Delayed Variety 1

Hapless Hydrogen Hiatus

Answer from fbb! It isn't "green"; it isn't available; it doesn’t work so well and it IS very expensive!  Apart from that it is a spiffingly good idea!

And in the UK?

And in Liverpool?

Enthusiasm for the fuel of the future has failed!

Alstom About to Abandon?

So It's Electric, Then?

And Going Well in Scotland?

The "milestone" is that they have actually started building them!

In Scotland?

Of course NOT!

Erm, Fiona! Yes, you! 

How late is the new big Calmac Ferry, built in Scotland, now running?

Nnew CalMac ferries are delayed again, with the MV Glen Rosa (built in Scotland) facing up to a six-month further setback for corrosion fixes, potentially arriving April-June 2026, while the first Turkish-built ferry, MV Isle of Islay, has also faced repeated delays due to supply issues and labour shortages, with its delivery pushed back from late 2024 to possibly late 2025 (note "possibly"). These delays are impacting lifeline services, causing frustration for islanders and criticism of the Scottish government. 

But Not in Plymouth!

Yep! That's about right!

And, Talking Of Ferries!

Debts down?

Passengers down; turnover down; number of crossings down and, Tada!, debts down for £195 million to only £32.4 million!

And some company has just bought Red Funnel!

WHY?

Back to Sanity

fbb has a modelling project in progress, just started as a mini relaxation before Christmas and due to continue after the fbbs' Fellowship meetings this coming weekend.

One of them is using this:-

Metcalfe is the brand leader for card models and they are, frankly, exquisite and excellent value. But they do not sit well with fbb's all plastic buildings many of which have come on from the cold of the back yard railway to be toasty warm in the attic room. There us more texture (i.e. brick, stone, timber planking) on plastic. Metcalf walls, roof etc are just flat print.

Readers who remember (readers who probably don't care?) will recognise Peterville Castle.

It has been moved from its dominant position atop the Peterville Tunnel and is due to form a small cameo at the far end of the layout, beyond the recently installed9 loco shed and carriage works. But somehow whitewashed walls did not fit with the stonework of the castle.

So what should fbb do?

Jackpot idea!

One wall (the rear wall) of the minuscule cottage was all stone with no windows and doors. It was also grey stone.

Ergo - photocopy the plain stone wall and plonk it on the whitewashed bit, cutting holes for door and windows.

The doors and windows are another layer of card which fits exactly behind the walls.

More exciting news when it happens. There is also a free "lock up" chip shop to repurpose as a souvenir emporium for castle visitors.

Livery Delivery

Goodbye Motorway Maintenance

As part of a complex corporate juggling exercise, Stagecoach withdrew from its share of Scottish Citylink and, at the same time, handed over its prestigious express route from Plymouth to Bristol to the Scottish operator. This was when Stagecoach was bidding for National Express, a deal which never happened.

Under one of the daftest livery policies, The Falcom acquired the awful yellow ...

... replacing the distinguished and quality original.

Now we have an all-over mix of various blues and no mention of Stagecoach,

And they have kept the "Falcon" logo!

So What's This?

It looks like a good old faithful National Bus company DP motor in "local coach" floppy red and white, complete with "N" logos.

But surely the bus is much, much later than the NBC era?

More tomorrow?

Oh Yes It Is : Oh No It Isn't

West Yorkshire PTE (boss ex Corrie actress Tracy Brabin) ...

... has had several goes at rapid transit. First trams, then trolleybuses along the Leeds Road! And lately back to trams, this time to Bradford. Actually the first two were begat before she stepped easily from acting to acting as Mayor.

But HM Government does not like it!

Presumably H M Government needs to like it as Trace will be taking the collecting box to Downing Street for the pennies to build it!

Not so fast, Tracy; this is "politics" and it takes time, lots of tedious frustrating time. Get real!

More variety tomorrow!

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 W ords of  W isdom

Quirky Answer : According to the Bible, the Tongue.

Explanation, please!

Did you know that Divinely begatted Jesus had humanly begatted brothers and sisters. Mark and Matthew (Gospel writers) both refer to them. Jesus is back in Nazareth and the people are very uneasy about him. They do not understand how this country bumpkin can teach and preach. Additionally they don't think he has any right to do the job of the professional Rabbi.

Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? 

Isn't he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters living here?”

And so they rejected him.

One of the brothers (James) became a leader of the early Christians; and he wrote one of the most practical letters of them all. One of the8 things he warned people about was the dangers of misuse of their tongues.

This is part of what he wrote.

Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame!  And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being.  We humans are able to tame and have tamed all other creatures but no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My friends, this should not happen!

He is right, you know! 

And he insists we need God's help to control the little beastie.

He is right, you know!

Just a small example of the Words of Wisdom available to us in God's Book. There are plenty more where that came from.

Quirky Question : In which book of the Bible will you find ALL these people? And what links them together (apart from being in that book)!

Abel 

Enoch 

Noah

Abraham 

Isaac

Jacob

Joseph

Moses

Joshua

Rahab 

Gideon

Barak

Samson

Jephthah

David

Samuel

Answer tomorrow!

A biblical clue : what does a male tea leaf do in the pot?

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  Next Variety blog : Weds 31st Dec 

Christmas Re-Cap : Victoria (3)

Old Maps For The Old Man

There are plenty of maps on-line showing the position of Victoria station in the Nottingham city centre road plan, but nearly all show the station firmly in place. Even this oldest version has a rudimentary station building and line of track shown reasonably correctly but perhaps lacking 100% accuracy.

So let's begin with a traditional one inch OS map, before the covers went pink and the maps went metric.

The dotted green line is the west-to-east footbridge.  At the north end we see a solid line crossing the black blob north of the red station box. This is a public road that ran high above the canopies. The blue dots show a through road that was lost when the station was built.

Here is the west-to-east road bridge standing in splendid isolation after everything else has been demolished.

That road no longer exists!

We can see something of that road pattern on today's Open Street Map.

The roads upper left have become the Victoria bus station ...

... but can we plot these roads on a map that was drawn before Victoria station arrived?

Of course we can!

The shape is still there but the contents of the grid are unrecognisable. Huge amounts of property had to be acquired and demolished. Huge amounts of sandstone rock with its layers of topsoil had to be excavated.

It was a massive job!

And there is nothing left. The very voracious maw of the Victoria Centre has swallowed up all signs of the station, apart from its iconic tower.

Or has it?

Using Google Earth we have this aerial view at the northern edge of the former station site.

Upper left is the bus station and lower right is the access to the multi-storey car park. Here a smear of green remains; which can be accessed by those in the know.

We can then see the former north tunnel mouth ...

... and here is the tunnel exit for real.

Looking towards the car park, we see parts of the massive retaining walls needed to hold back rock and property to allow the railway to fit in.

And there is more to the right (to the west) of the multi-storey.

This does show the huge amount of engineering (and doubles the huge cost!) needed to create a viable station - and all for less than 70 years of service to the travelling public of Nottingham.

A small group of you-tubers has accessed the northern tunnel, whether officially or nay is not known by fbb.

The natural sandstone walls are perhaps a little over-enhanced by the lighting and the camera's response, but the tunnel is in very good condition. The ambience is improved by ...

... shopping trolleys!

The video's commentator offers no explanation as to how and why, or even when, they got there!

There are small refuges in which to strand clear of passing trains.

In the length of the tunnel are three bigger refuges ...

... once offering seating and the opportunity for a brew and a wedge. This would have been quite luxurious if you could ignore the deafening roar of passing trains!

Travelling  north from Victoria there were two consecutive tunnels with a gap in between. That gap was filled with Carrington Station.

The station is shown on this old map.

The road junction has gained a roundabout but the station site is unrecognisable obliterated by a small office park. Presumably the YouTube invaders found an access there?

So ends fbb's lengthy but fascinating expose of the long-lost Great Central Railway in Nottingham. There is more to the city than Robin Hood ...

... and cricket ...

... and it's railways are far more interesting than both!

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 V arious  V ictories

Quirky Answer : They are all called Victor.

Victor Meldrew - One Foot in the Grave character

Victor Spinetti - actor

Victor Hugo - French writer

Victor Sylvester - dance band leader

    he of "slow, slow, quick, quick, slow" fame

The imagery of life as a battle is still quite common, but the imagery of that battle as being of "Godly good" against a "devil" can often be sidelined by the "Jesus is Lovely" approach of some modern church life.

Medieval wall artists were only too keen to portray a "devil" as a being to be feared.

Today's media prefers a lovable cartoon devil ...

... which is strange; as the majority view of the same media is that the world is increasingly a dark and dangerous place where anyone and everyone is "out to get you".

If God is the embodiment of good, love and support, surely the idea of a personified purveyor of the bad, destructive and nasty is a good way of coming to terms with the dangers of disobedience? It can encourage us NOT to be "tempted" or at least not to succumb to temptations"?

So these New Testament writers are offering sound advice, Godly advice on "Various Victories".

And maybe with some armour?

But please prefer the English spelling of 'armor'! Noah Webster's fervor and ardor for spelling reform has a lot to answer for.

Or a bit of good old-fashioned moral support.

Of course, we need God to be "for us" for that to work.

Now there's a new year's resolution to try!

Quirky Question : What is the most dangerous part of the body?

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  Next Variety blog : Tues 30th Dec