Midland Red was a bus company which operated in the English Midlands from 1905 to 1981. It was the trading name used by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company (BMMO), which was renamed Midland Red Omnibus Company in 1974. The company was one of the largest English bus companies, operating over a large area between Gloucester in the south and Derby in the north, and from Northampton to the Welsh border. The company also manufactured buses.
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History
Origins
In 1899 the British Electric Traction company acquired the assets of the Birmingham General Omnibus Company, which had been formed 3 years earlier to acquire a number of horse bus operations in Birmingham. When BET ordered new buses for Birmingham the next year, they were painted red to make them stand out. In 1902 BET acquired the City of Birmingham Tramways Company Ltd, which operated horse buses as well as trams.[1]
Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company was formed by local businessmen in November 1904 to operate motor bus services in Birmingham. When the directors failed to attract sufficient investors, BET acquired control of the new company, and in 1905 transferred its local horse bus operations to it. The company also acquired a motor bus company which had started in 1903. BMMO started operations in its own name in July 1905. However, the company experienced problems with its motor buses, and in 1907 converted all its motor bus services to horse buses.[1]
In 1912 the company purchased some petrol-electric buses. Further motor buses followed, and by June 1913 only 17 horse buses remained. The company adopted for its motor buses the red livery used by Birmingham General, and the buses carried the fleetname "Midland".[1] They soon acquired the nickname "Midland Red".
Expansion outside Birmingham
By 1912 the Birmingham Corporation Tramways had used its statutory powers to acquire the city's tramways which it did not already own, and had determined to consolidate the operation of bus and tram operations in the city. Since it was going to be difficult for BMMO to expand in the city, it reached agreement with the corporation to operate services from outside Birmingham into the city and transfer its services within the city to the corporation. The company then expanded outside Birmingham, and moved its headquarters to Bearwood in Smethwick.[1]
During the First World War the company took over BET operations in Worcester and elsewhere, and after the war opened depots at Walsall, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Hereford, Stafford, Banbury, Bromsgrove, Shrewsbury, Nuneaton, Leamington and Leicester. During the 1920s the tramways owned by BET in the Black Country were gradually replaced by Midland Red buses.[1]
In 1930 the Great Western Railway and the London Midland and Scottish Railway together acquired 50% of the company. The few GWR bus services in the area were transferred to Midland Red.[1]
Coach services
Midland Red started express coach services in 1921 with routes to Weston-super-Mare and Llandudno.[1] Coach services expanded, and in 1934 Midland Red became a founder member of the Associated Motorways consortium.
Coach services were suspended during the Second World War, but expanded after the war. When the M1 motorway was opened in 1959, Midland Red started non-stop express services between London and Birmingham, and later between London and Coventry. The opening of the M5 Birmingham to Bristol motorway enabled the operation of express services between Birmingham and Worcester.[1]
Nationalisation
When the railways were nationalised in 1947, Midland Red became 50% state-owned. In 1968 BET sold its UK bus interests to the government, and in January 1969 the company became a subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC). The livery was later changed from a deep red to the NBC corporate poppy red.
In 1973 the garages (with the exception of Digbeth Coach Station, Bearwood and Cradley Heath) and routes within the West Midlands county were transferred to the control of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, leaving Midland Red with country and local routes mainly in Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire; and express services.
MAP Rebranding
From 1977 onwards, the company was rebranded into local brand names under the Viable Network Project, something that was widely adopted throughout NBC and elsewhere as the Market Analysis Project. Each new network spawned a localised brand, as follows:
- Avonbus - Stratford-upon-Avon
- Chaserider - Cannock and Stafford
- Hotspur - Shrewsbury and Ludlow
- Hunter - Nuneaton and Hinckley
- Lancer - Coalville and Swadlincote
- Leamington & Warwick - Leamington Spa
- Leicester - Leicester (did not carry area branding names)
- Mercian - Tamworth and Lichfield
- Reddibus - Redditch
- Ridercross - Banbury and Kineton
- Rugby Midland Red - Rugby
- Severnlink - Worcester, Malvern and Bromsgrove
- Tellus - Telford (Wellington)
- Wendaway - Kidderminster
- Wayfarer - Evesham
- Wandaward - Hereford
- Midland Express - long-distance and limited stop services
Breakup and privatisation
In preparation for privatisation of the NBC, Midland Red was split into six new companies in 1981:
- Midland Red Express, later renamed Midland Red Coaches - central coach and express services division
- Midland Red South - Warwickshire and north Oxfordshire (the Avonbus, Hunter, Leamington & Warwick, Ridercross and Rugby operations)
- Midland Red North - Shropshire, south Staffordshire, and northern West Midlands (the Chaserider, Hotspur, Mercian and Tellus operations)
- Midland Red West - Herefordshire, Worcestershire, south and east quadrants of West Midlands (the Reddibus, Severnlink, Wanderward, Wayfarer and Wendaway operations)
- Midland Red East, later renamed Midland Fox - Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and east Staffordshire (the Lancer and Leicester operations)
- Midland Red Engineering, later renamed Carlyle Works Limited - central engineering workshops at Carlyle Road, Birmingham
Midland Red West was sold on 22 December 1986 to a management team led by managing director Ken Mills, who also took over Midland Red Coaches on that date.
Midland Red South was sold on 10 December 1987 to Western Travel Limited, who also owned the Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company.
Midland Fox Limited, formerly Midland Red East, was sold on 18 August 1987 to its management. The operations of the Swadlincote depot were purchased by Stevenson's of Uttoxeter.
Midland Red North was sold on 27 January 1988 to Drawlane Limited.
Carlyle Works Limited, formerly Midland Red Engineering, was sold to Frontsource Limited, who also purchased the engineering divisions of an initial eight and later nine companies.
Today
- Arriva has taken over Midland Red North and Midland Fox, trading initially as Arriva Midlands North and Arriva Fox County, though now simply Arriva Midlands, even upon the retention of two separate operating licences. These companies also include remnants of Derby City Transport and Stevenson's of Uttoxeter.
- Stagecoach has taken over Western Travel, parent of Midland Red South and trades as Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Stagecoach in Warwickshire. The Stagecoach in Oxfordshire operation includes Oxford South Midlands.
- First has taken over Midland Red West, trading initially as First Wyvern and latterly simply as First.
- Stratford Blue, a name ebbing and flowing in and out of fashion, is from 2007 under Stagecoach ownership, having previously been a part of the Ensignbus group
Bus manufacture
In 1912 the company bought its first Tilling Stevens petrol-electric vehicles. Tilling Stevens became the main supplier of bus chassis to the company which, under its Chief Engineer L.G. Wyndham Shire, adapted and developed the designs to its own requirements, finally designing a vehicle it intended to construct itself.
Between 1923 and 1969, BMMO built most of the buses it operated: up to 1940 these were called 'SOS', and some models were supplied to other bus companies associated with the company. After 1940, they were identified by the company's initials, BMMO, and used solely within the company.
Historical list of Midland Red garages (and outstations)
- Banbury
- Bearwood
- Birmingham, Digbeth
- Bishops Castle, Midland Red West outstation
- Brierley Hill, passed to WMPTE
- Bromsgrove
- Cannock
- Coalville
- Cradley Heath
- Dudley, passed to WMPTE
- Evesham
- Heath Hayes, formerly Harper Brothers
- Hereford
- Hinckley
- Kidderminster
- Kineton, formerly Stratford Blue
- Leamington Spa
- Leicester, Southgates
- Lichfield
- Ludlow
- Malvern Link
- Market Harborough, formerly N&S
- Markfield
- Nuneaton
- Oldbury, passed to WMPTE
- Pensnett
- Redditch
- Rugby
- Shrewsbury
- South Wigston
- Stourbridge, passed to WMPTE
- Stafford
- Stratford-upon-Avon, formerly Stratford Blue
- Sutton Coldfield, passed to WMPTE
- Swadlincote
- Tamworth
- Wellington, Shropshire
- Wolverhampton
- Worcester, Padmore Street
Timeline
- 1904: Formation of BMMO.
- 1905: First services.
- 1914-1920: Rapid spread of services outside Birmingham to 'Paint the Midlands Red'.
- 1923: First production run of BMMO buses, SOS 'S' type - one of the first British buses to have pneumatic tyres.
- 1920s: Development of long-distance coach routes using charabancs.
- 1927: QL bus produced, the first Midland Red bus to have brakes on all wheels.
- 1930s: Development of petrol and diesel engines.
- 1940s: Experiments with under-floor engined single-decker.
- 1950s: Experiments and developments of integral construction, independent front suspension, air suspension, rubber suspension, glass fibre construction and disc brakes.
- 1958: Introduction of D9, a new half-cab double deck incorporating most of the successful features developed in the 1950s.
- 1959: The introduction of the CM5T, a coach capable of 100 mph, for non-stop motorway services. The Birmingham-London express coach service launched on November 2nd - the same day that the M1 motorway was opened. CM5T designation indicated the version fitted with a passenger toilet.
- 1960: Appearance of the first of the two experimental D10 double-deckers, with rare under-floor engined layout.
- 1963: One of the country’s first fully-enclosed city centre bus stations is in opened at Birmingham’s Bull Ring, from which most Midland Red services in the City Centre now depart.
- 1960s: Larger motorway coach introduced, the CM6T between 1963-6. Midland Red becomes the first British bus company to make wide-scale use of computers in compiling bus schedules and staff rosters.
- 1970s: Winding down of vehicle production. Last Midland Red built-bus (S23 single-decker no. 5991)produced in 1970. Split up of the operating area - West Midlands PTE take the West Midlands Metropolitan area garages.
- 1980s: Midland Red split into five operating companies and an engineering company. Privatisation by buy-outs.
- 1990s: Take over by the current conglomerate transport groups.
See also
References
External links
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