Old bus routes

[Crosville]

Thinking of the Bristol Road services which are now X61 & 63 Birmingham-Frankley but what was the old routes as me recollections are
61, Birmingham-Gannow
62, Birmingham-Rednal
63, Birmingham-Rubery Great Park
64, Birmingham-Gannow

I think the old 61 & 64 terminus may have been Gannow Boleyn Road.

[sonic84]

Thinking of the Bristol Road services which are now X61 & 63 Birmingham-Frankley but what was the old routes as me recollections are
61, Birmingham-Gannow
62, Birmingham-Rednal
63, Birmingham-Rubery Great Park
64, Birmingham-Gannow

I think the old 61 & 64 terminus may have been Gannow Boleyn Road.

Yes, that is correct.  The terminus was Boleyn Road.

Back in 2009 the terminus was briefly changed on the 61 and 63 so that the 61 terminated at Great Park via Gannow and the 63 went to Frankley.

[Squiz1971]

Thinking of the Bristol Road services which are now X61 & 63 Birmingham-Frankley but what was the old routes as me recollections are
61, Birmingham-Gannow
62, Birmingham-Rednal
63, Birmingham-Rubery Great Park
64, Birmingham-Gannow

I think the old 61 & 64 terminus may have been Gannow Boleyn Road.

Before Great Park opened the 63 terminated just after turning right off Callowbrook Lane on Cross Farm Road  @Crosville

[Mike K]

Thinking of the Bristol Road services which are now X61 & 63 Birmingham-Frankley but what was the old routes as me recollections are
61, Birmingham-Gannow
62, Birmingham-Rednal
63, Birmingham-Rubery Great Park
64, Birmingham-Gannow

I think the old 61 & 64 terminus may have been Gannow Boleyn Road.

The 64 was a relatively short lived affair I believe, having replaced the 963. I'm sure there was a 964 at some point too. A few years before there had been a different 64 that ran Northfield to Cotteridge via Frankley and Longbridge - these days covered by the 49.

[Squiz1971]

The 64 was a relatively short lived affair I believe, having replaced the 963. I'm sure there was a 964 at some point too. A few years before there had been a different 64 that ran Northfield to Cotteridge via Frankley and Longbridge - these days covered by the 49.

Yes I used to catch the original 64 on Leach Green Lane when I went to school in Northfield back in the early 80's before it became the 49 which then was taken off Leach Green Lane completely @Mike K.
I believe the 64 did take over the 963 before becoming the 964

[SO6597]

Hello. I'm new here but thought I'd chip in as the Bristol Rd has always been my neck of the woods.

The 963 was replaced by the 64 which eventually became the 964. Its early incarnation was the city centre to Rubery flyover and it was then extended to Gannow as part of the 1986 post-deregulation Timesaver network.

The corridor has had its odd quirk - a 62A used to serve the Longbridge factory for a couple of journeys in the evening by running along Lowhlll Lane and Groveley Lane. Another unusual working took place for a few months on Sunday evenings 1995ish when the 62 was curtailed early evening and replaced by a 63A (?) which ran along the usual 63 route but took a diversion along the Lickey Road to serve Rednal before resuming the normal route.

Going back even further, there was a 949 in the late 70s which ran from the newly built Frankley estate through to the city centre.

[Justin Tyme]

Hello. I'm new here but thought I'd chip in as the Bristol Rd has always been my neck of the woods.

Going back even further, there was a 949 in the late 70s which ran from the newly built Frankley estate through to the city centre.

I remember the 949, which was a peak hours limited stop service.  Do you remember the daytime 149 service between Northfield and Frankley?  Both services were replaced by extending the 61 from the city boundary to Frankley back in 1978 as the estate became larger.  At the time (and until 1986?) the Frankley terminus was Holly Hill.

[Mike K]

I remember the 949, which was a peak hours limited stop service.  Do you remember the daytime 149 service between Northfield and Frankley?  Both services were replaced by extending the 61 from the city boundary to Frankley back in 1978 as the estate became larger.  At the time (and until 1986?) the Frankley terminus was Holly Hill.

I hadn't known about the 949 until I came across this picture:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/walsall1955/4572727930/in/photolist-beL37K-aAfkju-8gKevN-dZaaJB-8erZga-9ARkdD-6LAQJh-9ARdRi-7ZCpw5-8gKew3-6LhFj1-ax1qVV-aEfNVd-8gKevU-9yzn5K-9AKvbz-9ARdR8-byePyt-8QQiPA-9DApKc-9DApK6-8cBQCm-hWQPqt-hWRJsP-hY2QeJ-hWRbh7-82jG97-hWQQve-8gKew5-9DApK2-8QQiPs-7Y5qGJ-biCnK8-9ARdRc-9ARdRa-8erZgg-8erZgc-a1dFBq-a1XXxD-aAfkjj-9ARdR2-aAfkj5-9eWFnz-8HC1kM-8dLnWc-9HMPDU-9ARdR4-9Q4XGJ-9Q4XGG-xi4KGf

Funny how so many things come full circle - the X61 can't be far off what the 949 was forty years ago.

[SO6597]

I remember the 949, which was a peak hours limited stop service.  Do you remember the daytime 149 service between Northfield and Frankley?  Both services were replaced by extending the 61 from the city boundary to Frankley back in 1978 as the estate became larger.  At the time (and until 1986?) the Frankley terminus was Holly Hill.

I do remember the 149 and think it may well have ended up getting replaced by the aforementioned 'old' 64.

The 61 ran to Holly Hill up until autumn 1986 when it was then extended to Gannow - it terminated in the same area as the 963 close to Crompton Road. Looks like the 63 may well end up terminating there if/when the ongoing South Bham review is finalised.

[MasterPlan]

The 64 was a relatively short lived affair I believe, having replaced the 963. I'm sure there was a 964 at some point too. A few years before there had been a different 64 that ran Northfield to Cotteridge via Frankley and Longbridge - these days covered by the 49.

That sounds like what was suggested to replace the 29 and 49 between Northfield and Frankley on the consultation.

[Crosville]

Wasn't the 49 slightly different route in the Gannow/Frankley area, seem to remember it went past the old 61/64 terminus down Boleyn Road, & did the 61 interwork the 64 as there's no turning circle on Boleyn Road?

49 Solihull-Northfield is a strange route, straight forward Solihull to Druids Heath, then goes down what feels like every side road rest of the route until Northfield terminus.

[Kevin]

Wasn't the 49 slightly different route in the Gannow/Frankley area, seem to remember it went past the old 61/64 terminus down Boleyn Road, & did the 61 interwork the 64 as there's no turning circle on Boleyn Road?

Junction of Boleyn Road and Crompton Road if I'm not mistaken is a turning circle

[Mike K]

Junction of Boleyn Road and Crompton Road if I'm not mistaken is a turning circle

Yes that's where they turned around - still there today if Google Maps is up to date.

[SO6597]

Correct, when the 49 terminated at Gannow it ran along Ormond Road to serve the shops at Holly Hill and then ran into Rubery via Rubery Lane/Callowbrook Lane. When it was extended to Northfield in April 1984 it still served Holly Hill/Gannow but ran into Rubery via New Inns Lane/Callowbrook Lane.

Re: 64 (Bristol Rd service) - I don't think it ever interworked with the 61 as it was a peak time only service. Both routes used the small loop created by the Boleyn Road/Crompton Road junction to turn around to head back to the city centre.

[monkeyjoe]

Bristol Rd corridor must be one of the most tinkered about with corridors in the city or at least in the top 5