A few things to do today, so decided to combine them with a bit of bus riding! Haircut first, so I caught Trident 4537 on the 79 into West Bromwich, then Scannia 1859( I remember when 1859 was a West Brom DP National!) on the 4H to Oldbury, where I had the mop chopped! I then spotted one of my beloved Alexander B7s, 4249 (Recently transferred to WB from Perry Barr, replaced by one of our new Enviros) on the 128 to Birmingham via Warley, so it would have been rude not to take a ride over the hills (OK, heavily suburbanised hills!) of Warley, passed the Woods and into the City along Sandon Road & Portland Road. I got off at Sheepcote Street, as I wanted to sample the 1s recent extension to Shirley. This saw me transferring from my favourite bodywork on B7s to my least, Plaxton President, in the form of 4036. The 1 is one of Birminghams oldest bus routes (as opposed to former Tram routes), making its way through the rather posh Suburb of Edgbaston and the arty Suburb of Moseley to Acocks Green. Not one of the most profitable routes in the City, nevertheless, its an interesting run. The recent extension sees the 1 join forces with the 31 through the Gospel Oak Estate, then running to the new (indeed unfinished!) Parkgate Centre in Shirley, though the buses blinds show Hall Green. The route through Gospel Oak has caused a bit of controversy, as some roads have been left unserved and I personally felt that the new route travels along some narrow roads! From Shirley, I caught the third type of B7 in the fleet, in the form of Gemini 4643 on the 5 back to Birmingham via Baldwins Lane. Another less profitable run (Definitely a theme developing here!) it runs through 1930s semi detached leafy suburban Avenues (The first route along this way, the 29A, started in 1936.) passing the Tolkien inspiring Sarehole Mill as well, though I didnt see any Hobbits! (Only the Hungry Hobbitt café!) before joining the Stratford road for the crawl through Sparkbrook. I then bought Lynn Fitchew &myself a Two Together Railcard from New Street Station.As I was by then feeling hungry, I walked up to Colmore Row to catch Enviro 400 4826 on the 9 up Hagley Road to Chamberlains chippy for Cod & Chips done in dripping! ohhhhhh! Afterwards, a walk to Castle Road for Merc 1560 on the 49 to West Brom, then Enviro 200 817 on the 40 to Wednesbury via Friar Park, to met the missus, for that weekly pergotory, the shopping at Morrisons! Those who think that todays buses are without interest (A view I certainly sympathise with, compared to the classics of old!) might just want to consider that all eight buses I travelled on today were different from one another, something that will probably be impossible when the recently announced Five year order for Alexander Dennis buses from NXWM is complete! Bash em while you can, folks!
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:25:51 +0000
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