In 1920, the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company established a bus repair facility on land adjoining Rotton Park Reservoir.

When the development and production of its own vehicles became prohibitive in the late 1960s the central works continued to provide heavy engineering services for the company.

[4] In the mid-1980s, minibuses became very popular for operators, allowing them to provide higher frequency service on routes that could serve areas larger vehicles could not access.

On 5 September 1981, Midland Red was divided into five operating companies with the Carlyle Works retained to provide engineering support.

New orders became increasingly hard to find, as the minibus vogue had ended and competing bodywork for the Dennis Dart was proving more popular.