Some Sunday Stuff

Heeley, a P S.

A little further away from city and past Ponsford's long-established furniture store ...

... and opposite the new wall featured in yesterday's blog, is "Rails of Sheffield".

A new showroom has just been opened which looks rather posh for Heeley ...

... where the seats for weary shopper are real, full sized ...

... railway buffers - ideal for the old buffers who go in to spend their wads of cash.

In common with a number of large retailers, "Rails" has started "manufacturing" its own models. Manufacturing is a dubious word, because the shop doesn't manufacture anything. The actual model making is done in China and the design work is outsourced to specialists. But the shop has commissioned the work and takes the financial risk so, in that sense, it is the "manufacturer".

Model enthusiasts were astounded when Rails announced that it was to offer a model of the London and North Eastern Railway "dynamometer" car.

Yer what?

Such vehicles contained a whole range of equipment to measure the performance of locomotive and track. Nowadays you have sensors in the works and peer excitedly at laptop screens. The LNER car was totally mechanical with a bit of electric (hence "dynamo") thrown in.

This particular car acquired its eternal fame by being marshalled behind Mallard as she made her world record speed run of 126mph - a record for a steam locomotive made in 1938 that still stands today.

It happened on the downward slope of Stoke Bank ...

Stoke Bank has a gradient of between 1:178 and 1:200. Mallard, pulling a dynamometer car and six coaches, topped Stoke Summit at 75 mph and accelerated downhill. The speeds at the end of each mile from the summit were recorded as: 87½, 96½, 104, 107, 111½, 116 and 119 mph; half-mile readings after that gave 120¾, 122½, 123, 124¼ and finally 125 mph The speed recorded by instruments in the dynamometer car reached a momentary maximum of 126 mph.

The event is recorded alongside the track ...

... and in the name of the village pub at Little Bytham.

The pub ...

... closed in 2002 but the building has taken an appropriate name!

The designers of the Rails model were the good (and eccentric?) folk at Rapido Trains and the result is stunning.

It has mind boggling detail inside ...

... and out.

The actual measuring wheel is faithfully recreated ...

... but it is non working!

If you want a working model, an American firm produced one with a little meter which whizzed round as the train moved along.

Sweet!

A older UK version of the model ...

... was recently advertised for auction at an estimate £250 to £300.

The Rails model retails at £125. The real thing is on display in York Railway Museum.

The latest Rails advert implies that stocks are "running out fast" and we should buy quickly to avoid disappointment. fbb will not be buying one.

Metrobus M2 - Bristol

Tomorrow, fbb sets off early for Bristol to try out the second of the City's super-duper Metrobus routes, operated by First. This replaces the 903, Long Ashton Park and Ride, service and takes the buses on guided sections of road, over a former rail bridge and a new-build flyover.

There was a formal launch last week ...

... and the service kicks off for real tomorrow morning.

Also starting today is the revised South Gloucestershire network serving Yate.

This ramps up to its full glory tomorrow. For the record, fbb's schedule is below.

0737 Axminster

0821 Exeter St Davids

0842 Exeter St Davids

0957 Bristol Temple Meads

1006 Temple Meads M2

1036 Long Ashton P&R

1048 Long Ashton P&R

1118 Bristol The Centre

1140 Bristol Colston Street Y1

1236 Chipping Sodbury

The takes fbb via the Rodford estate in Yate, mate - great!

This has become a family joke from the time that the old man (then less old but still f) organised school residential trips to the Isle of Wight. One of those was from the school at Rodford, now closed.

A post-it note stuck to the shelf of fbb's office with the enigmatic word "Rodford" scribbled upon it intrigued and amused No 1 son. Why, we will never know! But every so often the lad would shout "Rodford" for no apparent reason.

How we laughed! (?)

fbb has selected "The Hamptons" deli at Chipping Sodbury for a leisurely lunch ...

... before continuing his trek.

The Y5 runs via a dog leg route into Bristol ...

... and fbb chose this run because he cannot resist a ride via the delightfully named Pucklehurch and Mangotsfield!

1349 Chipping Sodbury Y5

1456 Bristol Bus Station

Photo opportunity; leaflet collection,  then 8, 9 or 72 from nearby to the station.

1544 Bristol Temple Meads

1640 Exeter St Davids

That lengthy wait at Exeter is really tedious, but it does cover the possibility of a late running Cross Country train.

1725 Exeter St Davids

1805 Axminster

Kiss and ride facilities will be provided at both ends of the day by a long-suffering Mrs fbb.

Tomorrow's blog will look at the publicity for these changes and a report in detail will follow thereafter.

Clacton - A Result

fbb is pleased to report that the wrong Clacton network map has been removed from First's Essex web site, but oddly not replaced with the new Clacton Network map.

For that you have to go to "routes" where the PDF leaflet for the new networks ...

... including the correct map, is fully displayed. Only a month late - so not too bad for the modern bus industry.

A Puzzle Picture

Just received from a correspondent is this; a picture of the front cover of a timetable book (remember when we used to have those?)

It will feature later in the week, but, in the meantime look at the title tag-line.

Unusual?

Answers, linguistically please, not on a postcard, but keep them to yourself until the blog appears. 

It is unique!

 Next Bristol blog : Monday 3rd September 

Spending Really Speeding Heeley? (2)

Heeley was the terminus of one of the first horse tram services in Sheffield.

In the above picture, Thirlwell Road is on the left and the former Heeley Station would appear on the right.

Just along a few yard and round to the left on Albert Road was the depot.

Latterly it became a garage (National petrol - National Benzole company). That operation became part of BP and eventually the brand was phased out in favour of the corporate daisy.

A few year ago the building lost its roof but this has now been replaced ...

... and the open sided "shed" now serves as a parking area for new flats. But, amazingly, the frontage still stands.

Electric trams replaced horse power and the route was progressively extended, First  to Woodseats and then to the City boundary at Meadowhead.

The road had to be lowered under the Heeley railway bridge to get the double deck tram through ...

... and note that the overhead power wires were actually fixed to the underside of the bridge structure, possibly tacked on to a plank of wood. Modern tram wiring regulations would certainly mean that double deckers would never be allowed under there - but as nobody seems to want double deck trams today, preferring very long articulated units, it is only a theoretical problem!

In modern times, the lowering of the road surface often led to flooding.

Heeley remained a vibrant community well into the sixties. It had plenty of shops and the opulent Electric Picture Palace.

The grand entrance was changed somewhat in its later years ...

... followed by closure and, latterly, demolition in favour of an additional new showroom for Ponsford's furniture store complete with footbridge linking the two.

But as traffic has increased the constricted road under the bridge and its equally constricted approaches has become a growing problem.

The first attempt was to created three (or was it four?) lanes with the centre one being signalled for "peak flow" - into City in the morning and out in the evening.

Many of the gantries still stand!

This did work pretty well, but the arrival of the bus lane changed the approach.

Currently there is a peak hour lane from opposite Thirlwell Road (where the horse buses stood in the above picture) ...

... under the bridge and as far as the former station buildings (as per the above over-enlarged Streetview picture).

It ends just before the bridge over the river Sheaf.

But the City Council wants more! Probably the First and Stagecoach companies want more as well.

The scheme was to widen the road adjacent to the Sloan Medical Centre and provide another length of bus lane alongside the non bus bit of road.

That huge retaining wall, a relic of the old railway boundary, needs to be rebuilt after taking an entra nibble from the medical centre car park.

Here is the work in progress, looking north.

And here is just a snippet of the new wall plus its repositioned bus shelter.

And here are a couple of pictures of the disruption while the work was in progress.

"But we don't want to give you that," sats the City Council to the worthy residents of Heeley. "So we are going to 'improve' the bit just beyond the bridge over the river."

This involves shrinking the pavements over the bridge, building a footbridge where the traditional pseudo gas lamp stands and opening out the junction using a carefully cleared strip of land.

Here is the "cunning plan".

It will allow two lanes of traffic to continue a little further towards the Lowfield traffic lights. Note the red-coloured remnants of the former peak flow all-traffic lane.

fbb could not find out how much the "Sloan Centre" wall and associated works had cost, but the budget for the new junction is £3.9 million. OUCH!

The general view of the discerning public is the both schemes together will speed up the traffic at peak times ....

HOORAY!

... and deposit the hold-ups a few hundred yards further along the road.

BOO!

Assuming a spend of about £4 million on the first scheme, doubled with the addition of the second, could better results have been achieved by improving bus frequencies and reducing the fares? the debate will continue and be unresolved, of course.

But you do wonder whether the "commercial" model is the best to deliver a combination of the better bus services, cheaper fares, less pollution and less congestion.

The alternative policy works in many European cities and later next week we will pop over to Geneva after fbb reveals his full report on Monday's trip to Bristol.

Sadly, one casualty of modernity is the notable pub "The Bridge".

It is now "Greyspace Flooring" ...

... and will lose much of its wide pavement with the new scheme.

 Next Sunday Variety blog : 2nd September