75th anniversary of Birmingham’s Number 50 bus route

We report on the celebrations organised to mark the 75th anniversary of Birmingham’s Number 50 bus route, at Transport Museum Wythall.

Thunderstorms and torrential rain did nothing to deter Spring Bank Holiday weekend visitors to the Transport Museum Wythall, as more than 1,000 people came to experience the 75th anniversary of Birmingham’s Number 50 bus route. A variety of buses representing the decades of its operation from the earliest, 1937 Daimler COG5, CVP 207, to the latest National Express Platinum 50 ADL Enviro 400 MEV (and many in between) ran on a regular service providing an interesting evolution of bus designs.

Over the three days of the Bank Holiday weekend, free bus rides were running along the 50 route from Maypole to the Birmingham suburb of Kings Heath and back. The selection of 50 route bus types, the majority from the Wythall collection, have all operated on the 50 so each run was paired up with a contrasting more modern vehicle. Even the museum’s iconic 1931 AEC Regent made an appearance on the journey. Although it never worked the 50, could you resist a ride? All services paused at the old tram terminus at Alcester Lanes End for a photo opportunity.

The 50 bus service commenced in 1949, taking over from the tramcars that ran as far as Alcester Lanes End. It originally terminated at the Maypole and in 1981 it was extended to Druids Heath, with the seven-mile journey taking around 40 minutes from the beginning to the end.

From the introduction of the new Birmingham Standard tram replacement fleet right up to WMPTE days, all buses on the 50 were Daimler-powered. In 1997, the 50 was the first National Express West Midlands route to introduce a fleet of low-floor double deckers including 20 DAF DB250LF and Optare Spectra vehicles. The first of the latter, R1 NEG/4001, is now an exhibit at the museum and ran on the car park shuttle service over the weekend.

Monday 27 May 27 welcomed a number of visitors to the museum including WDA 1T, the recently restored WMPTE Leyland Titan and WMPTE Daimler Fleetline SOE 913H, while the 50 route specials, all carrying the correct blinds for their era, were paired up as: 12.00 1937 BCT Daimler CVP 207 and 1978 WMPTE Leyland Titan WDA 1T
13.00 1969 WMPTE Daimler Fleetline SOE 913H and 1975 WMPTE Daimler Fleetline JOV 613P
14.00 1937 BCT Daimler CVP207 and 1951 BCT Daimler JOJ 707
15.00 1931 BCT AEC Regent OV 4486 and 1978 WMPTE Leyland Titan WDA 1T

A range of other museum vehicles was on display and used for the free public services including the BMMO S12 NHA 444 and BMMO S23 UHA 956H, Midland Red Leyland National NOE 544R and BMMO D9 BHA 399C. WMPTE Metrobus SDA 832S, another example of buses that ran on the 50, was used on the Museum’s Maypole shuttle service. The Southport Leyland PD open top was side-lined all day due to the rather unfriendly weather.

TMW wishes to thank National Express for its support and visiting vehicle owners for bringing along their vehicles and running them on the 50 for the enjoyment of visitors.

This feature comes from the latest issue of Old Glory, and you can get a money-saving subscription to this magazine simply by clicking HERE