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Midland Red at Digbeth

Frothblower said:
Hope you don't mind me posting this on this thread.
My late friend who was a bus driver would lend this Bus called the Foster's Flyer off his friend that owned it, we would have some great days out in it.
Today I Googled Foster's Flyer and look what I came up with, she looks magnificent, :)I remember it as it was in photo 2

https://www.bristolsu.co.uk/mw/operatordetails/westernnational/edv502d.htmhttps://www.bristolsu.co.uk/mw/operatordetails/westernnational/edv502d.htm
Click to expand...


Nice one Frothblower, I come from Bristol territory so liked to see Fosters Flyer ex Royal Blue coach on the road, usually with a load of happy looking passengers on board. Might well have waved back to your friend at some time as the Fosters Flyer drivers usually waved to me when I was bus driving.
Mike

I can get back on thread conveniently with a Royal Blue connection. Midland Red's Adderley Street yard played host to many other company's coaches overnighting in Birmingham especially at weekends and during the summer months. If we had to go up to Adderley Street to take out a bus or coach we would check with the garage Parking Driver to try and get something to drive up in to save the walk. Often it was a coach from another company. Unfamilier as we may be with the cab layout or gearbox we would just jump in and take it often giving a few other drivers a lift there as well. The worse was with these on if you got in a mess changing gears. I wouldn't write here some of the comments amongst the laughter. Happy Days!
Here is me parking up a Royal Blue 'Camel' I've just brought up from Digbeth in the mid 1960's. I'm wearing a summer issue dust jacket but "civvie" trousers for some reason I that can't remember now. (Uniform trousers often went in the wash to get rid of the stink after a diesel pump blowback when refuelling, so it may have been that).
 
Not just any 'camel back', mike, 2202 (OTT 45) was the very last one built with that roof luggage arrangement.
 
Lloyd,
Thank you, thats a great piece of information. In the words of the great Victor Meldrew "I just don't believe it" that after all these years this should come to light and add to many 'firsts and lasts' over my bus and coach career.
Mike

I used to go out of my way to get a drive of other company's vehicles even if it was only to move one in the garage which usually meant going round the block in it even when there was no need. Often we got to drive other stuff through joint working of bus or coach routes or getting change vehicles for broken down ones of our own. Unusual though was when Midland Red had a bus shortage in the 1960's and borrowed 12 Black and White coaches from Cheltenham for bus work. Six went to Leicester and the rest to Digbeth. They were AECs and totally unsuited to bus work. No sooner out than they would boil up. I had one on an evening peak 160 to Kingshurst. On the way back I stopped to set down at the Clock Garage and the nearside mounted radiator cap blew off through a hinged flap across the pavement driven by a jet of boiling water. If anybody had been standing by it they would have known it. We sat there for about half an hour before we could put a can of water in from over the Clock Garage. We never found the rad cap either. Digbeth had to get one sent up from Cheltenham as our own fleet didn't use the same type.
Here is one of the six coaches we had, seen back home in Cheltenham. I never got nor saw a photo of one working with the Red.
 
I can remember those working 118 evening peak journeys when I was 'spotting' in Walsall one day, mike.
Midland Red often had to borrow vehicles in the late 50s and early 60s when loadings were still high and the fleet couldn't cope. Here are a few more.
Former Exeter Corporation Daimler JFJ 56 in Coventry working the X 90 Stratford service - although it's owner by then was G&G of Leamington.
Ex Devon General AEC 'Regent' HTT 332 at the Red Lion bus station, Stratford about to work the same X90 service in the opposite direction. Another G&G vehicle.
Eastern Counties Bristol 'RE' HAH 890D in Great Malvern, working the X91 Hereford-Leicester service. Not strictly a loan, this, because it had worked from Norwich on a Saturday-only jointly operated service the day before. The Midland Red bus which had worked the other way was similarly operated by ECOC to get it to Leicester and eventually home to Hereford.
 
Ah yes, G&G working for the Red, thanks for those Lloyd. I remember them working 159's with blue LD8's on runs that should have been operated by Stratford Blue but from Coventry end whereas the Stratford Blue did the odd 159 normally from Birmingham end dovetailed with 150 workings. Never did figure that one out. Another interesting working was a regular Saturday appearance of an immaculate silver blue ex London roofbox RT on the X68 from Leicester. I seem to remember it was with a firm from Ratby. I managed to speak to the cigar smoking driver one day who said he was the owner and drove the X68 in it himself because he enjoyed driving on the longest journey the old RT ever needed to do for the firm. Bearwood coaches used to field a old still red ex London RTW on a 181 evening peak journey with a Bearwood conductor on. It was taken off after passengers complained about the state of it!
Mike
Meanwhile back at Adderley Street here is another of my Royal Blue moments.
 
It wasn't only the 50s & 60s when buses were borrowed due to shortages. In the late 70s we had two Devon General and two Bristol Leyland Nationals at Tamworth. The Bristol Nationals I remember had unervingly light steering, you only had to touch the steering wheel and it would spin around. It took quite a lot of getting used to especially if you had just come off an old Leyland saloon.
 
Thanks jfc, Lloyd may know better but I remember around that time Digbeth coach drivers were ferrying Bristol Leyland Nationals to and from Carlyle works for whatever reason. I'm wondering if maybe they were diverting some to Tamworth to help out, although I don't recall any Devon Generals to Carlyle Works. Good to hear from you,
Mike
 
Meanwhile on a sunny afternoon in 1961 when I was a Conductor. After working an early shift with Reg Harding we decided to ride a 150 to Stratford to see if we could get in to Bird's Scrapyard there, for a look round. It proved easier than we expected which we put down to being in uniform. We had a great time in there and took a few photos. Sadly the photo I desperately wanted to take proved impossible. In the yard at the time were still two Birmingham trolleybuses, alongside each other, one on it's side but the other still on it's wheels without a pane of window glass broken or a panel missing. Try as I might I could not get a position to get one or both in the viewfinder thanks to everything around them. Also complete nearby were Huddersfield six wheeler trolleybuses which were impossible to photograph as well, although I still have the used tickets salvaged from their Used Ticket boxes. Here as a reminder of that visit is Reg's photo of 'yours truly' aspiring to be a bus driver! The skeleton I'm in was originally a Birmingham City Transport Daimler COG5 but could not be identifyed. Some would say that was just about the right kind of bus for me.
 
Back in the 70s Digbeth had this advertising-liveried Daimler for a while, and one day it was involved in an accident when a car bumped it. After the claim was settled (in favour of the car driver unfortunately) the insurers (SMT) sent a copy of the car driver's initial claim form. It started
"As I was driving along Bristol Road, a half-timbered building pulled out in front of me and I collided with it..."

(it doesn't show very well in this shot, but the roof was painted to look like thatching!)
 
Lloyd - that pic of Leicester Clock Tower with a BMMO standard rings a distant bell in my memory. When I was tiny we had a book, rather like the old GWR 'Holiday Haunts' which listed places Midland Red would take you to, with drawingsd. One of those I'm sure was that very drawing but without the colour. Others included Leominster, Bromyard, Hereford and of course WESTON SUPER MARE. I'd completely forgotten about that book - the covers had gone, it was printed on a shiny, slightly ivory paper, but I think it was thrown away by 1940. Ah, if only . . . . .
Peter
 
Like many places of work, at Digbeth many of the people I worked with over the years were known by nicknames rather than their own. From when I first started in 1962 onwards amongst the drivers were -
'Cracker' Dewsbury - Never found out reason for nickname.
'Catseyes Cunningham' - wore thick lens glasses.
'Clutch' Jones - tended to ride the clutch giving a jerky ride.
'Puffer' Jones - smoked a pipe continuously.
'Pusher Jock' Makay - Scotsman who would never overtake a bus in front.
'Leyland' Harding - Leyland LD8 fanatic. Founded a Leyland Club at Digbeth.
'Old Nick' Nicholson - always wore a bow tie.
'Sexy' Bagnell' - always had a female chatting to on front entrance buses.
'Farmer' Teale - a countryman at heart - wore Derryboots on wet days.
'The Professor' Whatling - Ex teacher.
'Tug' Wilson - Because his name was Wilson.
'Number One' Thomas - Elite coach driver.
'King Billy' Goodwin -Platform staff Union leader.
These have come readily to mind, so next time, it will be Conductors and Inspectors remembered.

Meanwhile at Adderley Street yard a couple of C1 coaches keep company in 1962. It was in one of this type fitted with dual controls for driver training at Bearwood Training School that I started my training to drive buses in 1963.
 
Worked there from 1965 to aroud 1967/8. I remember Pete Fido, the Churchills, Paul Kirby, a black guy whose name I believe was John Baptise, Eddie Knight and his brother whose name I can`t recall.
Lovely time. Couldn`t stand the split shifts though.
 
Mike, I remember all those mentioned. A thing that may strike you as strange is about McKay. I remember him well, and every time I see an episode or an excerpt of Porridge and I see the Prison Officer of the same name,I think of The Midland Red at Digbeth.;)
 
Mike, I am out of it with you bus buff gang because I am not an enthusiast, but I do read the replies every day and it causes me to think about times gone. Was it Nick who used to form a circle with his finger and thumb to signal 'road clear of inspectors'?
 
Hi. Mav. I remember a few of those names, but not as many as you, but one you mention "sexy" Bagnell seems to ring a bell, did he usually wear his uniform hat bent up in the middle, or am I thinking of someone else?.
 
Stitcher said:
Mike, I am out of it with you bus buff gang because I am not an enthusiast, but I do read the replies every day and it causes me to think about times gone. Was it Nick who used to form a circle with his finger and thumb to signal 'road clear of inspectors'?
Click to expand...

That's him Trev,
Mike
 
Hidden away behind the gatehouse at Adderley Street yard, an anonymous early post-war saloon sees its last days out as the cleaner's office, with the rear end partitioned off as a ladies changing room. Every luxury was provided for the staff!
 
Lloyd, this looks to be the S12 that was brought down from Benacre Street when Adderley Street opened. That had wood round the nearside windows and painted out back destination box and the stove and chimney which was salvaged from the SON it replaced. The Digbeth S12 group had the Number frame and winding gear out of it to replace the removed equipment in 3750 which had also had the glass painted over whilst Mr Burrough's training bus at Bearwood and later Worcester. I notice there was a good supply of coal for the girls!
Mike
 
Whilst looking at these older buses , I recall a withdrawn S8 saloon that escaped the scrapyard when withdrawn and ended up as a mobile shop at Marston Green. For a while it was going about still in red and showing 166 in the destinaton box. Legend has it that it was reported several times for leaving intending passengers at bus stops as the shop regularly went by just before a service bus was due. The Midland Red complained to the owner and demanded he repaint his shop. He replied that he would but only if they supplied the paint - which they did in a darkish shade of green.

Here is another shot of S12 3750 in preservation. The shine was achieved by T cutting it all over.
 
I remember that S8 Mike as a mobile shop around Marston Green area, the chap who owned it was a friend of my dads, think he is still alive and living in Priory Rd. Hall Green, seem to recognise the driver of 3750 in the first pic. and the good looking guy in the second pic. shame to see 3750 in later years looking like this isn,t it.
 
Thanks for that one John. I last saw it in that state at the back of Redditch Bus Park but didn't have a camera with me. On a brighter note, I hear it still looks the same but is under cover at Worcester. Wonder what the inside is like now. Pity it couldn't get some TLC at Wythall.
Mike
 
It really is a shame to see it in this state, remember when we went to Brighton in it Mike?, with Reg Harding etc. heres another one when it was at Evesham garage, and under cover at Worcester. be great to see it at Whythall as you say.
 
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