Peterville Playbus Project
This extra facility for the Peterville Quarry Heritage Railway will stand next to the "Outlet" store. The 'bus' has gained a grey roof to slightly mitigate the very red red. The entrance area includes toilets and a small outdoor play area, now equipped with yellow rubber shreds flooring and some very safe play equipment.
The (very) mini maze is chunks of unused doors and gates.
The ladder bits were for signals with the bases of the mushrooms being surplus parts from an Aitfix/Dapol platform canopy kit. The coloured caps of the mushrooms are ...
Bargain Of The Week ...
... from Model Shop TMC
A good reduction of £12.23, so something of a bargain. However, 'Earl Marischal' is a big 4-6-2 steam loco.
That would be a huge bargain at less than 33 smackeroos!
TMC (The Model Centre) is at Hill Farm, Beck Hole, Whitby; should you wish to pop in to check on more bargains. It may be Whitby postally, but ...
It is possible to get close to Beck Hole by public transport ...
... you need to aim, however, for Goathland (Aidensfield from TV's Heartbeat - map above bottom right) ...
... either via the North York Moors Railway ...
.. or a Yorkshire Coastliner bus.
Then there is a walk of just over a mile.
There is a quaint little pub at Beck Hole ...
... from which it is but a short further walk over the railway ...
... then a right hand turn ...
.. and along a private road untainted by Google Streetview ...
... and there is TMC.
You could, of course, book Vernon Scripp's taxi (driven by David).
fbb thinks that the TMC shop does not get much passing trade, although its web site is currently packed with some huge bargains.
Sadly, it is a rather long journey (of 329 miles) from Seaton - so mail order is the only option!
ABC - Autonomous Bus Cambridge
Both Roger French (Bus and Train User blog) and Geoff Marshall (YouTube) have expounded about the latest waste of money test bed for a driverless bus.
For a full version of their thoughts search for the bold labels above.
They both seemed enthusiastic about the technology with Geoff pointing out the dozen (approx) sensors; front ...
.... side ...
... and back ...
... which replace the driver.
Those sensors not only 'read' the traffic lights ...
... but they tell the non driving driver what they 'see'!
Geoff took some video 'footage' ('computer chipoage'?) of the steering wheel turning without human hands.
But, of course the bus does have a driver, currently a legal requirement. fbb has quoted reports of two driverless bus-with-driver trials ...
... in Didcot and Edinburgh.
For the Edinburgh (Forth Bridge) trial the driver had to take over at both termini (Gyle Shopping Centre and Ferrytoll Park'n'Ride), not because of an emergency but because the clicknology could not cope.
At Didcot, the clever stuff could not handle some temporary road works or the entry and exit at Didcot bus station.
The Cambridge Connector was no better. The indicator in the bus glowed red when Orto Nonnymuss was driving ...
... and unlit ...
... when Sam took over.
Sam took the wheel at bus stops in laybys and in the narrow hospital roads.
In Geoff's video, the nice man from Whippet (the company that operates the bus) explained the hospital bit. 
Apparently, in certain places round the back streets of Addenbrooke's Hospital where the roads are narrow, the bus needs to poke its nose and/or its rear end over the white line or over the kerb. 
But the sensors are programmed to prevent the bus from crossing the white lines or nibbling at the kerb!
So a human being is more capable of making such delicate and 'fuzzy logic' decisions, whereas programming the confuser to switch off some of its safety functions at Addenbrookes might leave an autonomous bus dangerously out of control if it isn't done right.
Of course the techies will come up with some clever stuff, but ...
... who knows what the future might bring?
An awful lot of money (some of it fbb's and yours) us being spent on these trials ...
... all of which have ended inconclusively.
It seems unlikely that driverless buses without driver will ever be seen on the streets of Seaton.
But they said that about the horseless carriage!
... drawing pins!
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Next Brizzy Bus Blog : Mon 9 Mar
