Redditch Local

Seeing as Redditch is my local town, i rarely take the time to use the bus services there other than to get to the Train Station to leave the place. So today i decided it would be a good idea to have a local day, for £2.70 the Redditch Extra tickets offers good value for the extended Redditch boundary (Studley falls just outside Redditch and Worcestershire). To start of the days bashing we headed for the 12:37 143 service to Redditch Bus Station (The bus then continues to Bromsgrove), which turned out to be 30445 (T418 MNH) which is a recent transfer from Tividale depot.

30445 is seen in Dudley Bus Station
while running from Tividale depot.

After arriving into Redditch i decided the best option was to find out where the 3 Enviro 300's that are in the Diamond Livery were, as it happens all 3 were in the depot out of service (Typical!). So the next idea was to head out of Redditch to find some sunny spots to take a few photos in.

The first port of call was Studley Road, Lodge Park where the popular 57 and 58 services run at high frequency, while being supported by the once hourly 143 service.

30861 leads another 57 (40617) into
Studley Road.

The 57 and 58 services are the flagship services at Redditch with high frequency, modern buses running up to every 5 minutes in either direction, mainly the home of the B7RLE's before the Diamond takeover of First Services it now sees any vehicles in the depot from Solos to Tridents.

40542 is seen with a 58 service to
Redditch Bus Station, this is one of
5 former Lothian and Preston
Presidents now at Redditch.

After a spell of around 20 minutes at this location it was time to move on, after about 35 minutes most the 57's and 58's have done a circuit and then start the service over again. I decided to head to the Church Lane depot of Diamond to see what was hidden inside, this is now the 'Diamond Engineering Depot' which will carry out any work needed on the Redditch fleet while Plymouth Road will be used to store and wash buses.

The new depot sign outside
Church Lane garage.

30947 (FJ08 VRD seen in Church
Lane Garage.

Church Lane can hide some hidden gems, such as stored 31502 (P402 MLA), former JPT, Manchester 30831 (MX08 PZH) and newly delivered 30947 (FJ08 VRD) which is for use alongside the older Enviros at Redditch. 30831 is one of 5 MAN/Plaxton Centros at Redditch which are proving somewhat troublesome lately with just 1 in service today.

Sister 31508, P401 MLA seen in
Kidderminster while on a service
292 to Ludlow, this was on the X3
service today.

31502, P402 MLA is seen stored
in Church Lane garage.

The P-MLA batch all passed to Diamond with the takeover of the former First depots in Redditch and Kidderminster and many have been withdrawn, however P401 and 403 MLA seem to be hanging on in Kidderminster unlike P402MLA which is now stored at Redditch.

 Having spent most the day on the 57 and 58 services we moved over to the other circulars in Redditch the 55 and 56 which run around Oakenshaw and Walkwood as well as the Alexandra Hospital which is also served by the 143 and 247 services once an hour. Crabbs Cross can provide a nice backdrop of the Malvern Hills as it is one of the highest points in the town as can be seen to the right.

20304 is seen by 'The Fleece' pub
at Crabbs Cross while on the 56
service.

After spending most of the afternoon in Redditch we decided to take a return trip to Birmingham on Johnson's 150/X50 service which offers a rather more popular service than the Diamond 146, MX08 MYR was our bus to Birmingham and back before taking the short 247 home.

Seen at Branson's Cross while on the
150 service to Redditch is MX08MYR.

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