Author Topic: The number 8 bus route  (Read 69974 times)

Phil

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2017, 06:51:38 PM »
Most of the route I have shown so far is now called Bellgrave Middleway and not long after it was completed it was used for the first Superprix on the roads of Birmingham. There have occasionally been talks about reviving the races but so far nothing has materialised.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Potomac

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2017, 08:26:01 PM »
solved issue
best wishes,  Alan

Phil

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2017, 08:49:36 PM »
Potomac

I'm sorry, but the problem you describe does happen occasionally and Chris our administrator has investigated it on previous occasions but could find no fault with the forum. Do you log on every time you come on the forum or do you put a tick in the stay logged on box? As I think it's supposed to be best to stay logged on. If you are making a long post it might pay to type it using word or notebook or whatever word processor you favour then cut and paste it to the forum at least that way you won't lose all your work.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Potomac

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2017, 09:38:05 PM »
solved issue
best wishes,  Alan

Coastal

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2017, 11:46:02 AM »
Most of the photos are well before my time, but when I became a bus inspector in about 1988 I was initially based at Birmingham Central Garage, and the No8 was one of my routes, I have been round it more times than I care to remember including driving, and there has been quite a few changes even over the time I was out on the road until 2004. O0 
When I took early retirement in 2015 both myself and the No8 were based at Bordesley Garage
Do unto others before they do unto you.

Phil

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2017, 11:57:22 AM »
Coastal,

Do you remember kids doing the whole circuit on a Sunday morning just to get them out of their parents hair for a hour or so? I think in the early days if the route that buses from garages all around the route were used, Such as Highgate Rd, Roseberry St, Barford St, and Liverpool St and even Acocks Green.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Coastal

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2017, 12:04:58 PM »
More so for the Outer Circle, using buses from P Bar, BC (liverpool st), A Green, Harborne, Cotteridge etc, you could lose the kids for a couple of hours on there  O0
Do unto others before they do unto you.

Phil

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #18 on: October 19, 2017, 12:13:40 PM »
Coastal,

The trouble being for those living in Balsall Heath you would have to get a bus to where you could catch the number 11. I have already done a complete circuit of the 11 route elsewhere. I'll see how this goes on here and I might repeat it here later. Considering that I have never liked buses and even before I could drive I walked most everywhere. I've wrote a lot about bus routes and I haven't been on a bus in Birmingham more than half a dozen times in the last 50 years.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Potomac

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #19 on: October 19, 2017, 12:16:55 PM »
 

Thursday is a day I do not have to go out early – a day off in fact, however I would add that my work is of a voluntary nature i.e. no luchre.  I will try and quickly reflect on my aborted post of yesterday.
A picture of Stratford Road shows Daimler bus HOV 909 (1909) having turned from Walford Road will soon turn into Stoney Lane for Highgate Road.  The other side of the road shows Leyland PD2, JOJ 200 (2200) with a very graceful Park Royal body, making the opposite movements.  I notice a car illegally parked, I guess, on the pavement by the Midland Red bus stop. From Highgate Road once over Moseley Road was a long drop down Belgrave Road. Buses picked up a fair turn of speed and that, as far as I recall, was why there was a compulsory stop (red plate) part way down the hill.  I recall driving from Cambridge to Edgbaston in 1980.  I followed the 8 route from Stratford Road only to arrive at the traffic lights at Moseley Road and looking ahead found the whole scene of the Belgrave Road area unrecognizable!
The tramcar 425, built in 1912, was on the Alcester Lanes End service 39.  The tram and the tram route ceased in 1949 being replaced by the 48 bus route.
The Inner Circle route commenced in February1928; it was a very busy and profitable route as it served so many industries along the way.  It was also as short hop shopper route for those not wishing to travel into town.
The initial buses for the route were ADC 507 types with, unusually for Birmingham, a lowbridge body (around a foot lower than other buses).  Consequently the lower saloon had twenty bucket type seats, fitted in a diagonal position, in the lower saloon with a gangway either side. Due to this arrangement they got the name ‘pickpocket specials’.  The need for the lower height was due to bridges in Highgate Road, Balsall Heath and Icknield Street, Hockley.  Road improvements were made by 1934 to lower the road and the buses were then withdrawn.
 

 
 
 

 
best wishes,  Alan

JudithM

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #20 on: October 19, 2017, 01:14:48 PM »
Most of the route I have shown so far is now called Bellgrave Middleway and not long after it was completed it was used for the first Superprix on the roads of Birmingham. There have occasionally been talks about reviving the races but so far nothing has materialised.

Yes, it's still being talked about.  Another thing being bandied about is the possibility of a Formula E race (like Formula 1, but with electric cars).  That formula is raced on street circuits & I know that a few people have put forward the possibility of a race here (myself included)
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: The number 8 bus route
« Reply #21 on: October 19, 2017, 03:18:48 PM »
Potomac

When I get around the route and back to Sparkbrook I will be doing The Highgate Road - Stratford Road - Walford Road Junction, perhaps even the photos you mention.

Judith

I think the problem with staging any sort of a road race now is all the basic infrastructure equipment that was specially made for the superprix  has probably been scrapped and starting from scratch again would be frowned upon because basically Birmingham has got no money (or so we are told).

Phil died in 2020. RIP.


 

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