Sunday Variety

Substantially Significant Snippets?

You would think the "reporters" might have access to a genuine picture of a Metroline bus.

Or maybe not? Every picture of a Metroline London bus that fbb can find has the London Buses roundel below the lower deck windows!

The fake one, created by Artificial Incompetence (AI) doesn't.

If it's new on the railway, it must be Great British Railways and public ownership.

It isn't and we don't. GBR hasn't happened yet. Several operator companies have transferred to state control; but this is nominal and financial. GBR does not yet exist; see what is written on the repainted trains.

It is the same people running everything as before "nationalisation". There appears to be a resounding "no change" when you join the club.

Knowing the huge lead time of any project, it is inconceivable that GBR had anything to do with the new footbridge. Except there isn't a new footbridge and Pokesdown already has lifts!

The lifts are not available for public use, being for "goods" only - whatever that means at a passenger only station!

The good news is that the contractors are putting new lifts into the existing shafts.

Apparently this will cost £7.4 million, being funded by South Western Railway and Network Rail's  £4.4 million and a dob from HMG of £3 million.

For two lifts and a bit of rejigging at platform level?

National Grid Not Good?

We know that the National Grid is in big trouble because the bosses keep telling us everything is fine. There are even expensive advertisements adulating the company's resolute readiness for whatever meteorological mayhem might manifest itself this winter.

So stock up with candles and a Camping Gaz stove if you are all electric.

If you are anxious about fire risk, then a heavy duty gazebo and some warm clothing might be a useful asset. 

And if you have an electric car?

A few packs on the back seat with a lot of wire and bulldog clips might get you there!

Swinney's Scottish Scheme

Scotland's First Minister has caused a bit of a kerfuffle at the SNP annual conference. Without discussing it with, apparently, anyone, he has decided to take over all public transport north of Hadrian's Wall.

It would be fair to say that nobody is very happy. Publicly very disturbed are the very wealthy brothers who own McGills.

They have already had spats with Strathclyde PTE (or whatever it is called this week!).

"It will turn out to be a bonny stramash", reported a learned and much respected but anonymous Scottish bus manager!

Hmmm. Br**n S**t*r's changed a bit in his old age!

Not Just Scotland: Now Brizzle!

It won't be quicker. It won't be better. It will take ages!

Peter Parker Probes the Public

Pardon? Oh, sorry!

It's not Peter, it's Richard, West Midlands Mega Mayor.

The mind boggles!

Now he wants the Brummie folk to invent a name for his fantastic franchised fleet ...

... which could easily be the bus equivalent of "Boaty McBoatface?

fbb Is A Naughty Boy!

On Friday, your benign befuddled blogger awoke from his slumber and, as is an everyday essential exercise, he checked the blog. He did not check for spooling mistokes, for factual accuracy, correct grammar ot just plain incompetence. He checked to see if he had remembered to press the button to "post" his profusely popular posting.

He had!

Imagine his consternation to be told via a red warning triangle and a warning panel, that his voluptuous verbiage "contained sensitive information" and was being presented as "access restricted".

Page reads were higher than usual at 0730, so the warnings went unheeded.

The blog, you may remember, was about buses to Pan Estate in Newport Isle of Wight, an area obviously packed with secret government research establishments, the Isle of Wight espionage academy and a stockpile of nuclear missiles ...

.... disguised as Council houses; and, far left, a Co-op one stop shop.

Google also sent fbb an email.

But, as a high ranking international spy, disguised as a fat octogenarian, fbb was ready for this.

Before brekkies on Friday, fbb copied the whole "sensitive" blog into a new Blogger file and re-posted it, deleting the blog with potentially dangerous material, apparently obvious to everyone at Blogger HQ.

The re-posted posting contained no changes, no redacted text or deleted pictures and ...

... guess what? ...

... attracted no interference from the bewildering Blogger bots!

Above picture courtesy of "Meta" HQ, Blogger department.

Peterville Castle Halt

Painting Progress

1. Paint the raised areas, door frames etc, blue

2. Make a mess of it.

3. Paint the main area white using thinned paint which flows up to, but not onto the blue.

4. Get white paint on the blue

6. Touch up the blue carefully (?)

Go to item 2: repeat ad infinitum. 

Then give up and hope people won't notice.

It will look OK from the usual viewing distance.

 Next Clapham Junction blog ; Mon 26 Oct 

Saturday Variety

Nah Then - 'Eidi's 'Appy 'Announcement

Heidi, Tracy and various other West Yorkshire glitterati are pictured near the road bridge the crosses Bradford Interchange railway station. It does show that there is a bit of shelter, but not much. Below, same platforms, same bridge, opposite direction ...

It is certainly not the epitome of Norther Grandeur that it was when it was called Bradford Exchange.

There are two stations in the City. Interchange on a new site a little to the south of Exchange, and Forster Square, a few frustrating streets to the north.

Hints are being made that the new Interchange will become a  through station, thus eliminating the tedium of a reversal for cross-Bradford services. Here are some on-line snippets explaining the proposals.

The key phrase above is "several locations are under review" but apart from emotional hype, there are no actual plans!

Then this:-

Hmm. fbb is not sure that a through station in itself will eliminate delays. The Trans Pennine upgrade is supposed to be doing that already.

Then we have the oddest piece of inconsequentiality.

Surely a new station will not speed up trains as much as the above. A through station would reduce cross-Bradford times, but have little effect on journey times from the City to Leeds or Manchester.

Years ago, there was a proposal to link Exchange with Forster Square, which would create TWO through stations, but wouldn't be much use for the Trans Pennine route.

There's quite a lot of stuff in the way ...

... with Forster Square upper left and Exchange bottom centre.

So it would have to be a tunnel. Here us an old "Clearing House" map which, ironically ...

.. shows an even older proposal (GREEN dashes) to link the two stations. But if we look at those junctions south of Exchange, we spy the obligatory smear of foliage in two places, one making a sort of triangular junction.

Further south is the remnants of a second line, seen more clearly on a street map. This one looks a possibility for a new through station.

Bradfordians eagerly await the Revelation!

Completion is offered vaguely for the 2030s, so don't hold your breath!

Express Nacional

News is breaking that the much loved bastion of British scheduled coach services is selling itself to Spain.

National Express owner in talks over £282mn take-private deal

 

Mobico has received 46p per share offer from Spanish company Autobuses de Leon

Wrong picture choice! "Alsa" (in blue) is already owned by National Express..

The owner of National Express is in talks with a potential Spanish buyer over a takeover that could value the company at about £282mn, potentially adding to a wave of delistings from the London stock market.

 

Mobico, which also operates bus, train and coach businesses across Spain, Germany, Morocco and the US, said in a stock exchange statement on Wednesday that it had received an approach from Autobuses de Leon (AdL), a Spanish company backed by CMC Group, which is Mobico’s largest investor.

 

The 46p per share cash offer is at a 55 per cent premium to Tuesday’s closing price and close to double the level seen several weeks ago. Mobico’s shares jumped 31 per cent after the company revealed AdL’s approach.

 

Mobico said it considered the offer “to be at a value that it is minded to recommend” to its shareholders. It has given AdL access to its records “to progress towards the announcement of a firm intention to make an offer”.

 

They Are Buying Debt!

While the deal would value the company’s equity at £282 million, Mobico also has more than £1 billion of debt that is due to be refinanced in the coming years.

 

If it proceeds, the deal would mark the latest delisting from the London Stock Exchange. A number of companies have been snapped up by private equity firms and international buyers in recent years.

 

Alsa, Cosmen and CMC

CMC Group, the business owned by Spain’s Cosmen family, first invested in Mobico when it sold Spanish coach operator Alsa to NatEx in 2005. It now owns about 26 per cent of Mobico’s shares.

 

Alsa has been a bright spot for Mobico, whose mixed performance in other divisions and heavy debt burden have resulted in its credit rating being downgraded.

CMC is an investment company that makes money by buying and selling companies. First Bus, of the UK's biggest, is the only one left actually owned by its bus operating Limited Company. 

And, yes, it us all a far cry from making money by making something for people to buy or providing a service that people need.

The Mystery Of Route 81

Eagle eyed correspondent Andrew was concerned, 

When fbb was writing about the Hydrobus (81) linking to Red Jet (no route number), bus from ferry to Southampton station (81) and headcode 81 on the above, Andrew was uneasy.

Surely that train was not a route 81 from Southampton as the type of train (multi-door outer suburban) was not right for the Southampton fast service.

After expressing his unease, a second email arrived confession that all was well with the headcode, even if the train were a wrong 'un!

It's Clapham Junction quoth he.

So fbb checked, first looking for "Granada". The ever reliable interwebnet had pictures of said palace of cinematographic delights, now repurposed.

And now to Streetview.

First a view in the same direction, but satellite provided ...

.... with the terrace of houses in the 81 picture visible just off the bridge. From the opposite direction ...

... we see the ex-Granada!

Thanks, Andrew, for creating and resolving a non- mystery!

Light Bleed : Likely Bodge

To prevent internal lights bleeding through plastic walls, you can use paint but it needs to be dark and thick! So fbb uses cereal boxes.

Cut the card roughly then trim to fit, The long bit goes outside at the back because the building is right tight up against the backscene.

It looks better when it is trimmed ...

... and with the roof on!

Painting next.

And fbb has received a "letter" from "The Blogger Team" - details in tomorrow's blog.

 

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 25th Oct