Technical Troubles Emergency blog (1)

Hamlet, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude

Readies will doubtless be familiar with Shakespeare's ,"Hamlet", notably Act 4 Scene 5. Here King Claudius utters those memorable words,

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."

Most authorities explain these words as follows:

Claudius uses this metaphor when he is completely overwhelmed by a cascading wave of crises. Polonius has been murdered, Hamlet has been exiled, the public is restless, Ophelia has lost her mind, and her brother Laertes is secretly returning from France to start a rebellion. Claudius realizes that his problems are not arriving one at a time, but are crashing down on him all at once in a massive wave of misfortune.

But fbb knows different. He understands the taxt thus:-

"When technological troubles come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."

In the last year or so, fbb has been moving from laptop to tablet for composing blogs. It is easier for the old man's slightly dodgy eyes with a brighter picture and more old-man-friendly operating system.

BUT ...

Since about a week ago, the device has not been charging effectively. On Saturday night it was on charge all night and only made it to 50% then going into near terminal decline throughout yerterday.

Things had declined to 17% by lunchtime yesterday and it WAS plugged in to the charger ...

... AND, the charger was plugged into mains electric!

Aaaaargh! And even more Aaargh!.

Then there is an uncomfortable dental extraction tomorrow.

And the fbbs are off on holiday for a few days on Thursday (of which more later in the week). The hotel has dodgy WiFi in the lounge area only.

"When any troubles come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."

So it is back to the laptop with a need to re-re-organise downloaded pictures and cope with a less satisfactory screen.

Oh yes : and both the aged fbbs have been beset by minor but debilitating ailments over the weekend.

fbb will soldier on with perseverance and determination, BUT ...

Wuhan Buses And Trolleybuses

That would be lovely, but where do you start?

Thus far, fbb has found no timetables, no complete list of routes and no map, so immersing himself in the rhythm of this dynamic city is a bit of a problem! The minimalist web site that provided the above is not much help despite claiming to be a guide of Wuhan buses.

No thanks! At least not if fbb has to cope with the Chinese language.

Apparently you can pay the driver with money - now there's a novelty.

Or you can use technology including on-line payment.

So that is all we need to know?

Hmmm?

One fact does emerge, however, is that the basic bus fare in the city is just TWO Yen. A Yen is about 11p. 

So your normal city bus ride costs you a tad over two shillings in real money. Maybe there is some benefit of total state control?

fbb suspects that the full timetables information is available, but only on Chinese language web sites. 

He has had a little more success with information on double deck tour buses ...

... of which more tomorrow.

New Times for New Quay

It would be fair to say that the Par to Newquay branch line was allowed to decline to almost nothing over the years. Economies brought a reduction in the track layout which in turn brought a reduction of service.

So real trains gave way to a poor diesel service at unhelpful frequencies.

Until a few years ago, Newquay station would better have been described as Newquay platform.

The station has been given something of an upgrade, but from the May timetable change the erratic service has become hourly. There have been substantial improvements to the track layout by reinstating passing places and improving the signalling.

The trains are better too. 

But just look at the new timetable.

The summer schedule is not "clock face" due to the need to accommodate through trains from Exeter and London.

But look at the beauty of the winter schedule. There is a train from Par every hour at a fixed sixteen minutes past. fbb thinks that Newuay has never before had such a good service!

And Newquay station is getting better! It has even got a Tessile Canopy at the buffer stops end!

Internet Idiocy ...

... which does NOT look like the picture above!

Neither is there a cruise ship that looks like this ...

... or a railway station that looks like this.

This "accident" never happened ...

... what would a large sea-going cargo ship be doing on a reservoir?

But these gets fbb's vote for utter nonsense on-line.

It is just possible (but only by a huge stretch of credibility) that a passing drone could have caught this near miss at a busy level crossing. But what are the chances of this?

An alligator ambles across just as both the identical trains are passing in exactly the same place.

No alligators were harmed in this computer montage!

As well a Wuhan Tour buses we will be looking at fbb's problems with some of these.

Coming soon - hopefully?

 Next Emergency blog : Tuesday 19th May 

Sunday Variety

No Ferry : No Trains

As well as losing its ferry from Southampton, news breaks that a proposal to bring a passenger train service back to Marchwood and Hythe has been rejected.

Seems a pity not to get something going on the branch which has remained in situ serving the Marchwood military depot, and, at one time, the Fawley oil refinery.

Intending passengers have Bluestar buses ...

Both the 8 ...

... and the 9 are a long way round compared with the ferry ...

... and oh, so slow.

Definitely an opportunity missed.

fbb guesses that Aliiance Rail would make its money out of the through journeys to Waterloo. The branch line would not generate enough revenue for a fully commercial service.

But isn’t that the sort of thing we are promised from Great British Railways?

Promises, promises.

Leyton Gets A Lift - Two Of Them!

We all applaud the desire to make our railway stations "accessible" by those of reduced mobility. At 81, fbb is getting that way, preferring a lift to stairs any time!

Leiyton is on the Central line of Lindon's Underground, lower left on the map below ...

... one stop east from Stratford.

The station was opened in 1856 by the Eastern Counties Railway but rapidly became part of The Great Eastern. The lines gave up their steam trains post WW2.

Broadly speaking, the station has remained unchanged since the halcyon days of passing trams.

Although the frontage has been "improved" (?).

There is little architectural merit in the 'upgrade' results ...

... although the shape of the building is unchanged.

Now work is under way to provide lifts and a new entrance, replacing the existing stairs down from street level.

The new construction is squeezed in atop the retaining wall ...

... which prevents the station from falling into the A12 Eastern Avenue dual carriageway which now parallels the track.

London Transport provides us with artist's impressions of the new entrance ...

... which has no empathy with the original building!

Maybe the long-term plan is to demolish the original and stick to the new utilitarian.

To be fair, the new entrance will be brighter, broader and more beautiful compared with the existing rather gloomy platform access.

The route across the new footbridge is better shown on the diagram below.

And below, the new footbridge looking back towards the old building.

Southampton Tram's Superb Transformation

This is how it was ...

... and this  is how it is!

How folk enjoyed the luxury of a tram ride in the good old days!

And this is the celebration.

fbb does not think the tram ran under its own power - no electric overhead - but the refurb (complete rebuild?) is superb.

Congrats all round.

Remember Toy Trains ...

... that looked like this?

But only if you had wealthy child+indulgent parents! Now wealthy old men collect old models and fill every space on their layout with track and trains.

Scenery, what scenery?

Now you can do the silly things with your layout that you could never afford in your youth.

Look, trains so long that they would never fit in the sidings!

The wagons are probably a rake of these.

This was one of the first plastic bodied SD6 wagons nade by Hornby Dublo. But all SD6 wagons used the very poor quality chassis dating back to 1938. No wonder Hornby collapsed in 1966.

Tomorrow fbb hopes to return to Wuhan, but he will also be looking at this.

  Next Wuhan blog : Monday 18th May