers in the waistrail.
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A small and trivial point, but i think you will find the the numbers on the waistrail where in black.
I was at Selly Oak depot when they moved them up from the bottom of one of the side panels and i cannot recall seeing them in gold.
 
Thank you for the reminder. Indeed they were black, gold would not have shown up on the cream. So used to seeing gold on BCT and Devon General you see. ;)
 
392 KOV, one of fifty Damler Fleetines , KOV 351 to KOV 400 (3351 - 3400) delivered in 1964/5. Some had windscreen variants. Most joined the PTE being withdrawn by 1980 except those, presumably from accident damage, were retired earlier.
 
Radiorails said:
Thank you for the reminder. Indeed they were black, gold would not have shown up on the cream. So used to seeing gold on BCT and Devon General you see. ;)
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No problem, they where certainly easier to see on the waistrail,particularly when parked in rows in the depot, but the gold lettering was a nice touch.
 
The old blue and yellow scheme of the corporation buses always looked smart to me, but why was the roofs always a rather dirty looking yellow, Tended to spoil the appearance, could they not get up top to clean them?
 
Primrose and cobalt blue, I believe are the colour names. As far as the roof colour is concerned BCT buses did have the primrose (cream) roofs up until WW2. They were painted a dark colour - some has a form of camouflage - during the war so I guess the transport department were able to make comparison of the ease of roof maintenance. The dark colour must have proven as more serviceable as they never reverted to the primrose roof colour after the war. The new colour was lighter than the wartime version. More modern form of mechanical painting probably gave the PTE buses the same roof colour as the body. The Midland Red had silver roofs prior to WW2 as did some provincial bus companies.
For most of the life of BCT it has to be said that Birmingham's buses always looked immaculate 99% of the time. Severe weather made up for the other 1%. ;);)
 
The colours in #1395 were set by me and my laptop .... ;)
There was an indistinct advert on the bus but I could not determine what it was so removed it. The original (from the forum's image host) is shown below.
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DavidGrain said:
I believe the roof colour post WWII was described officially as Khaki
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It was khaki and according to either David Harvey or Malcolm Keeley in one of their books was kept as standard because of its durability. How true this is I do not know, but I do know that after the war all the buses kept their khaki roofs and all new buses came with them.
Bob

PS Just decided to take out my cynical remark about snowflakes.
 
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farmerdave said:
I can read most of the advert but not all of it. "Look for the ------plus label on wash and wear". Dave
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I think the advert is for "camforfree plus" or "camforless plus", perhaps camfor was the company product name for camphor which I think was an alternative to mothballs. John
 
MOF 227 '00 Service Extra' on Fox Hollies Rd seems to be making a turn into Summer Rd as the driver and his mate look out at the camera. But why would they turn into Summer Rd when Acocks Green Bus Garage is 80 yds in front of them on Fox Hollies Rd ? No date for the pic but perhaps it was last day in service for the bus and they were doing a little swerve for the photographer !
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Aerial view showing where the bus was ....
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Actually I think the 17 only ran as far as Garretts Green Tech, became 68 when route extended to Lea Hall station. Had been 15B previously.
 
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