Midland “Red”
BMMO and MROC

Service X94: Service History

Service X94 (1946–1965)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

From the early post-war years, Service X94 was opperated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) as a Sunday-only “Fisherman” service. The service only operated during the Fishing Season, which was typically from mid-June each year until late-March the following year. During the Fishing Closed Season, Service X94 was entirely suspended.

When operated, one return journey ran from Birmingham to Shrewsbury, via Halesowen, Stourbridge, Bridgenorth, and Ironbridge. The outbound journey departed from Birmingham (Digbeth) depot at 0710 each Sunday morning, with the return journey departing Shrewsbury (Barker Street) at 1640 during the winter months (early October to late March), or 1815 during the summer months.

The service was still in operation during the mid-1960s, with the same departure times and only slight route changes to accommodate relocated stopping points in Stourbridge, Bridgnorth, and Shrewsbury. By mid-1967, this version of Service X94 was withdraw, and route number X94 was reused as a short-working variation of the Limited Stop Service X96 from September 1967.

X94

Timetable Archive

September1949Birmingham ↔ Bridgnorth ↔ Ironbridge ↔ Shrewsbury
June1950Birmingham ↔ Bridgnorth ↔ Ironbridge ↔ Shrewsbury
October1964Birmingham ↔ Bridgnorth ↔ Ironbridge ↔ Shrewsbury

Service X94 (1967–1974)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

From Saturday 12th April 1930, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) operated Service X96 as a long-distance service between Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Shrewsbury*. At just over 100-miles in length, this was one of the longest stage-carriage services operated, taking 5-hours to complete in each direction. Two or three full journeys were operated in each direction, seven days a week, with additional short-working journeys on certain parts of the route.

On Saturday 2nd September 1967, additional short-working journeys were introduced on Service X96 corridor to provide extra capacity on the busiest parts of the route, but to avoid confusion these were given different route numbers in the range X93–X95. These were…

Service X96 had previously called at all stops, but with introduction of this new group of services all ran as Limited Stop between Coventry and Wolverhampton in both directions, and were inter-worked to give an hourly frequency between Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Shifnal. On sections of the route before and after those locations, the short-working journeys resulted in timings being less regular.

* The Birmingham to Northampton section of the route first operated on 8th December 1928, as Service 196, being renumbered to Service X96 on 25th February 1929. The route was extended to Shrewsbury on 12th April 1930.

X94

Timetable Archive

July1970Coventry ↔ Birmingham ↔ Wolverhampton ↔ Wellington