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Midland Red Early Days

It's in Bearwood Bus Station, It's Red, It says Midland on it, It's on a service to Oldbury. But it's still not a Midland Red. All I know about the opperator is that it is based in Wednesbury and is Liyell Ltd t/a Midland. Sun has obscured the destination board which says 200 Oldbury
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Second picture shows NEX WM buses on service 82. I took a few photos in the Smethwick Heritage Centres Road Show which I shall post later.
 
Thanks, Lloyd, for that interesting Bearwood FEDD picture. And thanks, David, for your comments, and for "being there" for us at the Smethwick Road Show: I'm looking forward to your pictures.
 
It's facinating how persistent the "Midland Red" theme is, David, as your picture of "Midland" 1349 at Bearwood attests.

The bus is X349AUX: Optare Solo M850 chassis number VN6546 with Optare B28F body number 6546, new in December 2000 as Liyell (Willenhall) fleet number 49. [These facts from Bus Lists on the Web.]

Wikipedia gives the interesting history of "Midland", and they have their own website.

[I'm well outside my comfort zone with these modern buzzes! ;)]
 
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Pictures at an Exhibition (Apologies to Mussorgsky)

Midland Red was only part of the exhibition of objects held at the Smethwick Heritage Centre and stands by other interested parties. These are picture which I took of items on desplay. It had taken me a little while as I have been resizing the pictures as my camera works at 12MPix and if I put them up at full strength the History Forum Police would be after me.

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Two general views of display stands. Then of items on the stands including a Setright Speed ticket machine. Note the clipper on the front for cancelling return tickets etc. Other operators did not have this but inserted the retunr ticket into the machine so that it could be overprinted. The rack of Bell Punch type tickets is before my memory of these tickets on Midland Red but I do remember them on Birmingham Corporation buses. When I was a boy my granddad made me a ticket rack out of wood and knicker elastic and collected a large quantity of used Birmingham tickets. The Norman Edwards cartoons commerate Midland Red football team's progress in the National Transport League.

Some newsreal films were shown in the church
One about a strike at Stourbridge garage. A shop steward interviewed was asked if he was concerned about the inconvenience to the public. Certainly not he replied. Present day union officials are advised to be a little more sympathetic to the public.
Another film about decision by Walsall Corporation Transport in 1963 when they decided no longer to recruit women to work on the buses. An unthinkable decision today. Reasoning was that women conductresses were only temporary employees and could not establish a raport with regular customers.
Then in 1965 (only 2 years later) the decision by Midland Red to train women as drivers, including an interview with, at that time the last woman bus driver, who was giveing up work after 20 driving at Oldbury garage. But 9 years later a film about Oldbury garage continuing to refuse to accept women drivers.

I looked at a copy of the agreement between the T&GWU and Midland Red dated 1947 Wage rates after 12 months service were 4s 11 5/8p per hour for drivers and 4s 10 7/16d per hour for conductors. I would have hated to have been a wages clerk in those days. I am amazzed there was less than a penny per hour between drivers and conductors.
 
Also at the Smethwick Exhibition I had a chat to David of DAVideo. Remember the German model of a "Leyland" D9 mentioned a week or so ago. He told me that the brewery in Germany who own the bus contacted him recently to ask were to get a Leyland fuel pump. He told them that it was not a Leyland and advised them to contact CAV who supplied and fitted a pump for him.

By his stand were these display boards of Smethwick's other coach operators. There was years ago a definate pecking order with Gliderways at the top followed by Manns then Nashes way down at the bottom but Nashes are the only survivors today.
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Many thanks, David, for those pictures and notes. It looks like it was a most enjoyable exhibition: I wish I could have been there. Lovely anecdote about the "Leyland" D9.

Some of the newsreels you saw sound familiar. I'm pretty sure they're accessible through the Media Archive for Central England website.

There is more to anorakitude than just buses: the memorabilia really bring the subject to life.
 
Thylacine said:
Some of the newsreels you saw sound familiar. I'm pretty sure they're accessible through the Media Archive for Central England website..
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It was Media Archive who did the presentation. They also included Smethwick industry and living but I did not list them
 
No need to apologize to Mussorgsky, he wrote some beautiful music, the Russkies had more then their fair share of great composers, Bernard
 
Sadly I couldn't get to the exhibition, so thanks for the glimpse in the photos David. Went out to the museum, & the exhaust fell off the car. Luckily I only live 10 minutes away, and a temporary codge with a bent piece of wire will have to do till I can get it done on Monday. Another one of life's clips round the ear!
 
Just trying something Elliott "ellbrown" Brown taught me (you have to be a member of flickr to use the trick, which I'll explain later, if it works):


'Midland Red' buses - fares increase poster, 1968 by mikeyashworth, on Flickr

If that worked, it's the honourable way to display flickr pictures here (full size), with proper acknowledgement of the owner of the image, and without taking up BHF space. It might come in handy sometimes.
 
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That is clever, correct in ref the source/author and useful in saving the space on this precious Forum. Well done both.

Does this work with Youtube videos I wonder...
 
I think it does when you use the "Insert Video" button on the "Quick Reply" window. We've seen that done before: and only the "code" goes on to the BHF computer.
 
Wanting to sit down and read for a while the other day I went into my private library (boxes of books in the spare bedroom) and grabbed any book at random. My hand came out with the ABC Coach Guide for Summer 1953. I could not remember how I got that because I had bought copies of this publication in later years but would not even have known about at the age I was in 1953. Finally somewhere in the small print I discovered that it was a 1992 reprint so I must have bought it then

However the point I am making is that for us nostalgia buffs (and nostalgia is not what it used to be!!) is that it listed all the express bus and coach services under their operators with names that in many cases are now just a memory. An interesting fact which I had dicovered years ago from later editions is that there was no service from Digbeth to Liverpool. If you wanted to go to Liverpool by coach you had to go out to Erdington Tram Terminus for the Crosville coach. Remember the Chester Road in Erdington is not called that name for nothing.
 
An interesting fact which I had dicovered years ago from later editions is that there was no service from Digbeth to Liverpool. If you wanted to go to Liverpool by coach you had to go out to Erdington Tram Terminus for the Crosville coach.
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No direct service, perhaps, but if you turned up at Digbeth wanting Liverpool they would have put you on the Midland Red / North Western joint service to Manchester's Lower Mosley St coach station, where you would complete your journey (probably after a meal in the Golden Horse Cafe, and/or a swift pint in the nearby "Briton's Protection"!) with a change to the North Western or Ribble (who were both in the same BET financial group as Midland Red - Crosville was not) service to Liverpool.
 
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Here's a fine picture of a 1906 Wolseley (H type) motor bus operated by London General Omnibus Co Ltd. Obviously not Midland Red, but it must be very similar to the 1905 Wolseleys (registered O 1281 and O 1282) which passed from Birmingham Motor Express Co Ltd to BMMO on formation. We've often discussed these beauties before. [Courtesy of Historyworld.]

The progenitor and eponym of the Wolseley Motor Co was Irish-Australian Frederick York Wolseley (1837-1899), inventor and exploiter of the sheep shearing machine. Herbert Austin made the first Wolseley motor cars from 1895, and remained in charge of the Wolseley Tool and Motor Co (Adderley Park, Birmingham) until 1905 when he broke away to establish the Austin Motor Co. William Morris purchased Wolseley with his own cash in 1927, but the brand survived until 1975. There is plenty of information in cyberspace about Wolseley cars, but hardly anything about their short lived motor buses.
 
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Yes, smaller front wheels allow a better 'lock' and smaller turning circle, while larger rear wheels give better speed, traction and braking.
 
Stitcher said:
Corperation Street in 1964
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Thanks for that excellent picture, Stitcher. Great view of a D9 on route 160 in the heart of "Old Brum".

The D9 was a remarkable bus. It was the last Midland Red production double-decker, and was entirely built by them in Birmingham. The idea for a 30 foot double decker had been around since the early 1950s, but buses of this length did not become legal until 1956. Rather than adapting the existing D7, Midland Red decided on an entirely new design, and the 1958 prototype D9 (fleet number 4773) was the result. An additional 344 production models entered service between January 1960 and November 1966. Some D9s later served in London as open-top sightseeing buses, and many passed to WMPTE at the end of 1973. At least eight D9s have survived into preservation (does anyone know of others?):
4773: Bob Shaw (Warley).
4871: The Transport Museum (Wythall) in WMPTE livery.
5016: The Transport Museum (Wythall) in London Transport livery.
5342: The Black Country Living Museum (Dudley).
5370: Richard Gray.
5399: The Transport Museum (Wythall) in Midland Red livery.
5415: Ashley Wakelin of "Wheels" (Coventry).
5424: Roger Burdett.​
 
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Add to the list of surviving D9's:

4903 (903 KHA) Mehnert Promotion / Mauritius Brauerei, Zwickau, Bavaria [in 'London' open top condition, modified to suit operation as a mobile hospitality unit]
5035 (3035 HA) Aston Manor Road Transport Museum [in 'London' open top condition]

At least one other survives in supposed 'preservation', but has been untouched for many years and is now almost derelict, and two more ex London (but remaining top-covered) are at Wythall exclusively for use as spares.
The London ones were not in good condition when their operator closed down: in fact some had swapped identities as the runnable ones had expired MOTs, and the MOT'ed ones were non-runners! 5016 at Wythall was actually badged as KHA 903 when bought, and vice versa!

Another picture of the real 4903 in Germany: and more here.
 
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Mike, thanks for that information on the "Borismaster" and the "Skopje Routemaster". Very interesting.

Lloyd, thanks for adding to the D9 list. How could I forget the German "Leyland" D9 (4903), discussed on this thread quite recently?

On the subject of Aston Manor Road Transport Museum: is it definitely closing down, and has any decision been made concerning the fate of their "fleet"?
 
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Thylacine said:
On the subject of Aston Manor Road Transport Museum: is it definitely closing down, and has any decision been made concerning the fate of their "fleet"?
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No definite one way or the other yet, there is a revised (lower) rental arrangement on offer from the council, and a much lower total purchase price (but still very high for a non profit making organisation).
The AMRTM board were due to meet yesterday to discuss this, as yet I have not heard the outcome.
As to the vehicles, some are owned by individuals and societies, so their owners will have the problem of finding new accommodation. For the museum vehicles, again no decision yet taken that I am aware of, the museum has produced a list of 2011 events taking the assumption it will remain open.
 
Thanks for that information, Lloyd. Let's hope something can be sorted out with the council to allow AMRTM to remain open.
 
Would the D9 be the last of the front engine double deck busses. Do you still have a conductor on the rear engine front entrance busses or does the driver fill both duties.
 
The last of the Midland Red built ones, yes. Commercially built ones like the Leyland PD3 were available for a little longer, but what finally killed them was the availability of a government subsidy to buy front-entrance one man buses.
You could have a conductor on the modern type of bus, and some operators converted 'half cab' buses so that the driver could swivel round and collect the fares, but such ideas were short lived.
There are very few bus conductors around now, just a few places where historic vehicles run special services. The routes using historic Routemasters in London have them, more as a safety precaution than anything, and even the new London 'Borismaster' will only have one at peat times.
 
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