By Plane And Bus And Train ...

 ... To Southend (Saarfend) Part 1

Originally RAF Rochford, the airport has developed steadily over the years.

For a while it was owned by the long gone Stobart organisation ...

... and now likes to style itself London Southend Airport.

It has a posh new terminal building ...

... linked to a posh new station ...

... on the Anglia Trains line from Liverpool Street.

Some time back, a near accident showed how close the runway was to the tracks!

The Monday to Saturday train timetable offers a service every 20 minutes ...

Journey time is about 54 minutes. Southend Airport station opened in 2011.

The Airport specialises in holiday flights as illustrated by yesterday's departures.

The exception there is an internal flight to Newquay.

Obviously most of the travel options highlighted on the airport web site involve paying for car parking! But Streetview shows a bus stop right outside the terminal building.

It has a shelter with lavish seating provision (see above), a marked layby ...

... and really easy peasy access to the terminal and station opposite.

It also has what looks like a bus stop sign ...

... but is actually a sign threatening death by a thousand propeller blade cuts to anyone who should dare to park in the layby, thus impeding the free flow of the bus service.

There is one thing the stop does not have, however ...

... and that is - buses!

fbb will investigate further in tomorrow's blog.

Thanks But Even More Tanks! (& Planks)

The good news is that the second box of boxes has been archaeologically unearthed from beneath the layout baseboard and it has filled the new shelves to overflowing. So fbb has annexed the top shelf of the white painted bookcase on which the display sits.

It all used to be full of books, but a whole heap of volumes has gone into store prior to disposal, many via the Isle of Wight Bus Museum.

But in provisionally unboxing the collection, fbb has discovered some duplicates due to "forgetful buying"; but, more seriously, some obvious gaps due to "forgetful non buying"! 

This is a case in point:-

fbb has one of these in his collection ...

... but NOT one of these!

They look the same because they are the same; same body moulding, same chassis and bogies, same model of a British tank wagon, even the same couplings - yet one is Italian and one from the UK.

They are called "depressed centre" tank wagons because the centre is depressed; not half as depressed as fbb when he realised his goof and counted the cost of putting it right.

fbb will explain in due course, by which time the plank will be plonked.

PLEASE NOTE : Reduced content blogs may be necessary as your author starts preparing leaflet and meeting content for the upcoming September fellowship afternoons.

 Next Southend blog : Tues 26 Aug