MidlandRed.net

Oldbury Depot

Birchley Crossing, Wolverhampton New Road, Oldbury.

• Brick built garage with two large bays of differing length, purpose built by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) on a corner site, with an initial capacity for 70 vehicles.  A flat-roofed office block with a curved frontage, and a large slender clock tower was built at the front.
• Depot opened on 12^th April 1937, with an initial allocation of forty double-deck and twelve single-deck buses.
• Fitted with an automatic vehicle washing machine in 1949, becoming the first BMMO depot thus equipped.
• Clock tower demolished in 1968.
• Full control of the depot, along with all staff and vehicles, passed to the West Midland Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) on 3^rd December 1973, as part of the transfer of services in the West Midlands County.
  See the “Transfer of BMMO Services and Assets to the West Midlands PTE” page in the “History” section of this website for further details of the transfer.
• Depot closed in January 1986, and was later demolished.
• Site is a petrol station, a pub ("One and two halves") and a hotel (adjacent to the M5, junction 2)