bus garages in brum

[denise]

No idea but it is a very smart looking bus   

[Phil]

Brian

I could post it on another site and find out for you if you wish.

Phil

[9teen48]

Phil,

Yes please Phil, it would be interesting to find out.

Brian

[Phil]

Brian

This is the first answer I received from ColinB who although he doesn't visit us very often these days,  is I believe a member of this forum also.

Phil

Phil,
if this is the right one
Extract from Birmingham City Transport by Keely, Russell and Grey
fleet list
93...AHX 63.....1933....AEC Q.......PARK ROYAL....H29/27F
footnote
93 was a AEC demonstrator 1933-4 and then returned to manufactures. Fitted with diesel engine, returned to Birmingham in 1935 and purchased later that year.
The picture also appears in the same book, gives location as Colmore Row opposite Snow Hill Station in February 1933, and appears to be in use on the no. 16 route City - Handsworth Wood, which seems to be serviced with buses from Perry Barr and Hockley Garages ( I think).


Colin

[9teen48]

Phil,

Thanks for passing on the picture and info from ColinB - I recall that Colin has the Bham14 website and has recently posted on some of our King's Heath things.

Particularly interesting to get another image, this time showing the nearside of the vehicle.  I thought that the front entrance may have had doors but it appears not to.  My first thought was it would be a bit draughty for the driver and then I realised that this was the norm for our tram drivers.  Wonder what the passengers made of it.

Cheers,

Brian

[Phil]

Brian

You are correct it is the ColinB from the Bham14 web site. Its always well worth a look for anybody interested in Kings Heath and the surrounding area. Only I do wish he would hurry up and kick those construction worker out.

Phil

[Phil]

Brian

Some more information for you. This is from Lloyd who I believe is involved with the Wythall Transport Museum.

Phil.



The AEC Q AHX 63 (actually the first double deck one, registered by the makers and originally a demonstration vehicle) after initial sorties on the 16, ran mostly from Acocks Green garage on the 1a route until returning to AEC and being fitted with a diesel engine, after which it ran from Harborne garage (which was the first to have diesel fuel facilities) on the 4 route to Harborne and Queens Park.
In 1940 it was withdrawn and along with a few older buses sold "on instruction of the Ministry of Supply" to Messrs Yeomans of Canon Pyon, Hereford, a small operator who had need of double deckers to ferry construction workers to various RAF sites currently under construction. They also collected AEC Qs from other sources, (it was always a rare model, other than London Transport only ones and twos going to operators) and sadly this Birmingham one ended its days as a storeshed in Yeomans' yard, having donated its engine to another Q type.

The AEC Q was designed by G J(John) Rackham, AEC's chief designer who after an early career in London went to help start up the American 'Yellow Coach' company, under the control of John D Hertz's 'Yellow Cab' taxi building business (Yes the same Hertz as the van rentals firm!) then returned to the UK and straight into the top job at Leyland Motors, where his 'Titan' and 'Tiger' bus chassis designs rendered everybody else's designs obsolete overnight. He moved to AEC in 1928 and designed their 'Regent' and 'Regal' bus chassis along similar lines to the Leyland 'Titan' and 'Tiger' but his American influenced Q type did not meet with buyers approval, sadly.

[Phil]

Hi again Brian,

Lloyd later added this little bit of extra information along with two more photos.

Phil

I should add that for its last few months in Birmingham, AEC Q AHX 63 was painted in the 'conventional' livery, as seen below. The other view is of it in Yeomans' colours, running in Hereford. (The bus in front, just visible, is another ex-Birmingham vehicle, AEC Regent OG 371).

[9teen48]

Phil,

Excellent work !  Thanks for posting the two pieces from Lloyd and his two additional images.  Obviously that bus disappeared from the streets of Brum before our time, but it is great to get the info and also to see the shot of it on the road in Brum.  A bit of a sad end and it does look in a poor state at Yeomans of Hereford.

Brian

[Phil]

Brian

It always amazes me the amount of information that some transport enthusiasts commit to memory or can put their hands on straight away. Where would we be without them? We also must recognise the amount of time, effort and finance that some of them put in to some of these museums all over the country for our benefit.

I spent forty years running Bedford Lorries and I know very little more now about them than I did when I first started.

Phil

[9teen48]

Phil,

Where would we be indeed.  Two transport museums that are very good examples of the sort of enthusiast commitment that you decribe are our local Transport Museum at Wythall and the Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire.

We are fortunate to have the wealth of photographs showing the streets of Birmingham, the buildings and the trams and buses, but thanks to the enthusiasts who have preserved and maintained some of our BCT and Midland Red buses you can actually experience travelling on these historic vehicles.

Brian