Re-inventing The Wheel Part 3

Hemel Hempstead : Historical Happenings

Before World War 1, Hemel (that's what most locals call it!) was a relatively small town surrounded mainly by agricultural land.

It's railway Station was on a creaky Midland Railway branch, known as the Nicky Line, which ran from Harpenden to Boxmoor on the LNWR main line out of Euston. 

The last passenger train ran in 1947.

The Midland Hotel remains s testimony to the line which was always "quiet" ...

... but you can spot a bridge parapet behind the lamppost!

Boxmoor Station (map bottom left) ...

... eventually became Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead, then Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor and, eventually just plain Hemel Hempstead.

After the Second World War, in 1946, the government designated Hemel as the site of one of its proposed new towns designed to house the population displaced by the London Blitz, since slums and bombsites were being cleared in London. On 4 February 1947, the Government purchased 5,910 acres of land and began work. The first new residents moved in during April 1949, and the town continued its planned expansion through to the end of the 1980s. Hemel grew to its present population of 80,000, with new developments enveloping the original town on all sides. The original part of Hemel is still known as the "Old Town".

Buses were generally in the hands of London Transport's country area.

Note the blind showing "Town Service". SMM 90F is a typical preserved "Merlin" which everybody except London Transport called "Swifts".

Part of the main shopping street, Marlowes, is now pedestrianised ...

... with the northerly chunk becoming one of the main calling points for buses.

The basic but useful bus station has closed and is seen here awaiting developments.

The main bus stops are very close to the old bus station, accessed via a pleasant piazza.

In recent years, town bus services for smaller communities have given bus operators real problems. Various clever schemes have been created to tempt the passengers, but often these have failed to generate enough revenue. Hemel once had a clutch of "H" routes ...

... of which three remain.

These are all  tendered by Herfordshire with the H19 running one journey "each way round" on Tuesdays and Thursdays; The H10 runs six days a week whilst the H11 operates on Mondays to Fridays only.

Note Herfordshire's consummate skill in confusing passengers by calling all stops but one "Hemel Hempstead". They key "centre" stops are Marlowes, of course, and Riverside ...

... a super splendid and smashing shopping centre - Deep Joy!

Other town routes have stranger numbers.

ML1 is a peak hour (Monday to Friday) circular from station to Maylands Industrial Estate.

It runs Mondays to Fridays only.

ML1 - Maylands Link?

PB1 and PB2 do a similar job but via different routes. 

Aha! Minibus Executive Travel. That name prepares us for tomorrow's blog.

 Next Minibus Mayhem blog : Tuesday 28th November 

Weekend Wonders Two

Wondering About Hot Cross Buns
Has senility finally taken hold c/o fbb? Not quite.

In the 1950s  local Sheffield Bakery moved to swish new premises in Dronfield.

It ran buses from Sheffield to get its workers from the comfort of he city site to the wild expanses on North Derbyshire bereft of suitable shift time buses for bakers - who start ludicrously early!

The company still trades, but now as part of a massive catering group.

Telly watchers will remember a recent ITV News "shock revelation" exposing "sharp practice" in one of the group's chicken processing factories.

The Dronfield site, still using the Gunstones name, produces sandwiches ...

... assorted bread buns and, most importantly, huge numbers of Hot Cross Buns.

Gunstones was served by the very last "works" bus route in Sheffield.

It ran at shift times, Monday to Friday and Sunday ...

... following a huge lollipop circular route round the southern districts of Sheffield.

On Friday last the route breathed its last ...

... citing withdrawal of funding support by the Bakery. Sad, but not unexpected - but it does mark the end of the last works bus in Sheffield.

R.I.P 294.

Wondering About International Tram Routes

bb's recent piece about trams from Basel, Switzerland creeping over borders to France and Germany prompted a bit of reminiscing from Alan our Northampton correspondent.

In April this year Strasbourg tram line D was extended across a lovely new bridge over the river Rhine to terminate at the first railway station in Germany in  Kehl.

No wonder it all looked so shiny and new when I was there in July. It was a warm afternoon and the mark one brain cell was only operating at 75% efficiency so it was only during the journey that the significance of the destination “Kehl Bahnhof”, rather than “Gare” registered.

At the  time there was a large hole in the centre of tram lines A and D because the "armée d’orange" was replacing the track which runs under Strasbourg’s central railway station.

Kehl station has been poshed-up a bit since this pic was taken in 1968.

As well as Strasbourg Tram D it has a huge pedestrian piazza replacing part of the main road just outside the doors.

The line is due to be extended to Kehl Rathaus (Town Hall) ...

... by the end of 2018. 

There will be another stop at the hochschule.

Wondering About Leaf Fall

In autumn the advantage enjoyed by the railway becomes its Achilles heel as low adhesion caused by leaf fall impacts on our ability to brake and accelerate trains at the same rate as during the rest of the year.  

Circular air currents generated by the front of a moving train pick up leaves and drop them onto the railhead in front of the train wheels. The wheels then crush these leaves at very high pressure onto the top of the rail. Add in a little moisture, dew or light rain, and the leaf debris forms a Teflon-like coating on the rail ...

... that reduces the adhesion between wheel and rail, causing the wheels to slip or, in extreme cases, lock up and slide.

The railway people have ways of dealing with the problem. In simple terms they squirt high pessur water at the railhead, plus a squirt of "Sandite".

Sandite is a substance used on railways in the UK, Ireland, US, the Netherlands and Belgium to combat leaves on the line, which can cause train wheels to slip and become damaged with flat spots. Sandite consists of a mixture of sand, aluminium and a unique type of adhesive.

Notwork Rail has several trains which can do this job ...

... and, in a few months, you will be able to own an OO gauge model of this train. Hattons of Widnes has just revealed their new products.

There are three separate groups of wagons as follows:-

Total cost of the three-module train is a modest £295 for seven wagons. Of course you also need the "right" loco to haul it. If you can find one, the Dapol Class 68 in DRS livery ...

... will set you back about £145.

The train doesn't actually clean the model track, of course. For that you need either a track cleaning wagon ...

... at about £80. Or one of these:-

£3.50. Guess what fbb uses?

Wondering About Management

News breaks that First Bus in Dorset and Lots of Other Places has just lots its jovial manager, one Simon Newport.

He left "abruptly" after service cuts and fares increases. Did he jump or was he pushed?

fbb has met Simon on several occasions and found him a good, solid and thoughtful bus man. Sad to see him go and very best wishes for the future.

Tomorrow we end up at Hemel Hempstead 

 Next daft minibus blog : Monday 27th November 

Weekend Wonders One

Wondering About Coaches

Remember the X1 between Guildford and Horsham advertised as being operated by coaches? Correspondent Roger delved deep in his photographic archive and sent pictures of said luxury vehicles.

fbb is not sure how long they lasted on the route ...

... but they carried branding for the X1 - or was it the X7?

Were they removed because they were not up to "disability" standards?

Hardly suitable for the creaky elderly, let alone the disabled. The vehicles had at east two previous manifestations; branded for Virgin Atlantic in the ownership of Tellings Golden Miller ...

... and as just coaches for New Enterprise.

Both operators were/are part of the Arriva group.

As an aside, Roger reminds fbb of the change of livery for coaches operating on Arriva's "Green Line" routes. At one time these were stylish and colourful.

Now they have become a non-event.

Wondering About Press And Politicians

Northampton correspondent Alan sent this item from the local rag.

Northampton has thrown its hat into the ring in a bid to be part of a new railway link to south west London. The borough council has staked its interest to include the town in an ongoing plan, known as the East West Rail Consortium, to connect Oxford to Cambridge.

Oxford to Cambridge via Northampton?

If successful, a new train service from London Marylebone to Milton Keynes could carry on to Northampton Railway Station.

Marylebone? South West London?

Deputy leader councillor Phil Larratt has been appointed Northampton's representative at the consortium to negotiate the town's place on the scheme.

Councillor Larratt said: "I'm positive that Northampton could and should benefit from this new scheme."

"Northampton has not, for a long time, enjoyed a good rail service to anywhere other than Birmingham and London." 

fbb is trying to think  a time when Northampton has ever enjoyed a good service to anywhere other than Birmingham and London. Some would say that, up to the relatively recent growth of the town as a "commuter" station, it has never enjoyed a good service to anywhere.

If there is an opportunity to improve the town's railway links we will take it. It is hoped that Northampton can be added as an extra stop on a service from London Marylebone through Aylesbury to Milton Keynes Central."

Isn't Marleybone in London? Wouldn't the councillors proposed service be slower than the present London run?

And, of course, there will always be plenty of capacity for extra trains between Milton Keynes and Northampton, NOT.

Aylesbiry is, of course, a pleasant town, but ...

... nice clock!

Wondering About The Ferry
A possible excursion for Alan ...

Experience some nostalgia riding on vintage buses

from the 1930s to 1980s on our annual

Vintage Bus Running Day.

On December 2nd Mr. Ensign is having his annual running day with the following routes
X21 Upminster – Brentwood – Ongar

X55 Upminster – Lakeside – Buewater – Gravesend

X81 Shenfield – Lakeside – Grays – Tilbury Ferry

This immediately produces a plan for a tour including a cruise on the Thames. The pass is valid on the Tilbury Ferry. That is until I receive this email:-

“Went on the ferry last year and I was seriously worried about safety. The boat looked past its best and was leaking. We had visions of finishing the trip on RNLI!!”

Wondering About Mr Men and Women

When fbb's sons were little, he always enjoyed the Mr Men series. Later Little Misses were added. They are all fun to translate from the French versions. Readers are invited to give the English versions of the above - but without reference to an English volume! That would be cheating.

This thought has stemmed from the news that he latest strive for gender equality will hit the bookshelves next spring.

Little Miss Inventor!

How about "Madame travaux d'égout"?

Wondering About the Image of Bus Travel
A sign in fbb's local chippie.

Presumably poor qualiy seating is now universally associated with bus travel?

Somebody should tell them that you don't even get a padded bum-perch in a bus shelter - more usually something that brings a pimply perforation preponderance to the perched posterior!

 More Wonders blog : Sumday 26th November