Outer Circle 100 Celebration and Cavalcade

Monday May 25th was a memorable day at Transport Museum Wythall with a

special gathering and cavalcade to celebrate 100 Years of Birmingham’s

famous Outer Circle bus route.

The number 11 is a 27-mile orbital route with 266 bus stops that

encircles the city’s outer suburbs and is still operated today by

National Express West Midlands. It is a famous ‘Brummie’ icon and was

once Europe’s longest urban bus route.

The museum is running an exhibition, throughout the season, which tours

the route and locates many different sites and happenings that have

occurred all around the city, across the decades. But the spectacle of

the day was the cavalcade which ran between Kings Heath and Acocks

Green, the last section of the Outer Circle route to be built.

The day began with the display of the museum’s wide selection of buses

that have plied this route since 1931, the year of its earliest Outer

Circle example. For the cavalcade, the line up was the recently restored

1931 AEC Regent OV 4486, joined by the 1937 Daimler COG5 1107

representing the earlier era, partnered by 1953 Birmingham Standard Guy

Arab IV 2976 on behalf of the 1960s. The WMPTE/Travel West Midlands era

was covered by Metrobuses Mks 1 and 2, 6835 from 1978 and 2462 from

1982, Leyland Fleetline 7000 from 1979 and finally an appropriate

National Express Enviro 400mmc 6418 from 2015 in retro BCT livery.

In support on static display, vehicles included Daimler Fleetline single

deck CRG6 3472, Leyland National II 1026, Ford Transit Mini Buzz 553

(outside for the first time since overhaul and repaint), Guy Arab IV

3009 plus visiting Leyland Titan 7001 from 1978 and Volvo Ailsa 4527

from 1974.

The 90-minute cavalcade was run twice during the day to ensure that the

hundreds of visitors had a fair chance to ride. There were two photo

stops on the route - Sarehole Mill (JRR Tolkien’s inspiration for

Middle-Earth) outward and Fox Hollies Road on the return, both in Hall

Green. Many photographers were out on the route and indeed chasing the

buses for the best photographs.

With over seven hundred attending, the museum was proud to present this

special day, which was also recorded on video – see Transport Museum

Click the link below for more pictures

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