Author Topic: illuminated tram.  (Read 7041 times)

Phil

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #22 on: April 07, 2016, 03:18:35 PM »
Judith

It would have been more like this when you saw it then?
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #23 on: April 08, 2016, 01:06:22 PM »
Yeah, looks familiar,  I'll have to go and have a look at the photos I took on that day (I think I took a few of my Dad & brothers posing by various exhibits  ;D )
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

planetmalc

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2016, 04:11:25 PM »
 
'Birmingham By Bus' (Malcolm Keeley and Derek Potter) is the one to get for street scenes (in fact, I'm tempted to say "The best EVER for street scenes", though they're all in colour and postwar   -   none of that B & W 'atmospheric' stuff.)     It's still in print and Waterstone's stock it.
 
I'll look through my stuff and post details of other 'suitables'.   
 
Paul Collins produced 2 volumes of 'Birmingham City Transport'   -   Vol 1 covers 1904-1939 and Vol 2 is 1940-1969.     These are full of excellent-quality B & W pictures, but the emphasis is on the bus detail rather than the background, though inevitably that is of good quality also.     They are unrivalled in their factual content which is date-arranged to read almost like a diary.
 
David Harvey has produced a number of glossy books about Birmingham's trams, area by area; they've gone through more than one edition and may still be in print (some are still in Waterstone's in High Street).     He's also produced some bus books, but these are printed on 'normal' paper (though they show some good scenes).
There's no B/S on Planet Malc.

planetmalc

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #25 on: April 09, 2016, 04:23:29 PM »
I was born in '41 and have a vague memory of my parents talking about an illuminated tram.

However, there definitely was an illuminated bus. I remember my Dad taking me to the Maypole
terminus to see it. It was a "single decker" and it was covered in coloured lights, I can still see the driver, sitting in the cab and smiling at me.
I'm pretty certain that I was told the bus was to celebrate VJ day.

Your memory is not letting you down: I have just found out that an illuminated bus was also produced, to travel to those areas not covered by the 'Victory' tram.     The honours were done by Daimler COG5 #1116 (this would have normally looked identical to Wythall Transport Museum's preserved #1107).     Removal of top decks was not difficult on these buses, so it could well have looked like a single-decker when you saw it (no low bridges to have to worry about).
 
There was another illuminated bus produced to celebrate the Festival of Britain.    This toured the city between 9.15pm and 11pm, from May 3rd to May 17th 1951.     Daimler COG5 #1022 was used for this, but my source does not state whether it was single or double-decked for this venture.
There's no B/S on Planet Malc.

townie

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #26 on: April 09, 2016, 08:49:06 PM »
I'm getting a bit lost with this thread as one person is saying it was a single decker and the next saying it was a double decker.
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Terrywidlake

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Re: illuminated tram.
« Reply #27 on: May 21, 2020, 03:38:47 AM »
I was just three years old when I went to see the illuminati tram, which I remember very well. I saw it on the Stratford Road in Sparkbrook. Outside the Depot, the camouflaged buses (gray buses, I called them) were lined up to be put into action in the event of an air raid. It was an amazing site, and one that I remember all my life.


 

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