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Then & Now

oldMohawk said:
'Wires in the sky' outside the entrance to the Arthur Street tram depot on the Coventry Road in 1948.
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The wires have gone but the old roof ladder is still there and the depot sells tyres.
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I worked at Coventry Rd Garage as a conductor then driver 1969-1973. When I first came out driving, the buses used to exit via that Coventry Rd gateway. It was always a risk that someone would come tearing round the bend and collide with you. That's probably the reason we changed to coming out of the back into Arthur St around 1971.
 
I have been a member of BHL for just over a year now. For me the site is awkward to navigate round and as always photos are a pain. Mostly the experience has been enjoyable but sometimes it has made me remember past times and tears have been very close. Possbly my favourite part of BHL is Then and Now.

The photos are often wonderful but the comments are some times odd. Those that seem to yearn for the past. I have just been reading a book my father bought, Birmingham – Fifty Years On by Paul S. Cadbury. Basically it compares the Birmingham of 1952 with the past and dicusses possible plans for the future. I was 16 in 1952 so the photos of then still resonate with me. In 1952 both the buildings and the people look dull and shabby. There was a feeling that things ought to be better. Change was what was wanted. So if you were alive in 1952, Birmingham now is, to some extent, what you expected it to be.

Below are some photos from the book. They are all, effectively, Then and Now. Only some times the Now is 1952 and the Then is 2002. Those proposed tunnels are interesting. There would have been no need to ban through traffic.

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A friend of mine, who is a Blue Badge Guide put on a talk in 2002 using the examples in that book. It was quite interesting making a comparison as to what was then and how it would be now (2002).

The 1952 book certainly predicts the demolition of several buildings to give the city a futuristic space age look. Did I also recall that there were quite a few, over one hundred road deaths involving children? The prediction was that this would rise, but in fact it has fallen dramatically.
 
JohnWish said:
I have been a member of BHL for just over a year now. For me the site is awkward to navigate round and as always photos are a pain. Mostly the experience has been enjoyable but sometimes it has made me remember past times and tears have been very close. Possbly my favourite part of BHL is Then and Now.

The photos are often wonderful but the comments are some times odd. Those that seem to yearn for the past. I have just been reading a book my father bought, Birmingham – Fifty Years On by Paul S. Cadbury. Basically it compares the Birmingham of 1952 with the past and dicusses possible plans for the future. I was 16 in 1952 so the photos of then still resonate with me. In 1952 both the buildings and the people look dull and shabby. There was a feeling that things ought to be better. Change was what was wanted. So if you were alive in 1952, Birmingham now is, to some extent, what you expected it to be.

Below are some photos from the book. They are all, effectively, Then and Now. Only some times the Now is 1952 and the Then is 2002. Those proposed tunnels are interesting. There would have been no need to ban through traffic.

View attachment 141069View attachment 141070View attachment 141071View attachment 141072View attachment 141073View attachment 141074View attachment 141075View attachment 141076View attachment 141081View attachment 141078View attachment 141079View attachment 141080
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We are all entitled to our opinions and if people do yearn for the past I think a lot of that is because loved ones that were in their lives at that time are no longer with us. That is the case with me anyway.
I really don't agree with you that people alive in 1952 would have expected it to be like it is today. For the most part Birmingham is almost unrecognisable from those days, and in my humble opinion not in a good way.
 
A group of tram drivers and their supervisors form up in Colmore Row by Waterloo Street.
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The same location today.
ColmoreWaterloo.jpg
The old photo above appear to be connected to those in previous posts below ... looks like a big occasion ...
oldMohawk said:
From posts#1152 and #1155
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Surely the whole point of 'zig-zags' before and after the pedestrian crossing is to help ensure that the crossing and its approaches are visible? Putting all that pavement cluture alongside a 'zig-zag' defeats that aim. By the way it is an offence for a pedestrian to walk over a 'zig-zag' line.
 
Spargone said:
Surely the whole point of 'zig-zags' before and after the pedestrian crossing is to help ensure that the crossing and its approaches are visible? Putting all that pavement cluture alongside a 'zig-zag' defeats that aim. By the way it is an offence for a pedestrian to walk over a 'zig-zag' line.
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The zig-zag was actually a no parking marker as well as a crossing identifier.

Bob
 
The amount of street clutter nowadays is horrendous and the UK is definitely the worst country for it in the Western world. I can't speak for anywhere east of Bahrain, because that is the limit of my travels in that dirction. I'm sure that the propertion of clutter is directly proportional to the density of the population! And the more people there are, the less chance you have seeing all the multitude of signs.

Maurice :cool:
 
oldMohawk said:
St Marys Church, Moseley, behind the trees. Rather nice car in the view.
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I think what is most interesting about that photo above - reposted below (apart from the fine car) is what is BEHIND the car.

You can see the sign for the Moseley railway station.

The station closed down in 1941 during WW2 and never reopened.

As a poster above says, there are plans to reopen the station (along with Kings Heath and Hazelwell stations on the same line) in the next few years. Moseley station will be in the same place as the previous station.

Funnily enough I have driven through Moseley hundreds of times (on my way from Shirley, Solihull to Birmingham city centre) and only in the last year or so did I find out the railway line went under that part of the road, or that an old station used to be there.

Be excellent if those 3 stations open, good for the city and those areas.

StMarysRowMoseley.jpg
 
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Eric Gibson said:
Is Perry Bar station still there? I recall it only had a very small frontage onto the street.
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Hello Eric. Yes, Perry Barr station is still there. I think it may have to be made much larger in time for the Commonwealth games, as there appears to be lots of major changes being made to the area.
 
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