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City Centre Photographs

Pedrocut said:
Travel smart.....Birmingham

https://www.smartertravel.com/dodgy-areas-birmingham-warnings-dangers/
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On another part of that web site above it says about Birmingham Canals

"Birmingham wouldn’t have become the industrial juggernaut it was without its canals. Miles upon miles of canals were built to transport water to the city’s factories"

Amazing to find out the canals were built to get water in to the city. And I thought they were to transport goods in and out the city. You learn something very day :-)
 
guilbert53 said:
On another part of that web site above it says about Birmingham Canals

"Birmingham wouldn’t have become the industrial juggernaut it was without its canals. Miles upon miles of canals were built to transport water to the city’s factories"

Amazing to find out the canals were built to get water in to the city. And I thought they were to transport goods in and out the city. You learn something very day :)
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I believe it to be Fakebook information - not uncommon it seems.
 
A wartime postcard shows Victoria Square. Someone had written 13/10/1944 on it by which date the allied armies had reached the german border and the americans were about to start an assault on Aachen.
Victoria Square 1944.jpg
 
But is it really 1944? I would assume that by then the sandbags that surrounded the town hall in the early years of the war would have disappeared, but was this really taken then, or earlier? There does not seem to be any masking of the headlights on the cars, though, again, had those precautions been stopped by then? Am asking out of interest, not because i have any reason to doubt the added date
 
I think the postcard was taken at an earlier date and for some reason someone wrote a date on it. The last air raid on Birmingham was in April 1943 so there was some relaxation. By October 1944 even the V1 bombardment on London and S.E. England had finished because the launch sites had been overun.
On the back of the card is a 'patriotic message' from the Minister of Production.
'TNT' ... 'Today - Not To-morrow!'
 
re posts1787/8/9 totally agree with them all...having said that only true brummies with a love of historic buildings would agree and i certainly do not view the past wearing rose tinted specs....yes we have to move on and yes the city and canals needed a good clean up which is great especially what has been done with the canals but come on now surely not at the cost of losing so many of our historical buildings which can never be replaced...that has always been and always will be my argument based on a purely historical view...

lyn
 
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Radiorails said:
I guess it is Birmingham (maybe was :rolleyes: ) as there is the distinctive road name plate that can be seen to the left of the bus drivers cab. I believe this road sign is unique to Birmingham, I have not seen one anywhere else.
PS: The photo could be somewhere on the city centre part of this route.
https://nxbus.co.uk/routes/west-midlands/B101/?timetable[day]=&
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I just looked at the time table, half hourly service that suddenly becomes 'then at frequent intervals' usually it gives the minutes past or to the hour, but what is a frequent interval, answers from you city dwellers, constantly aware as you are of the dangers of Lozells Road, Aston and other places of ill repute around the City, you probably experience many frequent intervals as well as senior moments and all those other perils that now exist, that did not when we were young. I must now warn my granddaughter of the dangers. I did not realise that America had its 'snowflakes' too. Sorry if it has gone off theme, it was the bus detail what did it guv

Bob
 
The picture in post 1807, if the post in the Town Hall thread (is correct - which I think it is, dates the post card as 1937, the year of the coronation for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Incidentally in the same thread, posts 423/424 refers to the brick walls and sandbags being built and removed respectively.
 
Looking through images of Victoria Square on the internet in an attempt to date the pic in #1807 I found this tinted postcard version of the same pic. I think those low rails by the town hall and council house were placed there in WW2 but could be wrong. Also these pics show a central column between the statues. I have not yet found any other Victoria Sq pics which show this column and wonder when it was erected and subsequentially demolished ... was it a WW2 feature ?
birmingham, victoria square.jpg
 
There was a column erected by the hall of memory in 1937 , and I think I read somewhere that there was at least one other column. Could it be this. I think they were removed after the celebrations
 
oldMohawk said:
Looking through images of Victoria Square on the internet in an attempt to date the pic in #1807 I found this tinted postcard version of the same pic. I think those low rails by the town hall and council house were placed there in WW2 but could be wrong. Also these pics show a central column between the statues. I have not yet found any other Victoria Sq pics which show this column and wonder when it was erected and subsequentially demolished ... was it a WW2 feature ?
View attachment 128024
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If anyone has a computer with good zoom qualities and could zoom in on the bus, that could be a clue as to the date, at the moment it looks like a post1935 Daimler, but that is a wild guess.

Bob
 
Phil said:
Pedrocut

Just as a matter of interest could you tell me what part of Birmingham the bus in your linked article is in, because I do not recognise the location.
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This is somewhere round about Newhall Street possibly Edmund Street. Terrible fights every night there between the B1 gang and the B3 gang and any other post code gangs who want to join in.
 
Thanks, so the column was erected for the Coronation of George VI and I notice the white railings by the Town Hall were there in 1937.
 
Regarding post 1819 the bus in the foreground has all the features of forty buses delivered to the BCT during May to November, 1931. Some were loaned to London in October/November 1940 but soon returned to the city. Many were painted grey and some were used, from Birchfield Road garage with the experimental gas producing trailers in 1943. The year experiment, forced upon the BCT by the Government was not a success. Some were also given Ministry of Supply austerity bodies in the latter part of WW2. The corporation had got rid of them by 1950 except for a handful kept for driver training and other non passenger use.

PS: A reminder that the one-way system was introduced in 1933. A shot in the dark, I guess, but maybe the white railings were there as a traffic guide and also for pedestrian safety? If that is so then the photo would be about 1933.
 
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oldMohawk said:
Reference dates on photos, this one of Victoria Square and Council House is in a Birmingham Mail collection and they have a date June 1936 under it. The photo shows two-way traffic in Colmore Row but I have seen photos dated 1934 taken by Phyllis Nicklin which clearly show one-way traffic in Colmore Row. I think this photo is much earlier than 1936.
View attachment 128035
Bham Mail ... https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/grade-ii-listed-birmingham-council-9194668
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I am sure the cars and buses in this picture support you thoughts, the key lies in the second BCT bus, perhps Radiorails can tell us when the last of these models was disposed of. Somewhere in my treasures (or rubbish as my wife calls it), I have the original PSV circle history of BCT which gives all the disposal dates and I will try and sort it out. Unfortunately the two Midland Red buses are not clear enough (no front end view) to be able to help. Anyone remember when you could cross a major road like the people in this picture are?
Bob
 
The older bus is not easily identified. Only the roof and upper deck are visible. It might be one of the types produced in 1926/7 but also could be a later a 1928 built bus. Whichever it is these buses were all withdrawn between 1935 and 1937 from passenger service.
Post 1807, which has a pre-war Daimler bus appears to have the cream pre-war roof.
The Midland Red bus (side on view) I think is one built 1930-33. The roof profile suggests it (to my old eyes) rather than the more angular rear dome of the late 1920's buses. But that is a suggestion.
 
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oldMohawk said:
Reference dates on photos, this one of Victoria Square and Council House is in a Birmingham Mail collection and they have a date June 1936 under it. The photo shows two-way traffic in Colmore Row but I have seen photos dated 1934 taken by Phyllis Nicklin which clearly show one-way traffic in Colmore Row. I think this photo is much earlier than 1936.
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If I remember correctly, I read that the one-way system New Street Corporation Street Bull Street Colmore Row was 1933
 
Radiorails said:
The older bus is not easily identified. Only the roof and upper deck are visible. It might be one of the types produced in 1926/7 but also could be a later a 1928 built bus. Whichever it is these buses were all withdrawn between 1935 and 1937 from passenger service.
Post 1807, which has a pre-war Daimler bus appears to have the cream pre-war roof.
The Midland Red bus (side on view) I think is one built 1930-33. The roof profile suggests it (to my old eyes) rather than the more angular rear dome of the late 1920's buses. But that is a suggestion.
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I knew you would have the answers and I agree on the Midland Red single decker.

Bob
 
Another postcard pic of Victoria Square but unfortunately no date. The traffic in Colmore Row is one-way and no 'George VI column' so probably earlier than May 1937 or could be later if the column had been removed after the event. The kerb on the 'stand-out' rails in front of the council house have been painted alternate black and white.
VicSqCouncilHouse.jpg
 
Victoria Square postwar probably late 1940s. There appear to be small decorative shields on the lamp posts and flags on the Town Hall. No zebra crossings in the pic they were introduced in 1951.
XVictSquare.jpg
 
And flags of all nations on around the town hall ( actually probably considering the time of the photo, only empire members) .
 
There is a firemans watch box on top of the clock tower. I understand that it was placed there during the war.
 
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