As ever wonderful stuff Valkerie.
Just as a added bit of info, the Birmingham City Transport Crossley is wearing its wheel trims, as did many other New Look Birmingham tin fronts.
The trims where soon discarded as it was thought they contributed to overheating of the brakes.
Likewise the front edge of the front wings had a section cut off raising them to allow more air to flow over the front brakes.
City stage carriage works places huge demands on the brakes of course.
All the standard Birmingham vehicles had vacuum assisted brakes fitted with Birminghams own design of auto brake adjuster.
My recollection was that they never kept up with the actual wear on the brake lining.
When the Fleetlines arrived they had a similar system which did the opposite and had a tendency to over rack.
I can recall unladen Fleetlines travelling through the soapy water from the washing machine in the depot with the visible front wheel locked !