Hospitalised Blog No 3

 Looking At Low-Cost Lumo ... 

.. where we can explore and enjoy a brand new service from Stirling to Euston. The timetable started on 17th May.

only it didn't.

Apparently to run a train service you need trains! And Lumo didn't have any!

Bur, undaunted First Rail managed to get one whole train working to start running on 25th May ...

... but only if you want to go from Stirling in the morning and come back straight away.

That's the trouble with these low cist operations. They are super smashing if you are happy to travel when Lumo wants you to!

Anyway, on Monday of this week you couldn't!

The only Lumo train that was working wasn't. The headline writer implied that this disaster was announced in Parliament by the current Transport Minister Heidi.

It wasn't - but journos just love a joyous jape at others' misfortune.

Many would say that Lumo was loony to start the service with only one working train.

But maybe they are due for enormous fines for not operating their booked schedule?

But in a few days ...

One train in each direction!

If they both work! Stock up with gaffer tape, super glue and fuse wire. Have a lump hammer handy and a well greased mole wrench - and. ta-da,

You might keep both running until ...

... another bright blue rabbit is pulled out of the hat that is the Lumo depot.

Of course these panels tell you nothing about intermediate timings which are, as ever, available on the journey planner. 

So, basically, if you know what the timetable IS, before you can find the timetable details!

GREAT!

So fbb guessed that these build-up journeys were actually part of the full and eventual timetable. So the brave old bloke, frail and hospitalised, decided to click on "timetables" on the Lumo web site.

Well done, First; so typical of your reliable web presence!

But, as ever, there is another Lumo web site which does work.

So, here, complete with a troupe of cheer leaders, a four piece jazz combo and a guest appearance of Heidi Alexander, is the Monday to Friday Lumo from 17th May which isn't ...

... but will be (might be!) from 26th July.

Due to fbb's current frailty, the old bloke cannot arouse his ferroequinological fervour to check whether the interim times are truly a subset of the " running a.littlr late" full timetable. 

Eager readers can enlarge and check below..

Seemples!

For the record, the train at the head of this article is NOT a Stirling Euston train. The slowly evolving Stirling to Euston service will be rub bt refurbished class 222 diesels.

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

As promised .. R D & E Hospital Food

Dateline Tuesday 2nd June

From out on-the-spot correspondent

0700 Nreakfast

Choice of cereals ...

... toast butter and marmalade. Two slices offered. Plus, of course, tea or coffee.

 1030 Tea, coffee biscuits

1200 Lunch

.Fruit juice and/or soup, main (sausage, onion gravy, beans and choice of potatoes, the latter declined by fbb.

Pud, pear half and I've cream. fbb too his pud course as a started to avoid structural degredatio if the ice cream.

There is a voice of five mains and three puds.

T and C apply as usual

1500 Afternoon bevvy

Biscuits and snacks available. But look, posh crisps?

1700 Supper (i.e. High Tea)

Similar range to lunch.

T & C of course

2000 Bedtime (?) drink ...

... taken with a bedtime snack.delivered with the evening meal.

Your crackers, fbb!

O.K. It's not quite The Ritz, the grub is obviously "caterings" rather than Master Chef. But there is plenty of it. And if you are struggling with the poor image of hospital food, move to Exeter before you become ill. 

It seems to be working OK for fbb.

hospitalised Blog No 2

 Cross Channel Competition

The above headline popped into fbb's 'device' yesterday. It heralded a lengthy article about forthcoming competition for Eurostar.

Now Eurostar is part of the Thalys group and the UK has sold it's share out to Europe. And, of course we are all truly thrilled to be part of Europe but not part of Europe. Or we might become more part of Europe but not really part of Europe.

Anyway it is all very clear and straightforward!!!

Then, do we remember when a Deutsch Bahn ICE train arrived majestically at St Pancras ...

... as a harbinger of a new competitive service. The  had been hauled through the Channel by a freight loco and pushed ignominiously into Barlow's train shed by a shunter!

But the promised service did not H

harbinge?

Although the service would remain an 'aspirations', the time was not yet right.

In fact DB decided that the cost of the multi voltage, multi control systems trains was too great.

Next Dickie was pictured in positive pose on the steps leading up to the Eurostar platforms at St P.

But, wisely. Branson the Bearded dis not waste his money propelling a train for a photo shoot.

it was a fake!

It would probAbly take fbb five years to set up his competitive service from London to Paris, assuming he could find idiots investors with astronomically deep pockets to pay the astronomical bills.

So the idea of competition becoming "heated" is mayhap still in la la land!

But, hold fast brave Brits bursting to cross La Manche at cheapo fares in a highly competitive market!

Tricky Dickie has ordered his trains.

Well, perhaps not "ordered" but might be going to order!

Then Italian State railways stands in eager anticipation. The company has aspirations to compete with SNCF and is planning a mega new depot in Paris.

If it happens the Italians would beat blue blood (? perhaps not blue!) Brit Branon to to potentially crowded platforms at St P.

But hasn't Sir Richard said he will be running from Old Oak Common or Stratford or Ealing Broadway? Wherever he terminates he will need to get the Customs people to set up massive security.

Because we are not part of Europe and probably never will be event if we claim we are.

And, anyway. the Italians have already been turned down once by the Office if Rail Regulation!

Quite what the UK ORR's part in this fun and games is unclear as very little of it, if any, will soil the UK's tracks!

But never mind, eh, because ...

... French/Belgian Eurostar is ready to defend this Sceptred Isle against Johnny foreigner; and while they are at it. poke the bearded wonder in the eye at the same time.

"We will fight them on the beaches!" as some grumpy bloke with a big cigar once said!

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

Medical Report

Nothing much happened on Sunday or yesterday. IF the blood dribble has stopped or does stop naturally, there will be no need for further "intervention"; from either end!

GROSS!

Much routine "obs" revealing "stable numbers". Numbers of what is not entirely clear!

But a few more days "inside" seem likely.

Tomorrow a full and frank expose of hospital food in addition to a Public Transport snippet. You may be surprised!! 

Hospitalised Blog No 1

Please Note

Still here at Wonford Hospital receiving the mis byt surrounding care fro  utterly (ludicrously!) dedicated staff.

Progress is slow but progressing.

Until things are fully resolved, medically, fbb will attempt snippet blogs, hopefully daily.

No 1 Son visited oday and pronounced that the NHS internet was 7 up and 5 down. So that's all right then. As he left the ward the internet died yet again!

Aaaaargh!

fbb is not sure which is worse; the anguish of dodgy internet or unresolved internal bleeding in yer gastrics.

But, although they haven't found the bleeding problem (Mind you language, fbb), the numbers have gone up from a low of 90 on Friday to 98 today. So that's good news, innit?

And so to today's blog ...

... which was compiled under difficult circumstances

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

To Hell And Back!

No aspersions are directed at the NHS. Matron would be furious!

So here is the headline.

And a health warning! One of the really weird visions in the Bible book of Bevelation is if the Devil appears as a Beast which is given a Number.

Except that in 2000 years of Christianity nobody has ever worked out "the meaning"! Whatever your personal faith, it always seems crackpot to treat t.he idea of a spiritual force of evil in a jocular manner.

Midland Red had  a route 666 in the Leicester area which seemed to survive!

But the bus runs to a community that has nothing to do with the realm of all evil.

Called "Hel"!

To find out where, you need a map.of Poland.

If we zoom in to Gdansk (once called Danzig in the old money) ...

... there is a strange archipelago or peninsula, at the end of which is Hel.

Lovers of 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy will doubtless recognise this as the work of Slatibartfast, whose specialism was the Fijords.

Being Flixbus, three is no timetable to be found. Using the Flixbus web site is unhelpful as "no journeys are currently operating".

One thing is certain, Hel is a far nicer place than Hell -- which really should be avoided.

Here are some pictures of this unusual land form.

And the lumpy end.

And Hel itself.

And a question...

.,.. how easy would it be to get from Seaton to Hel and back?

 TEMPORARY WITHDRAWAL OF SERVICE

AGAIN!

fbb has enjoyed a further stay in the NHS's finest hotel at Wonford, Exeter.

Endoscope - the pointed end
goes down your throat -
Painlessly!

This was for a second Endoscopy which again appear to show no internal bleeding.

A typical view of your internals.

The prognosis is currently unclear.

wife and No 1 son visited, so a busy busy day. 

Also "obs" every hour overnight Friday to Saturday induced weariness. 

Hopefully a  Monday blog will appear!

Trains, Trams and Buses ....

 .... At Norfolk Bridge

... and on Leaves in Street, the observant pigeon may spot this "stuff" on both sides of the tracks

This is the remnants of Attercliffe Road railway station. It opened in 1870 and hung on with a minimalist peak hour service in 1995.

Facilities were always 'limited' ...

... as above in the 1960s. It was hardly lavish in steam days.

Norfolk Bridge would have been a great place for tram spotters.

FOUR frequent Tram services passed by. Until 1954 (?), when the new road bridge over the River Don opened ...

... through trams ran between Sheffield and Rotherham, jointly operated by the two corporations.

Rotherham trams were notable as being one ended, so the route used a loop of town centre roads at rach end.

After the bridge break in service. trams ran from Sheffield to Tinsley ...

... and from Rotherham to Templeborough.

See. It is a bus on to Sheffield!

Unfortunately the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital does not provide access to a Sheffield and Rotherham tram and bus archive, but fbb's slightly unreliable memory is that trams would have run about every 4 minutes plus huge numbers of works extras.

There were also trams via Norfolk Bridge that veered off the main drag and ran to Sheffield Lane toop, further adding to the frequency.

Replacement buses were

17 to Sheffield Lane Top

24 to Tinsley

69 to Rotherham

In the 1960s the 69 bus ran every FOUR minutes Saturday daytime's, somewhat more frequent than Monday to Friday off peak.

In 2026 there are approx 8 buses an hour all the way from Sheffield to Rotherham but not all via the traditional main road.

Confused.com? Here's the tram map again.

 

 Next come the Trams to Handsworth. 

Again they would have run about every 4 mins during the day.

Replacement buses were

52 Handsworth, Ballfield & Woodhoouse

At its peak the core service ran every 6 minutes.

Running alongside the 52 as fast as Darnall were trams to Prince of Wales Road.

Again these ran at least every 4 minutes with extra works services at shift times.

Replacement buses were

71 Prince of Wales Road

At its peak, buses ran approx every 6 minutes. but there is no direct equivalent. Only service 6 runs almost the length of Prince of Wales Road.

in 2026 route 6 serves just a short part of this once busy tram and bus road with a few evening and Sunday 6a buses all the way.

The 18 is a sort of replacement for Sheffield's much loved and much lamented Outer Circle route. It does get into the city centre but a very long way round.

It is not quite the same as a tram ever 4 or a bus every 6 minutes!

How the mighty are fallen!

But overall with three tram routes at every 4 minutes plus extras you could spot approx 25 trams and hour in each direction!

WOW!

Of course, the whole area has changed out of all recognition; there a few house, fewer employment opportunities and fewer ships.

Here is a 1979s bus map of Norfolk Bridge.

Medical Report 

A bit of a setback yesterday. A repeat of last Wednesday's explosion in the waste disposal department caused by internal bleeding. The endoscopy on Thurs showed the bleeding had stopped! More tests!

Matron (NOT played by the late Hattie Jacques) defined the "event" as a "blip"

Some blip?

Ooooh Matron!