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Bus routes (70s and 80s)

T

Tidd

proper brummie kid
Hi, I'm a newbie. It's been a number of years since I was in Birmingham, but I lived in the city for most of the 70s and 80s. I have a memory of many bus routes, but I wonder if you could fill in my gaps, or confirm my memories? And do any of them still exist? (Please do forgive me if this has been asked before...)


5 / 7 - I seem to remember this went from Colmore Row to the Portland Rd area. I have a vague memory (right or wrong?) that it was 7 in one direction then 5 in the other.

9 - that's an easy one. Out on the Hagley Road as far as Quinton.

11 - the Outer Circle! Is there any more to say? Legendary.

21 (and / or 22?) - all I remember about this one was that I used it to get from Edgbaston (York Road) to the far side of the University. Other than that, I know nothing about it.

35 - for some reason I associate this with the 50 but I can't remember why.

48 - went from the City Centre out by the back such as John Bright Street? and passed through to Balsall Heath, maybe terminating there?

50 - did the Moseley/Alcester Road run, through Moseley and Kings Heath. Did it terminate at Maypole?

61 / 62 / 63 - the famous trio that did the Bristol Road, one to Rednal, one to Rubery, and (I think) one to Frankley. There was a night service on these.

What I can't now remember is which services did the Pershore Road, and which did Dudley Road.

Any confirmation would be greatly appreciated, and if any still exist. My bet would be that the Bristol Road buses, also the Outer Circle, are still there ....
 
Spargone said:
There are some images of a BCT route map here.
Click to expand...
Interesting, thank you. Unfortunately, probably due to Flickr, I found it very hard to scroll those maps once expanded - they leapt all over the place! Also, I wonder if they're perhaps older than 70s/80s? Not sure .
 
From memory: 64 to 67 buses to Short heath , Erdington and Pype Hayes from town.
 
Think it was the 21 that I used to catch to the QE (late 80s), down Broad St, over 5 ways, past the Botanical Gardens towards Harborne then left at the Green Man.
 
The Portland Road bus terminated at the Birmingham/Smethwick border, there was a Bundy clock. It was handy because if I heard it go down to the terminus I knew I had time to run for it before it turned round.
rosie.
 
The present bus system is much better than it has ever been. The new buses are much better faster, cleaner, warm comfortable. The timetables are mostly reliable though provision is sometimes odd - why so many 14s for instance. For people who pay (I am a pensioner ) I think fares, particularly for short journeys are crazy (bring back the 10p fare). Some of the passengers should be ejected - persistent coughers, litter droppers, music players, crazy kids, drunks, etc.
 
Tidd said:
Hi, I'm a newbie. It's been a number of years since I was in Birmingham, but I lived in the city for most of the 70s and 80s. I have a memory of many bus routes, but I wonder if you could fill in my gaps, or confirm my memories? And do any of them still exist? (Please do forgive me if this has been asked before...)


5 / 7 - I seem to remember this went from Colmore Row to the Portland Rd area. I have a vague memory (right or wrong?) that it was 7 in one direction then 5 in the other.

9 - that's an easy one. Out on the Hagley Road as far as Quinton.

11 - the Outer Circle! Is there any more to say? Legendary.

21 (and / or 22?) - all I remember about this one was that I used it to get from Edgbaston (York Road) to the far side of the University. Other than that, I know nothing about it.

35 - for some reason I associate this with the 50 but I can't remember why.

48 - went from the City Centre out by the back such as John Bright Street? and passed through to Balsall Heath, maybe terminating there?

50 - did the Moseley/Alcester Road run, through Moseley and Kings Heath. Did it terminate at Maypole?

61 / 62 / 63 - the famous trio that did the Bristol Road, one to Rednal, one to Rubery, and (I think) one to Frankley. There was a night service on these.

What I can't now remember is which services did the Pershore Road, and which did Dudley Road.

Any confirmation would be greatly appreciated, and if any still exist. My bet would be that the Bristol Road buses, also the Outer Circle, are still there ....
Click to expand...
Here's my bus map (both sides) from about 1973. Annoyingly it's not dated, but it's definitely 1973 plus or minus a year. Maybe some Brum Bus expert out there can pinpoint the date more precisely.
 

Attachments

  • 1-Brum bus map c. 1973-001.jpg
    1-Brum bus map c. 1973-001.jpg
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  • 2-Brum bus map c. 1973 reverse side-001.jpg
    2-Brum bus map c. 1973 reverse side-001.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 39
It is a PTE map which would date it post October 1969 which is the time scale Tidd asked about.
I lost interest in the PTE when they absorbed all the West Midlands major operators.
 
rosie said:
The Portland Road bus terminated at the Birmingham/Smethwick border, there was a Bundy clock. It was handy because if I heard it go down to the terminus I knew I had time to run for it before it turned round.
rosie.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the 7 termination was near the Shireland pub, perhaps opposite Selsey Road? I used to live in Gilbert Road, and I didn't think the 7 went on from there (though it may have done!)

I don't know what a Bundy clock is, but I do remember vaguely there was some device next to the wall by the bus stop.
 
oldbrit said:
The 17 A AND B STOPPED OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE ON MOAT LANE Yardley
Click to expand...
I used to live just round the corner from the Spinney (bus terminus) at the end of Witton Lodge Rd and Court Lane.
Number 7 bus to Villa Park (I think?)
As kids we used to hand around there, picking up bus tickets looking for reversible numbers! I think we were easily pleased. Ha!
 
RRJ said:
I used to live just round the corner from the Spinney (bus terminus) at the end of Witton Lodge Rd and Court Lane.
Number 7 bus to Villa Park (I think?)
As kids we used to hand around there, picking up bus tickets looking for reversible numbers! I think we were easily pleased. Ha!
Click to expand...
You have just triggerd a memory, we did that too.
 
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Tidd said:
I'm pretty sure the 7 termination was near the Shireland pub, perhaps opposite Selsey Road? I used to live in Gilbert Road, and I didn't think the 7 went on from there (though it may have done!)

I don't know what a Bundy clock is, but I do remember vaguely there was some device next to the wall by the bus stop.
Click to expand...
Yes that's where the border marker was, probably still is, opposite where Selsey Road meets the junction of Portland Road and Shireland Road. Where the shops were at the bottom of Shireland Road there was a stop for the little West Bromwich bus. We used to call that area "The Dip".
rosie.
 
Stokkie said:
Similarly the 6 ran from Sandon Road terminus (with a Bundy clock) down Hagley Road into Birmingham town centre. The Birmingham / Smethwick border is close by. This bus had a blue and yellow livery in the 1960s-1970s.
Click to expand...
Interesting that you talk about the 'Birmingham / Smethwick border'. At the end I lived (Gilbert Rd / Cape Hill) we knew we were in Smethwick, but we - or at least I - didn't think it was 'not Birmingham'. But I know when I visited friends in Old Hill, the train back was via Rowley Regis (definitely not Birmingham!), and Smethwick West and Smethwick Rolfe Street. It seemed that Smethwick was a kind of borderland between Birmingham and the Black Country, and it depended which end you lived in whether you felt more one or the other?
 
Tidd said:
Interesting that you talk about the 'Birmingham / Smethwick border'. At the end I lived (Gilbert Rd / Cape Hill) we knew we were in Smethwick, but we - or at least I - didn't think it was 'not Birmingham'. But I know when I visited friends in Old Hill, the train back was via Rowley Regis (definitely not Birmingham!), and Smethwick West and Smethwick Rolfe Street. It seemed that Smethwick was a kind of borderland between Birmingham and the Black Country, and it depended which end you lived in whether you felt more one or the other?
Click to expand...
Before the creation of Warley, much less Sandwell, we lived in Bearwood, Smethwick, Staffs. Crossing the Bearwood Road took you to Edgbaston, Birmingham. Likewise crossing the Hagley Road from Bearwood Road to Lordswood Rood took you to Harbourne, Birmingham. Lightwoods Park and Warley Woods were owned by Birmingham corporation, despite being out of the city geographically. The Bearwood telephone exchange was in Sandon Road Birmingham. The border has shifted slightly the telephone exchange is now geographically in Sandwell. Warley Woods and Lightwoods are now Sandwell controlled. My perception as a child was that Bearwood was not Birmingham, but people will still argue whether Smethwick is part of the Black Country or not. The 30 foot coal seam runs under Smethwick. Granted Smethwick is on the edge of the Black Country, not its heartland. In terms of local government, Smethwick remains not Birmingham. There was a plan to extend the Birmingham tram system to the King's Head, Bearwood Bus station. Birmingham is ever expanding and its current Mayor has spoken of Greater Birmingham. Historically Quinton was purchased by Birmingham. I've always worked in Birmingham. I've also taught students from Cradley, Netherton and heart of Black Country: whose friends and relatives thought it was strange to study or work outside the Black Country. My mother's mother was born on a narrowboat at Tipton Basin. She became a cook-housekeeper living in Ladywood, working in Edgbaston. On dad's side there are a long line of chain makers and blacksmiths. Birmingham is a comparatively young town and people moved there often for work. (Long post- hope some of this is interesting.)
 
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Stokkie said:
Before the creation of Warley, much less Sandwell, we lived in Bearwood, Smethwick, Staffs. Crossing the Bearwood Road took you to Edgbaston, Birmingham. Likewise crossing the Hagley Road from Bearwood Road to Lordswood Rood took you to Harbourne, Birmingham. Lightwoods Park and Warley Woods were owned by Birmingham corporation, despite being out of the city geographically. The Bearwood telephone exchange was in Sandon Road Birmingham. The border has shifted slightly the telephone exchange is now geographically in Sandwell. Warley Woods and Lightwoods are now Sandwell controlled. My perception as a child was that Bearwood was not Birmingham, but people will still argue whether Smethwick is part of the Black Country or not. The 30 foot coal seam runs under Smethwick. Granted Smethwick is on the edge of the Black Country, not its heartland. In terms of local government, Smethwick remains not Birmingham. There was a plan to extend the Birmingham tram system to the King's Head, Bearwood Bus station. Birmingham is ever expanding and its current Mayor has spoken of Greater Birmingham. Historically Quinton was purchased by Birmingham. I've always worked in Birmingham. I've also taught students from Cradley, Netherton and heart of Black Country: whose friends and relatives thought it was strange to study or work outside the Black Country. My mother's mother was born on a narrowboat at Tipton Basin. She became a cook-housekeeper living in Ladywood, working in Edgbaston. On dad's side there are a long line of chain makers and blacksmiths. Birmingham is a comparatively young town and people moved there often for work. (Long post- hope some of this is interesting.)
Click to expand...
Very interesting! I was not a native Brummie (moved there as a student) but spent most of the 70s and 80s there, and most of the 90s not far away. None of my Black Country friends counted Smethwick as Black Country (though they had very strong opinions on what was, and was not - for example, according to them, Halesowen wasn't really, and the capital was definitely not Wolverhampton, but Dudley), and nor did most of my Smethwick friends though to be fair, they were from the Cape Hill side.

I guess the nature of the Black Country is legendary. I did hear a story about a Tipton girl, who had the choice of two suitors - Pete who was from Tipton, and Steve who was not. In the end she chose Steve, and her parents were distraught. "Are we ever going to see you again? And what about our grandchildren? Please please please - reconsider". So the girl said she would go and talk to Steve, who went to visit her parents. "Sorry", he said. "I understand your distress, but I'm not moving to Tipton. Your daughter is coming to Coseley with me".
 
Tidd said:
Very interesting! I was not a native Brummie (moved there as a student) but spent most of the 70s and 80s there, and most of the 90s not far away. None of my Black Country friends counted Smethwick as Black Country (though they had very strong opinions on what was, and was not - for example, according to them, Halesowen wasn't really, and the capital was definitely not Wolverhampton, but Dudley), and nor did most of my Smethwick friends though to be fair, they were from the Cape Hill side.

I guess the nature of the Black Country is legendary. I did hear a story about a Tipton girl, who had the choice of two suitors - Pete who was from Tipton, and Steve who was not. In the end she chose Steve, and her parents were distraught. "Are we ever going to see you again? And what about our grandchildren? Please please please - reconsider". So the girl said she would go and talk to Steve, who went to visit her parents. "Sorry", he said. "I understand your distress, but I'm not moving to Tipton. Your daughter is coming to Coseley with me".
Click to expand...
Good joke! (For the benefit of non-locals the distance between Tipton and Coseley is under two miles!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Country
is an interesting read. The nature of the area is not exactly defined. I remember mom and I stayed with her friend in Bilston and she asked someone where could we catch the bus to Bearwood. He looked at us blankly then said 'Am yow lookin for a bus to Brewood?'
 
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Stokkie said:
Good joke! (For the benefit of non-locals the distance between Tipton and Coseley is under two miles!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Country
is an interesting read. The nature of the area is not exactly defined. I remember mom and I stayed with her friend in Bilston and she asked someone where could we catch the bus to Bearwood. He looked at us blankly then said 'Am yow lookin for a bus to Brewood?'
Click to expand...
A friend's mum would have regarded Tipton and Coseley as different planets, but Birmingham was "round the corner"! I'll always remember her for "keep out the 'oss road".
 
Tidd said:
A friend's mum would have regarded Tipton and Coseley as different planets, but Birmingham was "round the corner"! I'll always remember her for "keep out the 'oss road".
Click to expand...
So it was from Cape Hill. I had relatives who lived in Wigeon Road Bearwood and they took to going by bus to West Bromwich to shop in the market. Mom would never do that, always locally or the Cape or Birmingham markets.
 
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