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I worked at Stourbridge Garage (SE) from 1980 until it closed, then I went to Harts Hill (HL) until I left and moved to Poole on Wilts and Dorset.

I was the last bus into SE, as I drove the staff bus. When I arrived back they had started to take our buses away to other garages, a sad night for me, I moved to HL the next day.

I attended King Edward's Stourbridge from 1956 to 1963.

In 1956 we lived in Halesowen and I travelled on the 130 to school. Then in February 1957 we moved to Kingswinford with 257, 882 or 885 to Stourbridge. At first I was upset as the 130 Birmingham route tended to have the newer buses, but I soon got to love the greater variety on the Kingswinford services. No fewer than seven garages supplied buses!

Stourbridge, the "home" garage I suppose, but only one bus allocated in the Mon-Fri daytime 9 am to 4 pm service not counting the "unadvertised", i.e. not found in the timetable services, which seemed to be a feature of Midland Red in those days. Then Wolverhampton with two buses on the Mon to Fri service and possibly more at weekends.

In the late 1950s these used to be Wolverhampton's newest D7s more often than not, but by the 1960s the allocation was downgraded to the LD8s which were the workhorses of that garage. Hartshill provided the Mon to Fri daytime service on the 257 which then terminated at Kingswinford, but the journeys continued to / from Dudley as the 260 via Pensnett. Kidderminster and Bromsgrove each provided a bus for the weekday 885 (Wolverhampton to Kidderminster every 2 hours, but much more frequent on Saturday / Sunday).

A typical Midland Red quirk saw two Cradley Heath buses on single peak am journeys on the 257. Then the 8.30 am 257 from Kingswinford to Stourbridge was the sole Dudley working and a very convenient bus to get to school on time. Usually (but not always a GD6) until about 1961 this journey actually started at Penn and always carried the number 882. However this practice stopped when Stourbridge started using a larger D9 on the 882 that ran 5 minutes later and from then 8.30 am ran as had always been shown in the timetable

My grandmother lived on Bridgnorth Rd, Wollaston, Stourbridge till she passed away in 1969, and I have fond memories of visiting her on weekends from my then home in Hereford.

As a 13/14 year old at that time and with a passion for Midland Red buses I would spend most of my time in and around Foster St bus depot. My earliest recollection was seeing the brand new D10's 4943/4 in Foster St garage on the 245/6 Dudley/Wednesbury services, this would be early 1962 possibly? Living in Hereford as a young bus spotter we had Midland Red buses operating from a garage there with an allocation of arounnd 48/50 buses, normally 19/20 double deckers 25/6 single decks and the rest made up of various coaches. The "usual" deckers there were made up of AD2's(up to 1962), D5B's, D7's, 2 LD8's (1966), D9's(the first one being 4898 in oct 1961) and finally the DD11/12 and 13 classes. Single decks were S6 S10 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 LS18 and a few of the final S21/2/3 models.

Now, back to Stourbridge. It was here I could see buses not operated in Hereford, like open platform D5's the GD6 Guy Arab's, loads of LD8's, loads of D9's and as I said, the two marvellous D10's and on the single deck scene S8's, S9's (hardly if any worked from Hereford depot).

The buses that would use the then three departure points, i.e., Foster St, Vauxhall Rd and the Town Station would be coming in/out from all over the Midland Red area. You could see vehicles operating from the following depots: SE - Stourbridge, HL - Hartshill, DY - Dudley, BE - Bromsgrove, KR - Kidderminster, WR - Worcester, CY - Cradley Heath, BD - Bearwood, WN - Wolverhampton, RH - Redditch and occasionally LW Ludlow on the 190 route.

This, to a young "Red madhead" was an absolute "dream" to see all these different types of BMMO buses in one area, ranging from dirty oily scruffy grimy buses to brand new and sparkly. Each garage seemed to use different kinds of tyres , ranging from Dunlop "Highway" to Michelin "X", its strange how I should notice these things but it did make the bus look different (believe me).

Then there was the "inquisitiveness" of wondering what was the names and places were on the destination blinds. Many a time I've been perched up on the front footstep of a D7 or D9 "winding" the top and bottom blinds on just to see the names, and also listing them in my notebook, which I still have to this day!

The years 1962 through to 1969/70 were to me very "special" and if what I've been rabbiting on about has made any sense to anyone, then I'm glad I could share it. Unfortunately, I didn't possess a camera then to capture these memories so it was very pleasing to come across this website. Keep up the good work, and please feel free to contact, to share these memories which, can never be repeated.

Thanks A.D.D.

Stourbridge is one of my favourite locations I've visited on my explorations. My usual haunt is Stand H for the 256 to Wolverhampton. The 256 is a route which holds a lot of memories, particularly going to Wordsley Hospital as a child. Kingswinford Cross was another landmark and I used to look out for the MEB multi-sided hut thing on the corner. I remember looking at the 256 timetable at Stourbridge and wondering where the Cat (pub) was at Wordsley and then spotting it on my way home. First time I came to Stourbridge was on the 248. I discovered Stourbridge Junction Station on that route and made a point of catching a train to go there as soon as I could. Arriving at the bus station I then had to find my way down to the subway to the town centre the other side of the ring road!

Later explorations of Stourbridge have taken me back to Stourbridge Junction and on the branch to Stourbridge Town. I've also 'experienced' the 257 through Gornal Wood and Stickley and the 296 up past the Corbett Hospital. I like the fact that Stourbridge Bus Station doesn't seem to change much, and I think the whole place has a bit of character and quirkiness to it.

My friend at school gave me the bus bug. One of the first things I remember about buses, was waiting on the playground at the back end of Gig Mill School on Thursday afternoons with my mate, and watch a WMPTE Leyland Fleetline, which I think must have been from Stourbridge Garage and later Hart's Hill Garage, pull up by the back school gates dropping pupils off from Greenfield School (I think) to use our swimming pool.

I can also remember, in 1984/1985, when the council was resurfacing The Broadway in Stourbridge (I think that they were supposed to have resurfaced The Broadway in Dudley if I remember correctly), and services 289 and 290 were diverted down Heath Farm Road and Glebe Lane. My mate and I were again hanging around the back gates (the teachers must have thought that we were trying to escape) every break and lunchtime, hoping that we would see the 289 and 290 go past.

After completing Stourbridge Bus Information, these memories gave me the idea of starting SBI Past after I had acquired old timetable booklets from various bus rallies that I have attended, and put them on-line to share with other people of Stourbridge and its surrounding area.

Many Thanks for creating this site - it's brought back many memories of my child hood.

My earliest memories of buses would be when I was about four or five, when my mum would take me shopping from Wordsley to Brierley Hill and Stourbridge. This would be around 1974/1975 ish, which WMPTE had taken over the Midland Red services. We would play a game guessing whether the bus would be red or cream and blue! And that game led to an interest in buses and public transport that has stayed with me till this day!

Any info on the old 282 route, which passed through Wordsley to Brierley Hill? I would presume this would be a Harts Hill route. My new found interest with buses found me gazing out of the classroom at Lawnswood School, Wordsley as a five year old at the double-deckers on this route - I think they were Alexander bodied Fleetlines. Occasionally, my mum would take me from Stourbridge to Dudley for a treat on a 245/246 - classic D9s!!

Many thanks for the memories - great site!!

I also remember the first time I saw a Mk.1 Metrobus - inside Stourbridge Garage! I think it must have been 2055 or something around that number. I was enthralled by the comfy "coach like" seats and air suspension.

Goodness knows what the year would be - 1980 perhaps??

I was also a fan of the DP Leyland Nationals - I think Stourbridge had one?

Just had a look at your site, which has taken me back a bit. 1980 was the year a couple of mates dragged me down to Stourbridge Garage as a ten year old from when I became hooked. I remember spending every Sunday at the garage musing how it was a shame that the three D12's (6129, 6111) parked at the far side of the garage were withdrawn. I always enjoyed seeing the remaining D12 (6045), until that became the fourth D12 at the side in 1981, and the remaining three S23's (5932, 5981 and 5986).

I have got a few black and white pictures of various buses in Stourbridge Bus Station from, I would say either 1980 or 1981, probably 1980 as service 295 is in evidence and 5981, which was withdrawn in January 1981. I went to my first bus rally in 1981 at Sandwell with 5981 after the Stourbridge Drivers bought it.