Sunday Variety

 CHURCH LINK

SERVICE STARTS AT 1030

Today's service is live and ON-LINE
back in the Church.

 Click on this link (here),

which will take you to the YouTube page.

Then click on the icon for today's date.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o 

Coastliner Changes

fbb is indebted to correspondent Colin for digging out the new much improved timetable for Transdev Coastliner's remarkable half hourly service all the way from Leeds to Scarborough. In recent years many of the traditional long distance services have been split or significantly modified so it is truly revolutionary to run every 30 minutes with a three hour end to end journey time.

The Whitby spur of the Coastliner network has also changed. There are more buses all the way to Whitby, BUT ...

... most journeys now shuttle (if you can call a 95 minutes journey a "shuttle"?) from Malton with the occasional 840 from York. The route is indeed magnificent, but fbb does wonder whether the lack of through trips from York may deprive the service of some of its tourist traffic.

But there are undoubtedly significant extra resources being used here and, following the dreaded virus slow-down, this must be considered a "courageous" development.

A Scary Headline?

Panic not, rail enthusiasts; Bedminster does not become Bristol South Parkway. It's engineering work, innit?

Apparently the EAST end of Bristol Temple Meads will be dug up so nothing can get through. In the initial reports, fbb cannot glean why this means nothing can creep surreptitiously into the WEST of Temple Meads. 

Long distance GWR trains to London mostly turn tight north of Taunton but it will be interesting to see what CrossCountry trains will do.

Bedminster is not the most salubrious of stations. Direction signs are not very encouraging ...

... and these lead to the only highly uninviting entrance via creepy subway.

The station is unstaffed and replete with welcoming facilities, namely an enquiry point or two and a couple of bus shelters.

It once had four platforms, but only three are now in use. The other problem with using it as a temporary terminus for Temple Meads is that the platforms have long since been shortened for local DMU services only. This has been achieved by the simple process of allowing long bits of ex platform to fall into decay.

You can see the fenced-off dead bits in the distance in the above shot and helpfully enlarged below by fbb.

So, currently, the lads from Notwork rail are busy bringing the closed off bits up to an acceptable standard for the used of those inconvenient creatures, namely the passengers.

Windmill Hill is closed to traffic leading TO the luxurious station entrance ...

... and all the roads on the far side of that bridge are very thin and one-way. Presumably the buses will lurk on Whitehouse Lane (see map below).

It sure will be fun, fun, fun all the way for those travelling via Bristol when this lot kicks off.

The Wheel On The Bus Came Off!

Sheffield chum David has updated fbb on the Thandi Flixbus "problem".

What Is It?

It is a First Kernow double decker, obviously!

But Kerdroya?

Does the small print help?

Erm, no!

But, as ever, the sainted interwebnet helps out. Kerdroya is one of these ...

... and here is an ebullient Cornishman who will explain all.

The single-path (unicursal) seven-course "Classical" design without branching or dead ends became associated with the Labyrinth on coins as early as 430 BC, and similar non-branching patterns became widely used as visual representations of the Labyrinth – even though both logic and literary descriptions make it clear that the Minotaur was trapped in a complex branching maze. Even as the designs became more elaborate, visual depictions of the mythological Labyrinth from Roman times until the Renaissance are almost invariably unicursal.

So a Labyrinth is a maze that is not particularly amazing, just a simple curved walk into the centre and out again with no puzzles. Nobody seems to know what their purpose was; opinions range from a circuitous walk to an altar of sacrifice to a vanity project by a wealthy Greek or Cretan!

Colliford Lake is off the A30 on Bodmin Moor ...

... and currently is not served by First Kernow Bus (note Bodmin, bottom left).

Are we to expect an extension of route 27, or yet another Kernow tourist route from the start of their summer timetable in May?

The excitement of anticipation is almost too much.

And Zip Between Doncaster And Barnsley!

The X20 was one of a group of Express bus services (slightly less slow bus services) developed by Yorkshire Traction when it was Yorkshire Traction.

It continued after Stagecoach took over.

It is not "direct" but starts from Doncaster then runs along the main road towards Rotherham and Sheffielld ...

... before veering sort of north westerly via Conisbrough (only two letters "o" not three) and the Dearne Vaslley ...

... before reaching Barnsley via Hoyland.

It is now run under South Yorkshire PTE tender by Powells ...

... who have announced its 67 minute Zippiness. For through journeys between the two towns Stagecoach's X19 is quicker ...

... at a bearable 45 minutes. For a while, Stagecoach had branded buses. Showing true originality, they were branded ...

... X19. Clever name, eh?

More Detail On The Canopy

Little beams on the sloping extensions to the Triang originals; and cross bracing on the legs. Much filling and filing needed to tidy things up. Then it is paint brush at the ready. 

What would be the best colours? Such are the anguishes of a railway modeller bodger.

 Will It Be The Hammersmith blog? Monday 26th April