Central Works
Carlyle Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham
- Seven-acre site on the southern shore of Rotton Park Reservoir originally built by Daimler Company Limited and used for the manufacture of early aircraft. Site partly occupied by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.
- Part of the site passed to Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) in September 1920, and initially used for body overhauls and repair work, previously carried out at Bearwood depot.
- Remainder of the site acquired in November 1924.
- Chassis construction transferred to the site from Bearwood depot in early 1925.
- Production of new vehicles suspended from mid-1940 by order of The Ministry of War Transport. The last vehicles completed being a batch of fifty SOS “SON” single-deck buses that entered service between February and July 1940.
- Four prototype single-deck buses with under-floor engines built between 1941 and 1944. These were rebuilt from the SOS “REC” class originally introduced in 1935, and would later be classified as BMMO S1–S4. In addition to these, a prototype rear-entrance double-deck bus was built in 1944, which became known as the BMMO D1.
- A fifth under-floor engine prototype single-deck bus, classified BMMO S5, built in late 1945 and entered service in 1946. The featured advanced intergral construction and 40-seat bodywork by Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon.
- With the necessary permission granted by the authorities, full scale vehicle production resumed in early 1946. The first post-war class of vehicle produced being a batch of one-hundred single-deck buses, the BMMO S6, built to an advanced under-floor engine design based on the wartime BMMO S1–S4 prototypes. The first example, fleet number 3000, rolled off the production line in September 1946, and entered service the following month at Bearwood depot.
- New Chassis Overhaul shop built in 1949 and early 1950, with the first of the engineering departments moving from Bearwood depot on Monday 3rd July 1950. This was the first stage completed in a major site redevelopment, which had been planned since 1941 but delayed due to the war and subsequent post-war shortages of building materials such as steel.
- New Body Repair and Paint Shop built from late 1949, but further building material shortages delayed completion until spring 1953, during which time a new works canteen, with dining room, kitchen and stores, was built by adapting existing building.
- Two-story brick built building adjoining the new body repair shop built form 1951 to 1953, used for sheet metal work on the ground floor and design office, stores office, and Purchasing and Progress section on the first floor.
- Site expanded to about 8½-acres in October 1952 with the purchase of Midland House on Vernon Road. The building had been a private hospital since being built in the 1860s, and was renovated and adapted for use as offices before opening in 1953 as the company’s registered offices and headquarters.
- New Assembly Shop completed near the end of 1954 by modernising existing buildings. This building also house a section for the company’s experimental and development department and the maintenance of the company’s fleet of support vans and company cars.
- Following the major redevelopment between 1949 and 1954, the Carlyle Road complex claimed to be the “most up-to-date Vehicle Overhaul Works in the Country” and the new “Central Chassis and Body Works” was declared officially open on the afternoon of Thursday 25th November 1954. The site was officially opened by The Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Alderman J.R. Balmer J.P., in the presence of the company Chairman, Mr John Spencer Wills M.Inst.T., the Directors and principal officers of the Company, representatives from the Department of Transport, and around 350 guests. Dinner at the Grand Hotel followed that evening to celebrate the company’s golden jubilee.
- The site took responsibility for all chassis, engine and bodywork construction, overhaul, design and development work. Until this time, Bearwood depot had been responsible for all design and development, engine construction and testing, and much of the chassis overhauls, with Cradley Heath depot also handling some of the backlog of overhauls after World War II.
- Plastics workshop opened near the end of 1955.
- The first computer owned by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) was installed at Midland House at the end of 1959, and after testing, became operational in 1960 calculating vehicle mileage statistics, and fuel and lubrication usages. By 1964, the payroll and stores records were also computerised and, at the time, this was considered a major achievement for the company.
- In 1968, a new computer centre located between Midland House and the main Carlyle Road site was built. The centre opened in 1969, and housed a new ICL1904 computer and all the necessary equipment and staff.
- Vehicle production ended in June 1970, with the BMMO S23 being the last class of vehicles built by the company.
- Company named changed to Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) on Friday 29th March 1974.
- All computing services transferred to National Bus Company Computer Services Limited in 1976.
- In 1979, Mr Rogers of Central Works was awarded the British Empire Medal in recognition of his innovation and expertise in the conversion of full-size Ford R192 buses (type codes F1 and F3) to twenty-seven seat midibuses (type codes M2 and M3). The Lord Lieutenant of the County presented the award at a ceremony in the central workshop. As part of the celebrations, all Carlyle Road staff were invited to the award and provided with light refreshments, with senior staff being taken for dinner, and the remaining given the afternoon off work!
- On the end of operations on Saturday 5th September 1981, Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) ceased all bus and coach operations, and was replaced by five smaller operating companies. At this time, Central Works remained in the control of MROC providing engineering support for these five new companies, and other NBC subsidiaries.
- Privatised as Carlyle Works Limited on Saturday 1st November 1986, and sold to Frontsource Limited in March 1987.
- Sold to management on Wednesday 29th July 1987.
- Operations divided in to three groups, with Carlyle Vehicles building minibuses, Carlyle Engineering Services for PCV repair and servicing, and Carlyle Bus Centre acting as a dealer for bus hire and sales.
- Carlyle Group entered voluntary liquidation in October 1991, and closed soon after with around 160 staff being made redundant and all company assets being sold at auction in December 1991.
- Site cleared in early 1992 and a housing estate now stands in its place.
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