Saturday Variery

Sheffield Timetable Developments

As a former Sheffield resident, fbb was intrigued ro see that First is actually improving some of its services in the City of Steel.

Here is the current 75!75a timetable ...

... with buses every 15 minutes between Jordanthorpe, City Centre and Shiregreen.

Here is the improved service from 30th August ...

... every 20 minutes between Jordanthorpe, City and Shuregreen and no jiurneys to Chapeltown.

Then we see the whole five journeys of the existing service X6 between Sheffield and Rotherham via the new M1 services.

And the improved X6 ...

... consisting of three return journeys.

This is an interesting definition of of the word "improvements".

Guess How Much?

What is the official selling price in the UK for this motorbike?

Answer at the bottom of the page.

And how much might you pay for this kit, made by Pocher, a company in the Hornby group?

You might like to know that it is one quarter of the size of the real thing. So a bit big for fbb's model railway. 

Again, answer later!

A company, IXO has produced a London Routemaster bus to 1/12 scale.

A snip at about

£1,000

Virgin Ventures Big-Time

Virgin has revealed outline details if the service it intends to run, with paths now agreed with the regulatory authorities.

Under the agreement, VTE OPCO Ltd (trading as Virgin Trains) will have access rights to operate a specified number of services between London and the Channel Tunnel portal.

• London – Paris service group: initially six daily paths in each direction (October 2030 – March 2031), increasing to 10 daily paths (April – September 2031) and then 13 daily paths (October 2031 – December 2040);
• London – Brussels service group: four daily paths (February 2031 – December 2040);
• London – Amsterdam service group: three daily paths (September 2031 – December 2040).

Because of potential limitations on passenger capacity at London St Pancras International station, the rights for the Amsterdam service group are contingent if the total number of outward services from all operators exceeds 42 on a given day.

Shouldn't that read "contingent if ... does NOT exceed 42 per day"?

ORR says an increase in services into St Pancras International will demand more robust operational working, but this ‘relies on sound operational management’, and it does not consider that this should preclude the introduction of Virgin Trains services.

Virgin Trains’ services will only call at London St Pancras International on the HS1 network, and not at Ebbsfleet or Ashford. ORR notes that it cannot insist that an operator provides specific services, but says it will "actively engage’ with any party wishing to provide international services to the intermediate stations".

So there could be more to cone!

Enw Brand Cymreig Newydd

This express service, previously mentioned in this blog, now has a name.

Taith Cymru

which means something like

Welsh Journey

We await a full timetable!

Anyone Want A Train Company?

Deutsche Bahn has had a troubled time in recent years. Once upon a time, the railways in Germany were renowned for efficiency and good time keeping.

But recently things have been "disappointing".

Even the Minister is getting the stick.

And the bosses!

But there has been financial improvement ...

.. but not necessarily operational.

Which is why DB has been disposung pf its "non core activities".

So there's a freight company for sale.

In November 2007, the EWS freight company was bought by German train operator Deutsche Bahn for £309 million. In January 2009, it was branded as DB Schenker.. In March 2016, the company was rebranded as DB Cargo UK.

In October 2016, DB Cargo announced plans to cut 893 jobs in response to a sharp downturn in coal and steel traffic. In the following year, it announced a loss after tax for the financial year of £57 million against a turnover of £325 million. Over the next two years, the company's fleet size was reduced somewhat, mainly through the disposal or sale of older stock. 

The BP Logo Saga [Episode 1]

Dr Beeching's "Liner Train" concept, branded "Freightliner", was presented enthusiastically by Triang Hornby with popular 'toy' wagons which could be hand loaded and unloaded. Deep joy!

Wagons appeared with a variety if demountable containers ...

"just like the real thing". Sadly flbb cannot fund any illustrations or photos that support the one kabelled BP.

fbb had no interest in container wagons as such, until he was surprised by one particular Triang Hornby example.

to be continued

Motorbike Money

The Pocher kit is one quarter of full size. 

The real bike will cost at least £25,000 but be quick. It is a limited edition of 555 vehicles and prices may well rise as rarity overtakes common sense.

Apology : sorry if their are spilling mist aches in the blag. My spool chukka was knot working. She went to bed early feeling very tyred.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 23rd Aug