Birmingham to Telford
26 March 2023
ABOVE: Arriva North Midlands 4412 (YX64 VMG) is an ADL Enviro400. It is turning out of Watling Street onto the A453 Sutton Road on its way to Birmingham on route 110 from Tamworth. All photos in this article were taken on Wednesday 8th February 2023.
The tail has wagged the dog this morning.
I have a few days off and I could have gone anywhere. But I've come to Birmingham because, when I left after my previous visit, I was accidentally sold a return train ticket rather than a single at Birmingham Moor Street. Today, I've decided to use the return portion.
There's a bonus, though. A delightful friend of mine (a lady!) is also heading to Birmingham this morning (on business), so we're able to make the journey together. After the trip up from London Marylebone, we take a cup of tea at an outside table of the café on Moor Street station; 'outside' means we're literally sitting on the station concourse, watching Moor Street life unfolding before us - fascinating. It's an amazing station!
Alas, we have to go our separate ways, and now I'm on the streets of Birmingham looking for the 110 Arriva Midlands North service to Tamworth. This is a service that I've been aiming to do for a while, but have not had the chance to before.
I need to find stop CS1 on Corporation Street. I find it easily, but there's a rather large sign that makes me concerned that the bus (due in five minutes) might not be picking up here:
I have a few days off and I could have gone anywhere. But I've come to Birmingham because, when I left after my previous visit, I was accidentally sold a return train ticket rather than a single at Birmingham Moor Street. Today, I've decided to use the return portion.
There's a bonus, though. A delightful friend of mine (a lady!) is also heading to Birmingham this morning (on business), so we're able to make the journey together. After the trip up from London Marylebone, we take a cup of tea at an outside table of the café on Moor Street station; 'outside' means we're literally sitting on the station concourse, watching Moor Street life unfolding before us - fascinating. It's an amazing station!
Alas, we have to go our separate ways, and now I'm on the streets of Birmingham looking for the 110 Arriva Midlands North service to Tamworth. This is a service that I've been aiming to do for a while, but have not had the chance to before.
I need to find stop CS1 on Corporation Street. I find it easily, but there's a rather large sign that makes me concerned that the bus (due in five minutes) might not be picking up here:
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When one is in a hurry to find a bus that is almost due, one can't always rationalise their thoughts quickly - well I can't anyway. "Is my bus picking up here?" is generally about as far as it goes. That initial moment of panic is compounded by the fact that there's no date on this large notice. When will the bus stop be changing? Has it already happened? And why does a closure on Lower Bull Street affect buses on Corporation Street? (I can answer this last one - although Lower Bull Street is a little way away, it's one of the roads used by these routes to turn around. The lack of a City Centre bus station means that every route in central Birmingham is essentially a circular in town.) It's also notable that the 110 does not feature on the list of routes showing alternative stops. In fact, every route on the list is a National Express West Midlands service, so is this, in our second city in Britain, an example of non-joined-up information? |
Fortunately, moving to the other side of the bus stop reveals a real-time departures list, which does include the 110, and implies that my bus is not far away...
The bus turns up, on time, at 1155. I have always gained the impression that this is a busy route, but I'm the only passenger boarding here. The driver is friendly - quite a novelty in Birmingham in my recent experience.
This is an Enviro400 and I head straight for the upstairs front seat, despite having a suitcase with me. In clambering up the stairs as we depart, I manage to knock the bell, and the "bus stopping" sign is lit for the next 10-15 minutes to remind me of my indiscretion.
I say 10-15 minutes, because this bus makes a fast escape from the city centre, straight onto the A38 "Aston Expressway". It's quite the view from the top deck:
I do notice that there's no central reservation on this fast road, which feels a bit unsafe. The centre lane is marked for motorcycles only, and is closed in this direction today, but it still feels like there's a risk of a head-on collision if someone strays from their lane.
We emerge safely, though, in Gravelly Hill, near Erdington. This is where we meet the "Outer Circle" route 11, so I think we're about three-to-four miles from the City Centre (as the 11 tends to stick around this distance all the way round the City).
It's here that we pick up our second customer, so the "bus stopping" sign goes out at last.
Two buses on National Express West Midlands route 11 (the "Outer Circle") call in at Six Ways in Erdington. The vehicle on the left is an ADL Enviro400 MMC from the batch officially allocated to the route; the vehicle on the right is a Volvo Wright Eclipse Gemini. On the eastern side of the city, I was initially confused to see an anti-clockwise working of route 11A heading south - logic would dictate that the clockwise 11C would be the south-facing one at this point. In fact, there is a small double-run at this point, with buses coming from the left, as we look across Six Ways roundabout, and, after the double-run in front of us, heading to the right - or vice versa! Does this mean that one can pick up buses going both ways round from the same stop here? This is another of the ever-growing list of routes that I need to explore in more detail.
We start to get a bit busier and are soon into Sutton Coldfield, which is one of those places I always seem to end up in if I travel around the northern side of Birmingham!
Birmingham Road in Sutton Coldfield, looking north-eastwards towards the town centre. Note the National Express West Midlands bus in front, branded for routes X3 / X4 / X5, but working route 907!
Once out of Sutton Coldfield, we're clearing the built-up area and moving into open countryside. We pass Bassetts Pole, where we not only cross the boundary out of the West Midlands, but also straddle that of Staffordshire and Warwickshire - a "tripoint".
Around here I see a couple of single-deckers on the 110. Looks like quite a mixed allocation, so I have been lucky to get a double-decker. I have no idea what the intended allocation is, but passenger numbers on my journey would have suited a single-decker, unfortunately.
An unidentified VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2 on route 110, somewhere north of Sutton Coldfield
We pass a couple of the HS2 construction sites and steer ourselves away from the tripoint into Staffordshire. On the outskirts of Tamworth we come to a major retail park, Ventura Park, and pick up a few local customers for the last part of the journey into town.
Having started from Corporation Street, Birmingham, the final set-down is Corporation Street, Tamworth (well it amuses me anyway). Although the number alighting is in single figures, there's a sizeable queue waiting for the return journey. The trip has taken just over an hour.
I have a little time in hand, and wander into the shopping centre. This has a seating area that overlooks Tamworth Castle, a Norman castle. Built in 1080, it has its origins in Anglo Saxon times.
Tamworth Castle
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it's a Grade I listed building. More surprising is that surrounding development means it is hidden from certain angles. You can be standing very close by, and not even know it's there. The same can be said of Westfield London shopping centre, if you're standing on Shepherds Bush Green. I don't think Westfield will ever be Grade I listed, though.
Just a stone's throw from the castle, and from the shopping centre, is St Editha's Parish Church - Staffordshire's "largest medieval parish church", on the site of a church originally founded in the eighth century (the current building dates from the 14th / 15th century), and also a Grade I listed building. There's an historic pipe organ dating from the mid-18th century in there as well.
St Editha's Parish Church, Tamworth
Back to the buses, and I'm taking a relatively short hop over to Lichfield. There are two routes, both operated by Arriva Midlands North - the 765 and the X65. The former takes half an hour, whilst the latter skips a detour around the village of Whittington and completes the run in 20 minutes.
Each route runs hourly, and the two are inter-worked. The off-peak timetable is perfectly devised such that buses do the 765 in one direction and switch to the X65 for the other. A nice, simple 50-minute round trip that therefore suits two buses admirably.
This does create the strange quirk that, between xx40 and xx15 in each off-peak hour, there are effectively no X65 buses on the road, as both vehicles are covering the 765 at those times!
Arriva Midlands North 3511 (YN08 HZY) is a Scania K230UB OmniLink. It's turning from Aldergate into Corporation Street in Tamworth, at the start of the short but interesting route 765 to Lichfield
My 765 (I will always do the longer trip if I can) is a Scania K230UB OmniLink. Another courteous driver welcomes me and my eight fellow passengers on board. It's quite a busy run, and I estimate that about 16 people make use of some part of this service.
If you're ever in this neck of the woods, and you're tempted to take the quicker X65 route, I would urge you to turn again, for Whittington. It's by far the most interesting part of the route.
At the entrance to the village is the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, after which we're driving through a real-life military barracks. This is DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington. It's the headquarters of the Surgeon General, and the location of the Defence College of Health Education and Training. I don't feel comfortable taking pictures here (in case I get arrested for spying!), but I subsequently discover that it's all on Google Streetview anyway!
It's an interesting drive through the village, with some very tight roads for a long bus, but we don't pick up or drop off any passengers on this occasion.
It's around here somewhere that I realise what has been bugging me about this 765 vehicle ever since I boarded it. I've had a sense all along that something (minor) isn't quite as it should be. And it suddenly hits me, when I spot "Dewch i mewn" on the driver's cab door. Here in the Midlands of England, 40 miles from the Welsh border, all the signs are bi-lingual (English and Welsh).
And it's brought home by the (now very annoying) Covid notices on the windows:
Note that the window is closed!
I can only assume that the bus has transferred recently from somewhere closer to the border!
We reach Lichfield bus station, where the driver is immediately loading for the return journey to Tamworth - this time as an X65. There's a decent potential load waiting for the return service.
3511 again, at Lichfield bus station, loading for a return to Tamworth as the slightly-faster X65. On the left is Midland Classic / Diamond 30985 (YN64 FWZ), an Irizar i3 - the first of its type that I have seen at close quarters (with a very peculiar-looking internal layout). Any passengers hoping for a quick getaway on this particular route 12 vehicle would have been in for a disappointment. It had broken down!
I'm now moving on to Stafford, via an operator I have not travelled with before - Chaserider. It's part of the Centrebus group and has a network based on the Cannock and Stafford areas.
A smart Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban pulls up to form the 1433 departure on the 828 service.
Chaserider 195 (FJ58 HYU), a Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban, was previously Arriva Midlands North 3910. It is loading at Lichfield bus station for the drive to Stafford on route 828
This bus, and the route, appear to both have transferred from Arriva Midlands North, in a sale of its Cannock depot to Centrebus in early 2021.
As we pull out of Lichfield, there's a brief view of the Cathedral:
The 828, and associated route 826, follow differing routes between Lichfield and Stafford, but provide a half-hourly frequency on common stretches.
About 16 people have joined this bus at Lichfield. At least a couple of them are disgruntled by the service they have just received in Tesco's, where apparently there have been long queues because only three tills - all self-service - have been open. There's nothing worse with the supermarket experience, to my mind, than having to queue for a self-service till!
The main intermediate town on this route is Rugeley. I do recall once, when I was working for a bank in Ruislip, taking a phone call from our Rugeley branch, informing us that they had received our day's receipts and payment slips, which had accidentally been mis-delivered (both branch names started "RU", as in "R U paying attention...")!
This was before the electronic age so the physical documents were important. (This may be one of the reasons why it used to take three days to clear a cheque!)
On the roundabout near the bus station is the Rugeley Miners' Memorial. Mining was a huge part of Rugeley’s history, and the memorial, which comprises of four statues that face the four roads off the roundabout, was unveiled in 2015.
I'm sitting on the wrong side of the bus to get a really decent picture, but I manage to capture a couple of images (fortunately there's no-one sitting on the right-hand side of the bus at this point):
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Is it just me who thinks there something of a look of Sean Bean in the statue on the left? It also reminds me of a Melkur...
No two buses on routes 826 / 828 seem to be the same today. I see an Enviro200 MMC and a Streetlight during the course of the journey. A case of any single-decker will do? (It does have to be a single-decker - we pass under a low bridge in Great Haywood.)
The driver appears to jump a light on the approaches to the County Hospital in Stafford. It's a signalled right turn, but there's no traffic coming the other way so he just goes ahead anyway. In the hospital grounds, there's a mini-coach parked in the bus stop, so our driver has to squeeze in behind to avoid blocking the traffic.
A 75-minute journey has brought us to Stafford, where I get off one stop early so as to have time to explore the Town Centre.
Greengate Street in the heart of Stafford town centre. The styling of the building centre-stage is partially spoiled by the presence of a mobile phone shop and the McDonald's logo
Whilst doing so, I go into a shopping centre which prominently displays a sign to the effect that "there are no toilets in this centre". I have never before seen a sign that is, simultaneously, both really helpful and really unhelpful! Fortunately some alternative facilities are available before I embark on the final trip of the day.
This will be route 5 to Telford. We're back with Arriva Midlands North again, this time on a VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2. No two buses the same for me this afternoon!
The bus I am going to catch is waiting on the other side of the road, and is filthy. The road surface is nothing to write home about either.
Arriva Midland North 3782 (FL63 DXP), a VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2, at the Chell Road, Stafford terminus of route 5 from Telford. The bus needs to drive up a few hundred yards up the road to the huge Gaol Square roundabout, in order to turn round and reach the pick-up point where I am waiting
Daylight is fading now, and I'm boarding the 1618 service. I'm not the only one - there's a large crowd here. The demographics of the crowd reflect the fact that schools and colleges are due to have emptied out.
The bus is busy as it leaves the first stop, but a shock is in store around the next corner, at Stafford railway station, where lots more people are waiting. The bus leaves this stop with every seat taken and five people standing. I have my suitcase on my lap now!
3782 again, approaching the first stop in Stafford for the run to Telford.
The journey is unremarkable, apart from being extremely busy. The town of Newport (Telford & Wrekin) is the first point at which there is any churn. The grandly-named "Bus Interchange" is actually just a row of three bus stops in a long-stay car park in the town centre. The bus remains busy beyond this point, but not quite as busy as it has been for the first part of the journey.
We pass a lovely area of housing just outside Newport. Sadly, most of the bus stops around here are either very poorly marked or completely unmarked. We also pass a bus which has only been able to muster a number 5 on a card in the windscreen.
It's just after 1730 as we pull into Telford's bus station. It's dark by now, of course, but there's still plenty going on - lots of buses and lots of people around.
I had assumed that "Telford Centre" as a destination just meant "the centre of Telford". But no, "Telford Centre" is an actual entity - a shopping centre, no less. The bus station is at one side of the centre, hence the accurate destination display!
End of the day's riding, and beyond the end of the day's daylight. An unidentified Arriva single-decker approaches Telford bus station (behind me). The Telford Centre is all around me - the bridge above connects it to a huge leisure park, comprising of hotels (including mine), eateries, a cinema, a bowling alley and an ice rink!
So the tail may have been wagging the dog at the start of the day, but it's been a lovely day and I have reached the end of the run at broadly the time I expected to.
Tomorrow, I am heading for Cardiff, but things won't quite go as planned... (I have already written that story - you can revisit it here.)