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.