Author Topic: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.  (Read 1745332 times)

JDS

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2310 on: April 04, 2012, 11:51:40 PM »
 Hello All,
A thank you to the Forum and all who helped us contact our long lost cousin nechellite.
My wife now has some lovely photo's of her Granny Bennett from 53 Mount St, where before she only had happy memories of her gran she now has memories and photo's which have become an instant treasure.
I am attaching a photo of my father in front of his Aston Rd. shop so that I have an excuse to retell a tale my father was always repeating,that the founder of JCB owed him money.
Born in Aston in 1915 and attending Bishop Veseys School at Sutton Coldfied he joined the RAF just before the start of the war.
He was demobbed some time in 1945 and immediately opened a shop in partnership with a man called, Eades, on the Aston Rd selling ex army surplus.
 
The shop was called Eades and Smith and I have a memory of the goods from the shop spilling into the street and nearly reaching the kerb. I recall a lorry delivering thousand of  ex service smoking pipes, and selling for 6 pence old money.
 
There were small ex-service trailers that sold for £2.10.0 and some of these were bought by a Joseph Cyril Bamford who converted them into tipping trailers and sold them to farmers. I believe the first tipping trailers had a screw type mechanism as it was before the arrival of the Ferguson Tractor with its pto and hydraulics.
 
The transactions were not always in cash.  Meat was still rationed and Mr Bamford  would get black market bacon from friendly farmers and use it as payment for the trailers.
 
As the JCB business grew we saw less of  Mr Bamford as he needed bigger trailers which my father could not get.
 
Payment was a loose arrangement and as they stopped trading Joseph Cyril owed my father about £2 and I still have my dads ledger as proof.
 
My Dad has been dead for over 30 years but he would smile if he could hear me still telling this tale.
 
 

foster

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 13
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2311 on: April 05, 2012, 03:45:22 PM »
my great nan lived in vauxhall street mrs clewer my mom's family lived in big francis st there was the called james  and my dads family where the foster they lived in salty road i left nechells when i was a baby in 1965  i love hearing story about my family's when they lived in nechells like the hilda and george porters  who lived over the road from the james  and the lad who would run up the road shouting with a big flag i now work in nechell park road my brother went to duddeston school some of my moms cousin still live in nechells my mom is 87yrs old and she loves looking at all you pictures so thank you  O0   

planetmalc

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6150
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2312 on: April 05, 2012, 04:26:55 PM »

 
Dek the tram route that you are referring to was it the horse drawn trams or steam trams? because when I was a child I was told that there was once a tram depot in Butlin St, I can only remember it as a road repair depot 
 
pudding
   
Gleaned from bus & tram books:-
 
11/11/1884    Birmingham Central Tramways Co. Ltd. opens a 3' 6" guage horse tramway from
                      Old Square to Nechells Park Road (Needham Street), via Great Lister Street.
   
30/9/1906      Horse tramway replaced by horse buses.
 
1/1/1907        Electric trams start running from Martineau Street to Nechells (service #7).
 
14/8/1922       Electric trams between Nechells Green and Cuckoo Bridge terminus
                       replaced by temporary motorbus service while tram tracks are removed.
 
26/11/1922     Nechells tram service closes.
   
27/11/1922     Nechells trolleybus service #7 begins.   The Thimble Mill Lane and Long Acre
                       sections are no longer used; inward and outward routes are both along
                       Nechells Park Road.    City terminus moves from Martineau Street to Old
                       Square.
   
30/9/1940      Nechells trolleybus service closes.    Replaced by #43 motorbus service.
   
   
The books only mention Washood Heath Depot as being used for the Nechells route, but other depots must have been used before Washwood Heath opened.     The system map shows a tram depot at Butlin Street (but doesn't say what type of tram), and it also shows a 'Holborn Hill steam & horse terminus' (but doesn't say which routes used it).     Another mystery is the date that the Nechells terminus moved from Needham Street to Cuckoo Bridge, but a logical guess would be when the electric trams started in 1907. 
   
 
 
 
There's no B/S on Planet Malc.

nechellite

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2313 on: April 05, 2012, 04:53:25 PM »
 To Phil et al
Many thanks for your help regarding the 43 bus route. I did not explain myself very well as all that I needed was the section of map from Nechells Green to Gt. Lister Street. I thought that I was asking a lot and so Phil’s explanation of the difficulties involved was disappointing but not too surprising. Then I discover that you have supplied exactly what I was after Phil, so I am most grateful.
I don’t remember trolley buses on that route but I do remember the last 43 tram. I was, as a small boy, taken to see it as it made it’s way along Nechells Park Road. It was like a fabulous fairground attraction as it had been covered in lights and looked so lovely in the darkening evening…… Since first writing this I have just read planatmalc’s history of public transport in that area of Nechells. It seems that the tram service ended long before I was born and yet I have very graphic memories of seeing that tram in all it’s glory in Nechells Park Road. What on earth had I witnessed?
Mind, I was always afraid of trams. For some considerable time I had to attend the children’s clinic in Slade Road Erdington in order to have sun-ray treatment. I was taken by my grandmother and on each occasion we crossed Cuckoo Bridge onto the Lichfield Road. The tram stops were plentiful as many routes converged at that point. The trams would come along making a terrible racket and as the breaks were applied so showers of sparks would come flying up. That was bad enough, but then to climb aboard you had to negotiate steep wooden steps which, as a child, i could look through and see the wheels and other mechanisms underneath the tram. I was always afraid that I would fall through and be caught in the bit that made the sparks!
Thanks again for everyone’s help.

Val

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 35
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2314 on: April 06, 2012, 09:53:50 PM »
Hi Vauxonion:  The photo you posted of Rupert Street Wharf tugged at my heart strings.
My first job at 15 was at Godrich Coal, on the wharf, as a bookkeeper.  I made a friend there 50+ years ago, who is a friend today.  Her father H. Hawkins, was a wonderfully generous man, who never said no to anyone who he knew was really in need.
You can't see the building, it's directly behind the right hand gate, but I remember it exactly.  The local lads covered in coal dust humping one ton coal sacks onto the lorries.  That must have been backbreaking work.
Thanks for bringing such a fabulous man back to mind.  He made life so much easier for so many people who probably didn't even know it. - Val

vauxonion

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1010
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2315 on: April 06, 2012, 10:12:30 PM »
Hello Val I remember Godrichs They had Green painted lorries they parked them in Newdigate St we lived next to the Harris,s they were also coal merchants.

ann scully

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 5
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2316 on: April 07, 2012, 02:17:27 PM »
Somerset Street slightly rings a bell. This street had a slight incline but I don't remember it being a cul-de-sac (but then I don't remember much these days) but you could be right. As far as I can remember the homes (on the left of that street) were two up and two down. Straight in the front door, living room on the right and stairs on the left, then through the hall to another room. Unless the room on the right was the kitchen? Oh i wish I had paid more attention! Thanks for the answer, if I sleep on it I should put it all together (eventually.)
I lived in Somerset Street from 1957 to 1966  it was a cul-de-sac, there were just 2 back to back houses by the hostel we lived at 1/20 there was a builders yard facing our houses. Our house only had one room down stairs and 2 bedrooms plus a attic.I went to St Annes school in devon street.

vauxonion

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1010
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2317 on: April 07, 2012, 02:35:22 PM »
Hello Ann.Not quite a Cul-de-Sac Somerset St ran from Cato St to Devon St as well as the little bit you are thinking of.Dek

planetmalc

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6150
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2318 on: April 07, 2012, 04:53:42 PM »
To Phil et al
Many thanks for your help regarding the 43 bus route. I did not explain myself very well as all that I needed was the section of map from Nechells Green to Gt. Lister Street. I thought that I was asking a lot and so Phil’s explanation of the difficulties involved was disappointing but not too surprising. Then I discover that you have supplied exactly what I was after Phil, so I am most grateful.
I don’t remember trolley buses on that route but I do remember the last 43 tram. I was, as a small boy, taken to see it as it made it’s way along Nechells Park Road. It was like a fabulous fairground attraction as it had been covered in lights and looked so lovely in the darkening evening…… Since first writing this I have just read planatmalc’s history of public transport in that area of Nechells. It seems that the tram service ended long before I was born and yet I have very graphic memories of seeing that tram in all it’s glory in Nechells Park Road. What on earth had I witnessed?
Mind, I was always afraid of trams. For some considerable time I had to attend the children’s clinic in Slade Road Erdington in order to have sun-ray treatment. I was taken by my grandmother and on each occasion we crossed Cuckoo Bridge onto the Lichfield Road. The tram stops were plentiful as many routes converged at that point. The trams would come along making a terrible racket and as the breaks were applied so showers of sparks would come flying up. That was bad enough, but then to climb aboard you had to negotiate steep wooden steps which, as a child, i could look through and see the wheels and other mechanisms underneath the tram. I was always afraid that I would fall through and be caught in the bit that made the sparks!
Thanks again for everyone’s help.
   
That's a fascinating story about the illuminated tramcar and you've clearly seen something remarkable (and I'm suitably envious).    I was amazed to find that the guy who ran the Kyotts Lake Road tramway works has documented all of Birmingham's illuminated tramcar events, and here they are:-
   
July 1909                King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra open the new University in
                               Edgbaston
         
June 1911               Coronation of King George V & Queen Mary.
   
November 1918       WW1 armistice.
   
November 1922       Lord Mayor's Distress Fund for the unemployed.    Used on various routes
                                until February 1923.   Used again in February & December 1924.
   
May 1935                Silver Jubilee of King George V & Queen Mary.    Operated over all the
                               main routes, including those to Dudley, Rednal & Rubery.
   
May 1937                Coronation of King George VI & Queen Elizabeth.  Unlike the previously
                               used cars, this one was a single-decker with a giant illuminated crown
                               on its roof.
   
May 1945                V.E. Day.    Single-deck car with a wave-shaped roof.
     
   
If none of these events fit in with your experience, then it's possible that what you saw was an illuminated bus or lorry.    There are problems with it being a tramcar because the books say that the track was lifted, and the road surface improved for the impending trolleybus service, between August & November of 1922.     
There's no B/S on Planet Malc.

ann scully

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 5
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2319 on: April 07, 2012, 07:31:27 PM »
Hello Ann.Not quite a Cul-de-Sac Somerset St ran from Cato St to Devon St as well as the little bit you are thinking of.Dek
Hi Dek I lived right by the hostel and that is where the road ended  when did you live round there. Did you go to St Annes. Ann
 

vauxonion

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1010
Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2320 on: April 07, 2012, 11:39:04 PM »
Put this on theV&D thread (could be Bordesley)Dek


 

Terms of Use     Privacy Policy