Midland Red coach services advert, 1950
"The Friendly Midland Red" was the strapline used by the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company for many years and the named General Manager seen here, D M Sinclair, was another constant for much of this company's existance. Midland Red was a part of the history of the English Midlands, and beyond, from 1905 until its demise in 1981. The head office was in Bearwood, a suburb of Birmingham that strangely straddles the old borough and county boundaries - originally part of Smethwick in Staffordshire, it beacme part of the shortlived County Borough of Warley in 1966 (and that was technically in Worcestershire) before being merged into the new Sandwell in 1974 at which point it was in the new County of West Midlands! However, it is this reason that saw BMMO's buses registered "HA" and not with a City of Birmingham "O" or "VP" mark.
For much of its existance it was notable amongst British bus and coach operators in that it constructed most of its own vehicles and the vignette here shows one of the post-war coaches, type C1 KHA 302 fleet number 3302, constructed in 1949 at the company's works although with bodywork finished by Duple to BMMO's designs. The coach division ran many long distance services as well as touring holidays and the bus division ran many hundreds of services as noted in the advert.
The company's 'wheel and tyre' logo is reminiscent of the London Transport roundel. The advert appears in the c1950 booklet "see Britain by bus and coach' aimed at attracting overseas and especially American tourists. Birmingham, it notes, will offer you a sincere welcome! Quite what our American cousins would have made of 1950s Birmingham, a pint of Ansells and a packet of pork scratchings, is a moot point!
Midland Red coach services advert, 1950
"The Friendly Midland Red" was the strapline used by the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company for many years and the named General Manager seen here, D M Sinclair, was another constant for much of this company's existance. Midland Red was a part of the history of the English Midlands, and beyond, from 1905 until its demise in 1981. The head office was in Bearwood, a suburb of Birmingham that strangely straddles the old borough and county boundaries - originally part of Smethwick in Staffordshire, it beacme part of the shortlived County Borough of Warley in 1966 (and that was technically in Worcestershire) before being merged into the new Sandwell in 1974 at which point it was in the new County of West Midlands! However, it is this reason that saw BMMO's buses registered "HA" and not with a City of Birmingham "O" or "VP" mark.
For much of its existance it was notable amongst British bus and coach operators in that it constructed most of its own vehicles and the vignette here shows one of the post-war coaches, type C1 KHA 302 fleet number 3302, constructed in 1949 at the company's works although with bodywork finished by Duple to BMMO's designs. The coach division ran many long distance services as well as touring holidays and the bus division ran many hundreds of services as noted in the advert.
The company's 'wheel and tyre' logo is reminiscent of the London Transport roundel. The advert appears in the c1950 booklet "see Britain by bus and coach' aimed at attracting overseas and especially American tourists. Birmingham, it notes, will offer you a sincere welcome! Quite what our American cousins would have made of 1950s Birmingham, a pint of Ansells and a packet of pork scratchings, is a moot point!