Saturday Variety - Technology Edition

Isn't Technology Wonderful 1

To be sung to the chorus of "Transport of Delight" by Flanders and Swan.

Here is the headline ...

... and here is the picture.

But it looks as if you will have to wait nearly a year.

And the cost? Two minibuses pootling around an industrial estate comes at a modest £4.3 million. And, of course, these driverless buses will each carry a driver!

Did fbb hear someone say "What an utterly irresponsible waste of money"?

And those involved ...

Milton Park is a huge and growing industrial estate north west of Didcot.

Isn't Technology Wonderful 2

About time, too, we hear a chorus of excited commuters who want to travel from Ferrytoll Park and Ride across the Forth Bridge to Gyle Business Park - autonomously, of course.

They will ride joyously, enhanced by a new version of the Stagecoach boring livery.

But these "new passengers" are not yet NEW passengers at all.

These buses will, of course, carry a driver PLUS a "captain" to advise and reassure passengers. The "captain" will also collect fares. We used to call such folk "conductors" way back when fbb was slim and youthful. Actually, never slim but a bit less f.

So that's another financial disaster then!

How will I use the Autonomous Bus?

Using an Autonomous Bus will be very similar to a regular experience of travelling on a traditional Stagecoach service.

Journey information will be available on our app, on 3rd party journey planners, and timetables will be available on location. The bus will stop at every stop, so there is no need to worry about hailing. You will be invited to board by one of our friendly Captains who can offer support, assistance and reassurance as you settle in for the journey – the only difference being that they will check/dispense your tickets once the vehicle has set off rather than when boarding. Simply press the bell as normal to get off at the next stop.

We won't think it’s weird if you say thank you to the computer when alighting! J

But, so far, no timetable or date for the start of service.

Bet you can't wait!

Isn't Technology Wonderful 3

Isn't Technology Wonderful 4

The author of this on-line "experiment" drove from Cornwall to Bristol and back in his posh Volvo C40 battery electric car.

The results were, as they say, "interesting"!!!

The author charged his car at home, recharged at a Motorway service area; topped up at a friend's home in Bristol and recharged at a service area on the way back.

The author found that slow charging (i.e. overnight at home) is OK and cheap; but at the service area, your price depended on how fast you wanted to top up. Even the high price fast charge would keep you at the services for at least 45 minutes.

So here are his comparisons.

Q E D !

Isn't Technology Wonderful 5

But what is it? Answer tomorrow.

Isn't Technology Wonderful 6 - How Much?

As part of its centenary range, Hornby revived the "Dublo" name for specialist models. The prototype Deltic is the next in this series. It is mainly die-cast (NOT plastic) and comes with DCC. (Don't ask; but the model benefits <?> from all the lastest Model Railway technology including full sound capability.)

The price, a modest £320 or thereabouts. 

OUCH - DOUBLE OUCH.

It won't be available until much later in 2023, so you ave plenty of time yo start topping up your piggy bank.

Or maybe one for £14?

The Dapol (formerly Airfix, former-formerly Kitmaster) is a plastic kit and you would have to assemble it and paint it. You might choose to pay a professional  model maker to make it and paint it and still be multiple quids in.

It doen't have a motor so will end up as a static display - but so will most of the Hornby Dublo models - far too expensive to risk on a working layout.

Isn't Technology Wonderful 7

Alan (the Northampton one) recently received an email from Transport for London.

We are contacting you to inform you of the introduction of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to TfL Oyster and contactless accounts to help ensure that your account and personal details are kept safe. This update will be launched in early 2023. 

As you do today, you will sign in to your TfL Oyster and contactless accounts using your existing email address and password. Following the update, you will be required to set up MFA by providing your mobile number. As part of the update, we have also redesigned some of our website so some screens will look a bit different. 

What is MFA?

MFA is an authentication method providing an additional layer of security to the sign in process when you access your TfL account. This is a check to ensure you are who you say you are, when signing into your account. 

What does this mean to me?

This means that from early 2023, when creating a new account or signing into an existing account, you will be asked to set up MFA to verify your identity. This is applicable to both the Oyster and contactless websites and the TfL Oyster app. Once MFA setup has been completed, you will receive an MFA challenge every time you sign in to confirm you are who you say you are when accessing your account. 

Do I have to set up MFA?

Yes, you must set up MFA to continue using your TfL account. 

It is all part of making Public Transport easier!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 29th January 

Is It A Train? No, It's A Bus! (Part 3)

KThe Trains : A P.S.

The 777s were due to start service early in 2020, so they are now somewhat older 777 units. Their first duty is on trains to Kirkby.

A little more about batteries in the item below.

The Bus - Route 319

"If we can't have a train" says Lancashire Council, "we can have a bus." Of course, it will take about two times longer than the train, but, maybe, it is better than nothing. It starts from the bus station at Skelmersdale, runs via the M58 and finishes at Kirkby bus station ...

... calling at Kirkby "interchange" on the way. A new bus station is in the offing at Kirkby (town) ...

... which looks a bit better. 

The railway station is a sweet little hut at the top of a down ramp to the single platform.

Whether that one shelter ...

... is an adequate qualification for an "interchange" is a bit dubious. But buses do stop right outside the station.

In a typical example of the utter wastefulness of the bus industry, there are THREE sources of local information for new route 319.

fbb could add Traveline but won't.

Third Place - Lancashire County Council

For a council that is desperate to improve public transport to/from Skelmersdale, this offering is appalling. Once upon a time Lancashire printed a comprehensive set of timetable leaflets ...

... and some good local maps.

Now you get two versions of the on-line timetable, for looking at (presumably) ...

... and for printing out.

The "print-out" version is the same style as the old leaflets, so it would be a low-cost doddle to tweak them for printing. No one seems to know (or care?) why every journey has to have the same column head notes. Potty.

There is, of course, no mention of the stated purpose of route 319, namely to provide train connections at Kirkby. Well, there wouldn't be, would there, as Kirkby is in M*rs*y*d* - where be dragons.

And there is an on-line route map for the 319 which is, of course, computer generated uselessness.

It is still useless if you enlarge it.

Second Place - Merseyside Metropolitan County

fbb assumes that Merseyside still prints leaflets. The on-line versions are clearly printable. But these days you never know, so successful is the trend of utter secrecy in useful Public Transport information.

The 319 leaflet is in the County-wide standard form, informative but hardly inspirational. The front cover has a simple (very simple) line diagram of the route ...

... followed by a detailed description of roads served. Then comes the timetable ...

... but with no mention of rail connections. There is a more detailed map, shown by fbb in two chunks ...

... omitting the non-stop M58 bit.

The map doesn't call the Kirkby station stop an interchange! 

The Liverpool network map is excellent, but really only shows buses to and from Liverpool. The 310 to Ormskirk and Skem fades out into a grey expanse of nothingness where the 319 might appear.

Railway services are shown but very faintly; it is a bus map, innit? It also shows buses to Kirkby which reveals service 20 to Headbolt Lane ...

so that's where it is! Will the 319 appear here? Unlikely.

First Place - Stagecoach

The operator of the 319 has done a great deal better than the two local authorities that should be promoting it. 

The buses have an attractive livery ...

... with a powerful and clear brand.

It is actually quite hard to see who operates it ...

... and the leaflet is superb!

The front cover is bright and attractive, creating desire, one might say.

The map is far batter than those provided by the two councils ...

... again shown in two chunks by fbb.

And, shock, horror, knock me down with a wet kipper, every stop is shown.

But there is one extra and stunning feature, studiously ignored by Lancashire and Merseyside ...

... wait for it ...

... IT SHOWS CONNECTING TRAIN TIMES. 

Now, isn't that a good idea for a bus branded as 'Trainlink"? Perhaps the two councils have yet to grasp the 319's "raison d'etre" as they say on Penny Lane.

So fbb will end with a rather difficult question.

Which of the three contenders wants to make a success of the 319 bus?

Clearly the question is far too difficult for the two Councils!

And a thought for the minion who has put the mockers on the rail line to Skelmersdale.

The through bus and rail journey from Skem to Liverpool Central, change at Kirkby, takes just under 50 minutes.

The proposed train service would take approx 25 minutes.

Which version would encourage you to leave your car at home?

Tricky question, isn't it?

  Next Variety blog : Saturday 28th January 

Is It A Train? No, It's A Bus! (Part 2)

 Publishing Bludner! (Again)

Well, it said it was published on the fbb phone but said it wasn't on the fbb laptop. Sadly your blogging genius (!!) did not spot the error until alerted by correspondent Andrew at 0930 yesterday. fbb's usual BFWE (Blog Failure Warning Equipemnt - i.e. Sheffield Correspondent Dave must have been having a lie-in - he usually emails at about 0530!).

For those who missed yesterday's posting, the whole blog is repeated after today's episode.

And so ...

It'll  Be A Gem, New Rails to Skem

The idea is to build a brand new branch off the discontinuous Liverpool to Wigan line ...

... which would need to be rejoined at Kirkby station. The proposed route seems to be as guessed from the map below.

The track would run via Holland Moss with the Pimbo Industrial Estate on its eastern flank ...

... then through the "green gap".

There does seem to be plenty of so pace where land has been "reserved" for making the road into a dual carriageway,

The Council (not sure which one?) has already bought a redundant building ...

... as a likely station site.

The "college" (a posh name for a Secondary School) was closed due to falling rolls.

(Thinks : aren't falling rolls the sort of thing you would want at a sports college?)

Anyway, here is Google Earth's view of the "college" remains (lower left) ...

... and the town centre, upper right. There are also indicative plans to upgrade the town centre, so  a train bus interchange would be a jolly good idea. The current bus station, part of the shopping centre, is hardly lavish!

So the plans seem well prepared. Indeed some organisations are already publicising the new line!

Exciting, eh?

There would appear to be some inconsistency in costings.

Two of the four trains an hour at Kirkby will extend to serve Skelmersdale.

There are also proposals for an hourly service via Wigan to Manchester.

But there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that work has already started on Headbolt Lane station to the east of Kirkby.

It looks very pretty.

But it does mean that trains will be a bit closer to Skelmersdale so the cost will be reduced.

But there's bad news. Notwork Rail have decided that although millions could be electrocuted on the Southern Region of Britains railways and several hundred thousand can be electrocuted on the Merseyrail network, the good folk who live near the one mile extension from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane must be protected at all costs.

So the trains will have to run on batteries. But that means that the shiny new Merseyrail trains ...

... about to enter passenger service, will all have to be retro-fitter with batteries at vast extra cost, just to get to Headbolt Lane and later, presumably, to Skem.

That process will be vastly more expensive than extending the third rail.

Crackpot!

There are other considerations which are worrying the planners. Will the trains be able to get to Skelmersdale and back to fit in with the 15 minute frequency at Kirkby? If not, there will be problems with what will be a single track section.

But there is a bigger problem.

l

The Government won't pay the bills! 

It is all part of the policy of (NOT?) levelling up "The North" and (NOT?) encouraging the move away from cars and on to trains.

Well done Rishi and chums!

Rosie, of course, is from the other lot!

She has recently resigned as MP for West Lancashire and there is a by-elelction comng up on February 9th.

But, do not be too dismayed about the failure of the rail pan, Rosie and the Skemmers, A new express bus service has started this very week. Enter Stagecoach route 319.

fbb will examine the new service tomorrow.

 Next Skelmersdale blog : Friday 27th January 

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

Yesterday's blog repeated

for those that missed it between 0200 and 0930

From A New Town Via Newtown to Seaport

Back then, the BBC was not full of originality for its fictional place names. Aidensfield (ITV Heartbeat)? Fine? Emmerdale (ITV)? Great! Wetherfield (ITV Corrie)? Appropriate considering the weather! Walford (BBC 'Enders)? Believable! Angleton (BBC Newcomers)? Hmmm.

Z-Cars was set in the Merseyside community of Newtown with occasional forays into nearby Seaport. Oft referenced, however, was The A580 East Lancs Road.

The M58 had not been invented way back then.

Our tale centres on another new town a little north and east of Kirkby, the Newtown of John Watt and Charlie Barlow.

fbb refers to Skelmersdale, known locally as Skem. This was Skem in the 1930s.

... and this is today!

You would be harf-pressed to find the original village in the map above. But here it is - more like was - slightly to the east of the north south orange road.

Blaguegate, just about decipherable from the 1930s map, is the clue. 

And Skem had a railway station.

This is looking north towards a level crossing on the red road (map below).

The orange road in today's map is built on the line of the railway.

Now, all that remains is the Railway Tavern (looking South), seen peeping out from behind the station building in the old picture above (to the left of the footbridge).

And here it its location on a map supplied on-line by "Disused Stations".

This former route crossed and juncted with the line between Liverpool and Wigan at Rainford Junction, now just an un-junctioned place name!

There is a line of scrub north of the junction ...

... whilst southbound the track bed is designated as a linear park ..

 ... i.e footpath and cycleway with bushes, right though to the southern edge of Rainford itself.

This was Rainford Junction ...

... looking west with lines to Skelmersdale and Ormskirk veering right ...

... todays remaining line to Liverpool going straight on and the route to St Helens off to the left. Note, for reference, there was no curve to Skem from the Liverpool direction.

Well, the footbridge and signal box  are still there ...

... and the station is now called just Rainford. 

It used to be a great place for Pacers ...

... and, once upon a time, through trains ran from Liverpool to Wigan.

Now you have to change at Kirkby ...

... where there is a physical gap, appropriately buffer stopped, between the electrics from Liverpool and the diesels to Wigan.

But Lancashire County Council wants to extend the electric rails to Skelmersdale by turning left somewhere near the former Rainford Junction.

Excited blog readers should read-on tomorrow!

To add to the excitement, Kirkby has a bus interchange.

Limmattalbhn A P.S.

fbb forgot to explain. The brand new trams for Line 20 are seven segment vehicles.

They are reversible with driving cab at both ends - unlike Zurich city trams which are single ended and need turning circles.

Also missed by fbb is a tunnel at Spital ...

.. shown as a dotted line on the tram map.

It is seen below under construction ...

... and from the air.