Saturday Variety

 An Amazing Idea

At first glance, Samsung (a global electronics giant) wants to save the Galaxy ...

... thus taking a step beyond just protecting the planet. Wondering what fbb could possibly do to protected the Galaxy, which is fairly big, he clicked on the link and ..

... the above screen appears.

Keep On With The Tablet

fbb currently takes three a day - all for standard old man's conditions, none of them serious, thankfully. One is for blood pressure and the other two for an enlarged prostrate as a good Isle of Wight chum called it.

But this tablet is the technological version.

... as fbb is trying the Sony (above) prior to receiving the Galaxy Tab A9+ from sons as a birthday prezzy. The aim is to help the old man cope with his ARMD. But he is not permitted to have the device "in hand" until sons visit for a compulsory training session in March.

It would appear that the new Tablet is already talking to fbb's phone. It will, sons explain, be faster and better in every way than the old creaky wind-up Sony; and fbb will be able to "do so much more" (?) and, probably, understand so much less.

It's good to get that sorted!???

But the clunky Sony and fbb's stubby incompetent fingers may well explain some of the poor prufe churking in reesent bloggs.

It will get better - promise.

The Numbers Game - Doncaster

Readers will be thrilled to know that fbb will only be giving outline current information on this proposed scheme from First Bus. That's because the company's "consultation" has vanished from the ether and your elderly blogger has to rely on his memory.

So fat chance there!

But a bit of background. Like Manchester, an early decision of South Yorkshire PTE (Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley) was to adopt a county-wide route numbering system.

The SYPTE scheme was relatively unintrusive.

Sheffield city routes were unchanged.

Rotherham routes just had 100 added; so the 16 (above) became the 116; and apart from a very few routes, all the town services were numbered below 50, so new numbers from 101 to 149 did not cause much confusion.

Doncaster tended not to show route numbers anyway, neither did the large number of independent operators who came under the umbrella of the PTE and were later taken over and fully absorbed. Doncaster numbers were 150 to 199.

Hence Leon Motors of Finningley's 191.

Routes between the districts were numbered in the 2xx series, so 77, Sheffield Rotherham Doncaster became 277.

It was Yorkshire traction, based in Barnsley, that suffered the most numerical disruption.

Barnsley town routes had 300 added whereas most of the rest of Traccy's empire, as a BET company rather than a municipality, ran between districts and gained 2xx numbers.

But the tidy scheme did not last, especially after privatisation. First Bus, in particular, started reverting to one and two digit numbers in Rotherham and Doncaster caring little for the fact that many were duplications or even triplications of the former Sheffield City numbers.

That remained until First closed its Rotherham depot. Because First's depot coal-fired computer systems could not cope with duplicate route numbers, back came the "add-on" 100s!

Rotherham Corporation 15

East Herringthorpe

Ex PTE Mainline 115

Early First Bus 115 (Ex London Capital Citybus vehicle)

First Bus renumbered 15

First Bus Re-Renunbered 115 ...

... and, yes, First did run out of buses hence "dealer white" livery!

The policy, as always, was to make things easier for the company and to care little for confusion for the passengers. After all, passengers are always a gross inconvenience when  administering a busy bus company!

So First Bus is now proposing a wholesale renumbering of Doncaster routes.

Of course, the sensible move would be to revert to numbers in the range  150 to 199 - but that might even be sensible.

First's plan is to group everything in a 3xx series, including several three digit route numbers with an "A" suffix, making the numbers more difficult to read on destination screens and too tiny to read on bus stop flags.

Seems a jolly good idea all round. NOT!

Running A Little Late (1)

So why the delay? It looks as if something in the electronics doesn't ackle as it should. Well, that IS a surprise!

As a special bonus prize, DLR are asking readers to explain, using the information given above, what "April 2024" and "Quarter 1 2024/2025" actually mean in practice..

Running A Little Late (2)

Remember Great British Railways? Yes, you do, it wasn't a dream - really it wasn't.

Well the Draft (Enabling) Bill has just been published.

The Guardian puts it all in context.

Don't worry. Nothing will happen.

Then, after the General Election it will all have to start again.

So, late and useless.

A Sad Farewell

fbb says farewell to a Good Friend.

A substantial amount of fbb's model railway has been purchased from Hattons second hand lists. There is nothing else like it. Each day the company posted an eclectic range of "pre-owned" models, track and scenery - in fact anything they could sell on as single items. There is nothing similar from any other trader even the great Rails of Sheffield.

Where will fbb now go for his cheap stuff? Remember the £9 railbus?

OK, not quite as nice as the above version.

It was ever and always Hattons' family business.

Puzzle Picture

Where is this terminus?

Answer tomorrow which is a special day for fbb. Mrs fbb is baking a coffee cake.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 25th Feb