From A Wood To An Empress (2)

Southampton Corporation's Portswood Depot began with horse drawn vehicles ...

... was then electrified ...

... before housing a substantial chunk of the omnibus fleet.

There was also a depot at Shirley.

By the time privatised Southampton Citybus ...

... was sold to First ...

... only Portswood remained. Very soon, the depot filled up with barbie buses and Southampton City's individuality was no more. 

In more recent times, something of the City's former transport glory has returned with adoption of the "City Red" brand for its local routes.

Even the original "the Three" has now morphed into a City Red 3.

Back at the Portswood nerve centre, First Bus management decided that the depot was too big, too scrappy, too inefficient and, more to the point, ripe for development.

So it was that First moved out over the bank holiday weekend exactly ten years ago.

Everything was moved over that weekend, buses, engineering equipment and office stuff. It was taken down St Denys Road ...

... and right at the second set of lights on to Thomas Lewis Way.

Past the footbridge to St Denys Station ...

... and left at the next lights.

A quick wiggle and you are Empress road; and there on the left is the shiny new depot.

Next we see a yummy cake!

This is in celebration of the first ten years at Empress Road and with it came a special edition of the First Bus Hampshire staff newsletter.

We will enjoy this publication as part of tomorrow's blog.

Buses Of Somerset - A P.S.

Correspondent Peter (from Yeovil) was justifiably enthusiastic about the July 2020 leaflet, available at his home town's bus station. fbb was slightly less ebullient, being concerned that this expurgated version of the normal timetable book might soon become the norm.

As it turns out that won't be happening yet-a-while.

Sadly, from yesterday, parts of this lovely leaflet became out-of-date.

Correspondent David, who dwells in Minehead, reports that his local route 28 ...

... shown as hourly on the "reduced" leaflet was improved from 1st September.

A half hourly service operates from 0925 to 1325. David assumes that the lack of improvement at other times is because anything that can be spared is carrying non-socially distanced school kiddies back with boundless enthusiasm to their classes.

David does not know, and fbb has not had the time to audit the changes, how many other services in the July leaflet have changed.

In this case, the change is obviously extra to the existing timetable, so, in that sense and for the 28, the leaflet is still valid - incomplete rather than incorrect!

Will we ever see an end to the environment of change after change after change?

Painting Projects At Peterville.

fbb has never been very good at painting his models. In his teenage years he was slapdash and unconcerned. The models (Airfix kits at two shilling a piece) were the wonder; what they looked like was less important!

In his old age, and sixty years later, the concern for good results is powerful, but the skill is less than ideal. A combination of a very shaky left hand and a lack of practice in the intervening half century plus, make the results less than perfect.

But the water tower is beginning to look like a poor quality model of a water tower rather than an assemblage of plastic.

And the Hornby Dublo buffers are looking just a bit less like their as-sold counterparts. With a few weeds and a bit of "rust", they will do - and, of course, they won't blow away.

Please Note

Blogging may be reduced in scope for the next week

or so, as further work on GoTimetable updates is

under way to improve the presentation, now that

services are returning to something like normality.

 Next Wood to Empress blog : Weds 2nd September