Saturday Variety

Remembering Semmering!

During his recent researches, fbb came across a short black-and-white film reporting on the electrification of the mountainous railway line. The commentary was all in German and the technical terms were too much for fbb. But some of the pictures were fascinating. 

The film begins with some shots of the railway being built between 1848 and 1854,

The sobering thought is that all the construction was done without the benefit of modern machinery amd without a single computer. They did have slide rules which appeared in the 17th century when you could blame John Napier for inventing logarithms [Weren't they fun at school?] ...

... and mechanical calculators. fbb still has his father's slipstick. He used to take it into IT lessons when being a supply teacher. Hidden in a wrap of brown paper, the question was, "What sort of computer is in this bag?" The kiddies were amazed!

Even so, the physical skill needed to turn numbers into a viaduct, building it with very little mechanical help is almost unimaginable.

The film doesn't obviously say when the line was electrified but fbb guesses either just before or just after WW2. Most shots show the poles to hold the catenary; but of particular interest to fbb were the pictures of steam hauled trains.

A close look reveals that they were all double haded with two small locomotives.

Might that be, thought fbb, because the bigger locos wouldn't go round the corners? 

One freight train pictured in the film had two at the front and a third engine at the back. 

But here is a puzzle picture from the film.

What is being built here?

Answer at the end of this blog/

And a sleek diesel unit bumbled out from one of the tunnels.

Very art deco, very 1930s.

Popular Pounds Park Provision

In 2021 fbb blogged about a change in Sheffield bus routes consequent on the closure of one of the more popular city centre bus stops. The replacement was very much "round the back by the bins".

"Fear not," quoth the City Council, "we will be turning that car park into a "landscaped public open space" and providing state of the art bus shelters with real time information, armchairs and central heating. It will be wonderful".

Well, with just what the weary Sheffield shopper needed after a busy morning of retail therapy, Pounds Park opened last year.

Instead of a "public open space" it morphed into a children's urban adventure park, and very popular it is with the kiddies, fbb is told.

It has just been announced that the Council has agreed to spend £914,000 on the long promised "transport hub". So about five years late, then.

fbb guesses that it might be ready in 2025 but a year's slippage is always a possibility.

Quite how you can spend half a million smackers on three bus shelters and some real time displays is totally beyond fbb's understanding.

And why bother anyway, as hardly anyone uses the stops on Rockingham Street as they are so awfully inconvenient.

Maybe the Council has designs on getting King Charles to formally open the three bus shelters?

Today's Triang Toy Train!

Triang renamed itself as Hornby in the late 1960s and recently the company has been making much of the 70 years heritage of the Margate HQ that houses the company's long history.  These "retro" models can sell well and, boy, does an ailing Hornby need as much dosh as it can possibly wheedle out of the paying public.

So the above box represents today's take on the Triang R2X trainset from 1958. There was a very similar R2 set and fbb is unsure of all the differences.

The R2 had different electrical equipment.

Essentially the consist was one Jinty 0-6-0 tank loco and two maroon coaches. Here is the loco back then ...

... and now.

And here is a coach, then ...

... and now.

The track then was Mark 2 grey based ...

... with the modern version being far more realistic.

The trainset as a whole is much better than in 1958 ...

... and it beats inflation, being about three times the price after adjustment for the changing real value of the pound.

Ashley Down's Birthday

Sounds like a lower tier footballer or a very minor music star.

There is a Birthday, a 0th birthday!

In fact it is a new railway station in the Bristol area; a re-opening to be precise.

A full blog is planned for Monday.

Hydrogen Hopes?

Despite difficulties in obtaining economic and non-polluting hydrogen, the desire for such power in public transport is growing. In an attempt to frighten us all, some wag blogged about this topic recently and included this well known picture.

fbb is fairly certain that modern vehicles store their hydrogen in strong (and heavy!) tanks, not the canvas bags of the Hindenbirg.

And we have had plenty of experience in storing some equally highly inflammable fuels, both in bulk and in vehicles. It is a spirit made from "rock oil"  a k a "petroleum".

Semmering Puzzle

It is the beginnings of an electrical sub station!

 5 Days to Go 

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 29th Sept