To be journalistically even handed, fbb should also report that Stagecoach also stepped up to the bus stop in a very prompt and snappy manner to run services 703 and 60 in Coventry. Both services have an affinity with the huge hospital complex at Walsgrave.
The 703 (LIGHT BROWN) has one of its termini there, then wiggles round various suburbs ...
... before finishing its somewhat erratic trajectory at ...
... Arena Park Tesco where there is a large bus station.
The "arena" is, of course, the Ricoh Arena and close by the Arena Station on the line to Nuneaton.
It is also home to the burgeoning network rail Ramps'n'Railings Extravaganza, rapidly achieving the same kudos as Hampton court Maze.
As the station built to serve the Arena, it made headlined as, when matches were being played, the station was closed. fbb is not sure whether that ticklish little problem has yet been resolved!
As the station built to serve the Arena, it made headlined as, when matches were being played, the station was closed. fbb is not sure whether that ticklish little problem has yet been resolved!
The 703 runs hourly and looks very much like a typical shoppers service.
A while back the planners decided to glue together various bits of the Travel Coventry network and create a huge "outer circle". Well, nearby Brum has had one for ages, so Coventry wanted to do the same. There is a map, but it is too vast to show on a small blog template ...
... but it will expand if you click on it. As well as the hospital and the Arena ...
... it serves two more Tescos and the delightful Tile Hill Station.
This was once something of a joke amongst the railway station appreciation fraternity ...
This was once something of a joke amongst the railway station appreciation fraternity ...
... but now has a proper train service.
The utterly annoying Tile Hill crossing ...
... has been replaced by a bridge, thus removing one of the much respected horrors of trying to get across the main line between Coventry and Birmingham.
These traffic engineer johnnies take away all the fun!
The 7Ps Award Contender ...
This blog item is postponed until tomorrow's posting.
Who Could Forget Gerald Campion?
He played Billy Bunter, the fat owl of The Remove, for 52 episodes of the grand old black and white TV series between 1952 and 1961.
The stories often involved potty schemes as Bunter tried to cadge extra "tuck" from his "fellows", often on the promise that he was expecting a postal order from one of a plethora of aunts and uncles.
As far as fbb can remember, the oft promised postal order never arrived. For our younger readers, the Postal Order ...
... was a means of sending finance to a recipient who had no bank account - which was certainly the vast majority of young people a generation or two ago. The perpetual non-appearance of the vital funding document was central to so many of author Frank Richards' tales.
So yesterday comes the report that Crossrail (the engineering Postal Order trainset eagerly anticipated, Bunter-style by the people of London) is yet further delayed.
Crossrail was due to open in December 2018 ...
... and as late as August 2018 the world was told that the project would be delivered on time and on budget.
But then ...
But then ...
The several lots of extra money, apparently, have all be swallowed up and a new announcement has just been made.
Guess what? Crossrail itself is in need of a Postal Order yet again!
A "London" blogger summarises the progress of the central tunnel section of the line between Liverpool Street and Paddington.
In July 2018, bright-eyed and full of hope, we brought you the news of the Crossrail’s official opening date, slated for December 2018.
Yet a month later, the opening was announced to be delayed by about nine months.
Then, two days after the original opening date, we told you that it wasn’t looking likely until at least 2020.
In April 2019, the news was that it might be delayed until 2021.
Then, in November 2019, news came that it had definitely been delayed until 2021 – and what’s more, the project was set to run as much as £650 million over budget.
Now, with a pandemic between us and that latest development, news has arrived that Crossrail now won’t be finished until 2022, and will require an extra £1.1 billion to complete.
Will fbb live long enough to enjoy his planned trip to London to ride Crossrail?
He hopes so!
Tri-Mode Is Uno Super New-O
A few days back, fbb mentioned that GWR (First Rail) was obtaining some trains which would work on third rail, overhead wires and away from the electric juice supply by using an internal diesel engine to generate some volts and amps.
GWR has posted a short video to celebrate the arrival of the first such train - and yes, they are Thameslink cast-offs but have been well up-fettled.
Another step forward for decarbonisation of the trains.
But not, of course, decarbonisation at the power station!
More stuff tomorrow including the delayed 7Ps Award contender.
Next Variety blog : Sunday 30th August
Apologies for the late response, but in fact Stagecoach won the 60 and 703 on tender. De Courcey had decided to drop them a little while before its demise.
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