Sunday Variety

Re-Unification Progress

It's a train on the Great Central route crossing the Midland Main Line at the southern end of the platforms of Loughborough (Midland) Station. 

And here is what happened to the bridge in 1980.

But the good news is that the bridge has been replaced. Hurrah!

So the two outstanding bits of Great Central heritage railway can now be joined together. That would allow through trains to run from Leicester North ...

... to Loughborough as now, then on to .,,.

East Leake and Ruddington.

Sadly, not quite yet!

Although missing bridge 328 is in place, the red dots show a missing embankment; also bridges 329 and 330 over local roads in Loughborough are still to be un-missinged!

But, coming up is the 125th birthday of the Great Central Railway ...

... and the two lines are to be linked ...

... albeit by bus!

fbb had intended to publish a timetable for the through service; but. alas, this magnificent heritage railway doesn't want to tell us!

Poor!

And Another One!

And the mayor reckons he will get franchising done by the end of 2024!

Fat chance!

South Yorkshire's mayor has said bus franchising has been recommended as the best way to improve the county network.

It would mean the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) would decide services and timetables.

Mayor Oliver Coppard said the estimated cost of the whole transition to franchising would be £25m.

First Bus said it was confident it could help deliver change. Stagecoach said it was committed to working with SYMCA to make the network successful.

Bus services in England outside London were deregulated in 1986, enabling private operators to control routes, timetables and fares and to receive the revenue from fares.

However, the Bus Services Act gave city regions the power to introduce bus franchising in 2017.

Mr Coppard said an independent audit had looked at different options for the bus network in South Yorkshire and had recommended franchising.

He said he hoped it could be introduced by the end of this year.

"Franchising would be a publicly-controlled bus system where we decide what the routes, fares and timetables look like and we would use the money from the profitable bits of our network to reinvest in those vital services in other parts of our communities," he said.

Don't laugh too loud!

But Meanwhile In Rotherham

So no chance, then of Mayor Oliver expanding his frenchised operation into the best bus depot in South Yorkshire!

Non Superloop Route This Way

Remember those weird routes numbered in the Superloop series but not part of the Loop? Two of them do "connect" with the loop but one never makes it to join in joyous union with the circle.

Silly Loop SL4 will run from Canary Wharf to Grove Park.

But to get to Blackheath it will need to cross the Thames. And that crossing is not finished yet. It will be known as the Silvertown Tunnel. immediate logic suggests that a route via the Blackwall Tunnel would be sensible ...

... but not for SL4. it will use the new tunnel.

This is the Silvertown tunnel map ....

... and this is what the north portal looked like under constriction.

The road (left) is the Silvertown Flyover, the water is the Royal Docks as was! And the railway (right) is Docklands Light to London City Airport and under the Thames to Woolwich.

The tunnel will be two bore and big bores at that!

The northern portal has a control room like something out of Doctor Who ...

... and the southern entrance is at North Greenwich and is equally scary!

Here is a short video about the tunnel.

Did we hear aright? User charge? One lane for buses only? Just the SL4? 60 buses an hour (maybe that's 30 each way?

Somebody is gong to be very busy in the schedules office?

Tomorrow we go from Streatham in London to Leeds, which isn't!

 Next Politics & Transport blog : Monday 11 March 

Saturday Variety

Crazy Prices

Hattons, one of the largest retailers of Model Railways is closing down; the biggest annual model railway exhibition at the NEC will not happen for the foreseeable future; Hornby is ceasing production of its Playtains range for very young children ...

... with the following on-line report.

All the time the prices get dafter. At the head of this posting is a Hornby Stockton and Darlington posh carriage from the very early days of passenger carrying railways. The price is high, but typical of what some modellers are prepared to pay, even for a featherweight plastic model!

You can easily pay £300 for a locomotive!

Bur oddly, Hornby and its retailers are offering this in their cheaper (well, a bit less expensive) range.

A loco at the same price as a wagon? Crackers.

Professional Misptunts

Meanwhile, Rails of Sheffield, soon to be the leading big model store in the UK, struggles occasionally with proof reading. Its a bit like fbb but without the excuse of eyeball problems!

The company is Graham Farish, not Fraish. Mr Fraish was one of the first model makers to manufacture "N" gauge for serious UK railway buffs. By today's standard the models were crude, but remarkable for their time. 

N Scale is approx one quarter of OO scale by volume, half by length.

Graham Farish is now owned by Bachmann.

Professional Misunderstanding

This item appeared on line recently.

No. they didn't. They bought a locomotive (engine would do, steam engine would be better!). Their new acquisition may be used to haul a train, but without coaches or wagons behind it is is not, nor ever will be a train.

The pedantic may claim that, technically, an engine with nothing to haul (a light engine) is a "train" for signalling purposes as it chuffs along the track - but that would be a step too far into the Great Grimpen Mire of pedantry.

That is not at all fbb's style (?).

The very worst offenders for this misuse of language are the antiques programmes which always get excited about e.g a vintage Triang "train".

The version above is on sale on EBay for £395.   OUCH!

And fbb Thought He Had Problems!

Readers may remember that the railway line from Liverpool to Kirkby (pause to whistle the Z-Cars theme tune) has been extended to a shiny new station named Headbolt Lane.

Now any sensible organisation would lay a few extra yards of "third rail" to match the existing Merseyside network and all would be well.

But that would be too simple. Notwork Rail has decreed that after 120 years of service on suburban lines., notably south of London, third rail is DANGEROUS. Someone might accidentally step on the rail and, literally, fry themselves from the inside. 750 volts DC is, indeed, nasty stuff. But is it any nastier than being run over when foolishly crossing a busy road; or being crushed when trespassing on ANY railway line?

So the line from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane has no electricity. That's easy, say the Health and Safety police, you run battery trains on that bit of line.

So, for one short length of line (just over a mile), a batch of trains is being equipped expensively with battery packs and all the extra gubbins to make it work.

BUT ...

The report continues with a very sorry tale ...

It's all going very well, then; but, as we say ...

Isn't technology wonderful?

And Yet More Technology

Let's hope it will works even if it isn't entirely "wonderful".

We are fully aware that nobody is concerned about the pollution from power stations and the challenge of re-cycling the batteries; but is anyone concerned about Mr Putin turning off the gas in one of his petulant sulks?

And then there are the Houthi terrorists who may start blowing up oil tankers.

What happens when the power cuts start?

Furthermore, what happens when we realise that we don't have enough power stations! Presumably more imports and thus more risk?

Coming Soon

But where is it and what is it? Answer on Monday.

And A Collector's Moan

fbb has a nearly complete collection of OO tank wagons from 1938 to the present day. But he is thrown into puce and blotchy despair by modern marketing. Firstly, companies were offering sets of three and, more to the point, NOT offering single wagons.

That was too expensive and too wasteful for your saged modelling bodger.

But it gets worse!

Who wants FOUR of a very specialised wagon? Maybe someone could make do with three and sell one on to fbb? [Contact fbb@xephos.com]. PLEASE, pretty please.

This is the real 12 inches to the foot version ...

... and this is a whole train of them.

Perhaps Revolution Trains should only sell and whole train set plus appropriate locomotive?

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 21st January 

Post-Festive Pot Pourri (7)

 Sadness And Gladness

Sadness in the face of the loss of King Alfred Vehicles and others in the disastrous fire at Pentin Mewsey back in December. It is not yet known what, if anything, can bee salvaged.

Serious Fire at Penton Mewsey

Apart from the Leyland Olympic, four Hants & Dorset buses - three double deck and one single deck - were destroyed as well as a luxury coach, an Ulsterbus Bristol RE single deck and a Southdown Bristol VR double deck.

FoKAB sends its heartfelt sympathy to the owners who have lost their vehicles.

But the traditional January 1st running day went ahead whist offering huge sympathy to all those who lost vehcles.

Buses tun from The Broadway under the watchful eye of King Alfred himself who, in an appropriately regal fashion was unmoved by the tragedy!

There didn't seem to be too many takers for the open top trips, certainly not ON the open top!

Macau Extras

Two more LRT lines are currently under construction. There is the ORANGE line which does actually appear to be branded orange!

This is all underground and there is nothing much to see on the surface (except building sites). It is due to open in 2025.

Work has also started on the East Line which does not appear on th above projected network map.

It will run from the former border crossing to China in the north of Macau all the way to the ferry terminal on Taipa Island, the terminus of the existing LRT line.

The big white bloB on the above map certainly appears as a scorched earth blob on Google.

But major development is pending to be served by THREE stations on the new East Line. This video explains a bit more.

Again, if you missed it, The East Line will also all underground.

Here is the "newly imagined" East Line on a street map base ...

... and added to the "proposed network" map - diagram created by a Macau LRT enthusiast.

The item om Macau LRT fares will appear tomorrow. Yesterday fbb was hard at work preparing material and visuals for the January fellowship meetings on 7th and 8th Inst.

Welcome To GB's United Rail Network

Don't you dare! Of course they aren't - what a stupid idea!

We'll fine you if you do!

Enjoy your ride!

Two questions arise. What effect will this huge display (At Walthamstow (?), its twitterer did not say) on the welcome given to the poor harassed passenger.

Oh, you're going by coach next time? We will miss you.

Dominic Booth, boss of Transport UK, new owners of Stansted Express and the other ex Abellio companies weeps crocodile teats at the loss of passengers as as result of over-aggressive revenue protection policy.

The second question:-

Why not?

You can use Oyster on all of our trains for journeys that start and finish in the London Travelcard area. Oyster can also be used between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria on Gatwick Express services. It's quick and easy to buy an Oyster card, top up online and add your Travelcard or season ticket.

What management skill has Gatport Airwick got that it CAN offer Oyster?

Yet another example of the appalling craziness of Britain's rail non-system.

==========================

IN CASE YOU WONDERED

More "normal" blogging style (mainly one topic blogs) will return next week after our two fellowship meetings.

 Next Pot Pourri blog : Thursday 4th January