Traveline's Answer
There are paths every 30 minutes between Tonbridge Station and Buckingham. Here fbb must confess to a misunderstanding. During his investigations, it appeared the Traveline had changed its mind about departure times from Tonbridge; all three minutes earlier.
Google seems to think the "centre" of Tonbridge is on the quayside of the River Medway ...
... close to the castle.
fbb would recommend a bit more than three min to get from there to the Station.
From Tonbridge there are four trains an hour to London ...
The journey planner gives an 1149 departure ...
... with a change to Thameslink at London Bridge for the slow, very slow, ride through the tunnels to St Pancras.
The interchange at London Bridge is simple. South Eastern have an island platform where trains to/from Waterloo East and Charing Cross call. So you hop off there, descend to the huuuuge circulating area and then back up the escalators to the Thameslink platforms.
You can either run down/up the stairs or run down/up the escalators if no one is in your way; but both stairs and escalators are long so you will need quite a chunk of Traveline's suggested 11 minutes interchange time. Like so many public transport activities it is dead easy - when you KNOW - but intimidating if you don't!
When fbb first visited the new London Bridge he was very intimidated!!
At St Pancras, you come up from the bowels of the Thameslink platforms and your first exit to fresh air is on to Midland Road, remember, where be the departure stop for Abellio route 63 is to be found.
Traveline suggests, sensibly, that you should walk from St Pancras to Euston.
The obvious route would be down Midland Road ...
... turn right on to Euston Road and trot along to your next departure point.
Of course, you could use the Underground (Victoria or Northern Line) included in a through ticket; but the lengthy trek through tunnels and up and down escalators might well be longer than a brisk stroll along the Euston Road.
And so, Euston Station hoves into view. Traveline provides a generous thirty minutes for the link between the two termini.
Next we have a First Rail Aventra service to Milton Keynes ...
... and right outside the station we can find a Stagecoach X5 bus or coach.
This will take us swiftly to High Street Buckingham.
Two hours and fifty minutes is not at all bad for a complex journey crossing London and involving three trains and a coach/bus ride. Assuming that everything works as scheduled.
So how well did Modern Railways' Consultant Editor James Abbott cope?
We shall see tomorrow.
Master Chef?
In the meantime? One or two chums have expressed sone doubt that fbb is fully in charge of catering during Mrs fbb's indisposition. The old man can cook and is actually enjoying the very tiring experience.
Yesterday a large vat of home made soup was constructed. So here is the fbb recipe for Green Pea soup (sort of).
Chop; in a mechanical contrivance
3 rashers of smoked bacon
3 onions
Leeks (some)
Fry to a soft sludge
Place in a saucepan (large)
Add chicken stock (some)
Left over turkey gravy from Sunday lunch
2 slices of brown bread chopped into crumbs
Frozen Peas (some)
Simmer for some time
over a low light
stirring when you remember
Serve piping hot as required
Makes enough for six yummy and substantial portions.
But it does show that fbb is doing other things as well as researching and writing blogs. He is trying a turkey and mushroom pie tomorrow OR it might turn out to be take-away! Very experimental?
Three HUNDRED and what!!!!
But it does show that fbb is doing other things as well as researching and writing blogs. He is trying a turkey and mushroom pie tomorrow OR it might turn out to be take-away! Very experimental?
Three HUNDRED and what!!!!
For its centenary year, Hornby resurrected the brand name Hornby Dublo for die-cast metal OO locos just like they used to be; good and solid and virtually indestructable. But today's models had to have all the detail that you would find on plastic bodies.
The latest production re-creates one of the original Hornby Dublo models, the Princess Coronation Class.
But at a price!
Here is the 1956 equivalent.
Spot the differences!!
Next scheduled blog : Thursday 24th February
It's interesting to note that the original Dublo ""Duchess" was announced as costing £2.5s in 1939. According to an online calculator that equates to £156.70 today. That means that £207, the current price of Hornby's "ordinary" (plastic-bodied) "Duchess" from a well-known retailer, is of a fairly similar order. However the new "Dublo" models, which are of course "limited collectors' editions" are much more expensive, yet apparently sell well.
ReplyDeleteThere is a much more pleasant walking route from St Pancras to Euston avoiding Euston Road.
ReplyDeletehttps://urbanpartners.london/wellbeing-walk/
Stagecoach X5 buses don't look like that any more.
ReplyDelete