MidlandRed.net

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) designed and built 98 examples of the BMMO S15 dual purpose bus between 1957 and 1962, operating them until October 1974.

After the maximum length for a bus was increased to 36′ in 1961, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) took advantage of the potential increase in seating capacity by designing and building the prototype BMMO S16 bus in 1962.

A batch of 50 vehicles to this design entered service from December 1962, with a second batch of 34 examples in 1964, even though the BMMO S17 had already outdated the design at this time.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) produced the BMMO S17 from 1963.  The design was similar to the type S16 but featured a larger engine and semi-automatic gearbox to overcome the shortcoming in the S16 design.

The BMMO S17 was a very successful design for BMMO with 265 examples built between 1963 and 1966, and examples remaining in service until November 1979.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 30 BMMO S21 semi-coaches in 1967 for use on longer distance stage carriage services in the week and coach duties at weekends.

In 1968, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Comapany Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 37 BMMO S22 dual-purpose buses.  These were designed by BMMO specifically for one-man operation use on their long distance stage carriage services.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 76 BMMO S23 buses from 1968 to 1970 for one-man operation use.

These were the last vehicles built by Midland Red before production ended in 1970.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 100 BMMO D5 double-deck buses from 1949, followed by an additional 100 BMMO D5B double-deck buses from 1950.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 350 BMMO D7 double-decker buses between 1953 and 1957.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built 345 BMMO D9 double-decker buses between 1958 and 1966.

In 1960, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) built the prototype of an advanced under-floor engined double-decker bus, the BMMO D10. A second prototype was built in 1961, and although the type D10 never entered production, the two prototypes remained in service for 12 years.

Between 1958 and 1961, BMMO built sixty-five examples of the BMMO C5 coach.

In 1959, with the opening of the M1 motorway pending, the company developed a version of this class with a turbocharger to create the countries first motorway-express coach, the highly successful BMMO CM5T.  This revolutionary vehicle allowed BMMO to operate high-speed Motorway Express services from the day the motorway opened, reducing running time between Birmingham and London by over two hours.

This section includes details of all BMMO C5 variations; types C5, CM5, CM5T, CS5 and C5A.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) designed and built 30 type CM6 / CM6T Motorway coaches from 1963.

During the Second World War, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) acquired a approx 58 of Guy Arab double-deck buses, allocated to them by the Ministry of War Transport.

After the war, BMMO acquired an additional twenty Guy Arab double-deck buses, which were given the BMMO type code GD6.

In 1952 and 1953, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) acquired 100 Leyland Titan PD2/12 double-deck buses, with Leyland Farington bodywork modified at the request of BMMO to have concealed radiators.  All of these vehicles were withdrawn between 1965 and 1967.

All these vehicles had BMMO type code LD8

In 1977, the Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) acquired five Ford Transit minibuses.

From 1962, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO, and later MROC — Midland “Red”) acquired 542 single-deck buses and coaches built on the Leyland Leopard chassis.

Vehicles with the following type codes were built on the Leyland Leopard chassis; LS18, LC7, LC8, LC9, LS20, C10, C11, S24, S26, C12, C13, S27, C14, S28, C15, C16, C16, C17, C18, C19, C20, C21, CDP22 & CDP23.

From December 1963, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO, and later MROC — Midland “Red”) acquired 304 Damiler Fleetline double-decker buses.

Vehicles with the following type codes were built on the Daimler Fleetline chassis: DD11, DD12, DD13 & D14.

From 1970 the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO, and later MROC — Midland “Red”) acquired 140 single-deck buses built on the Ford R192, and later R1014 chassis.  In the late 1970s a number of these vehicles were converted to twenty-seven seat midibuses by shortening the chassis.

Between 1972 and 1980, the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO, and later MROC — Midland “Red”) acquired 445 Leyland National buses in 10 batches.