Twixt Walsall & Lichfield-9/1/24

This was my first day off since New Years Day, so I decided to go for a little, local wander, bearing in mind certain factors, such as my previous duty having been a 22.33 finishing late night, and the fact that, whilst nice and bright, the temperature was extremely cold, meaning that I didn’t want to be out particularly early, nor, when the temperature really began to drop, particularly late, and I also didn’t fancy going anywhere where I would be standing for too long out in the open!

Also, an itinerary featuring a decent chippy and pub was pretty much a prerequisite! But then, that’s increasingly the case with most of my bashes these days, anyway!

I did think of staying solidly in the West Midlands county but a relatively recently revised route that I’d last rode in it’s previous incarnation (no, this isn’t “Doctor Who!”) in February last year (see blog “Just £2-Part Three-Staffordshire Triangle “) encouraged me to dip my toe out slightly!

That route was the 36, previously run as a Staffordshire County Council tender by Penkridge based Select Bus Services, from Lichfield-Aldridge. Select is a firm that has a 25% shareholding by bus entrepreneur Julian Peddle, who fully owns the Staffordshire independent D & G, who operate widely around Staffordshire and Cheshire, including the January 2021 acquired former Arriva (originally Midland Red) Cannock garage, and the two operators work closely together, with several former Arriva services, notably the Stafford Town services, having been taken over by Select. Therefore, I’m sure that Select weren’t too disappointed when Chaserider won the tender for an improved 36, with it’s two hourly frequency increased to hourly and extended into Walsall via Diamond’s 35A route, which Chaserider also took over, the extended 36 replacing one journey per hour on this previously half hourly service, with Chaserider providing one bus to maintain an hourly 35A, keeping the half hourly frequency on the common section.

With the Sefton Fish Bar at Lichfield being one of my favourite chippies, I decided that this rather cold morning was the ideal opportunity to sample the revised route. Therefore, I put two sweatshirts over the “Doctor Who” 60th Anniversary tee shirt that my wife Lynn very kindly bought me for my birthday, topping these off with my Fleetwood Market anorak, a scarfe well wrapped around my neck, and placed my Blackpool Heritage Tramway beanie hat on my head, ready to face the coldest tempretures that the Great British climete could throw at me!

I then walked to my local bus stop and caught National Express West Midlands (NXWM) 4692, one of ten Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7s that were bought in 2005 for Coventry’s service 13, later passing to Perry Barr (where I would get to drive all ten), then Acocks Green before all came to West Bromwich, where they’re very likely to end their days, probably by early 2025 at the latest, with inroads now having been made into the 2003 & 2004 batches of the type. 4692 took me swiftly over the short journey to West Bromwich bus station.

The 4

As I got off 4692, I noticed that NXWM Scania Omnilink 1886 had just pulled out on the 4 to Walsall, but not to worry, as Diamond Wright Streetlite 32226 had already parked up on the 4 stand immediately opposite the 47 stand, allowing me a very conveniant interchange. For last August saw this last corridor of intense competition between NXWM & Diamond join the other recent survivors of such intense competition between the two companies (basically the 16/16A from Birmingham-Hamstead/Scott Arms/West Bromwich & the 50 from Birmingham-Maypole/Druids Heath, which joined the original, Transport for West Midlands-TfWM-partnership services of the 31/32 Walsall-Bloxwich services, the 40 from West Bromwich-Wednesbury and the 42/43 West Bromwich-Tipton/Bilston services that featured in my blog “Black Country Freewheeling 2”) in creating an integrated timetable, all very sensible since the adoption of universal, all operator TfWM ticketing in the West Midlands County.

Therefore, both operators now provide a combined five minute service from Walsall-West Bromwich, with an eight minute service then going forward to Blackheath, with Diamond replacing both it’s own and the NXWM 4H service to Halesowen & Hayley Green (though following the former NXWM loop around Hayley Green) running every twenty minutes, whilst NXWM continue to operate the twenty minute 4M to Merry Hill. Still good frequencies but a slight reduction on what was provided before, so I was wondering how this would accomodate loadings on this single deck service, the redesignation by Network Rail of the height of the bridge under Sandwell & Dudley station (between West Bromwich & Oldbury) a few years back making the single deck operation (which had been mostly the case since competition began to grow on the corridor in the nineties) unavoidable.

Diamond operate the journeys that make up the five minute West Bromwich-Walsall frequency, hence why 32226 was already on the stand, and an illustration of how busy the corridor is, was demonstrated by the fact that, despite 1886 having only just left, around ten people werev already on board the Streetlite. After around two minutes, we departed, indicating that 1886 was running slightly late.

A through bus service between West Bromwich & Walsall began in 1926, when the two municipal operators of each town jointly began route 14, which would be joined in the fifties by the 54, which diverted in Walsall via Bell Lane & Delves. Both Corporations would become part of West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) on 1st October 1969, with the 14 & 54 being renumbered 314 & 313 respectively in 1971. October 1980 saw the 313 withdrawn, whilst the 314 was renumbered 404 in 1981.

Deregulation in October 1986 would see the 404 extended beyond West Bromwich to Blackheath, replacing parts of services 415 & 417, which had previously ran onto Cradley Heath & Halesowen respectively. Competition would come on this side from 1988 onwards, with Birmingham Coach Company introducing their 217 from West Bromwich-Merry Hill, whilst in 1989, Halesowen independent Ludlows would reinstate the 417, initially to Halesowen but soon extended to Hayley Green. 1992 would see Birmingham Coach Company have a crack at competing on the 404 between West Bromwich & Walsall but this was short lived, allowing the newly formed, initially minibus operator Petes Travel (formed by former West Bromwich garage driver and union rep Pete Jones) to begin his first operation, running two buses on the 404. Petes would grow to become the second largest operator in the West Midlands, including putting more, and eventually larger buses on the 404. Birmingham Coach Company & Petes would both sell out to the Go Ahead Group but they soon sold their West Midlands operations to the Rotola Group, who adopted the Diamond fleetname that Birmingham Coach Company had latterly been using. And Ludlows would also then be bought by Rotola, passing to Diamond, with the services gradually integrated into the 404 corridor, with both operators renumbering to 4/4H/4M in October 2012.

We left West Bromwich Town Centre and headed down All Saints Way, the council houses of the twenties built Tantany estate and the Sandwell District Hospital providing plenty of passengers for the 4 group and the other services down here (the NXWM 5 to Sutton Coldfield and the 40 to Wednesbury.) We then took Walsall Road, again filled with twenties and thirties built semi detached council housing, taking us to the suburban shopping centre at Stone Cross. Then, the Walsall Road continues as a dual carriageway, passing the 1989 opened Tame Bridge station on the Birmingham-Walsall line, then under the M6 at the point where it’s joined by the M5. Shortly after this, we entered the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, with yet more semi detached housing that gives way to the Victorian terraces of the Caldmore (pronnounced Calmer) where we caught up with 1886, and followed it through this very congested area, the level of parked cars dictating a one way rerouting that occurred around ten years ago, which would later prompt the council to make the original, now outward route one way. We then reached the Pleck Road and headed to Wasall’s small Bradford Place terminus, where the two stands (one unloading) dedicated to the 4 group was filled by 1886 and another NXWM Scania Omnilink, so we carried on round to the other side of the square to unload and park up;

Walsall

And so I made the short, time honoured walk from Bradford Place to the bus station, along a fairly bustling pedestrianised Bridge Street, the presence of some market stalls helping to explain that bustling.

As I approached the bus station, I noticed an orange and blue liveried MMC bodied Volvo B8, one of a few transferred from Leicester based Centrebus (another company in which Julian Peddle has a share) when the company won the 35A/36, and very much the regular buses used on the two routes, pull out on the 11.30 35A, giving me half an hour before the 12.00 36 was due.

I therefore sat and watched the current Walsall scene, noting the increased presence of single deckers (Scania Omnilinks and newer Wright bodied Volvo B7s) on the routes that had latterly been the haunt of Walsall garage’s surviving ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents (the 7, 10 & 41) with the only example seen being 4566, on another haunt, the 6 to Sutton Coldfield, with me later finding out that this, and original low floor liveried 4125, the first of the company’s Tridents, are the only two now left in service at Walsall!

Surely, these can’t have long left! All depends on the arrival of recharging equipment to allow the entry into service of the 170 ADL MMC E400E bodied BYDs that are currently in the process of being delivered.

The 36

I had been expecting another of the ex Centrebus MCVs to turn up but, instead, the 12.00 36 was being operated by dealer stock white liveried MMC E200 bus 2:

After the NXWM Platinum MMC E400 on the 997 had cleared the stand, number 2 pulled onto that stand, and I boarded, along with three other passengers with concessionary passes, whilst I paid the current £2 government sponsored maximum fare and sat towards the back of this reasonably appointed (E leather covered high backed seats) bus, and we headed off out of Walsall Town Centre along Lichfield Road. This thoroughfare once hosted one of Walsall’s six tram routes, that to Walsall Wood, which was replaced in 1928 by a bus service that extended onto Brownhills (basically covered by today’s 10) but the corridor soon developed a large amount of services that branched off the main road, including the 1965 introduced 258, a roundabout route to Birmingham which, many revisions later, would evolve into today’s 997.

The 258 left Lichfield Road along Barns Lane, joining the Bloxwich-Aldridge 58, which itself had journeys extended onto Birmingham as the 158, this coming about due to the closure of the Sutton Park railway line through Aldridge, the demise of the Cannock Chase line (reopened in 1989) and Walsall-Lichfield line also allowing Harper Brothers to extend their Cannock-Kingstanding service into Birmingham. Much renumbering would take place to the Barns Lane services during the PTE years, with the 997 number being first used in 1990. 2010 would see the 997 rerouted along the parallel Daw End Road (wrongly, in my opinion, as Barns Lane is generally less affluent, meaning more bus users) leading to the 35 being created and run originally by Choice Travel, which soon after was taken over by Arriva. The 35 would be extended to Lichfield via Streets Corner and the main road, replacing the direct 991, with 35A being used for the service to Leighswood and the 35B running every two hours to Lichfield via Stonnall & Shenstone. This latter service evolved from the 381, a 1980 introduced WMPTE service (I would ride this once in 1985, on about to be withdrawn Bristol VR 4359) which would be taken over by Chase Buses at deregulation. The early years of the century would see Chase reroute off peak journeys via Barns Lane (having previously gone along the Walsall-Aldridge main road), competing with the 997. Chase sold out to Arriva in 2007, so the scene was set for the 381/382 to become the 35B and integrated with the 35/35A. Arriva would sell it’s former Choice operations to Diamond, who would pull off the 35B, paving the way for Select’s 36 to begin.

We passed through the semi detached council and private houses along Barns Lane, then headed into the Westgate Industrial Estate, this taking us into Aldridge, from where we headed onto the Northgate estate, mainly served by NXWM’s 7 from Walsall and 937 from Birmingham-Brownhills West (the descendent of the Harper Brothers Birmingham-Cannock service) but the 35 & 35A cover bits away from these. Chase would reroute the 381 away from it’s original route through Streets Corner to follow a more direct path to Stonnall, and the 36 still follows this route today, leaving the semi detached housing behind and travel along pleasant country lanes, crossing over the A452 Chester Road and entering the spread out village of Stonnall, travelling through this to reach more country lanes to reach the equally spread out village of Shenstone.

This section of route was originally served by Walsall Corporation’s 89 from Walsall-Shenstone and Harper Brothers route 2 from Kingstanding-Lichfield. The 89 would subsequently become the PTE’s 389, whilst 1974 would see Harpers taken over by Midland Red, with the Lichfield service becoming the 818. These would be replaced as part of the joint WMPTE/Midland Red “Chaserider” (a name used by Midland Red as part of it’s Market Analysis Project revisions, which was revived when D & G took over Cannock garage from Arriva) in August 1980 by WMPTE’s 380 & 381, with a peak service over the Kingstanding route retained by WMPTE’s 150 from Shenstone, running through to Birmingham. The 381 would be rerouted via Aldridge in 1982, whilst early 1985 would see the 380 withdrawn, with the 150 going later in the year.

Now that Chaserider have increased the 36 to hourly, the extra journeys follow a more direct route to Lichfield, as opposed to the original route through Wall, and this was one of those journeys, so we headed onto the Sutton Coldfield-Lichfield Road, originally served by Midland Red’s 112 from Birmingham-Burton On Trent and now served by NXWM’s half hourly X3 from Birmingham-Lichfield, operated in the main by the Platinum branded MMC E400s of Perry Barr garage, and, as a driver on the Sutton Rota, a route that I regularly drive, so I was more than familiar with the road up to the roundabout where the A5 crosses (which can be a right pain to get onto in the peak!) then continuing towards Lichfield. The approaches to the city have recently been filled with new housing, and the previous Monday had seen the X3, plus the school service 3 from Streetly-Lichfield rerouted into the Bowers Park estate (a routing that I’ve yet to do) which I mention as we picked up a passenger from the stop on the main road that the X3 no longer serves, and I couldn’t help wondering whether that passenger knew about the route change and was waiting for an X3!

The X3 then follows the route adopted by Midland Classic’s X12, which replaced Arriva on the corridor, and would, in 2019, be replaced by the X3 extension from it’s previous terminus at Hillhook, along Sainte Foye Way, but the 36 uses the original 112 route into the city, passing under a fairly low bridge that Midland Red deemed too low for double deckers, although Harpers would use double deckers on school journeys under there, these having to tale a specific path to avoid damage, this coming to light in a recent issue of “Classic Bus.” Soon after, we arrived at Lichfield bus station;

Lichfield

As I’ve previously mentioned, Lichfield is a meeting place for several operators. Chaserider run in on the 826/828 from Stafford, as well as the 60 & 62 from Cannock, the 60 now being a regular haunt of Chaserider’s new MCV bodied Volvo B8s. Another visitor was Burton independent Midland Classic, but these were taken over by Diamond in 2022, ironically just after Diamond had withdrawn the 35 from Walsall! The former Midland Classic operations include the 12 & X12 to Burton On Trent, as well as the 31 & 32 City services, though the off peak journeys on these are soon to be taken over by Chaserider. Arriva still run the X65 & 765 from Tamworth, whilst NXWM operate the aforementioned X3, plus the other service from Lichfield-Walsall, the 8, which I planned to make my leave of the city on.

But first, fish & chips from Seftons! So I made my way over to the chippy, bought said fish & chips and returned to the bus station, just as NXWM Wright bodied Volvo B7 2121 appeared on the 8;

I then pondered on whether to let it go, eat my fish & chips and catch the next one half an hour later, but……it was COLD! So I joined the queue waiting for the bus to pull onto the stand, and stuffed my dinner into my bag to adopt covert chip eating mode!

The 8

The 8 is a fairly recent phenomenon, having been extended to Lichfield in 2021 replacing the slightly more direct 10A, but the origins of the rough route that it follows goes back to the 1980 Chaserider revisions, when WMPTE’s 390/391 Lichfield-Cannock services (originally Walsall Corporation’s 47) were replaced by Midland Red’s hourly 860, with a half hourly Lichfield-Burntwood service retained by the rerouting of the PTE’s 394 (which had previously ran from Walsall-Hednesford via Burntwood, that Hednesford connection initially replaced by the extended 345) from Burntwood-Lichfield. What had become Midland Red North (in September 1981) caused some friction with WMPTE in November 1984 when it extended it’s 862 Cannock-Rawnsley service onto Burntwood & Lichfield, making a half hourly service between those points with the 860…..and thus running at exactly the same time as the 394!

WMPTE would admit defeat here, cutting the 394 back to terminate at Burntwood in the summer of 1985. Ultimately, the 394 would be cutback to Brownhills and the Burntwood section replaced by it’s sister service, the 395, and these would be renumbered by NXWM the 10A & 10 respectively in 2010. Then, in 2018, NXWM swapped the routes of the 10 & 10A around, and extended the 10A onto Lichfield, bringing the fight back to what was now Arriva’s 60, 61 & 62 between Burntwood & Lichfield……only frequencies were double what they were between 1984 & 1985, with a half hourly 10A competing with a quarter hourly 60/61/62.

The Arriva quarter hourly frequency had come about due to earlier competition from Central Buses, who ran a “Route 66” (yes, branded in the style of that great American Highway!) from Lichfield-Burntwood, and the remains of this branding still exists on the bus stops as we headed out of Lichfield and sped along the quite rural road towards Burntwood. The 61 had originally ran through to Cannock, being a variant of the 62, but was soon cutback to terminate at Boney Hay. The route met it’s demise during the pandemic, meaning that Chaserider are now down to three buses on the corridor, whilst NXWM would withdraw the 10A and replace the Lichfield section by extending the 8 in 2021.

Reaching Burntwood, we travelled through this sprawling area, following a quite twisty route into Chasetown (served by the 60 on it’s Lichfield-Burntwood stretch, with the 8 & 62 heading into Burntwood direct) then leaving the Cannock routes behind as we headed back into the West Midlands county at Ogly Hay, passing through the semi detached housing to reach Brownhills, passing through the Town Centre before then heading into the village of Clayhanger. This village was first served in 1975, with a since rebuilt canal bridge then precluding the use of a full size bus into the village, so the PTE contracted local coach firm Wicksons to run a minibus on route 384 into Brownhills. This lasted until deregulation, when it was replaced by West Midlands Travels’ 347, a former PTE service from Brownhills-Bloxwich that had become a tender, and converted to minibuses. Later, in 1989, West Midlands Travel would extend it through Walsall to the Gillity Village estate, whilst, with the canal bridge rebuilt, the 347 would gain competition from Chase Buses new 362, running from Walsall-Brownhills via Pelsall, which would ultimately lead to the 347 bring split up in 1992, with Clayhanger left to the 362.

Intense competition between West Midlands Travel & Chaserider saw the former return to Clayhanger in 1994 with the hourly 349 but this would only last a few years. After Chase Buses had sold out to Arriva, the 362 became the 33 through to Cannock, this eventually becoming the 3. NXWM would return to Clayhanger with the 8, which would see what was now Chaserider cutback the 3 to Brownhills, leaving Clayhanger to the 8.

We headed over the rebuilt canal bridge, then headed through the fairly populated village, passing under the low bridge on the mothballed Walsall-Lichfield line that had restricted the buses through Clayhanger to single deck, which took us out of the village and onto the Brownhills-Bloxwich Road, now served by Walsall Community Transport’s 23, the descendent of the old 347. After a short distance, we turned left into the village of Pelsall, the road taking us through the very pleasant Pelsall Common. We were joined by the 9 from Wolverhampton here, which had come from the opposite direction up the Bloxwich-Brownhills Road, but this would then head left through High Heath to reach the Lichfield Road, whilst the 8 heads straight down the Pelsall Road to Rushall, further down the Lichfield Road and just a little further down from where I’d earlier headed off this thoroughfare in the opposite direction on the 36.

And so we headed into Walsall, terminating at the bus station.

The Pretty Bricks

I’d originally intended to walk up the hill to the Black Country Arms but I’d heard good reports about another Black Country Ales pub, that was just a two bus stop ride from the bus station along Stafford Street, which soon after becomes Bloxwich Road and once featured trolleybuses gliding out to Bloxwich and estates beyond. Today, the main routes up the road take the numbers of two of those trolleybus routes, the 31 to Mossley Estate and 32 to Lower Farm, numbers they regained in August 2018 when they became the second partnership routes, with the formerly competing NXWM & Diamond route 301 & 302 gaining integrated timetables as the 31 & 32.

A 32 was the first to leave, this being an NXWM journey Wright bodied Volvo B7 2132, one of several painted in the TfWM red livery that was branded for the two routes, with Diamond painting some Wright Streetlites in the same livery;

And so I made the short trip, getting off two stops out, and walked around the corner to the pub that was formerly the New Inns but has taken it’s more popular nickname of the Pretty Bricks, presumably on account of the glazed Victorian brickwork on it’s frontage.

A much smaller establishment than the Town Centre based Black Country Arms, the pub was lovely and cosy. I chose a pint of Kent based Wantsum Brewery’s 5 Golden Grains and then sat at a table right next to a roaring coal fire, perfect on such a cold day. I then began to write this blog, my first pint going down effortlessly smoothly, leading to another two pints before I decided that it was time to be heading for home!

Therefore, I walked out of the pub and caught the first bus back to Town, which happened to be another NXWM Wright bodied Volvo B7, 2118 on the 29, which joins the Bloxwich Road a little further up from here, having come from Bloxwich via Blakenall, which was once served by Walsall Corporation trolleybus circular 15/30 (this returning from/heading to Bloxwich direct along Bloxwich Road). This took me swiftly to the bus station, from where I walked back to Bradford Place.

Now, bearing in mind the slight reduction in frequency that the integrated timetable had bought in on the 4 group, I was wondering how this would cope in the peak, which we were now in. When I got to the bus stop, there was a queue of around twenty waiting, but yet another NXWM Wright bodied Volvo B7, 2145, was waiting on the unloading stop on a 4M to Merry Hill, which soon pulled onto the loading stand after a couple of minutes. Although a small queue, they quickly filled singularly, meaning that I had to take an aisle seat. The bus then continued to fill up until there was a small amount of standing passengers. This is why I largely prefer double deckers, so I can escape a crowded lower saloon and enjoy the relative comfort of upstairs, enjoying the views offered me!

Anyhow, we soon left and were soon dropping off passengers in Caldmore, though boarding passengers kept standees in place until we got further into the suburbs, where I managed to grab a whole double seat to myself as the load began to lessen. And so we passed into West Bromwich, heading through Stone Cross and towards the Town Centre. As we got close, the warming effects of the three pints of 5 Golden Grains caused me to short my eyes for a moment…..only for me to reopen them just as we were pulling out of West Bromwich bus station on our way to Merry Hill!

So I got off at the next stop, at the Lyng, and walked back to the bus station, where I caught 2003 vintage Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7 4506 on the 47 back home.

And so ended my first bash of 2024! But I was also had a day off tomorrow, and so was off rather further afield, making my first trip in very nearly twelve months down to London!

To Be Continued…….!