Birmingham & Solihull-1/3/17

 

4269 on Colmore Row, just after I alighted from its journey on the 83 and now about to head to Blackheath on the 89.

As a Birmingham bus driver, I normally see quite enough of that fair city, so a lot of my bashes naturally take me elsewhere. However, the city is very large (in fact, Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the UK, sorry Manchester, I love you too but you’re tiny!) and work only normally takes me to the north of the city, so an occasional trip down the Birmingham City supporting side (compared to the north side, where Aston Villa is favoured, not that I know much about football, as I support Blackpool!) is always worthwhile! So, it was out of the house and onto Enviro 200 756 on the 44 for the short run to West Bromwich Bus Station. There, I spotted 4269, one of the Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7s that I’ve become very fond of since their introduction to the fleet in 2001. 4269 was originally allocated to Hockley garage, where it was mainly used on route 16 (Birmingham-Hamstead). Hockley closed in 2005, with both the 16 and 4269 passing to West Bromwich, though they weren’t there for long, as the 16 transferred to Perry Barr, the garage where I drive. Over the years, all eighty of the 2001 batch of ALX400/B7’s bar one (4248) were allocated to Perry Barr at one time or another and I’ve managed to drive each of those seventy nine examples that have passed through Perry Barr’s gates. They have the best designed cab layout of any modern bus! Yes, they’re showing their age now but I have an immense fondness for them!

4269 returned to West Bromwich in 2007,  along with several others displaced by Enviro 400s 4718-4737 (which have since moved on from Perry Barr themselves!) and today was on the 83, a route which started with the October 2012 Sandwell area revisions. But the number itself has a much longer history! The trams along Birmingham’s Dudley Road were replaced by buses in September 1939, these being unusual in being joint services between Birmingham City Transport (BCT) and Midland Red, recognising the distance these services ran beyond the city boundary into what was naturally Midland Red territory. In fact, the tramways outside the boundary (and in Birmingham until 1906) were originally owned by Birmingham Midland Tramways, a British Electric Traction subsidiary, who also owned Midland Red. This company operated the main Dudley service until 1928, when the age and condition of the fleet persuaded the company to hand over the operation of the route to Birmingham Corporation, who numbered the main Dudley route the 87-a number still used by the bus service along the same route today! Short workings were the 80 to Smethwick St Pauls Road, 85 to Spon Croft, 86 to Oldbury and 88 from Grove Lane-St Pauls Road.

As well as the main line, there were two branch lines. One opened when the main line was electrified in 1904 (the main line opened in 1885 and was originally steam operated) and left the main line at Cape Hill, Smethwick and ran to Bearwood, this being initially operated jointly by Birmingham Corporation (mainly) and Birmingham Midland. The other branched off within the city, heading along Heath Street and crossing into Smethwick surrounded by the large factory of Guest Keen & Nettlefolds, terminating at Soho. This service was always operated by Birmingham Corporation and, when that undertaking introduced service numbers in 1916, the Soho service became the 31 (Bearwood became the 29, with short working 30 to Windmill Lane and 55 to the City boundary at Grove Lane). The 31 became infamous for being Birmingham’s most infrequent tram route, requiring just two cars to maintain the off peak service and was also, when she was a girl, my Nan’s local tram route!  She ended up courting a young man from Hall Green , on the other side of the city, who, one night, missed the last 31 into city and had to walk home! He walked around the 11 Outer Circle bus route, in the hope that he might find a bus returning to garage but didn’t and walked the whole way, getting home around three in the morning to find his mother waiting up for him;

“Where have you been?” she said.

“I missed the last tram!” he replied

“Well, it serves you bloody well right!”

No prizes for guessing that this young man would become my Grandad!

As I’ve already mentioned, September 1939 saw the trams replaced by buses. Although theoretically joint, most services within the group were operated by one of the two operators;

Birmingham City Transport (BCT, as Birmingham Corporation had become known in 1937)

B80-Grove Lane

B81-Windmill Lane

B82-Bearwood

B83-Soho

Midland Red

B84-St Pauls Road

B85-Spon Croft

B86-Oldbury

B87-Dudley

B88-Dudley-Grove Lane

B89-Dudley-Oldbury.

There were exceptions, Midland Red ran journeys on the B82, whilst BCT ran an early morning journey on the B85 for many years. But the B83 was solidly BCT. Incidentally, the B prefix was a Midland Red influence, indicating a Birmingham local service (Many Midland Red local networks featured the first letter of the town served as a prefix.) The B ceased to be used in June 1968, when BCT’s Rosebery Street garage, which operated BCT’s share of the Dudley Road, closed. The 83, as it was now known, was transferred to Hockley garage. The route transferred to West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive and survived until May 1978, when it was merged into new cross city route 43 from Soho-Nechells (which also incorporated the original 43 from City-Nechells and the 95 from City-Ladywood). I’ll talk more about the history of the 43 some other time (The Dudley Road blogs) , but the route ceased to be a Dudley Road service and, from September 1980, ceased to serve Heath Street! Although Midland Red West’s 443 served Heath Street for several years from 1988 onwards, Heath Street is once again busless! And the new 83 didn’t really replicate in anyway the original! But it does serve the Soho area of Smethwick as well as the Dudley Road! Which, in my opinion, justifies the historical ramble that I’ve just made!

The 83 replaced various routes in the Smethwick area, including passing close to three of my former residences in the town! After meandering through the town, it joins the surviving Dudley Road routes, the 82, 87 and new kid on the block the 89 (to Blackheath via Londonderry & Oldbury) at Cape Hill for the run into town. But that’s about to change! A few months back, a consultation was issued by National Express West Midlands, on proposed changes to services in the Smethwick & Warley areas. It was proposed that the 83 would be rerouted away from the Dudley Road to join forces with the 80, which reaches Cape Hill from West Bromwich via Spon Croft & Smethwick High Street before heading to Birmingham City Centre on a convoluted route which, like the 83 in Smethwick, replaced several other services, including part of the 66, the route which replaced the 43 way back in 1992! In order to balance the running time of the two services, the 80 is to be rerouted to replace the section of the 83 along Devonshire Road. As far as these two routes are concerned, the changes are indeed to take place, from the 23rd April….with one slight difference! It has been decided to renumber the rerouted 83 the 80A. So the 83 is soon to be no more! RIP!

After arriving in Birmingham City Centre, I walked over to Priory Queensway, terminus of the indirect 73 to Solihull. I’d only travelled on this route once before, just after it was extended to Birmingham City Centre from Heartlands Hospital, where it previously terminated. That was on board an Acocks Green Garage Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7, staple of the route for several years (they’ve since been withdrawn). Since then, the route has transferred to Birmingham Central garage and is now regularly operated by ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents, like 4129, built as one of a batch of one hundred delivered in 2001, the same year as the ALX400 bodied Volvo B7s, making these two batches of buses the oldest in the current National Express West Midlands fleet!

Solihull

The City Centre extension replaced the previous route 13, itself a relatively recent, 21st century creation, which had replaced bits of service 15 and the 590 Birmingham-Coleshill Circular. It follows the course of the much more frequent 17 (the 73 only runs every half hour) out along Green Lane in Small Heath, before heading along Yardley Green Road. This was always served by the 28 (now Igo’s 28A except evenings & Sundays, when the 28 still reaches Small Heath) but 1989 saw it served by a revamped 99 (City-Chelmsley Wood North. Deregulation had seen this service reduced to a Chelmsley Wood North-East Birmingham Hospital -before it was renamed Heartlands- tender but was re-extended into City via Small Heath) which lasted until the 13 replaced it in the early years of this century. Going back even further, Yardley Green Road hosted the original service 15, a one man single deck tramway feeder service introduced on 15th December 1924 and linking the expanding Stechford district with the Yardley trams at Small Heath running via Yardley Green Road & Green Lane. This was made superfluous by the introduction of the Stechford trams (84 & 90) along Bordesley Green East, in August 1928, with the 15 rerouted via the newly developing Hobs Moor Road to Yardley (Yew Tree), becoming a double deck service into the city and linking up with the 16 Handsworth Wood service, creating a cross city link which survived until 1989!  After Yardley Green Road, the 73 then re-joins the 17 on Hob Moor Road for the run to the Yew Tree, an area which retains the name of this now demolished pub, which has now been replaced by a retail unit featuring a KFC amongst others!

From the Yew Tree, the 73 is basically the descendent of a service that started in January 1983. That date saw the mammoth, cross Solihull single deck (because of a low bridge on each route) 165 & 185 (Chelmsley Wood North-Cotteridge/Kings Heath) split at Solihull, with new route 167 and an extended off peak 166 (Sutton Coldfield-Marston Green, peak journeys already previously served Solihull) covering the Chelmsley Wood side (along with extended 55 & 94 in Chelmsley Wood itself) with the 165 now running from Solihull-Cotteridge, operated by Yardley Wood double deckers as this side was free of low bridges. Double deckers also operated the new 164, which replaced the 185 from Kings Heath-Solihull but extended across the town, still covering the old 185 route around Old Lode Lane but otherwise following the 166/167 route as far as The Radleys, from where it was routed via the 17 route to the Yew Tree, giving this area it’s first through service to Solihull. I first rode on the 164 all the way through in the February half term holidays of that year, on a nearly new Metrobus Mk 2, subsequent trips being on Fleetlines, especially the ex London DMS variant.

The 164 wasn’t registered commercially at deregulation but West Midlands Travel won the tender for replacing route 162 which was identical save for a rerouting via Widney between Shirley & Solihull (to replace the withdrawn 183). The Widney section was soon supplemented by new minibus M from February 1987, which meant the withdrawal of the 162 (aside from some peak hour Solihull-Maypole journeys) was possible in June of that year, when new commercial route 69 started. This replaced the 162 between Yew Tree & Kings Heath, other than serving Sharmans Cross & Blossomfield in lieu of Widney and leaving the Alcester Road between Maypole & Kings Heath to the 50, whilst the 69 headed towards Yardley Wood garage, from where it replaced the 2 via Kings Heath and onto Weoley Castle. This mammoth service was a popular haunt of mine in it’s early days, when regular Fleetline operation featured. The early 21st century saw the route extended even further, to Heartlands Hospital but was split at Solihull shortly afterwards, with the Heartlands side becoming the Acocks Green garage operated 169. Subsequently, this was renumbered the 73, rerouted around the Barrows Lane area to replace the withdrawn 56 and ultimately extended to city.

Solihull was it’s usual bustling self, with plenty of bus activity! This was the first time I’d travelled along the new bus lane that cuts the corner of Lode Lane, allowing direct access to Poplar Road without the hassle of heading around the link road roundabout, proving how sensible bus priority can help improve reliability. Politicians of all political colours, we need more of this sort of thinking please! Highly visible were the brand new Platinum MMC E400’s on the X2, recently renumbered from 957 and having followed the same route as the 73 since Sheldon.

6833

These replaced the earlier batch of Platinum’s, some of which have moved to Acocks Green garage for route 966 (Solihull-Erdington);

6703 on the 966, about to be overtaken by 4640 on the 5

I decided that my next ride was to be on the 5, my favourite of the plethora of routes that currently link Solihull with Birmingham, many of them, the 5 & 73 included, quite indirectly! Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7 4640 was my steed, resplendent in NXWM’s crimson livery, in my opinion the best livery currently in use in the UK! The 5’s history is rather complex, the number being first used in this area at deregulation (26th October 1986), when West Midlands Travel’s new Eastern Group developed a penchant for renumbering routes with lower numbers (a trend that has recently been revived in other parts of the West Midlands!) This saw the previous 92, which ran along the Stratford Road from Birmingham, through Shirley, to the large, eighties built estate at Widney (alternate 92’s being extended there from their previous terminus at Monkspath Cranmore Boulevard in 1983) become the 5. Sister service 6, which basically took over the journeys of the previous 92E shorts but then replaced the 189 through Blossomfield into Solihull (effectively recreating the former Midland Red 154-see blog “Deregulation And Me!”) proved to be an incredible success and would ultimately see that 5 reduced to early mornings and peak hours (in 1989, the daytime service to Widney being covered by the L & M minibus routes).

Another low numbered service introduced (this time in February 1987) was the hourly 4 to Cheswick Green, a small seventies built estate nestling in the countryside to the west of the Stratford Road (with Widney to the east). This was soon increased to half hourly, with the 5 reduced to half hourly and both rerouted via the Cranmore industrial estate, originally served by Midland Red’s peak 181, later the PTE’s 180, latter still the 80 which became a Midland Red West operated tender at deregulation before it’s demise a few years later. The 4 & 5 would themselves become peak only services in 1989 (following that heavy increase to the 6) with the L & M minibuses taking their place. But the L & M themselves would come to an end in 1992, replaced by a totally revamped 4, running from Solihull via Widney, Cheswick Green & Shirley before replacing the S3 (this odd number being due to WMT’s western group refusing to relinquish the number 3 for this service!) via Baldwins Lane to City. The 5 remained in its early morning & peak form. This all lasted until the Solihull revisions of 2009, when NXWM pulled out of Cheswick Green (with Grosvenor Coaches S4 replacing the 4 to the estate, now operated by Diamond) with the rest of the 4 replaced by new service 5, which served Cranmore Industrial Estate and Stratford Road before replacing the 4 through Baldwins Lane. The previous 5 journeys became the 5A, these ultimately being extended to Solihull and renumbered 6A.

Now operated by Acocks Green garage (after swapping the 76 with Yardley Wood in late 2009) the 5 is now the only NXWM route heading directly south out of Solihull, other services in this direction being operated by Diamond. It’s a quite pretty, semi rural run down the road towards Dorridge before we turned right by Widney Manor station, the construction of the nearby Widney estate transforming this previously quiet railway station into one where the car park was wedged full of cars, indicating that the railway is very much the public transport of choice in these parts! Nevertheless, the 5 wanders through the estate, picking up and dropping down penny numbers of passengers! We then headed through the Cranmore Industrial estate, several eighties built warehouses giving way to the fifties built industrial units that Midland Red’s 181 was introduced to serve. Then, it was the long drag of the Stratford Road, supplementing the 6 through Shirley’s busy shopping centre before leaving the main road at Haslucks Green Road, travelling around half a mile before turning right into suburban Newborough Road, which took us to the Birmingham city boundary at Baldwins Lane.

The first bus route to Baldwins Lane was the 29A, introduced on 1st January 1936 as a cross city service to Kingstanding Circle (extended to Pheasey in 1940). The 29th November 1964 saw the 29A renumbered 90 in the Pheasey direction, 91 to Baldwins Lane (BCT’s other cross city services had different route numbers, so this bought the 29A, and sister service 29 to Highfield Road-it’s Kingstanding bound journeys becoming 30-into line with the others). WMPTE would reverse this policy, so from 6th April 1975, 90 was used in both directions (91 subsequently becoming the number for City-Pheasey short workings). The 90 survived until February 1987, when it was split in the city, the Pheasey side becoming the 91 (which had been withdrawn at deregulation, so was a revival!) whilst the new S3 covered the Baldwins Lane section. This part of Hall Green is typical of Birmingham’s inter war privately built suburbia, with tree lined avenue after avenue of semi detached houses. One of the roads past on the routes twisty course was Southam Road, birthplace of legendary early post war comedian Tony Hancock! The other notable landmark, on Cole Bank Road, where the route crosses paths with the Outer Circle, is Sarehole Mill, a reminder of the area’s more rural times, with the water mill providing inspiration for the young JRR Tolkien which would latter be used in his novel “The Hobbit”. The pleasantly leafy suburbia is soon swapped for the inner city turmoil that is Sparkbrook as the 5 rejoins the Stratford Road for the final run into city.

Next up, I decided to sample new Platinum service X61 to Frankley, boarding nearly new Platinum branded MMC Enviro 400 6838. The X61 started last December and replaced the previous 61, which dates back to the closure of the Bristol Road tram routes in July 1952. The main 70 & 71 tram routes to Rednal & Rubery respectively were replaced by bus services 62 & 63, with the new 61 following them to Northfield, then branching off to serve the thirties built Allens Cross estate, previously served by inter suburban routes 18, 23 & 23A. The single deck 23 & 23A were withdrawn at this stage (the rest of the route, a Northfield-Cotteridge-West Heath circular,  being replaced by the extended 27 and extended tram replacement route 45, both still with us today) whilst the 18 was later rerouted to the new Ley Hill Farm estate and again, after another extension to Bartley Green, is still with us today! The 15th December 1963 saw the 61 further extended to the new Egghill Lane Estate, whilst 1979 saw the route extended onto the jointly built Birmingham City Council/Bromsgrove District council estate of Frankley, replacing the peak & Saturday only Limited Stop 949 to the City Centre (so the X61 sort of brings things full circle!) There was also an all day 149 that ran from Northfield-Frankley, which was replaced by new service 64 at the same time as the 61’s extension. The 64 was eventually absorbed into the 49 in 1984. The 61 was then extended to the Gannow district of the estate at deregulation.

Limited Stop services along the Bristol Road are nothing new! Peak hour Limited Stop route 99 started on 3rd April 1967, running over the same route as the 63 to Rubery (Leach Green Lane). The PTE renumbered the service to 963 in 1975 and deregulation saw the 963 become all day, with an extension to the 61 terminus at Gannow. This wasn’t altogether successful, the off peak frequency quickly being reduced from twenty to thirty minutes, whilst the service would return to peak hour status in 1992, being renumbered 64 at the same time. Around 1998, the original Frankley 949 was briefly revived on Saturdays only but this didn’t last! Another brief Limited Stop service introduced at this time was the Monday-Saturday 921 from City-Merretts Brook, providing a faster alternative to the 21 by using the Bristol Road between City & Selly Oak, rather than the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This lasted a few years but eventually went the way of the 949.

Slightly later, the 64 would be renumbered 964 and a short lived peak 961 service would also start. But the writing was eventually on the wall for the 964, the service being withdrawn around 2006. That seemed it for the concept but July 2010 saw two new Limited Stop services introduced.  The X62 replaced the 62 to Rednal, with daytime journeys extended via Leach Green Lane to the Rubery Great Park leisure complex. The X64, meanwhile, effectively recreated the 921, as well as permanently replacing the 21, running Limited stop to Selly Oak via the Bristol Road, then replacing the 21 as far as Bangham Pit before heading through Allens Cross and Frankley to meet up with the X62 at Great Park. These both started from Birmingham Town Hall, the intention being for the services to miss traffic congestion but the fact that this was no where near the stopping places of the more frequent 61 & 63 meant that very few people would venture out there to catch the new routes. The X62 was withdrawn in 2011, replaced by the new 98, which reached the City Centre via the QE Hospital. The X64 survived, with a new City terminus closer to the shops and, in due course, would be rerouted to terminate at Woodgate, followed by a rerouting along the new Selly Oak By pass to access the QE Hospital. But soon, the X64 will cease to be both a Limited Stop and a Bristol Road service as this April will see it rerouted via the 98’s route through Edgbaston to City to replace the withdrawn 99 from Halesowen.

So the X61 would appear to have very negative prospects! But lessons have been learnt from the past! Firstly, although the X61’s actual city terminus (at Millennium Point) is different from the 63’s (Carrs Lane), the two main City Centre loading stops, at Moor Street and New Street Station, are shared by both services, so passengers bound for Northfield have the choice of either service, so can be tempted by an X61 if one should appear. Secondly, the X61 uses the new Selly Oak by pass (unlike the soon to be rerouted X64, without deviating to serve the Queen Elizabeth Hospital), so speeding it up even more. Thirdly, and most crucially, the Limited Stop section only lasts up to Selly Oak (Oak Tree Lane) the X61 serving almost all stops beyond. The X62 was Limited Stop out to Northfield, so this means more passengers have access to a faster service to Town! The loadings on 6838 were reasonable for around 15.30 on a Wednesday afternoon. We made rapid progress along the Bristol Road and the Selly Oak by pass, along which I’d not travelled before. Then, it was onto the mostly all stop section, dropping off a modest number of passengers along the tree lined Selly Oak-Northfield stretch of the Bristol Road, with the former tramway reservation which once carried thousands of Brummies to the Lickey Hills striding the centre of the road.

At Northfield, more passengers joined us before we turned right off the Bristol Road by the Black Horse pub and headed along Frankley Beeches Road. Back in 2008, NXWM somewhat surprisingly rerouted the 61 away from it’s original Allens Cross routing to head straight along Frankley Beeches Road to the Egghill Lane Estate. Regrettably there had been some trouble from the local youths, especially at night, which saw no buses through the estate after around 20.00 hours for a while. The 49 (Northfield-Solihull) which was the previous service along Frankley Beeches Road, was rerouted around part of the estate (though the evening  49A used Frankley Beeches Road), with the X64’s original route serving the remainder of the estate. The 49 soon reverted to the original 61 route through the estate, with the X64 subsequently being rerouted away. The 49 was also joined by the 29 (City-Northfield via Weoley Castle) which was extended to Frankley via Allens Cross in July 2010. So Allens Cross ceased to have a direct service to Town and, unless the estate’s residents fancied a roundabout run through Weoley Castle & Harborne on the 29, those heading to Town had to change onto a Bristol Road service at Northfield, meaning things had come full circle! Still, on a day to day basis, Northfield is the major shopping centre for the area. Mind you, on both this occasion and on previous trips on the rerouted 61, I noticed quite a few passengers alighted on Frankley Beeches Road and walked into the estate along the various side roads! But the 61/X61 routing does mean a more direct service for the residents of the much larger Frankley estate. Those 2008 changes also saw the 61 rerouted through Gannow to terminate at it’s original Frankley terminus at Holly Hill, where the 29 & 63 also terminate, though the bus stop that used to be in the turning circle before the 61 was extended to Gannow at deregulation is no longer there, the loop merely being used for buses to take dropback; (Re-editing this, the X61 would not last long, and would soon be replaced by a revived 61.) 

Holly Hill, Frankley, with a presumably broken down 6836 alongside 6838

My ride out of Frankley was on a bus that I was very familiar with! My garage, Perry Barr, have also received Platinums for services on my rota, Sutton (now services X3/X4/X5 & X14), displacing the previous, 2013 vintage Enviro 400s previously used to West Bromwich and Birmingham Central garages and 4936 was one of these, which was the next bus on the 63. So I boarded a bus that I’d driven many times! The 7th February 1972 saw the 63 extended from it’s previous Leach Green Lane terminus, through the Rubery shopping area (which was outside the city boundary, hence the reason why BCT had left it to Midland Red’s 144) before heading up through a semi detached housing estate to terminate at Rubery Lane, which would soon find itself on the edge of the growing Frankley Estate. Then, the 2008 revisions that saw the 61 return to the Holly Hill turning circle saw the 63 extended there also. So we travelled back towards Gannow but leaving the 61 behind by heading past the former 61’s Gannow terminus and quickly reaching the 63’s previous Rubery Lane terminus (though that actual stop is no longer served) before heading into Rubery and then along the Bristol Road to a Longbridge that is now vastly different to when it was dominated by the Rover car factory. Now, it is dominated by retail parks and the new Bournville college, several of that establishment’s students boarding 4936. The 61’s demise saw the 63’s frequency increase from every ten to eight minutes and this now seems to be needed down here with the demands placed on the service by the new college, with the 98 and extended 45 from City via Pershore Road also serving the College’s needs.

I decided not to head all the way back to Town but decided to alight at Northfield and get the 48 back home to West Bromwich. I boarded the first of my favourite AlX400 bodied Volvo B7s that now dominate the route, 4225 (another bus that I once drove when allocated to Perry Barr!) and settled down for the long run through Weoley Castle, then the congested bus stands of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital before heading through the affluent Richmond Hill Road area into Harborne but my plans for a leisurely journey back home were interrupted by someone being sick in the buggy zone! This meant that we all would have to wait for another twenty minutes for the next bus. Fortunately, this happened on Harborne High Street, served by plenty of other bus routes and the next bus to arrive, Enviro 400 4872 on the 24, reminded me that I hadn’t yet had my tea and, furthermore, gave me an idea about where I could fill my face! So I boarded 4872 for the trip along the original 3 service (renumbered 103 in 1992, then 24 in 2008) along Ridgacre Road to Tesco Quinton, better known to bus enthusiasts as the site of the former Quinton garage (1949-1997). I’d not travelled along Ridgacre Road for a good while and reminisced about the times back in the eighties when I’d accompanied then Quinton driver Rob Handford (who was on the 3’s rota) on Fleetlines on the 3! At Tescos, I alighted and let 4872 head off down Ridgacre Lane to terminate on the Woodgate Valley North estate.

I entered Tesco to use the toilet, swearing that I could hear the ghosts of those long gone Fleetlines amidst the sound of beeping tills and squeaking shopping trolleys! I then walked along Ridgacre Lane in the opposite direction to that used by the 24 bus, which bought me over to the Holly Bush pub, now a Toby carvary with some excellent bus pictures inside, a moving homage to the bus garage that was once it’s near neighbour. I wasn’t heading here, however, as in the thirties vintage row of shops on the Hagley Road is the relatively recently opened Atlantis Fish Bar. The original branch of this establishment is in Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, a place (or should that be Plaice?) I’ve used occasionally whilst on split shifts at work. I also discovered whilst driving the 94 (City-Chelmsley Wood via Castle Bromwich), there’s another branch on Hurst Lane, Castle Bromwich. But I’ve used the Quinton branch on several occasions since it opened, both the restaurant and the takeaway and can vouch for it’s quality! It makes a fine replacement for the wonderful Chamberlains that was just up the road but sadly sold out to Harry Ramsdens and subsequently closed (that once great brand being sadly no longer what it was). So, it was very meaty Southern Fried Chicken & chips for tea (sadly, this branch of the Atlantis Fish Bar would close after a couple of years, though, re-editing this in 2023, I’m pleased to say that Olivers Chippy in the smae splot is an excellent replacement!), followed by Platinum MMC E400 6714 on the X10 to Bearwood, from where I resumed my journey on the 48, for it’s original section that originated from the joint West Bromwich Corporation/Midland Red route 221 (started in 1947), with the bus being another of my “beloved” ALX400 bodied Volvo B7s, this time 4273. So after climbing past Warley Woods and wandering through the suburban environs of Warley, I was soon back in West Bromwich Bus Station where I changed onto ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 4578 for the short run home on the 79.