Lea Hall Garage

Because of the difficult and poor lighting conditions photography inside bus garages is never an easy task. However any technical deficiencies should be forgiven as the views are often most rewarding like this one of West Midland PTE's Lea Hall Garage. Situated near Kitts green it was the last new garage to be opened by Birmingham City transport in 1955 to replace the small thirty-nine vehicle Barford Street Garage and to serve the expanding new housing estates in the the Castle Bromwich area of the city. Perhaps the most interesting vehicle to have been allocated here was 3228 the added demonstration Crossley Bridgemaster of 1956. However by the mid-Eighties the buses might have been rather less exciting but as with the rest of the West Midlands fleet the allocation of Daimler Fleetline and Metrobuses in blue and cream still had a reassuring Birmingham look to it. In the foreground was a so-called Ford Transit bread van minibus, but fortunately even though it liked the Metrorider the operator didn't ever go for small buses in a huge way.