Saturday Variety

Bemused By Brisbane Baladi

Yeronga is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; and if you go down to the woods one day, you'll be sure of a big surprise.

You might meet one of these ...

... a London Transport "Olly" - a Leyland Olympian for the uninitiated. At first glance it looks quite normal.

But the destination shows "Baladi Cafe" and there is a strange black box above the centre doors.

To observe this omniboligical oddity, you would need to find yourself on the road bordering the Brisbane River close to the Watersports centre ...

... viewed for real by courtesy of Google Earth.

A train to Yeerongpilly then a TWO hourly 127 bus would get you there.

Hmmm?

Maybe walk from Yeronga station?

The bus sits in the car park ...

... but is registered and can be driven there,

The servery is right beside the centre doors ...

... with the kitchen area to the right thereof.

... and, guess what, there are seats and tables upstairs.

Notice the recently installed air conditioning to the right and to the left.

There are no reports to say whether you can still ting the bell.

The caff used to be in a trailer ...

... but the bus represents an expansion o facilities and cover if it ever rains. It does occasionally!

You can also get "merch" at the bus!

No doubt someone will know which London Olly is now purveying tasty tacos, nice nachos and big burger buns in Brizzy.

'Baladi' is Arabic, for 'homely', 'welcoming'.

There is a panel explaining the bus' London origins ...

... but; is it the only double decker in Brisbane?

Expensive Electricity Event 

A few days ago, GoAhead Southern Vectis "launched" a fleet of 31 all-electric buses ... 

... and very smart they look.

But they are only buses! They are currently on driver training duty.

Southern Vectis has spent £10,700,000 on 31 of these beauties which is very nearly a whole fleet renewal.

The Isle of Wight Council Tax payers have joyfully chipped in £733,000.

You and me (and a few others, nationally) have thrown £5,700,000 into the Vectis collecting plate.

And they will make very little difference to air quality on the Isle of Wight and no measurable difference to global warming.

Has anyone worked out whether there will be enough electric in the wires from the mainland, to fill up 31 buses overnight with enough power for a day's  service? Has Vectis got enough charge points?

Incidentally, fbb prefers the "two greens" livery to the khaki yellow!

A Venture, A Virgin, A Vanti ...

Remember Wrexham and Shropshire Railway ...

..

... a brave and innovative service started by Chiltern Trains and quickly dropped by Arriva after their take over.

Virgin started a return train each day from Shrewsbury to Euston ...

... continued by First's Avanti ...

... but abandoned in 2024.

But the MP is keen to see the latest scheme happen ...

... and happen successfully.

The proposed route is different and "interesting" ...

.

... but, like the Chiltern scheme, trains will not run via Birmingham New Street and International. For the benefit of Wrexham passengers, they should - and Shrewsbury folk would like an equivalent of the Virgin /Avanti route gets back on track.

Walsall would love a proper service to London; and Coleshill would be a useful rail head for North and East Birmingham suburbs; also North of Coventry.

Nothing is yet finalised.

The latest acronym is Wales, Shropshire and the Midlands Railway.

Queensland Rail Update

Not discovered by fbb research is the Savannahlander tourist train from Cairns,

There are two possible reasons fbb did not discover it. (a) it wasn't on the map, and/or (b) it is not operating as recent floods have "taken out" a bridge.

Hmmm.

The bridge is still there but not in the best of conditions?

More stuff tomorrow.

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 8 March 

Other Networks : Intro

 Brisbane Is Big ...

... and has its very own Gold Coast.

The population of the city us approx 1.6 million with the greater urban area taking the total up to 2.4 million.

It's origins are, as is so often in Australia, in a convict colony at Moreton Bay.

Convicts' work was demeaning and cruel ...

... whilst discipline was vicious and unrelenting.

It is not surprising that colonial Britain has left a nasty taste in the mouths of indigenous Australians and the descendants of the very unwilling immigrants.

The colony was later named after the River Brisbane which, in turn, was given the name of an earlier Governor of New South Wales ...

... scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane.

Queensland was, inevitably, named after the second longest reigning monarch of GB. She also lent her name to a main river crossing in central Brisbane.

The Foundation Stone was laid with much ceremony in 1824.

A temporary toll bridge for pedestrians was laid on the scaffolding for the main build. Sadly, the whole bridge project collapsed, as, inevitably, did the temporary structure. Ferries continued to provide the link.

A more successful crossing opened in 1874 ...

... seen above with horse tram.

This was replaced in 1897 with a much bigger structure offering better clearance for river traffic.

Note the two porticos emphasising the quality and strength of the new bridge. Here it is busy with traffic in the 1960s.

Then, even this splendid structure was replaced (and subsequently demolished) with the opening of a brand new Victoria bridge in 1969.

The most recent change came in 2021 when, amazingly, the bridge was closed to all motor traffic except buses. With buses only on the main carriage ways, there is a cycle way in one flank ...

... and foot way on the other.

The bridge is now part of one of Brisbane's network of dedicated busways with enhanced facilities at most stops.

One delight is that one of those porticos has been retained and a reminder of the previous bridge.

It make a fitting memorial to a great thoroughfare.

In case you are worried about driving your car across the river, Note there are other bridges including a shiny new one not far away.

Brisbane began, as we saw above, with horse trams which begat the usual electric, but spindly four wheelers.

Trams came to an end in the late sixties.

Some, much to the horror of todays Health and Safety fanatics, had open sides with enhanced opportunities to hop off, hop on, or even fall off!

In case you wondered, they really were open!

Tram stops were equally basic ...

... with hopelessly inadequate protection from errant traffic and extremes of weather. Folk must have been tougher and braver back then.

But the tram network was large ...

... with Roma Street station and ...

... Victoria Bridge being notable city centre landmarks.

Brisbane had trolleybuses ...

... which arrived in 1951 ...

... and only lasted until 1969.

There were buses as well ...

... which looked like this as the trams disappeared.

Leyland nationals from the UK ....

... some with route branding ...

... gave way to something less "colonial".

Trams and buses were run by the City authorities ...

... and they still are, but nowadays under the umbrella of Translink.

More to follow in due course.

  Next Variety blog : Saturday 7th March