Autumn has arrived

Well we're into October, and looking out of the office window on a dreary drizzly morning it appears that autumn has well and truly arrived. With the weather on a downward spiral towards winter, you can never be too sure about getting out and about exploring. I do however have some good news to report on the outing front - last Friday provided some fine autumn sunshine, and I made the most of it by venturing across Walsall way to explore some bus routes due to be affected by forthcoming service changes. Here are the highlights...

• The trip started off with a ride on the 376 out to Old Oscott - a nice little journey up through Barr Beacon, Pheasey and Kingstanding. The route is due to be withdrawn soon and will hopefully be replaced with a similar service providing connections between Walsall and Kingstanding.


• Old Oscott - Winson Green apart, its been a while since I've been out and about getting local photos in Birmingham. To put that right, I got a couple of shots of the Kingfisher and Drakes Drum pubs whilst hovering for more 376s to photograph.


• Tame Valley Canal - my first look at this particular canal came with a walk up Perry Barr Locks and out towards Hamstead. The locks were a nice feature, particularly the traditional cottage overlooking Top Lock, and provided the opportunity for some autumnal views.


• Scott Arms - a busy interchange on a Friday afternoon, I took my life in my hands when braving the Walsall Road trying to get photos of the 28 and 406H.


• 655 - another service set for the axe, the route links Scott Arms and Aldridge via Pheasey Park Farm and Barr Beacon. The bus was virtually deserted, but did provide a couple of useful photos up by the Elms at Aldridge.


• Arboretum - the afternoon began nicely with a visit to Walsall Arboretum as preparations for the forthcoming Illuminations gathered pace. I thoroughly enjoyed a quiet stroll through the park, admiring zones featuring Spongebob Squarepants, Bubblegum characters and various robots and dinosaurs.


• Pelsall Wood - a trip on a packed 348A up through High Heath and Pelsall, followed by photos of the bus at Trevor Road (very much my kind of terminus). I then did a loop of Pelsall Junction, looking at the canals and taking photos of Pelsall Works Bridge.


• 363 - the final route on the day's hitlist, the 363 links Bloxwich and White Horse Road in Brownhills. The journey became something of an ordeal as the bus came under siege from a rabble of schoolkids, but it did provide a look at the top end of Brownhills, as well as Mallory Crescent in Little Bloxwich.

All in all, it was a very useful outing, keeping the photos ticking over and investigating bus routes before they disappear. The arboretum visit was one of the exploration highlights of the year - I felt like a kid again wandering around admiring the displays - whilst taking photos of the 348A at Pelsall Wood ranks not too far behind. Hopefully there will be more trips to come with which to capture the seasonal variations of the West Midlands in autumntime.

Latest News from WME

It's been a busy last week or so, with a good Black Country outing followed by a selection of site updates keeping me occupied...

The outing took place on 7th September and saw me heading out around Smethwick before spending the afternoon in Cradley Heath and Old Hill. I had a look at Smethwick Canal Junction, visited the Black Patch, got a few Metro photos at Winson Green then caught the Outer Circle to Perry Barr. Next up was the 123, providing a seemingly never-ending ride through Lozells, Handsworth, Cape Hill, Bearwood, Bristnall Fields and Blackheath before dropping me off at Cradley Heath Station. The trip was finished off with a look at the Timbertree estate, a walk through Haden Hill Park, and a glimpse of the Dudley No. 2 Canal at Gosty Hill before a session at Old Hill Station and my connections back to Stourbridge and Wolverhampton. Nice weather, a healthy batch of photos and some fun memories - can't really ask for more.

Looking at the site updates, and there have been some useful developments on the WME galleries.

• WME Birmingham: At long last, the Midland Metro makes an appearance on my Brum gallery. Two shots at Winson Green kickstart the collection, the second of which is actually a brand new photo, making it quite precious as one of the very few 2007 pictures to be found on WME. I've also added a couple more bridge shots to Exploring Woodgate Valley.
  
• WME Sandwell: Another important new collection here, as the Old Birmingham Main Line makes an appearance with photos of Brasshouse Lane Bridge and Randalls Bridge. I need to develop the canal content of WME Sandwell and this is a big step in the right direction.
  
• Exploration Extra: My recent work on the WME archive has focused on June 2006, including releasing photos from my holiday in Dawlish. Some of these have been added to the Devon collection on EE; I'm particularly pleased with the 157 at Exmouth and the shots at Newton Abbot Station, whilst Paignton is also added to the locations mix.
  
• WME Wolverhampton: Some useful local additions here include two views of Heath Town Memorial and a second view of the King Charles pub in Northwood Park. The star of the show must be a look at the gardens of Bantock House, one of my favourite photos and it can now be found in Exploring Bradmore.
  
• Two lesser galleries have had their rail quota topped up. WME Warwickshire gains a couple of views of the station frontage at Stratford-upon-Avon, whilst WME Shropshire gets two views of Platform 1 at Ludlow.

That completes this little summary, I've enjoyed having plenty to do on the site and is good to see a few things coming together. I'm hoping to get maybe one more outing in for September, and maybe a few more site additions too. If anything happens, I'll let you know right here on WME Blogspot.

The Potteries Connection

An intriguing development on WME Staffordshire this morning has seen the introduction of my first photos from the Potteries area. Much of my work on the gallery so far has been concentrated on South Staffordshire, the towns and villages near Wolverhampton and Walsall, with the result that large swathes of the county have not been represented - I think the furthest north I got was Lichfield and Stafford, which was less than ideal.

Thanks to my Rail Rover adventures in March 2006, I did have a bit of a snoop up around Stoke-on-Trent and I am now able to introduce some of those photos. To get things off and running, I've added a collection on Longport Station - hardly my favourite station in the world, to be honest it's an utter dump, but it is a useful marker for an area I want to explore more of.

I am always on the lookout for ideas for developing the galleries, so if there's a place or an area you think needs to be included, feel free to drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Just plodding along...

Has it really been almost a month since my last post here on WME Blogspot? Time really has flown, so here's a brief update on what's been happening.

There has been a steady flow of small but useful updates across the WME galleries - nothing too exciting, just the odd photo or a new collection here and there. A quick summary...

• WME Wolverhampton: A new collection looking at the Bradley Canal Arm.
• WME Walsall: A photo of the 16 Green Bus at Bloxwich, and one of Deers Leap terminus in Pheasey.
• WME Birmingham: Two nice bus shots - the 67 outside Aston Station, and the 86 at Morrisons in Rubery.
• WME Dudley: Just added today, a new collection looking at the Northway estate near Sedgley.
• WME Sandwell: Bescot Stadium Station makes an appearance, as does the 402 at Tipton Central Avenue.
• WME Staffordshire: Two more locations added to the Staffs & Worcs mix - Marsh Lock and Botterham Lock.
• WME Worcestershire: A rare bus addition in the form of the 44 at Worcester Bus Station.

Useful updates then, and hopefully there'll be more to come - there's been a steady stream of test photos arriving on WME1, some of which look particularly intriguing. Despite the recent additions, some of my galleries are still giving cause for concern - WME Solihull hasn't been updated for months, whilst WME Telford has suffered from a chronic shortage of supply photos now I've exhausted the ones I took in August 2004.

Tripwise, things have trundled along nicely aswell. I enjoyed a nice walk around Northway, Gornal and Himley a couple of weeks back, and I've been chipping away at the local Wolverhampton photos with some morning sessions up by St Peter's Church and a lunchtime walk to Graiseley. I also had the bonus of a walk around Underhill last Saturday, taking photos of the 511 including Travel A2Z working on the route. I'm hoping to do a couple more trips this month if the weather allows it, including a possible outing with Mr Chance.

Well now you're up to date with the latest happenings at WME Towers - I hope you get chance to look at the latest additions, and keep an eye out for the next batch of updates, they should be coming your way very soon...