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No 12 BUS ROUTE

L

Local History

master brummie
We have recently come into possession of a picture taken in 1957 of a no. 12 bus in the city centre. What has us perplexed is the destination board 'Oakworth and Bartley Green'. Can anyone shed a light on where Oakworth could be or was? Many thanks.
 
definatly the bartley green bus well from 55/64 anyway, never heard of oakworth or seen a sighn for it would travel regularly between town and bartley green via harborne.
paul
 
I don,t know this route but if it went via Harborne we have Harborne Oak Rd and the Oak pub could Oakworth be in that area. Dek
 
Any chance of posting a copy of the picture? Seeing the style of destination blind would help to identify it.
 
It says
CALIFORNIA AND
BARTLEY GREEN

and was well known because Birmingham buses went to CALIFORNIA and Midland Red went to HOLLYWOOD (although in different directions)!
 
California was Weoley Castle, back in the 50's & 60's, this included Barns Hill, and part of Stonehouse lane (Roses cafe), which it stopped at during its route to Bartley green via Harborne.
paul
 
Yep definitely Bartley Green. Used to go out with a girl who lived by the terminus. Had to get on the No 12 to take her home, then get back into town and get the 65 home. Don't think you could get two suburbs further apart.
 
I am struggling to get California from the blind - though I have tried to clarify and sharpen the photo - but neither can I agree that it is Oakworth as the first letter does not look to be an 'O' were it to be shown in full. Over to you guys sorry.



Bernie
 
California would be the logical thing for it to read but I agree that it seems to end in "worth". First part I can't make out at all....
 
I am currently playing around with the parts of the name I can make out using word but not having much luck so far. The photo is a good one but will only stand so much magnification as I discovered.. We will get there.
 
I lived in both Bartley Green, and Weoley Castle, for some 16 years, catching this bus more or less daily for that time, never at any time did I see the reported name on the destination blind, but many times I saw California, because the bus stopped there!! I have looked at a map of the local and nowhere within a 5 mile radius could I find a hamlet or village anywhere near this bus route with a name coming near "Oakworth".
paul
 
I too travelled on this bus daily and I always thought it said Harborne and Bartley Green, but for the life of me I can't decipher it to read Harborne.
 
I had better go to Specsavers then Lloyd as from what I see the bottoms of the letters [even enlarged further] do not add up to either as far as I can see.
 
I must agree at a quick look it does appear to say something like Oakworth. Wow! BCT buses going to Yorkshire. lol

I must agree with LLoyd that is says California. However, I don't recall California being on BCT blinds prior to 1954 (the year I left Warwickshire), and was surprised to later learn that there was a California in Birmingham. Oh! yes, I knew of Hollywood: I has an uncle who lived there.
 
Not a conclusive proof I know, but here's preserved Birmingham 1937 Daimler CVP 207 fitted at the time with an early post-war Harborne garge blind, and displaying short working 12E, Harborne & California. (i.e. only ran to those two points).
 

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  • 1107 CVP 207 Wythall Church.jpg
    1107 CVP 207 Wythall Church.jpg
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I should've said I am not doubting for one minute what the blind should show; rather that I cannot see read it as such in this instance.
 
I have to agree with Oakworth, despite the lack of finer detail. No way it is California or Harborne. Interesting the bus is 2479 which originally was part of the Miller St group brought in to replace the trams in 1953, moved to Harborne after the intros of the BON C/FOC D series to Miller St. Maybe 2479 has a very old blind from much earlier days.
After further consideration I may be wrong as to stating this was a Miller St transferee. I didn't look at the picture closely enough, failed to notice that actually there does not appear to be a sign of a new style indicator. Perhaps the picture is around the time this Crossley batch came in and 2479 was originally at Harborne. Interesting enough both Oakworth and Harborne consist of 8 letters, where California has 10.
 
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The problem is that while it looks like Oakworth there in nowhere in Birmingham of that name or even close to it and I can't find any reference that there ever was. I haven't tried to sharpen the image but the way the letters are blurred into one another it could quite easily be California as we would expect to find on a no. 12.
 
Forgive me for joining in, but it definitely says Oakworth, I know it shouldn't I lived in Harborne and often caught the number 12, perhaps the driver just made a mistake, I've seen that happen before.:smug:
 
6918 said:
I haven't tried to sharpen the image but the way the letters are blurred into one another it could quite easily be California as we would expect to find on a no. 12.
Click to expand...
It does look like Oakworth to me, and like others I've never heard of anywhere by that name on the 12 route. (My Nan used to live in California.) But the blurring makes me wonder whether the letters have been added in afterwards somehow by the film processor as a way of signing his work!
 
The camera doesn't lie. Indeed it looks very much like "Oakworth" to me. The only explaination I can think of is:-
In 1957 Harborne garage had all of its blinds reprinted for the Weoley Castle ( 20A/B/D etc.)and Ivy bush to King's Heath route revisions( 2B/26).. The blind in the photograph was produced by a company called "Norco" (or T. Norbury and co. ltd.) Although this firm were a world leader in making public transport indicators, they did make mistakes. I have looked through my collection of bus blinds and photographic listings and I can't find Oakworth on any of them. I can only assume that this was a printers error and the blind was fitted to the vehicle before it was sent back to the manufacturers for ammendment
 
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