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Former B.C.T. bus garage Lea Hall is to close

I used to catch the 14 from there to school for many years - very modern (comparatively garage)

Myb cousin later became head canteen cook there after transferring from Liverpool St - They used to do a mean Christmas Pantomine.
 
The garage was inherited from Birmingham City Transport who transferred the lease which is held by the GPO/Royal Mail to the West Midlands P.T.E. and so on to National Travel West Midland. This means on closure the garage lease will revert back to the Royal Mail (formerly the General Post Office). The intended closure of Bordesley Green Garage will not now take place.
 
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Oh dear Michael worked at Washwood Heath and Lea Hall looks like he was the kiss of death.......lol
 
Lea Hall garage in Crossfield Rd was the City Transport's newest depot, opening in April 1955. It replaced one in Barford Street, off Macdonald Street near the markets area (that building was formerly a factory, converted in to a bus garage by June 1925 from where the Inner Cirle 8 and City Circle 19 were run. It is now the Express Polythene Co's sales outlet). Routes were shuffled between garages and Lea Hall ran the 14 and some of the 28 route. Most of the experimental and demonstration buses of the late 50s and 60s ran from there, usually driven by Stan Palmer or Bill Godden. Here is AEC Bridgemaster 2211 MK, one of the demonstrators posed at the garage entrance. A quite unattractive vehicle, I thought.
 
Lloyd,
When I started to work in the General Section of the City Architect's office in September 1955, I remember that a colleague was working almost full-time 'snagging' the new bus garage. There were still quite a few loose ends.
Peter
 
Most of the services will be moving to Central Garage,Liverpool Street.The 9 and 141 will be going to Pensnett Garage from Central.
The small depot at Bordesley will now be an offshoot of Central Garage.
 
Just like Wendy's husband Michael I worked at both Lea Hall and Washwood Heath. Lea Hall was my first depot after passing my PSV. I worked on the 14 to begin with in those days it operated 4 min service peak and 6 min off peak on almost every trip you carried a standing load. I then spent time on the 55 service before going onto the 199/186 road. When at Washwood Heath I worked on the 28 and for some time was a road rep. As my first depot, I have a soft spot for Lea Hall and am sorry to hear of it's demise.
 
Hi Lloyd,

It's a shame Lea Hall is closing, I have happy memories of being taken
round it as a lad by Stan Palmer and Bill Godden, and sitting in the cab
of 9JML - the Crossley Bridgemaster. I wonder if they had the 2 versions
to compare the relative merits of the different door positions.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Yes they were trying all sorts of vehicle types and layouts to decide on the replacement fleet - just after the second war they had replaced the last of the pre war fleet (although some were brought back when the Beeches Estate routes were taken over from Midland Red) and the wartime utility stuff - some other operators just overhauled and rebodied their utilities. The postwar fleet (296, 1481-3227) remained static for a while, then they realised the fleet would all need replacing at once again. Several existing BCT buses were modified with more powerful engines, different transmissions (including automatics) and even one with doors on the platform - and there were experimental lightweight vehicles in the fleet as well. Having tried almost everything available, then Leyland Motors came up with a revolutionary idea - put the engine at the back across the bus, and the entrance at the front alongside the driver - and every other bus design became obsolete overnight.
BCT tried the Leyland Atlantean in its early form (3230, [460 MTE] in 1960 and 3231-3240 [231-240 DOC] in 1961) but it wasn't exactly what they wanted - so they 'assisted' Daimer in Coventry to perfect their version, the 'Fleetline', and bought large batches of them in the following years until 1969 when the West Midlands PTE took control (3241-3650, 3681-3880) and they continued with the same policy for some time, by when Daimler had been taken over by Leyland anyway.
 
I started at Lea Hall in 1993 and was finished on medical grounds in 2008, i worked on the Radleys for a year then the TX rota (14) and was road rep for a few years too. I then became a traffic controller in 2002 and went sick in 2006 due to a serious spinal injury. i miss LH dearly and have some very fond memories of it.made a lot of friends there too who will always be dear to me. Unfortunately i live in West Yorkshire now so its very rare i can get to the midlands. Will there be a closing party or a final open day before it closes?
 
Will there be a closing party or a final open day before it closes?[/QUOTE]

I do not know of any party,s I hope to be there on the friday 24 and the saturday 25 to get a few photos
 
Bammot said:
Will there be a closing party or a final open day before it closes?
Click to expand...

I do not know of any party,s I hope to be there on the friday 24 and the saturday 25 to get a few photos[/QUOTE]

hi
Not been on the forum for awhile, did you manage to get any pictures at lea hall when it closed? would be really grateful to see them if you did get any
cheers
 
thanks for that. didn't realise they auctioned the buses off too. anyway a few months back i saw 3022 (think it was an AG Bus) here in Bradford where i live now. It was just parked up there for a good few weeks then just disappeared.its amazing how many old TWM buses you see where you least expect to. saw one in fort William once in service by an operator there so you can definately say it's a small world. Anyway thanks for those pics they were really excellent.
The only memrobillia i got fromn LH is a couple of new 40th anniversary ties that were given to the drivers on the 40th anniversary.
 
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