Saturday Variety

Edinburgh Extension Expectations 

Because of its Forth of Firth waterfront, Edinburgh had numerous suburban rilways for freight and passenger, particularly leading to harbours at Leith and Granton. 

The South Suburban line, shown here in two bits; west ...

... and east ...

... once carried a respectable circular passenger service.

It was also used for freight ...

... and is still a freight line also used for passengr train diversions when access to Edinburgh Waverley is blocked by engineering work at one end.

For many a long year, there has been talk of a re-opening for passengers - but nothing practical has, so far, materialised.

The latest scheme is to operate tram trains, possibly using existing tram tracks via Princes Street to avoid complications at Waverly itself.

It is not at all cear how likely this might be, but it seems, from an outsiders point of view, to offer som merit.

Mind, if it takes as long at the current Edinburgh tram line to get going, best not hold any breath!

More From LA  : Another Bus Operator

No 1 and No 3 sons have had a California holiday and provided fbb (and Mrs fbb) with a huge number of snapshots. Sadly, very few of them are of buses and trains. But a few snippetrs do appear; like the bus shelter aboveeand its associated pole and flag.

Exciting eh?

Culver City is yet another of the dozens of "cities" that make up greater Los Angels. Many of these authirties have their own bus netwoks which often overlap with the big LA Metro operation. Culver City ...

...with a green livery ...

... and buses carryimg bikes like the Metro. (Remember? "Metro" is the name of the ooperator that runs buses and a metro rail network.) The undertaking only runs a few routes ...

... bit still has a noticeable fleet. Vehicles are often fully wrapped in the evil Contravisiom ...

... with at last one such promoting the impeding delivety of elelctric vehicles.

The above is therefore a green green bus! Maybe American bus pasengers simply never look out of the windows?

Like many other oprations, the standard bus was one known as the "new look" style ...

... represemting what is recogniseable and almost the standard single decker in the USA. Ubiquitous is a very appropriate word!

The publicity is in the form of a very minimalist PDF leaflet which ought to mean that it is available in printed fom. Sadly slacker sons were  intent on enjoying themselves; and failed to spend a day seeking out sources of bus timetable information,  What did they think they were on - a holiday?

Each leaflet has a route diagram ...

... a list of stops ...

... and a timetable summary. A full timetable is also available, necessary as "repeat pattern" frequencies are rare.

The horizontal journey format seems as common "stateside" as does the vertical table layout in the UK.

I Don't Believe It?

This was a notable catch phrase of Victor Meldrew, brilliantly portrayed in all his grumpiness by actor Richard Wilson.

fbb has learned to "treat with suspicion" any public transport infromation provided by drivers on coach tours. Tracey, from Lochs and Glens, was enteraining, cheerful and informative. But she didn't know about longer trains due on the West Highland line.

Neither did she know the whole truth about Ancasater Road bridge at Callander. Stupidly, fbb failed to take a picture of the current state of the road crossing south of the former station.

Tracey infromed her passenger that the tunnel had recently been filled in. The area below the iron parapet has centrainly been infilled. The results of the infill are shown using fbb's AI software, namely his Appalling Illustration.

But, as fbb listened to Tracey's blether, he wondered whether any tunnels had a parapet made of cast iron.

Here is a Streetview view of Ancaster Road ...

... and it must have been a very short tunnel!

Of course; it's a bridge, innir!

Here is the bridge in railway days, looking towards the station, which is now a car and coach park. The track has been removed and demolition of the buildings will soon follow.

But here is the bridge before infill, but after tasteful repainting.

Nice job, council people!

The moral of this tale is - beware tour guides who don't usually understand public transport.

fbb is planning a blog about railways via Callander and to Aberfoyle in due course. Sadly there is not much left of either.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 23 March 

Friday Variety

Yesterday, the fbbs travelled from Ardgartan (depart - 0730) to Searon (arrive 2000) at which point enthusiasm for blog writing had dissipated! A pre-posted "variety" is the best the old bloke can manage. A Scotish snippet or two may have been added.

Hydrogen Bombs Again

The above fine and splendid personages are just launching some new buses in Mulheim, Germany. The operator is a consortium called Ruhrbahn which seems to have a very well kept fleet in fetching yellow ...

... including some rather nifty minibuses.

But the new buses are  Unterwegs mit Wasserstoff , as displayed modestly above the personalities above.

Readers may be able to deal with "Unterwegs" as "Underway" but "Wasserstoff" was initially perplexing; however, it does literally mean "Water Stuff". And our astute reastiers will have guessed that Wasserstoff is Hydrogen.

But all is not well with Mulheim's Water Stuff.

The article explains ...

The latest hydrogen bus setback in Germany is no surprise. Essen and Mülheim are now stuck with 19 hydrogen buses that need to travel up to 89 km round trip just to refuel after the state of North Rhine–Westphalia withdrew its subsidy for further fleet conversion. The financial burden has left the cities scrambling for alternatives, but the real question is: why did anyone expect this to work in the first place?

This is just the latest in a string of failures for hydrogen buses. Wiesbaden scrapped its hydrogen bus program and pivoted to battery-electric buses instead. London’s hydrogen double-deckers proved too expensive to run, with Transport for London (TfL) acknowledging that the cost per mile was nearly double that of diesel buses, even with subsidies. 

A 2023 report from TfL revealed that the total operating cost of hydrogen buses was around £1.50 per mile, compared to £0.80 for diesel and £0.65 for battery-electric buses. The high costs, combined with refueling challenges and supply chain issues, led TfL to shift its focus toward battery-electric alternatives.

We're Short Of Money - says Chancellor

Really? £700 milion?

£200 million for the North East's mega mayor?

£200 million for new Cambridge South Station.

 

£140 million for a station "refresh"...

which makes £13,000 seem small change.

Truiy, in the broad scheme of things, it is small change, but not the best PR to leak out at the time of a fares increase. Note also that the lads and lasses of the fourth estate could not be bothered to find a picture of the correctly "wrapped" bus.

fbb will oblige.

It still looks brown and not red to fbb!

AI : Creates Atrocious Illustrations

It does admit to a "created" picture which appears to show a large vessel powered by so many batteries that there is no room for cargo.

Prophetic, Eh?

AI : Atrocious Illustration in Chesterfield

The building looks like Chesterfield's Stagecoach depot, once Chesterfield Corporation bus shed. Indeed the east side has a large parking area facing the main road, the old A61.

Now, are you really telling us, an Awful Implication, that Stagecoach have lined up twelve identical single deckers, nose to tail, to illustrate the wonders of electric buses and their charge points?

Presumably they are all going off depot in that precise order. But the left hand four are not next to chargers anyway.

Another Day, Another Livery

Once it was the 747 and 757 ...

Then it became just the 500.

They used to look like this:-

Smart single deckers rode the road between Glasgow city centre and it's airport.

Then in 2018 there was an upgrade, a re-launch and a new livery - all at once.

Distinctive stand-out paint job with ab obvious plane-a-zoomng.

But what did your eagle eyed octogenarian spot as awaited his Lochs and Glens Volvo in North Hanover Street?

You guessed it! A brand new brand for the 500.

Not bright, not distinctive and with a barely visible plane. Well done brand consultants.

The 500 picks up at various city centre stops ..

... Notably Buchanan bus Station and on -street stops for Queen Street and Central railway stations. Daytime frequency Mon to Sat is every 10 mins ...

... every 12 on Sunday.

fbb spotted several 500s at North Hanover Street (stop for Queen Street station). An occasional couple boarded or alighted leaving single figure loads in and out.

Maybe it was not a good time for flights, but First certainly did not cover it's costs on the trips fbb observed.

Maybe the crowds boarded at Central?

Hmmm?

Never mind, eh? The new 500 livery will soon be abandoned and replaced with First's richly memorable new look.

Hmmm?

Hydrogen A P.S. ...

... to an earlier blog.

So it was contaminated hydrogen? Contaminated with what?

Borscht?

 Next Variety blog : Sat 22 Mar 

Integrate? Nae Yet Mate!

 Going Round In Circles

In public transport, there are very few true "circular" services, by which we mean that the vehicles keep going round and round. There may be a short break at least once but there is no terminus. London's   CIRCLE   line used to be one, but it is no more. It does not circle.

It starts at Edgware Road, then does run right round the circle to Edgware Road, continuing to Hammersmith. It is therefore NOT a true circle because, for example, you could not board at Westminster and travel all the way round to Westminster - you would have to change at Edgware Road.

But Glasgow's Subway, renamed Underground and re-renamed Subway, does circle, it can do no other. It opened in December 1896 and was rope worked. Here is the mechanism that hauled the ropes.

A typical rope hauled train is being cleaned for service ...

... and similar as presented in the old museum.

The black and white picture car looks far too long for Glasgow. But it must be right - Wikipedia says so!

But the planners of the circle did not seem keen to provide for interchange with Glasgow's Railway Stations. Buchanan was close, as was Queen Street; Central was not too far away. Even St Enoch which was next door to a like-named Subway station, had no physical link.

A geographcal map does not really provide any extra information, the circles are so simple.

Buchanan Street was just a rebuilt shop front on Buchanan Street ...

... whilst St Enoch was right outside the long-since closed railway station of the same name.

The palatial building was the HQ of the system and appropriately grand. Electrification came in 1935, but the stock remained the same with electric power and electric doors replacing the iron gates. A red livery was adopted.

This was the Subway as explored by fbb as he was a-courting the future Mrs fbb in the early 1970s.

The system remained little changed until the mid 1970s when a complete closure was decided upon. Stations were either rebuilt or at least cleaned and repainted; new stock was provided for reopening and under the PTE the nickname became the Electric Orange.

The 1977 trains are now gone with one car a museum piece at The Riverside!

The recent development has included further upgrades to several stations and brand new trains.

So when Lochs and Glens deposited the fbbs in Central Glasgow, fbb negotiated an extension to his Queen Street station exploration - to ride on the new trains.

He travelled one whole stop from Buchanan Street to St Enoch and back at a fairly pricey £3.50. The Subway has a flat fare system.

Some time ago a proper pedestrian link was created between Queen Street big-train station and Buchanan Street Subway.

Now we have a "travolator" moving walkway!

The Buchanan Street entrance is now much more welcoming, quite impressive, indeed.

The subterranean ticketing area is bright, cheery and spacious. And the ticketing system is fully electronic with barriers ...

... with tap-on ticket checking.

And there is the Puzzle Picture.

St Enoch became firstly an enquiry office, one of the best on The UK; then a coffee shop. Access to the trains was via external escalators ...

... later enhanced with a posh lid!

Very impressive. At St Enoch there is lift ...

... or escalator ...

... down to platform level, depending which side you wish to access. At Buchanan you have escalators down to a mezzanine floor but the last descent is a stairway.

The trains are still small - obviously ...

... but four car instead of their predecessors' orange three.

It is a far cry from the gloom, the noise and the smell of the "good old days".

  Next Variety blog : Fri 21 Mar