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Birmingham Trams

Lloyd said:
The 'chara' is heading out of Birmingham - more likely on an express service to Cheltenham, Bristol and/or the south west.
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Did not recognise use the direction, it was a tongue in cheek comment mainly because to see them in street scenes is unusual, I remember them as the bus my grandmother loved when she took me on one of her regular summer outings and the two places I mentioned were her favourites, I had not seen them used on Express routes, because living in Erdington I was used to the red roofed GHAs on the X99 etc. Thanks for clarifying matters.

Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
I had not seen them used on Express routes, because living in Erdington I was used to the red roofed GHAs on the X99 etc. Thanks for clarifying matters.

Bob
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By 'Express' I meant long distance, like London, Manchester etc, as well as coastal destinations in the summer.
 
Car 407 was new in 1912 and withdrawn in 1949. Soon repaired i guess.
It was was on route 50 which went from High Street to Moseley Road/Trafalgar Road. The route 50 was withdrawn in 1949 and converted to bus operation.
 
This eBay postcard shows a tram in Colmore Row in the 1940s ( according to the eBay description). I notice the destination boards above the shelters are covered over. And what on earth is the man doing crouching to the right of the tram ? Viv.

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Actually the trams on the Soho Road stopped running in 1939. During the war all the signposts were taken away. This probably also applied to the destination signs on the tram shelters. This was when there was a fear that German paratroops could land in the centre of Birmingham and get on a no. 74 tram to Dudley. I am only partially joking here.
 
looks to me viv as though the man is finishing laying those white strips although i have no idea what they are for

lyn
 
My guess it is just prior to WW2 and the covered signs are part of the preparations for changeover to buses . There do not seem to wartime markings on the bus or the tram The person crouching is open to guesses but I think it is connected.
 
1939. As has been said, the signs on the shelters are covered due to the change over to buses (the new bus route signs are probably under them). The poster in the upstairs window of the tram is the notification to the public of the trams finishing on Soho Road, and details of the replacement buses. I'd guess that the man in the road is marking the road to segregate the traffic - the trams and the buses that replaced them ran opposite direction to the otherwise one way scheme in Colmore Row. Probably the last day of tramway operation on those routes, Saturday 1st April 1939.
 
This photo is supposed to be 1949. I think the lady to the right is a conductress. Maybe she was retained in the job post-WW2. Were many women kept on as clippies after the War ? Viv.

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When a a young boy, would go up the Licky's with dad on the tram from Edgbaston, the clippy was often a girl, Viv. this would be early 50's, my mom worked out of Harborne as a clippy in the mid 50's too.
 
Vivienne14 said:
This photo is supposed to be 1949. I think the lady to the right is a conductress. Maybe she was retained in the job post-WW2. Were many women kept on as clippies after the War ? Viv.
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Car 424 probably in Hill Street, with the entrance to Queens Drive behind, at the city terminus of the 39 to Alcester Lanes End via Balsall Heath. Yes some women conductors were kept on after hostilities, but not replaced as they left until the late 50s or early 60s when staff shortages meant they were needed again.
 
Lloyd said:
Car 424 probably in Hill Street, with the entrance to Queens Drive behind, at the city terminus of the 39 to Alcester Lanes End via Balsall Heath. Yes some women conductors were kept on after hostilities, but not replaced as they left until the late 50s or early 60s when staff shortages meant they were needed again.
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Answer yes women did continue on the trams until they stopped running
 
As an aside to the Tram system in Birmingham my involvement in utilities in the 70’s ; the amount of redundant tram rails and associated infrastructure we came across when excavating to lay new pipe and services. These items were well laid and built and took some effort to remove.
On the positive side the volume of the old blue and grey granite setts that would be exposed and removed.
Where the majority were taken away as surplus, I recovered enough to build a lovely garden path and BBQ area in my first house . The setts were of a size (depth) you could cut them in half and double the surface area, a little hard work but the finish was wither it
 
I am looking for information on the "Parcels Express Messengers" run by Cain & Cartwright of 67/9 Stafford Street, Birmingham. Later operating as "Parcels Express Messengers Co. Ltd" Warwick Passage, Corporation Street, Birmingham, Can anyone help?
 

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There are some adverts for staff in the 1910s for the Warwick Passage address (no. 3) in the newspapers.
 
I have read in one of my books that there was a tram siding into the Midland Red bus garage at Bearwood for the purposes of handling parcels being carried on the Tramway Parcels Express service. I don't remember which book I read that so I cannot look it up.
 
I can find no mention of Cain & Cartwright in the Kellys that I have , though O do no have access to ones for 1905-1907, which might (seeing Pedros 1907 cutting above). However I do have some information on the Stafford st address and the firms there. which at one time had B.H.Cartwright as the proprietor. All the dates are publication dates of the directory and may refer to the year before
In the early 1870s George Howell had a tobacconist shop at 2 bull St. He was a receiving house for the Globe Parcels Despatch Co.. By 1882 he had expanded his parcels business and described himself as carrier & tobacconist, though still at bull St. by 1888 and until 1897 he was at 13 New Meeting St as George Howells & Co, railway carrier's agents., and from 1899-1900 the firm was Howells Parcel Express, 11 Dalton St, railway carrier's agents. By 1903 it was Howells Goods & Parcels Express, (B.H.Cartwright Prop.) 11 Dalton St, railway carrier's agents . They had moved to 67-69 Stafford St by 1904 and remained there (with B.H.Carwright as proprietor ) till at least 1923, but had disappeared by 1932.
From 1908 to 1923 Pitt and Scott Lts, foreign carriers, also worked from the address, as did The Simplex Carrying C. carriers agents, from 1921-1923) and in 1923 as did Carter Patterson , carriers, a later very well known firm .
Parcels Express Messenger Carriers, Warwick Passage. parcel carrier, are listed 1910-1913 , but not in 1908. By 1915 they apepar to have changed their name, or been taken over, and are called The Birmingham Motor Express Parcel Delivery Co., but have disappeared by 1921. In 1912 they advertised for aboy tom work for them and ride a tricycle, presumably making local deliveries
 
DavidGrain said:
I have read in one of my books that there was a tram siding into the Midland Red bus garage at Bearwood for the purposes of handling parcels being carried on the Tramway Parcels Express service. I don't remember which book I read that so I cannot look it up.
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I have seen a picture of it, tracks turning into an open yard that was later built over as part of the bus garage. It was immediately next to the site that became the Majestic cinema.
 
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