Public Transport Christmas (6)

Two Very Different Shepherds

This one has TWO stations; the above being on the main line between London and Dover. 

The station name (map above, top left) is Shepherds Well, or maybe Shepherdswell depending on where you look. But maps show he village as having an alternative moniker ...

... namely Sibertswold!

It has an hourly service of stopping trains  ...

... with a signal box ...

... and a footbridge just before the line plunges into a short tunnel.

The other Shepherdswell station is a terminus of the East Kent heritage railway, seen through the trees from Station Road ...

... but looking much better in the sunshine.

Elsewhere, the shepherds do not have a well; but they DO have a bush! And it is far from easy to work out how many stations these fortunate rail-travelling shepherds have as a choice day by day.

Obvious contenders are stations on the Central Line of London's Underground and, next door but not connected physically, is the Overground station on the Mildmay line.

There's Shepherds Bush Market on the Hammersmith and City ("H&C" - plus the non-circling Circle line!). Pretty much on the same huge site are Wood Lane on the Central and White City of the H&C!

And, once upon a time, there was this Shepherds Bush ...

... which was operated by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). 

It was very close to Shepherds Bush on the H&C which was moved and renamed Shepherds Bush Market! The LSWR station and irs track bed are long gone.

North of the point at which the LSWR crossed the H&C is Goldhawk Road H&C station which might also have a claim to be part of the Shepherds Bush collection!

Astute readers may have spotted "White City Sidings" on the Central.

However astute you may be, a search on Google Maps or via Google Earth ...

... reveals no such sidings. Where have they gone?

It does reveal the former BBC Television Centre (upper left), now sold off to pay for the high quality BBC programmes, especially at Christmas. NOT.

This looks like an opportunity to delve a little deeper into the Bush after the festive frivolities.

Two Very Different Shepherds

Or maybe two ways of looking at one set of shepherds!

Is the above what they actually experienced? The trouble is that the shepherds have all bought new clothes for Christmas and the sheep have just returned from winning prizes at the Bethlehem Country Show. 

It was not like that.

And what did the "Heavenly Host" actually look like?

When God manifests himself physically on earth we can only struggle to express the super natural event in words. The Nativity remains the easiest to understand, thanks, in part, to writer Luke and the shepherds.

Maybe this is better ...

Whatever, it is no wonder the Angel told them not to be afraid!

So they left their sheep, thus risking dismissal or even the death penalty; it is clear that something very special must have happened.

So they went to the stable/cattle shed/cave to meet the Christ Child.

So momentous, so miraculous, so messianic! And so often pictured totally wrongly.

We can get rid of the Magi as they came about two years later and visited the house where the toddler Jesus was lodging.

The star can go, because it has't come yet!

Then exit the trumpeting angels who did not bring anything angelic to the actual nativity.. Nor did any angels trump in the Bible reports! The hymn writer is probably to blame for the trumpets as he wrote "Hark the herald angels sing".

Angels never appeared in any format the stable/cattle shed/cave.

And the shepherds went to Bethlehem, leaving their flocks, so no ovine visitors to Jesus!

It was simpler but certainly not pretty; largely because the shepherds, very much the lowest of the low in the society of the day, would have been very poorly dressed, smelly, unkempt and possibly kept warm by some alcoholic hooch.

No, it wasn't pretty - but it was magnificent.

You couldn't make it up! The Son of God is first to be greeted by the lowest echelon of humanity, setting a precedent for Jesus to come to the aid of hose low in status, low in self esteem and brought low m circumstance.

 THE REAL 

 CHRISTMAS 

 STARTS 

 JUST AFTER 

 MIDNIGHT 

 TONIGHT 

There will be a highly intellectual (?) Christmastime Quiz as part of tomorrow's blog.

 Next CHRIST-mas Day blog : Thurs 25 Dec 

Public Transport Christmas (5)

A Transport Stable ... ?

The town is often referred to informally as "Stabbo". It is not known when or where this colloquialism originated. The local newspaper, Nottingham Post, suggests that 'Stappo' might have been used once, and that this became 'Stabbo' over time.

Unashamedly, fbb will use this as a feeble excuse to rename the town Stableford! There are plenty of paces with Cow as the first three letters of their name ...

... but Cattle seemed absent from the annals of public transport. As did Stable, but not now fbb has slightly renamed hat town that lies on the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.  

Stableford had a railway station on the Erewash Valley line, that runs due north from Trent Junction to Chesterfield.

It had buses by Barton ...

... but today's public transport is largely in the capable hands of Trentbarton.

The i4 is the main stopping service between Nottingham and Derby ...

... offering an excellent, frequent ...

... with smart branded buses ...

... erm, most of the time!

Running north south through Stableford is the fly15, operating between Ilkeston and East Midlands airport.

A few years back the service had a spectacular launch ...

... suggesting some interesting places you might visit using the fly15!

Pity the lads couldn't get fly15 on the blind display! But again, it offpers a good frequency both locally and all the way to East Midlands Airport.

Or A Transport Inn?

There are plenty of bus stops at pubs with Inn in their name, but places with Inn within are not "in" when it comes to full transport Inn information. Fortunately, fbb found two with "new"  to review with a view to using one of the few!

Here is one ...

... but a bit out in the sticks for an fbb blog. After all, he has mangled Nasareth and Bethlehem for a second year running! But hold fast there! Isn't there a railway station called Pontypool and New inn?

There it is on the "main" line between south and north wales (map below, lower right).

But at first glance this bastion of Transport for Wales goodness doesn't look like a source of goodness for an fbb investigative blog. 

It has an entrance via a subway ...

... lavish passenger facilities ...

... on a wide island platform.

Certainly it looks like a "blasted heath" style of unstaffed halt!

But things have been happening at Pontypool and New Inn. It has a new foot bridge with lifts

But once upon a time, the station was called Pontypool Road and once upon an earlier time it looked like this!

So what happened?

That is for a later post-festive blog. But now, another Inn with a problem.

Full On At A Full Inn

The bible tells us that ... 

... "they laid the baby in a manger because there was no room at the Inn."

And that is all we get. No innkeeper, no cattle lowing, no camels, sheep, giraffes and baby ocelots. Just a manger, Mary and Joseph!

It wasn't pretty ; it was pretty grim. But then nobody could accuse the Son of God of being so remote as to misunderstand the human condition. Where was the midwife; where was the gas and air machine; where were the doctors and where was the hospital bed?

Scary!

Stable Theory Unstable!

Again, the drawings can be so farcical as to make the whole story seem farce or fantasy. Which of these pictures is an accurate representation of what the Bible tells is?

A draughty cattle shed?

En plein  air?

Packed with some very weird visitors?

And loads of unhygienic animals!

Or maybe just mum and dad and the child?

In the cave?

The cave?

The most likely location for the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour, the Crucified and Risen Lord, was one of the caves that are still used for livestock at Bethlehem.

The caves were (and still are) not far from The Shepherds' Field.

That makes sense ...

  Next Public Transport Christmas blog : Weds 24 Dec