• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Electric Trams

oldMohawk, I painted that pic some years ago as I lived in Hillside Rd 200 yards further on the left pass the railway bridge from 1961 to 'Slade Rd Erdington.jpg87
 
That's interesting Eric. As I looked at the pic I was trying work out what the shops sold. I eventually decided that Millingtons was a butchers (probably wrong) but could not work out what the centre shop sold although there appeared to be a painting and a small figure in the window display.
 
Last edited:
If I remember correct it was an antique type of shop but they were all demolished to make for spaghetti junction, I cannot place the 1st shop. Obviously when we moved there in '61 the trams had been replaced by 'buses, No. 65 I think. Eric
 
i can remember going on a tram in the 50s and being a messer i got oil all over my coat.mom was not to happy
 
mw0njm. said:
i can remember going on a tram in the 50s and being a messer i got oil all over my coat.mom was not to happy
Click to expand...
That suggests you were ferreting in places you should not have been. :D
I had a young cousin who lived in the Potteries. As soon as she was outdoors dirt, grease whatever, seem to lift up from the pavement onto her. My aunt was almost driven to despair. My aunt had a sensitive skin and could only use a washing powder such as Dreft which was kind to her skin. The more detergent types, which would normally be used to clean dirty clothing, were not desirable. This was before the days of affording electric washing machines - hence the large Belfast sink or dolly tubs.
 
A very nice tram photo on the 39. A very clean tram, with no adverts, which suggests it was fresh from the paint shops.
However, tram 714 was withdrawn in 1940/41. The car overturned at the curve at Park Road/Witton Lane junction. Thirty passengers were injured. The car was withdrawn from service.
A clue to the true date might lay in the Co-Op banner which says 17th. April. So something was happening there at the time, but of course I don't see a year.
 
The white band on the telephone pole was, of course, because of the war time black out. They went mad with white paint at that time, if it didn't move then paint it white
 
I don't think the white cladding on the telegraph pole - note cladding rather that painted - was to do with the war. Maybe it was freshly creosoted? Little else has a WW2 feel about it.
The trams ceased running in October 1949, being replaced by buses, so maybe that was the reason for the re-siting of the Bundy clock.
 
Is this a B&W photo that has been coloured? If so, can we be sure that the pole is actually painted white?
 
I remember the post office putting sacking around the new poles to stop tar getting on passersby, maybe thats what this cladding was?
 
Jonob said:
A 1948 photo shows the bundy clock this side of the telephone pole and away from the kerbside against the pub wall. ( was the front bumper a senior moment?)
Click to expand...
I often seem to have trouble with the tram bumpers and it came out a bit more blue than I wanted. I've now edited the pic to make the bumper not so blue ...:)
 
mikejee said:
Is this a B&W photo that has been coloured? If so, can we be sure that the pole is actually painted white?
Click to expand...
It was a B&W postcard photo to which I added colour with Gimp to create a picture of a tram scene. A Google search for that tram will find the B&W version. The cladding looked off-white in B&W and I left it at that.

I think Morturn has the correct answer about the cladding. If the pole had been freshly creosoted it could ruin clothes of anyone leaning against it.
 
In my post#610 I had given a 'guessed' date of late 1940s ... the pic looked about that date ...
But as Radiorails said in post#611 the tram overturned at Witton in March 1940 and was seriously damaged.
It seems the date I stated should perhaps be the late 1930s ...
Previous information with pics below from the other tram thread.

Radiorails said:
There was another tram accident near Aston Parish church in March 1940. Car 714 overturned after unsuccessfully negotiating the turn into Witton Lane at Park Road when the driver lost control of the car. The subsequent inquiry sated that the driver had failed to stop at the compulsory stop on the hill of Park Lane? Apparently the upper deck and roof 'broke apart'. Thirty passengers were injured. 714 was withdrawn - presumably broken up.
Click to expand...

Pedrocut said:
index.php

index.php

index.php
Click to expand...
 
It does appear that the car never got advertisements after its out shopping and the accident. That may help narrow the date.
 
Not long before the close of the Birmingham tramway system.
569 built 1920, 683 in 1924. Both withdrawn 1953.
 
Just a thought, they ripped up the tracks on the old system, if they hadn't would the new trams have been able to run on them, width of tracks etc?
 
Eric Gibson said:
Just a thought, they ripped up the tracks on the old system, if they hadn't would the new trams have been able to run on them, width of tracks etc?
Click to expand...
Interesting question, I don't know the answer, but I have a feeling the new trams are wider and the old trams ran on 3foot 6inches (sorry I do not know what that is in Kilometres) and I think the new trams are on standard UK railway guage, the vehicles are certainly roomier inside. Up home this weekend and saw a blue one, far better colour than pink. Mind you it takes a man to wear pink. So put Eric and I out of our misery all you transport buffs and tell me I am wrong again.

Bob
 
The new trams run on UK standard gauge and the old trams ran on the 3ft 6in gauge. All the track at the Crich Tramway Museum is UK standard gauge so even if an old Birmingham tram was available it could not run there.

It is a pity they did not retain a length of track somewhere in the city as a novelty or heritage line but maybe they were just glad to get rid of the old rattling trams.

As a child I always found rides on a trams more interesting than rides on buses. Young children of today might like using the high steps to board the trams, climbing narrow winding stairs and standing on the open platforms to jump off as soon as (or before) the tram stopped. They could also see whether the Tideswell Lifeguards on the trams worked by throwing dummy figures in front of moving trams ... :)

When the trams disappeared in the late 1940s/1950s I hardly noticed their passing ...:rolleyes:
 
No the old gauge for the trams in Birmingham and the Black Country was 3ft 6in as against the new trams which run on the British standard gauge of 4ft 8½in.

Also the roads on which the new trams run are not the same as the old routes. The only place were the new trams run on the same road is Corporation Street between the former Martineau Street and Bull Street and even then the old trams only ran one way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top