Friday the Thirteenth
5 February 2023
ABOVE: National Express West Midlands 6786 (SN66 WCK), named Alayna Lillie, is an ADL Enviro400 MMC. It's seen here, near Merry Hill Shopping Centre, on route 8 from Wolverhampton to Wollaston Farm. All photos in this article were taken on Friday 13th January 2023.
Does being nervous because it's Friday the Thirteenth make me superstitious? It shouldn't do. I have woken up, so I'm already ahead of the game! Not working today - another plus! And I'm away, on the buses. I make that three-nil, and I haven't even had my hotel breakfast yet!
I might even say four-nil, as it's forecast to be a lovely, sunny day. I've come to Birmingham through the sodden (I said sodden) rain, via Didcot and Stratford-upon-Avon, and I now have a whole day to explore the buses of the West Midlands.
It's still pretty dark as I leave my hotel, shortly before 8am. I'm only a two-minute walk to the bus stop at Colmore Row, where my intended first bus of the day, on route 9 to Stourbridge, is just pulling up. It's an Enviro400 MMC. I greet the driver with a friendly "good morning" but don't get much back.
I try to take some photos in the City Centre, but the semi-darkness challenges even the "night" setting on my camera-phone.
I might even say four-nil, as it's forecast to be a lovely, sunny day. I've come to Birmingham through the sodden (I said sodden) rain, via Didcot and Stratford-upon-Avon, and I now have a whole day to explore the buses of the West Midlands.
It's still pretty dark as I leave my hotel, shortly before 8am. I'm only a two-minute walk to the bus stop at Colmore Row, where my intended first bus of the day, on route 9 to Stourbridge, is just pulling up. It's an Enviro400 MMC. I greet the driver with a friendly "good morning" but don't get much back.
I try to take some photos in the City Centre, but the semi-darkness challenges even the "night" setting on my camera-phone.
A West Midlands Metro tram calls at Library, Centenary Square, outside the Birmingham Symphony Hall just after dawn (8am).
Like all of the buses that I am going to use today (spoiler alert!), route 9 is run by National Express West Midlands (NXWM) - one of the last vestiges (with the sister National Express Coventry operation) of what was once an extensive bus operation spreading from Dundee to London.
And like London, a flat fare applies to all services, meaning that one only needs to touch in with a contactless card; there is no need to touch out. Fares have been reduced to £2.00 single as part of the national maximum fare scheme, and a day ticket costs £4.00, which is excellent value given the scale of the NXWM network!
Route 9 is a straightforward, broadly east-west, run out of Birmingham, starting along the A456 Hagley Road. Given the time of day, an increasing number of schoolchildren are gathering as we head out of the city centre. Most of them leave en masse at the Lordswood Road junction (there's a large School nearby).
This is a significant junction, as it's served by the Outer Circle routes 11C & 11A, which run circular services (clockwise and anti-clockwise respectively) around the City, about three miles out from the centre. Crossing the junction signifies moving away from the city into its leafy suburbs. (I still haven't done a complete circuit of the 11C or 11A - if I ever do, I will write about it!)
It certainly seems to become "greener" very quickly. As Hagley Road becomes Hagley Road West, we pass the Lightwoods Park and the attractive public house, "The Dog":
This is a significant junction, as it's served by the Outer Circle routes 11C & 11A, which run circular services (clockwise and anti-clockwise respectively) around the City, about three miles out from the centre. Crossing the junction signifies moving away from the city into its leafy suburbs. (I still haven't done a complete circuit of the 11C or 11A - if I ever do, I will write about it!)
It certainly seems to become "greener" very quickly. As Hagley Road becomes Hagley Road West, we pass the Lightwoods Park and the attractive public house, "The Dog":
At Quinton Island, we part company with the A456 as it veers south. We continue westwards towards Halesowen.
An unidentified ADL Enviro400 MMC passes Quinton Church on its way to Birmingham on route 9
The only deviation from this otherwise straight-forward route is to serve the centre of Halesowen itself. This involves driving along a dual-carriageway, Queensway, in order to access the Bus Station, and then driving back along Queensway, before circling around the town centre via Bromsgrove Road and New Road. Three minutes after leaving the Bus Station, we're at the High Street stop, around 1000 feet, as the crow flies, from the Bus Station, having driven about a mile to get there!
Stourbridge Road, Halesowen
The former Unitarian Chapel in High Street, Lye, is now a clothing shop - oh the indignity!
After a journey of just over an hour, we reach Stourbridge Bus Station. Full daylight has finally established itself and the flood of schoolchildren has ceased for a few hours. It's been a nice ride on route 9, even if I haven't discovered any new territory (I have done this ride before).
This is part of Stourbridge Bus Station (there's another building with a couple more stands out of sight on the right). The only vehicle in evidence is 2087 (BX12 DBZ), a Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2. It's working route 6 (Stourbridge to Dudley) which seems to mainly be operated with double-deckers.
I'm now heading for Wolverhampton, via NXWM route 8, which has started at Wollaston Farm, a suburb of Stourbridge. I join at the bus station with about six other passengers. It's another E400 MMC, and again, my greeting to the driver elicits very little in return.
We pass a pub called the "Ten Arches", which commemorates the nearby Stambermill Viaduct, built in 1850 to carry the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway across the River Stour. It is used by freight trains nowadays, but hasn't carried passenger trains since 1964. It may do so again later this year as part of an extension of the West Midlands Metro to Dudley. I get fleeting glimpses of the viaduct, but nothing that I can usefully point a camera at.
NXWM 6783 (SN66 WCF) on route 8 at Amblecote Road, Withymoor, Brierley Hill
The section to Merry Hill is the only bit of this route that I haven't done before, but it only takes 14 minutes to get there!
Merry Hill Bus Station, with Diamond Bus 32314 (BD20 OCR), a Wright Streetlite DF, on the left, nearest the camera, on route 25 (Stourbridge to Dudley), and what looks like a similar vehicle in front, on route 18 (Merry Hill to Dudley via Cradley)
The Brierley Hop House pub in Brierley Hill. I can't find out anything about its history, except that it used to be called Brewer's Wharf. I'm assuming it was a factory...
After Merry Hill, we pass through the Town Centre of Dudley, where the work on the tram extension is plain for all to see. It feels like half the town is coned off.
We pass King Charles House, a Grade II-listed Georgian Mansion House built in the late Eighteenth Century, but registering an added poignancy with me as a result of the still very-recent events of last September.
After Dudley, route 8 follows a fairly mundane route up the A4123 Birmingham New Road dual carriageway. There's an X8 service that parallels the 8 all the way from Dudley to Wolverhampton and, if I had wanted to cut out one ride this morning (which I didn't), the X8 also covers a lot of now-familiar territory between Birmingham and Quinton.
The approaches to Wolverhampton take us around a one-way system, and we drive down an unusual centre-lane Bus Lane:
Presumably a motorist in the wrong lane here is not allowed to cross the Bus Lane to correct themselves?
We arrive into the vast Wolverhampton Bus Station at around the scheduled time of 1026.
One part of the vast Wolverhampton Bus Station
The 'essential' facilities in the Bus Station are out of order so I have to trek into town to find an alternative set. Fortunately I have 30 minutes in hand before my next departure, another NXWM service numbered 9, but completely unconnected to the other NXWM service 9 that I left a couple of hours ago.
This route 9 is going to Walsall. The main service between Wolverhampton and Walsall appears to be the 529, running every eight minutes. There's a sizeable queue forming for that service, even after one has just pulled out, and a similar crowd will be evident when I reach Walsall Bus Station later.
But I have already ridden on the 529, so this alternative route is new territory for me, almost from the off.
Once again I get very little from the driver in response to my "good morning". It seems to be a common theme today. This bus is a rather older vehicle than I've been accustomed to recently; a 2004 Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400. There's an even older vehicle on the route as well:
NXWM 4348 (BX02 AVB) will celebrate its 21st birthday in the next few months. It's still in front-line service on route 9 when seen in Wednesfield.
Given that I have turned down the direct route 529, it is inevitable that this service will take a more convoluted way round. Walsall is due east of Wolverhampton, but we're initially heading north-east towards Wednesfield (does one say this in the same way as one talks about Wednesday)?
As we reach Wednesfield, there's a stunning Sikh temple on Well Lane:
This is a nice ride through the north-east suburbs of Wolverhampton. It's also very quiet (it's late morning, where this is often the case) and no-one else joins me on the top deck until the intriguingly-named New Invention a few miles further on.
This section is good for bus spotting, though. Some parts of it are familiar from a previous ride on route 69, which is yet another way to get from Wolverhampton to Walsall (a route which seems to be single-deck on weekdays and double-deck on Sundays - glad I rode it on a Sunday)!
Not quite identifiable is this Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2 on route 69 towards Wolverhampton, on the Lichfield Road at Pooles Lane
11 (SJ70 HVW) is a Fiat Ducato Bluebird Orion of Walsall Community Transport. It is passing through Pelsall on route 23 from Brownhills West to Bloxwich
By the time we reach Pelsall, Walsall is akin to south-by-southwest of us. The route acknowledges this to a degree, by turning onto a south-easterly bearing, with another detour after Pelsall Common before we finally turn onto the direct road into Walsall, broadly south-west.
Pelsall Common
The journey on route 529 takes 36 minutes; our journey has taken 66. But I have enjoyed it. The 19-year-old bus has coped perfectly well with the demands placed upon it.
Walsall Bus Station is bustling, as ever. I will cover my next journey separately in a forthcoming article, but, suffice to say, I have soon landed in Sutton Coldfield, where my planned itinerary has come to an end.
And this is always my problem. My intention has been to follow my nose, fancy-free, from this point on. But aimless travels do not always deliver the best or most original experiences.
And so it is that I have found myself boarding a bus on route 5 towards West Bromwich. I'm on the 1345 departure and, whilst this is another lovely ride through nice parts of the region, it's another route I have done before.
It's also crushingly uncomfortable in this Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini - a 53-reg vehicle from the era where the designers forgot to include legroom in the front seat above the driver.
I can't quite identify this NXWM Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2 on route 5, but it's approaching the Birmingham Road / Duke Street bus stop in Sutton Coldfield
There's also an X5 route passing through Sutton Coldfield, but it bears little resemblance to the 5, even if the similar route numbers might suggest otherwise. After a mile or two the X5 will turn in a completely different direction, to run to the City Centre.
NXWM 6808 (SN66 WDM), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, at the Birmingham Road / Duke Street bus stop in Sutton Coldfield. It's working route X5, which has next to nothing to do with route 5, despite the similar number.
Route 5 is a straightforward east-west run across the northern suburbs of Birmingham, through New Oscott, Kingstanding, Pheasey and Great Barr. I don't know what it's like to live in these areas, but they certainly look attractive in the afternoon winter sun.
NXWM 6994 (SK19 ESN), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, passes Darnick Road on the outskirts of Sutton Coldfield, on route 907 - yet another link between Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham City Centre
Most of the buses on route 5 today are aged Volvo B7s like mine - 2003/04 vintage, but I also spot an Enviro200 MMC single-decker at work:
NXWM 2235 (YX65 PXA, "Hazel"), is an ADL Enviro200 MMC branded for route 40 (West Bromwich to Wednesbury). It is working route 5 today, and is seen at the junction of Collingwood Drive and Morland Road in Pheasey.
It's only a 48-minute ride into West Bromwich so I am soon wandering around the bus station trying to decide what my next ride should be. I have already tried the 74 service back into Birmingham, but there's a route 16A Diamond Bus service to the City Centre on the real-time board; it's due in five minutes, and I wonder if it might take a route that I haven't yet experienced. But the Diamond Bus that pulls in is labelled as 16E to Hockley Circus. As I have no idea where that is, and I can't see a timetable to corroborate anything, I decide to give it a miss.
On the adjacent stand, an NXWM number 79 to Wolverhampton is just pulling up. I decide to jump on this instead. For the first time today, I'm not able to get a front seat. It doesn't stop me from attempting to take a photo of West Bromwich's Farley Clock Tower:
Reuben Farley was the first Mayor of West Bromwich and served four terms. The clock tower was built in his honour (an uncorroborated internet entry suggests that he opened it himself).
Although this bus is another Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400 (54-reg), there's a real hotch-potch of vehicles at work here - Enviro400s, Enviro400 MMCs, an 03-reg ALX400 (so virtually 20 years old) and at least one single-decker Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2.
A Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2 on route 79. Based on a search on Bus Times.org, it is probably 2025 (BX61 LKM, "Chelsea Elizabeth").
It's when we come to Bilston Bus Interchange that I realise that this route isn't new to me either - I have covered it during a previous visit - albeit in the opposite direction. So I have hardly done anything new today!
It's a busy route, running every 12 minutes, and we catch up with the bus in front, which has borne the brunt of the school run (and spared us). The light is fading as we pull into Wolverhampton Bus Station - ahead of the earlier bus, so no idea where that one is going to drop off or pick up from! There are plenty of prospective customers waiting for the return journey.
I break away from the buses at this point for a tram ride; the full length of the current route from Wolverhampton St Georges to Edgbaston Village. It's a busy run, and there's a lot of work for the on-board conductor, who is diligent and attentive to his task. He is also friendly and courteous in a way that most NXWM bus drivers have not been today. The only really-courteous bus driver today was on the run that I have not yet described!
Edgbaston Village, the current terminus of the West Midlands Metro. This is a night shot that has worked!
It's a quick trip back from Edgbaston into the City Centre on my third route 9 bus of the day - although this is actually the first route 9, at the end of its run from Stourbridge.
So has there been any reason to be superstitious? Of course not. I've had a lovely day riding NXWM's buses and the sun has stayed out all day. I may not have covered much new ground but I've reacquainted myself with some lovely parts of Britain's second city.
But I do finish the day by accidentally getting off the bus one stop too soon, and I find myself becoming acquainted with some of the less-salubrious parts of the City Centre, around the back end of Snow Hill station. But I don't even remember the date as I walk across the City in search of my supper!