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Birmingham Steam Buses 1824-1910.

[Three more lovely pictures from the New York Public Library "Digital Gallery" treasure trove, which the Thylacine has had all day to search while you Poms have been asleep! ;)]

[1] Steam fire engine 1830 [circa 1920s cigarette card].
[2] "Puck's Conception of Mr Bergh's Steam Flogging Machine" [useful to punish "off topic" wanderers].
[3] One of "our gurls" favouring us with a rare visit to play the "Aerephon" steam pianoforte [Illustrated London News (26 May 1861)].
 
Lovely, Lovely, Lovely - a rare spotting of an Aeolipile, several Calliopes, a steam flogging machine (one being punished for "defeating Hancock") and my personal favourite, the Aerophon - all on one page!!!

I like the Aerophon so much that I would prefer to be dragged with one in a private carriage behind the BSB Penfold "not-Heaton" stretch steam charabanc - just me, a Vapeur de Armagnac in one hand, a crinolined "caresser" (surely player is too common a word for such an organ) in the other, the smell of steam engine in my nostrils, cinders in "my eyes" and the dulcet tones of the Aerophon being caressed in my ears - what more could one ask?
 
The "steam fire engine 1830" pictured in post #823 was designed in 1829 by John Ericsson (1803-1889) and built by John Braithwaite (1797-1870). (Neither of these Wikipedia biographies gives a very good account of the fire engine.) It was in fact a horse-drawn steam-powered water pump. It was successfully employed in London for a few years, but was very unpopular with the firefighters, and ended up being destroyed by a mob. It is pictured again below, along with a later (1832) model which was exported to Prussia.
 
Of course a steam-powered Aerophon is an aerophone (any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding considerably to the sound). It is one of the four main classes of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. I attach an image of a Aerophon from 1684 (drive unspecified)

It is distinct from the steam-driven Aerophone, a Thomas Edison invention for upsetting your fellow steam-carriage travellers https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31473&p=335114#post335114

Perhaps the most impressive is the Pyrophone, also known as a "fire/explosion organ" or "fire/explosion calliope" is a musical instrument in which notes are sounded by explosions, or similar forms of rapid combustion, rapid heating, or the like. It is similar to the steam calliope, but the difference is that in the calliope the combustion is external to the resonant cavity, whereas the pyrophone is an internal combustion instrument rather than playing the exhaust. I attach a picture of The German composer Wendelin Weissheimer (1838-1910) playing a Pyrophone or Flammenorgel.
 
So the pyrophone-flammenorgel is to the calliope as the petrol bus is to the steam bus.

[Motorman, we need you to gently steer this thread back from "transports of delight" to public transport. HELP PLEASE! :)]
 
Aidan said:
Lovely, Lovely, Lovely - a rare spotting of an Aeolipile, several Calliopes, a steam flogging machine (one being punished for "defeating Hancock") and my personal favourite, the Aerophon - all on one page!!!

I like the Aerophon so much that I would prefer to be dragged with one in a private carriage behind the BSB Penfold "not-Heaton" stretch steam charabanc - just me, a Vapeur de Armagnac in one hand, a crinolined "caresser" (surely player is too common a word for such an organ) in the other, the smell of steam engine in my nostrils, cinders in "my eyes" and the dulcet tones of the Aerophon being caressed in my ears - what more could one ask?
Click to expand...

...and with Winifred Steamwell tinkling the ivories on her 'other' Aerophonlol
 
:D That's really not helping Motorman...

Think we need to gaze into the inner beauty of the Church Wagon once more, deep cleansing breaths, now focus people... :stare:

This thread, in its more stable moments, has unearthed many leads that have yet to be followed. I, for one, would like to find out more about Church's Engineer and more about the steam buses that were made in Brum... or nearby... or drove through... or nearby...And the engineers involved...or just someone who saw them..or had an opinion of them. - what they may have drank, how they spoke, the cartoons they read, the dresses (or possibly trousers) they wore and what musical accompaniment they chose is only a diversion from the serious historical import of this thread.
 
The Ogle-Summers Steam Carriage Comes to Birmingham (8 September 1832).

[Alec Jenson states: "The first steam coach to visit Birmingham was built by Ogle and Summers and it had been working not only in London but also in Southampton. It arrived in Birmingham on 8 September 1832 direct from Oxford, having travelled at a speed of from ten to fourteen miles per hour." His authority is "Early Steam Carriage" by H W Williams in the Birmingham Weekly Post (10 August 1945). I was lucky to find a contemporary (enthusiastic if somewhat naive) account from The Saturday Magazine (6 October 1832). Sadly the "sketch" is missing from the e-text.]

Steam Coach.

I have just returned from witnessing the triumph of Science and Mechanics, by travelling along a hilly and crooked road from Oxford to Birmingham in a Steam Carriage. I enclose you a hasty account of our journey, and a sketch of this truly wonderful machine. It is the invention of Captain Ogle of the Royal Navy, and Mr Summers his partner, and is the first and only one that has accomplished so long a journey over chance roads, and without rails.

Its rate of going may be called twelve miles an hour, but fifty, or perhaps a hundred, down-hill, if not checked by the Break, a contrivance which places the whole of the machinery under complete controul.

The starting from Oxford was a grand spectacle. It was St Giles's fair day; therefore, all the population, including thousands from the surrounding villages, thronged the streets, reminding the beholder of the multitudes at Juggernaut; whilst the ponderous machine, like the idol's car, appeared ready to crush its votaries. Care was, however, taken to make them understand the danger, and a passage being cleared, away went the splendid vehicle through that beauteous city, as the rate of ten miles an hour, which, when clear of the houses, was accelerated to fourteen. Notice of the intended journey having been carried forward some days before, every town presented an appearance somewhat similar; but it was not till it reached Birmingham, that real assistance, as well as applause, was required, and willingly was it granted.

Just as the vehicle was entering the town, the supply of coke being exhausted, the steam dropped; and the good people, on learning the cause, flew to the frame, and dragged it into the inn-yard of the Hen and Chickens.

[We should remember (as Prosser reminds us: see post #510) that W H James was working as an engineer at Coburg Place, Winson Green, in the years 1824-1838. In this period he designed and built at least two steam carriages, though they don't seem to have been trialled in or around Birmingham, which is a bit strange. The Ogle-Summers steam carriage appears to have proceeded from Birmingham to Liverpool (one report even mentions Edinburgh). I can't find a picture of the Ogle-Summers vehicle that came to Birmingham. Below is a diagram (from Fletcher) of their first carriage (it is the "improved model" that we are looking for). One imagines that Dr Church and the Heaton brothers visited the "Hen and Chickens" to view this pioneering vehicle. (Where was the "Hen and Chickens" inn in 1832? HELP PLEASE! :))]
 
I fear I cannot feel at ease with these regressions to the first generation steam carriages so in answer to the earnest request of our esteamed threadmaster I give you a contempory of our own, ladeeez and gentlemen, our very own, your favourite and mine - the Beliss & Morcom Brummie Steamer - please welcome to the Palace of Steam Varieties "A National Steam Car Co. Clarkson Steamer". Band strikes up 'Doing the Lambeth Steam' amid cheers from the audience, who then join in to sing along to the Calliope now rising up from below the stage. The Clarkson driver then joins in keeping time to the music on his bulb horn (after giving the two children in the cab with him back to their parents). This would be a Private Hire to remember for all those on board, they thought they were going to Safend-on-Sea.
 
The best known Hen & chickens was at 130 New St, on the south side between Peck Lane & worcester St.
 
Clarkson's "National" steam bus co's depot

Nunhead Steam Bus Garage — running out of steam!

"In 1911 the National Steam Car Co Ltd opened a bus garage at 20-26 Nunhead Lane in South Peckham. The Clarkson steam buses were fired by paraffin and served routes from the area to Shepherd's Bush and Hampton Court. The company ceased operating in 1919 and the garage was acquired for petrol buses by first the London General Co and then the LPRT.

London Transport closed the garage in 1954. The garage was used from 1958 to the 1970s by Banfield's Luxury Coaches. After then it was used by a drinks wholesaler.

In 1997 plans for total demolition were put forward but were opposed by the Peckham Society who asked GLIAS to help with mounting a case. The surviving structure with its three central bays with a central clock turret is now believed to be the sole survivor of the this type of bus garage in Britain. The original aims of total demolition to build new sheltered housing were counted by John Beasley of the Peckham Society. The case was called to the Regeneration & Environment (Planning & Traffic schemes) sub committee of Southwark Council in May 1999. The decision was taken that demolition would be allowed but that the distinctive central portion with clock turret should be retained in the redevelopment. The developers are now objecting to this on the basis of cost."

I think this is the redeveloped site, if so it looks as if the central tower has been moved to one side. I can't find a pic of the garage in bus days, although I saw one some time ago.
 
The Hen and Chickens.

mikejee said:
The best known Hen & chickens was at 130 New St, on the south side between Peck Lane & worcester St.
Click to expand...

[Thomas T Harmon. Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham. Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, [1885]. Page 106.]

The Hen and Chickens. — In Aris's Gazette of 14 December 1741, there appeared an advertisement, that there was "to be let, in the High Street, Birmingham, a very good-accustomed Inn, the sign of the Hen and Chickens, with stables, etc". Inasmuch as this advertisement also said "there is a very good Bowling Green joining to it", it has been quoted by almost every writer of local history as an evidence of the popularity of those places of recreation, or as showing the open aspect of the then existing town. The establishment is believed to have been on the site of Messrs Manton's cabinet warehouse, the adjoining Scotland Passage leading to the stables, and possibly to "the Bowling Green". In 1798, the tenant, Mrs Lloyd, removed to a new house in New Street, and took the Hen and Chickens' title with her, the place becoming famous as a posting-house, and afterwards, under Mr William Waddell, as one of the most expensive coaching establishments in the Midlands. A mere list only, of the Serene Highnesses, the Royalties, Nobility, and celebrated characters of all kinds, who have put up at this hotel, would fill pages, and those anxious for such old-time gossip, must refer to S D R's book, as before-mentioned. At the close of 1878, the premises were acquired by the "Birmingham Aquarium Co Ltd", who proposed to erect a handsome concert-room, aquarium, restaurant, etc. The old building has been considerably altered, and somewhat improved in appearance, but the aquarium and concert-room are, as yet, non est, an Arcade being built instead.

[Wikipedia's New Street, Birmingham article mentions "The Hen and Chickens Inn (1798, James Wyatt), which was replaced by King Edward VI High School for Girls (1896, J A Chatwin), also demolished and moved to Edgbaston".]
 
Visiting by Steam 1833.

[From The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (Saturday 29 June 1833). Accessed via the National Library of Australia "Australian Newspapers" website.]

Visiting by Steam. — On Saturday last Mr Nathaniel Ogle, accompanied by several ladies, together with Mr Babbage, Mr C Bischoff, Mr Macgary, Mr G Burdett, and other gentlemen, proceeded by his steam-carriage from the Bazaar in King-street, Portman-square, to call on Mr Rothschild at his residence at Stamford-hill. The vehicle, although it has been rattled over the roads nearly six hundred miles, is in efficient condition. A small quantity of waste steam was perceptible at first, until the boilers and casing were hot. The distance, full seven miles, was cleared, notwithstanding the crowded state of the roads, in thirty-one minutes, and the sudden and narrow ascent to Mr Rothschild's made with perfect precision, which was hardly to be expected from so long and ponderous a vehicle. The party was most urbanely and kindly received by Mr and Mrs Rothschild, and, after having partaken of refreshments, returned to Baker-street.

[I wonder if "Mr Babbage" was Charles Babbage (1791-1871), the inventor of the programmable computer.]
 
...Mr Nathaniel Ogle, accompanied by several ladies...
Click to expand...

Can we assume, then, that as well as being a tremendous technological advance, the steam coach was the "chick magnet" of the day?
I wonder if "Mr Babbage" was Charles Babbage (1791-1871), the inventor of the programmable computer
Click to expand...

It would seem highly likely, reading the account provided and the facts of his father's banking intersts. I wonder if he ever considered a Steam-powered Computer?
 
If Charles Babbage was indeed a passenger in Nathaniel Ogle's steam carriage in 1833, then one of the ladies was possibly Augusta Ada Byron (1815-1852), later Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, and usually known as Ada Lovelace. She was introduced to Babbage on 5 June 1833! Ada Lovelace was a skilled mathematician. In 1842 (aged 27, as pictured below) she translated into English Italian engineer Luigi Menabrea's paper on Babbage's "analytical engine", and added notes which included the world's first computer program. Babbage's computers were of course completely mechanical, so would have been quite adaptable to steam power (what might have been!). For various reasons, the analytical engine was not built in Babbage's lifetime, and even today has not been completely constructed, though its feasibility has been established.
 
Didn't take long to get to Lovelace now did it?


August
Jackson's Oxford Journal (Oxford, England), Saturday, August 18, 1832 Issue 4138 - triumphant entrance to Abingdon
Morning Post (London, England), Wednesday, August 22, 1832 Issue 19252 - and Oxford
Morning Chronicle (London, England), Friday, August 24, 1832 Issue 19655 - Further account
 
September
Morning Post (London, England), Friday, September 07, 1832 Issue 19266 - through Woodstock, Stratford, Henley to Birmingham
The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), Wednesday, September 12, 1832 Issue 5226 - further account
Berrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester, England), Thursday, September 13, 1832 Issue 6766 - further account
The Derby Mercury (Derby, England), Wednesday, September 26, 1832; Issue 5228 - To Wolverhampton & Stone
The Morning Post (London, England), Thursday, September 27, 1832; Issue 19283 - and finally to Liverpool
 
October
The Lancaster Gazette (Lancaster, England), Saturday, October 06, 1832; Issue 1634 - Fulsome account by Ogle
 
Thanks, Molesworth! (You've given me a lot of work to do.)

I admire Ada Lovelace (one of the very few people after whom a programming language is named). I hope she was aboard the "Ogle" (apt name!) for that jaunt to Rothschild's little place! ;)
 
While Thylacine has got his head down, so to speak, here is an unusual Rail poster of 1956 along with a Chromolithographed music cover of ‘The Fly-by-night Waltzes’ by H Harvey George that shows two firemen sitting on a red steam-driven fire engine printed by Stannard and Dixon - to be played by aerophone no doubt.
 
Aiden, good to see my home city of natural steam producing waters Aqua Sulis aka Bath, getting another mention in the Palace of Steam Varieties:thumbsup:

Going back to our sponsor advert, the image used turns out to be the 1898 Gillet, a strange choice of bus because although licenced by the Metropolitan Police in 1899, it never ran in regular service.
 
Aidan said:
... a Chromolithographed music cover of ‘The Fly-by-night Waltzes’ by H Harvey George that shows two firemen sitting on a red steam-driven fire engine printed by Stannard and Dixon.
Click to expand...

I don't know if that's based on a real steam fire engine, but i passes more than a resemblance to "Taylor's Patent Steam Elephant" of 1862 (below) which would pull several wagons or carriages. It also went abroad, to Denmark I think, and this German picture is captioned "Dampfelefanten"
 
Good morning, steambuffs! It's interesting how persistent was the "three wheel" theme (à la Church). The 1862 Taylor "dampfelefanten / steam elephant" certainly warrants further research. I wonder if any went to Africa or India? ;)

I'm going to transcribe the Lancaster Gazette (6 October 1832) article on the "Ogle" first, as it is by the proprietors themselves (Nathaniel Ogle and William Alltoft Summers), and it describes the entire Millbrook (Hampshire) to Liverpool (Lancashire) journey. The other articles I will add in later to provide "local flavour". (Great finds, Molesworth: you certainly know what a mole's worth!) Watch this space.

[I was a bit distracted last night (Tassie time) by our general election count: it looks like almost a dead heat between the two major parties Labor (= British Labour) and Liberal (= British Conservative), with a few independents and one Green holding the so-called"balance of power". Very interesting, and not unlike the recent UK election in its closeness.]
 
Molesworth begins to form an idea for his secondary carriage - basically knock together the hollow bodywork of the Universal Exhibition pachyderm of 1889 that disappeared from the Moulin Rouge garden in 1906 with the running gear of the Dampfelefanten. Insert one Flammenorgel in the rear quarters for explosive accompaniment. Install a bevy of female "cads" to welcome those who make it to the top of the spiral staircase in the leg with a Vapeur de Armagnac...Woilà - transport fit for an Empire's son
 
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