This is the book that made me abandon my bus stop. A book, chock full of high quality photographs showing Brummie buses in action all over the city, much of the time during my lifetime, or at least not much before it.
Lets start with the basics: A4 size, hardback, 175 heavyweight, glossy pages.
Price is £25 and it's one of those books you handle and know where the money has been spent. It feels quality.
Rather then focus on the machinery, author Malcolm Kelley takes us on a tour of Birmingham by bus route. This is a cleaver idea as many people reminiscing about buses remember a specific route they took every day and the sights they saw along the way.
I remember helping out on the Rapido stand at Wythall bus museum and while the quality of the model bus was important, the route number was the clincher. If it was the one you travelled on, then that made a big difference.
I'm fascinated by the views of bits of Birmingham that I know, but have changed a lot over the years. Often, I can recognise the basic buildings, but the details such as the signage are completely different today. A good example are those shots showing buses by the town hall - a pedestrianised area as long as I can remember, and one only now admitting trams to the street. The city has changed.
All the suburban shots are interesting too. We have a world where not owning a car was common, and two car families were rare. Streets are traffic-free and showing the care lavished on the homes and gardens. In many pictures, there is evidence of late 60s development with clean lines and concrete - stuff that didn't age well, but at the time spoke of a new optimism.
I'm sure there will be people picking captions apart, but not me. I'm not even really looking at the buses, I bought this for street scene inspiration for Selly Oak, and as such, it's proved invaluable.
If you like buses, or love Birmingham, a worthwhile addition to your bookshelf.
Buy Birmingham Buses - Route by Route 1925-1975 from Amazon (Affiliate link)
2 comments:
Fantastic, my type of book too, because it's produced by someone who is a real enthusiast. Before this, my fav book was "Railway telegraph pole insulators". Great review, we need research and books like this.
Had a story pop up on my phone which made me smile due to its relevance here. Inside Britain's unhealthiest area where there's nearly a THOUSAND takeaways - and 25 fast food shops within just 400m https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15392236/britains-unhealthiest-area-takeaways-fast-food-birmingham/
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