A Night Out in the West Midlands
2 November 2024
ABOVE: National Express West Midlands 7538 (SN69 ZMU), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, passes the Wickes store in Hall Green, working route 6 (Solihull to Birmingham). All photos in this article were taken on Friday 14 June 2024.
A few years ago, my employers opened an office in Birmingham. And I'm allowed to work there whenever I want to (I have to pay my own travel and hotel costs, of course, if I don't have a valid business reason to be there, but otherwise, no-one cares)!
So, back in the summer, when I decided to have a weekend on the Birmingham buses, I thought that, rather than travel up on Saturday morning and home on Sunday afternoon, I would work Friday and Monday in the Birmingham office, and have a full weekend's exploration in between. This also gave me a bonus Friday night out after work.
Now my regular reader knows by now what I'm mean by a "night out". It doesn't involve alcohol or a night club - not even a curry! It just means me enjoying a mid-summer's evening drive on the buses.
And so it is that, having left the office at 1745, I have found and checked into my hotel, dropped off my oversized case and my tie, and headed over to Queensway, outside Moor Street station, all in the space of 25 minutes. I don't have a huge plan beyond taking one of the buses towards Solihull.
And there are several to choose from: Routes 4 & 4A via Acocks Green, route 5 via Sarehole Mill and Widney Manor, and route 6 via Sparkhill. There's also a limited stop X2, but that picks up at a different stop across the road for some reason.
I let the first 4A go as it's a single-decker - I want my top deck! A moment later, at 1813, I am underway on my latest bus adventure, on route 6.
I'm going to be with National Express West Midlands (NXWM) exclusively this evening, and pretty much all weekend. NXWM operates a vast network of services (185 routes provided by well over 1200 vehicles according to BusTimes.org).
ABOVE: NXWM 1926 (BX10 ABN, "Crumpy"), a Scania K230UB OmniLink, awaits departure time from Moor Street Interchange (on Queensway), working route 2 to Solihull Lodge and Maypole.
This route 6 is one of no fewer than four route 6s that NXWM operates. Indeed, one of the others (Walsall to Sutton Coldfield) has featured in my 100 British Bus Routes series. This route 6 isn't going to pass through quite such pretty territory, though.
I'm on a BYD D8UR-DD ADL Enviro400EV - an electric double-decker in other words. It glides silently past Moor Street station and seeks out Digbeth, one of the main routes out of Birmingham to the south.
Digbeth is also of course the location of Birmingham Coach Station. The original interchange was opened in 1929 but the current version dates from 2009. Tracks for the Birmingham Eastside Metro extension are already in place, even though the full extension won't open for a few years (the route crosses the site of the Curzon Street HS2 station, and can't be connected up until that's finished).
ABOVE: Birmingham's Digbeth Coach station, on the right, with the new tram tracks laid and ready
We're heading into the 'sparky' part of the West Midlands - that's Sparkbrook and then Sparkhill! We're not heading in at any great pace, though. It's slow progress through narrow and busy town centre streets.
ABOVE: A busy - some might say chaotic - Friday evening rush hour in Stratford Road, Sparkbrook (the junction with Erasmus Road is on the right). NXWM 2213 (YX15 OZC), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, is the only vehicle in sight with a clear road in front of it! It heads for Birmingham on route 4A.
Sparkbrook is named after a stream - Spark Brook. Roy - now Baron - Hattersley was the MP here from 1964 until 1997. He became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1983, and stayed in that role for nine years.
It's a thriving area. The various independent businesses, many of which are restaurants, jostle for customers. Some have spread their wares out into the pavement areas, and the short-term parking bays on either side of the road are a constant source of comings and goings. With all of this activity, we cover less than half a mile in the next five minutes.
It's a busy bus journey too - hardly unsurprising for a main bus route out of Birmingham in the middle of the rush hour.
ABOVE: NXWM 2175 (BX13 JUU), a Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2 on route 4A to Birmingham, leads a compatriot on route 4 past Aldi in Sparkbrook
This area is known as the Balti Triangle. Birmingham is considered to be the birthplace of the Balti curry, and this is where it all started. There's a very high concentration of Balti restuarants in this area, although some argue that it's not as authentic as it was.
The Balti Triangle continues as we cross into Sparkhill. Sparkhill was once rural, with its main industry being agriculture until the 1880s. It's quite hard to visualise that now...
ABOVE: NXWM E001 (LF20 XOA), a BYD D8UR-DD ADL Enviro400EV, passes Beach Road, on the Stratford Road in Sparkhill, working route 6 into Birmingham.
In popular culture, Sparkhill is the home of Mr Khan, Adil Ray's wonderful comic creation for the BBC sitcom Citizen Khan. Pompous, self-important and, in his eyes and no-one else's, community leader, he was frequently humiliated by his attempts at social climbing.
Back to the real Sparkhill, where Sparkhill Library was originally built between 1900 & 1902 as Yardley Council House, by architect Arthur Harrison. Dominated by a clock tower, the building has been a public library since 1987 (information: Birmingham Gems). Next door is Bosnia House, leased by the Bosnia & Herzegovina UK Network. Built in 1897, this used to be Sparkhill Police Station.
ABOVE: The clock tower of Sparkhill Library dominates this scene as NXWM 4732 (BV57 XHW, "Imogen Lily"), an Enviro400, passes by on route 6. Bosnia House on the right was previously Sparkhill Police Station.
I'm not sure where Sparkhill morphs into Springfield, but it has taken 28 minutes to get here from Sparkbrook, but we're barely two miles down the road. We're 24 minutes from Birmingham on the timetable; it has been 35 minutes in reality.
ABOVE: Stratford Road, Springfield, where E012 (LF20 XON, "Mehreen") on route 6, is on the slog towards Birmingham. The time stamp on this and other photos shows that E012 will not pass me until more than a minute after this picture has been taken, at which time we still will not have reached the bus stop ahead. The blue car illegally parked on the zig-zags of the crossing ahead is presumably a factor in that.
After Springfield, we finally get onto a faster stretch of road as we head into Hall Green. This is where the 6 crosses the path of the "Outer Circle" route 11A / 11C (previously featured on this site).
ABOVE: The College Arms, Hall Green. We will head towards the right here; the road on the left leads to Acocks Green
The journey is brisker now (at last). We pass through Hall Green and on into Shirley. The earliest known settlement in the Shirley area was an Iron Age Hill Fort at Berry Mound Camp, now Solihull Lodge, in the west of Shirley, and the opposite direction to Solihull itself (information: Wikipedia).
ABOVE: NXWM 4616 (BX54 XSD, "Mariya"), a Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400, passes Falstaff Road in Shirley, whilst working route 76 (Solihull to Northfield)
Buses run every 7-8 minutes at this time of day. If you download a PDF of the timetable, it says that buses run "every 10 minutes or less" - does "less" not imply a lower rather than a higher frequency? It does to me!
It's been a very straight run, south-east out of Birmingham and all the way down to Shirley. But now we need to turn left and head north-eastwards for the last couple of miles of the journey.
Finally, we reach Solihull Town Centre, arriving at 1924, an hour and 11 minutes after setting off from Birmingham (advertised journey time at this time of day is one hour). It's been a fascinating run and has given me the chance to see, at close quarters, some of Birmingham's inner-city suburbs.
It's clear that this route is always going to struggle with its timetables, given the traffic. It's also a journey of two halves - wide roads from Solihull giving way to those busy tight streets in Sparkhill and Sparkbrook.
ABOVE: Solihull's Bus Interchange is Station Road, where other vehicular traffic is banned. At 2009hours, the only bus in view is an out of service NXWM Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400.
After a burger break, I'm pondering which way to go back into town. I don't want to go back the way I came - what I would really like is to find another route to take me to another suburb first, so that I can do a loop.
And I find one - there's a departure on route 72 to Chelmsley Wood due shortly. I have used this route before, where I noted a "nice top-deck front seat ride ... around the eastern side of Birmingham’s very attractive suburbs", so I'm hoping for something similar. I might not make the front seat this time as there are quite a few people awaiting this mid-evening service.
But there is no front seat, unless I want to drive! The bus that turns up is a single-decker, an ADL Enviro200 MMC. My detailed technical notes on the vehicle record that it is "very long" - perhaps 11.5 metres? But it's not long enough for the number of people wanting this service.
I include the blurry picture below purely to illustrate the busy-ness of this service. Why, at this time of the evening, a double-decker cannot be provided, where scheduled and clearly needed, baffles me.
ABOVE: Every seat taken on a busy run on route 72. This is what happens when a single-decker substitutes for a double-decker. Only one person standing but it gets busier!
We're passing very close to Birmigham International Airport on this route, although there's no obvious sign of it.
We pass through the village of Marston Green. There was a Canadian Air Force base here during the Second World War. Afterwards, the buildings were used as a maternity hospital and then a psychiatric hospital, before being demolished in the 1990s (information: Wikipedia).
An uncomfortable 35 minutes after leaving Solihull, I arrive at Chelmsley Wood. The bus interchange here is quite extensive, with around 10 stands in a restricted road next to the shopping centre. There's just about enough light left for a picture, but I'm using the "night" setting...
ABOVE: Three NXWM buses are in view in this shot taken in Chelmsley Wood Interchange at 2111 hours. ADL Enviro 400s represent routes 97 (left) and 94 (right), which both run to Birmingham via different routes. Behind the 97 is a Scania K230UB OmniLink which will pick up a route 71 journey to Sutton Coldfield.
I can now complete my loop with a trip back to the City Centre on route 97. The bus is an Enviro400, and my over-riding memory of this trip is of a brisk - shall we say, spirited - run (translation, aggressive driving).
This is apparent when the driver completely misses an intending customer in Bordesley Green. There's a parked van at the stop and the intending customer is not in view until the last minute. The driver is going much too fast to actually stop in time. Unless there is an alternative service to suit the customer, he'll now be there for another 15 minutes.
I take a few photos on this section, but the fading light means that none of them are good enough to use here. I note another Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400 - the third that I have seen tonight - on the 97. There's a brief point in Tile Cross where the 97 meets my previous bus, the 72, but I only discover this when preparing the map that appears below.
I also find a bus stop called "Poolway Shopping Centre", in Lea Hall, that appears to be adjacent to an empty field. There's an ASDA on the other side of the road so I suppose that's the "Shopping Centre"?
We take a detour to call at the Birmingham Central Bus Garage, on Liverpool Street. I'm not sure whether this is part of the route as there don't seem to be any bus stops down here.
ABOVE: NXWM's Birmingham Central Garage
I'm back in Birmingham City Centre at 2150, as I end my night out. It's more-or-less dark now, but it's lovely to be able to get out on a summer's evening and make the most of the light evenings.
To be honest, I don't normally have much energy after a day's work, so two hours and 20 minutes of travels, spread over three-and-a-half hours, feels like some kind of triumph! And I have the whole weekend to look forward to...
BELOW: An approximation of the route described in this article
