Old West Midlands bus routes on the forum

[Dutsey]

I was thinking , should we not have a section on the forum for old West Midlands bus routes?

[CL]

Sorry to bring back a 'dead' topic, but, can anyone tell me where the old 258 went?

I know it was operated with Mercs, and perhaps some B10Ls at one point. And whilst on the subject of allocations, which garage was it based at? I'm thinking either Pensnett or, maybe(?) Perry Barr.

[Trident 4194]

Sorry to bring back a 'dead' topic, but, can anyone tell me where the old 258 went?

I know it was operated with Mercs, and perhaps some B10Ls at one point. And whilst on the subject of allocations, which garage was it based at? I'm thinking either Pensnett or, maybe(?) Perry Barr.

Pensnett and b10s think it was blackheath- somewhere

[CL]

Pensnett and b10s think it was blackheath- somewhere

Blackheath to Birmingham, wasn't it? I remember the stop on Colmore Row, but specifically, I meant 'via' points. Thanks, though. :)

[John]

Sorry to bring back a 'dead' topic, but, can anyone tell me where the old 258 went?

I know it was operated with Mercs, and perhaps some B10Ls at one point. And whilst on the subject of allocations, which garage was it based at? I'm thinking either Pensnett or, maybe(?) Perry Barr.

It was a Pensnett route when it was withdrawn, can't remember the route it took between Birmingham and Merry Hill. In earlier days, Hockley ran it when it went through to Wolverhampton (not sure if Wolverhampton ran it too)

[Rob H]

Sorry to bring back a 'dead' topic, but, can anyone tell me where the old 258 went?

I know it was operated with Mercs, and perhaps some B10Ls at one point. And whilst on the subject of allocations, which garage was it based at? I'm thinking either Pensnett or, maybe(?) Perry Barr.

258 Birmingham - Merry Hill via Oldbury & Blackheath and it was operated by PE (MH) :)

[P419 EJW]

Sorry to bring back a 'dead' topic, but, can anyone tell me where the old 258 went?

I know it was operated with Mercs, and perhaps some B10Ls at one point. And whilst on the subject of allocations, which garage was it based at? I'm thinking either Pensnett or, maybe(?) Perry Barr.

A bit of history explained on this post. http://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?topic=35.msg56859#msg56859

258 Merry Hill - Birmingham via Blackheath, Brandhall, Bearwood. The 258 did have the B6LEs, Mercs and B10Ls. Operated by Pensnett eventually.

[CL]

I've found a photo: http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/1317-1514/1375.html (Good archive reference, Tony.)

Thanks, everyone.  :)

[Bob]

It had mark 1 metrobuses on it in the late 90s

[the trainbasher]

The 258 was (In the 2000s) worked initially by Hockley depot, then WN, then PE (why WN Aran it I'll never know but hey ho that's how life goes!

Towards the end of its life it had served the Brandhall Interchange as part of its route (only a small deviation to the route!).

If memory serves me right only one trip per day used to visit Cradley Heath station (with the others avoiding it.)

Ironically the tendered versions number lives on...(albeit now a Dudley to Birmingham route instead of the near 258 route.)

Oh, and another fact...if you head to Kimgswinford you might find something to do with a former 25x service on one of the lampposts...I think it's the 258 but I'm not 100%... :)

Oh, and that was also the first ever TMH route that I had ever been on into city!

[2900]

I use to drive the 258 from hockley garage which at time during the late 90s it had been chopped from brum to merry hill and Wolverhampton garage got the other half merry hill to wolves.
It used to have every type of metrobus on it and Lynx,s till the arrival of mercs 1649-1707,
Late 2000 the route transferred to TMH

[fleetline6477]

Back in the days you're talking about when HY and PL ran the route it was

Birmingham - Five Ways - Hagley Road - Bearwood (The Bear) - Brandhall - Blackheath - Brickhouse Farm - Dudley Wood - Merry Hill Centre - Brierley Hill - Bromley - Kingswinford - Wombourne - Penn Road - Wolverhampton.

A great route 4 1/2 hours round trip.

[Stu]

Back in the days you're talking about when HY and PL ran the route it was

Birmingham - Five Ways - Hagley Road - Bearwood (The Bear) - Brandhall - Blackheath - Brickhouse Farm - Dudley Wood - Merry Hill Centre - Brierley Hill - Bromley - Kingswinford - Wombourne - Penn Road - Wolverhampton.

A great route 4 1/2 hours round trip.

That's how I remember it! Many years ago, I had a day off from college and found myself in Wolverhampton. With a bit of time to kill, I thought I'd take a trip on the 258 all the way to Birmingham; it was such a long journey, I think I did give up and got off in Blackheath or Brandhall before making my way back home, after spending about 2 hours on the same bus! Was nice going through Wombourne, and of course it was a Metrobus at the time.

[GeminiFan1991]

Back in the days you're talking about when HY and PL ran the route it was

Birmingham - Five Ways - Hagley Road - Bearwood (The Bear) - Brandhall - Blackheath - Brickhouse Farm - Dudley Wood - Merry Hill Centre - Brierley Hill - Bromley - Kingswinford - Wombourne - Penn Road - Wolverhampton.

A great route 4 1/2 hours round trip.

Here's me thinking that time I done a trip on the Outer Circle was a long trip ! Quite the route I must say, why did NX stop it ?! I'd prefer this to the 126.

[Roy]

Quite the route I must say, why did NX stop it ?!

The main reason given at the time (1996) for splitting it was that it operated every 30 minutes and they wanted to increase the frequency of one half (I think the Wolverhampton to Merry Hill portion) to every 20 minutes.  A few months later, they increased the other portion to every 20 minutes.

The Wolverhampton to Merry Hill portion became the 260 and was operated by WN using brand-new Volvo B10B's 1377-1381 which were route branded.  The majority of that batch remained on the route (by then 254/255) for their entire lives until withdrawn in 2010.  There's a photo of 1379 with branding at http://www.showbus.com/gallery/wm/wmsd3.htm