A collection of posts which expose failings (and, occasionally, successes!) in our public transport system; most of which could be easily solved or improved. There's plenty of nostalgia, too; and a bit of transport history from time to time.
Daily blogging is "the norm" and will continue until fbb runs out of ideas!
From a bus every 30 minutes from 0500 to 2300 approx Mon to Sat (every hour on Sundays), all that is left today is an hourly 33, not passing as close as the diagram suggests, and two TA07 trips by minibus and one TA05, in the opposite direction.
But from the end of November, things are looking a little better. The 33 becomes a 233 but with and unchanged timetable.
The previous Pot House etc loop is gone.
A new (in RED) 232 serves Hoddlesdon direct via the southern part of the former loop, using a 'turning circle' to return to Darwen. See the combines 232 and 233 timetable extract above, giving a vast improvement to that part of the loop.
The Pot House side is also improved with a new 235 (DARK BLUE) which continues from Hoddlesden to Bolton.
The associated 236 (LIGHT BLUE) combines to give an hourly Bolton link. It is the two-hourly 235 that served Pot House, direct from Darwen and direct in from and to the town.
The original TA05 & TA07 are shown in BROWN and dotted.
This all kicks off at the end of November when, it is rumoured, the Pot House pub will be having an all night party with disco and street food.
The previous sentence comes with a government truth warning!
The County Council and local council do not reveal who is paying for these improvements, just two of a whole raft of changes - but it will, ultimately, be fbb's tax and yours footing the bill!
Yet Another Westfield
Readers may be familiar with Westfield White City which sits on top of a buried Shepherds Bush Central Line Underground depot.
The other well-known Westfield is at Stratford, where it sits between Stratford Station and Stratford non-International station.
fbb has visited the Stratford store c/w it's railway stations and TWO bus stations to confuse everybody! He was not brave enough to enter the store, designed ideally to encourage the breaking of the tenth Commandment.
There are limits to the old man's powers of endurance; but he did "enjoy" the bus stations and was, as intended, utterly confused by both of them! One is called 'Stratford City Bus Station in very large letters ...
... but is very well hidden. fbb kept seeing it from various walkways and staircases but couldn't find a way in! He did, eventually, and was underwhelmed!
The 'real' bus station in a long 'tent' ...
... is very obvious, very busy and very lacking in a real person to help you. When fbb passed through, cross-legged, it was very lacking in toilets.
But THIS Westfield has even less luxury for the weary traveller.
It has a couple of bus shelters with, apparently no information.
Google maps guides us to routes 6 and 29. Finding better timetable information is a struggle which fbb will undertake in another Variety blog.
But Westfield did have a railway ...
... and a station; which did not look so good when photographed.il
So, clearly, there us more to investigate at this Westfield!
A Real Tank Wagon
This carried gas in liquid form - well, the real one did. The model was produced by Heljan (pronounced Hel-yan) but commissioned by Olivia's Trains of Sheffield. The very detailed model was expensive and came in many versions.
Note the busy underframe "stuff" needed to manage the tricky loading, unloading and containing of the gas under very high pressure.
Here is Hornby's version of the same wagon.
It is the BOC livery applied to a bog-standard unpressurised fuel tanker. Note the absence of gubbins down below.
The Heljan version is accurate.
You can just about see the extra equipment under the tank. It is there, honest. A RAIL-BASED system of distribution, devised jointly with British Railways, is a vital element of the British Oxygen Company “super plant” at Widnes, Lancashire, which was officially inaugurated on July 14 when Mr. Richard Marsh, Chairman Designate of B.R.B., rode on to the site on a B.O.C. diesel locomotive hauling a train of cryogenic rail tankers. The plant, built at a cost of £12m., occupies 29 acres and has a capacity of more than 1,400 tons a day of liquid products, nearly half oxygen and the balance nitrogen.
Distribution from Widnes
Now the system is fully operational B.O.C. is running the first company-owned trains in the world to carry liquefied oxygen and nitrogen at cryogenic (very low) temperatures down to minus 196 deg. C.
No wonder the wagons needed all that extra technology.
They work direct from Widnes to three specially-constructed terminals, at Sheffield, Wembley, and Wolverhampton. Thence the product is transported by road tanker either direct to customers or to other B.O.C. sites for re-distribution and for compressing into cylinders. One block train of ten tank wagons is equivalent in carrying capacity to 30 of the largest road tankers allowed under present legislation.
Richard Marsh ...
... was Chairman of British Railways from 1971 to 1976.
Of course, fbb does have an Olivia's Trains/Heljan BOC tanker in his collection. He bought it from the late lamented Hattons who took over Olivia's remaining stock and sold it on at a much reduced price.
fbb is sure that his readers would like to see a short video about the full range. Of course they would!
Whilst, according to his self-imposed fiscal rules (?), some of these versions would count as "different" tanker models and thus worthy of adding to the collection, fbb has decided that enough compressed gas is enough!
The Flat Cottage - Not Flats
Yes, it could be drastically reduced in depth but still with a bit of detail and shape. Those side walls will have to go and the roof slope will be minimal. But from normal viewing distance it will look OK.
There is an embarrassing gash in the brickwork above the mini porch and a bit of slate bodging to do on the roof.
Overall is not too bad for an octogenarian with a shaky hand and an obscure version of Macular Degeneration which, currently, has stopped degenerating.
Three more low relief (VERY low relief) cottages to go!
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Tomorrow, Monday, is the fbb's monthly Fellowship meeting. Variety blogs may well appear tomorrow and Tuesday to allow for the usual physical and mental effort!
The Standard (Evening Standard, London Standard) was a big circulation London Daily ...
... which closed its daily print publication in 2024 having declined to the loss-making status of a freebie.
A weekly 'magazine' edition appears every Thursday.
It does provide an on-line collection of adverts interspersed with odd news items and the above is a YouTube posting.
It is misleading! (There's a surprise!).
The '4 major projects' are not new, they have been grinding on for years. The projects were not 'revealed' in the budget because they are well known amongst weary but ever hopeful London train travellers.
What has changed is the non-bombshell announced by Jolly Johm Heeley on Wednesday, last. He is Chancellor of the Exchequer at the moment.
He did not actually 'give the go-ahead'.
What he did announce was a new and "easier" way in which these projects could be paid for.
In simple terms it allows Local Authorities to spend money they haven't got on big capital projects and pay it back using money from fare payers when they start paying fares. This has always been a possibility but hitherto needed an Act of Parliament.
There is also a scheme for biggie mayor's to get their hands on a slice of national tax revenue. Terms and conditions are not clear at the moment!
Whether London can afford the interest charges on the debt is not a consideration for Jolly John!
Jolly John being jolly
Jolly John digging himself into a bit of a hole!
So don't expect the Bakerloo Extension, The West London Orbital and a rebuild of Stratford to happen yet awhile.
The Highs And Lows Of Sratford
(That's Stratford International)
Astute readers will, like fbb, remember that South Eastern trains' Javelin services call at Stratford's not-yet-international station. In order for them to do so, Notwork Rail's lads had to construct an extra layer on the platforms built for the lower step height of Eurostar trains.
You can see the original pre-cast concrete platform edge with the extra bodge on top.
It is all because of well thought out advance planning.
So will there have to be changes to platforms and to the Javelin trains.
Thankfully, no! The station was built with four platforms to cope with all the trains from Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow etc to Paris, which never happened.
It is all because of well thought out advance planning.
We presume, therefore, that Chunel trains will use Platforms 1 and 4. Maybe someone will do a bit of painting before trains start stopping. At the moment it looks like something from a 1960s Communist satellite nation.
At least the platform will be at the right height for the trains!
Bonus!
And even better news!
So that's all right, then!
Talking Of Long Term Plans ...
... VERY long term!
The Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a proposed link between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow Airport. The original plans for an airport rail link were proposed during the 2000s to directly link Glasgow Central station with Glasgow Airport in Scotland. The link was intended for completion by 2013 and would have had a service of four trains per hour via Paisley Gilmour Street railway station.
fbb thinks the above is the most recent effort - he certainly remembers a wide selection of previous proposals!
It is all because of well thought out advance planning.
Not Well Thought Out?
Clearly the Metcalf workers' cottages will not fit on the narrow door frame (see yesterday's blog) The best that can be done is to create a cardboard "painting" which will be far better than any fbb attempt to paint a back scene of housing.
... from The Circus you will find Darwen's Market Hall and Market Square. In the square was a small bus station, originally with just one posh shelter.
An extra stand was added with inappropriate concrete shelters.
The original quality rain protector peeps in to the above picture on the far right.
And today?
You will find a couple of open shelters and little else, such is progress.
Some buses leave from the nearby street.
Buses to Pothouse ...
... left from the traditional Circus stops.
Pothouse's Past Provision
When fbb first looked at the above picture he suspected that Darwen was the location, but confirmed it by the Lancashire registration.
A further search revealed an eponymous pub ...
... and an eponymous lane ...
... and third eponymousness, (but tatty!) bus stop.
fbb thinks that the Corporation bus would have turned round by the pub.
On the Open Street Map extract, Darwen Circus is bottom left ...
... with Pot House Lane top right.
So now you know!
Fortunately, the Internet has a full copy of a Darwen bus timetable for 1970 ...
... priced in preparation for decimalisation. The index reveals ...
... that the Corporation Transport department saw no need of route numbers although they appeared after the merger with the Blackburn operation.
Readers may be surprised to see the 1970 frequency!
In 1970, most Darwenians travelled by frequent and reliable Corporation bus.
Pathetic Present Provision!
We start with a Rochdale and Darwen route diagram.
It would appear that three routes provide buses to or near Pot House (Pothouse?). The 33 (BROWN) is the "nearby" route and takes folks to Blackburn via back road run.
The route does go "near" Pothouse Lane ...
... and offers an hourly frequency ...
... although there us no time point given for Pothouse. The route is operated by "Moving People" aka Travel Assist ....
.... a local Community Interest Company.
Which leaves the TA05 and TA07 circulars.
These do serve the traditional Pothouse stops. The direct (BLUE) TA05 ...
... doesn't quite match the 1970 frequency! The TA07 (PINK - the long way round) is twice as frequent!
It is likely that both of these are minibus routes.
Indeed Travel Assist has posted a sweet little video which, sadly, does not really make things better.Pretty graphics but it is a drastic reduction!
But next month there is better news for the poor, pushed-away public transport people of Pot House.
All will be revealed, in glorious tecnicolor (?), as part of tomorrow's "bits and pieces" blog.
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Peterville Progress
fbb has bought another Metcalf card kit. This time it is for four "workers' cottages"
But their "sitz im leben" is going to be a bit of a bodge. They will sit here, on top of the door frame that surrounds the under eaves storage at fbb mansions.
The associated 236 (LIGHT BLUE) combines to give an hourly Bolton link. It is the two-hourly 235 that served Pot House, direct from Darwen and direct in from and to the town.
The other well-known Westfield is at Stratford, where it sits between Stratford Station and Stratford non-International station.
fbb has visited the Stratford store c/w it's railway stations and TWO bus stations to confuse everybody! He was not brave enough to enter the store, designed ideally to encourage the breaking of the tenth Commandment.
... but is very well hidden. fbb kept seeing it from various walkways and staircases but couldn't find a way in! He did, eventually, and was underwhelmed!
It has a couple of bus shelters with, apparently no information. 
... and a station; which did not look so good when photographed.il
Note the busy underframe "stuff" needed to manage the tricky loading, unloading and containing of the gas under very high pressure.
It is the BOC livery applied to a bog-standard unpressurised fuel tanker. Note the absence of gubbins down below.
You can just about see the extra equipment under the tank. It is there, honest.
