Missed The Bus Part 1

Steve, Stagecoach and St Helens

St Helens Chapel appears [upper left, above) on a 1610 map, But the development of coal mining and glass production characterised the town during The Industrial Revolution. The borough's Town Hall gives some idea of the industrial status of the community ...

... wealthy and proud!

Its municipal transport followed a normal pattern, starting with horse trams ...

... then electric trams ...

... followed by trolleybuses.

The town's motor buses ...

... were later absorbed by Merseyside PTE.

The PTE was privatized on its sale to Arriva. Until recently, the main operator in the town has been the blue of Arriva.

But, earlier this month St Helens became the first Merseyside area to become a "franchise".

From Day 1, Arriva buses disappeared ...

... replaced by buses in "Metro" livery and operated by Stagecoach - although you would never know! The transfiguration is almost 100% complete.

An occasional bus from Stagecoach North West has been spotted ...

... dating from before this first contract was awarded.

Mostly, the new St Helens network was in the hands of "Metro" owned vehicles devoid of an operator fleet name.

There has been much hype to accompany the change ...

... with some prominence given to big cheese Steve Rotheram. That's him on the right, below.

At least he has no aspirations to be Prime Minister - as far as we know!

St Helens also gained a temporary enquiry office to ensure that folk were fully aware of the changes.

And many, many changes there were! There was, of course, a bright yellow gazebo as well.

There were plenty of headlines for the press to promulgate.

Real people have been around to help!

So why has this effort been more obvious, more "in yer face" that down the East Lancs Road at Manchester?

Quite simply, there have been significant changes in routes, route numbers and timetables throughout St Helens.

In Manchester there has been little change, except Bees and yellow paint.

Unfortunately, lacking a correspondent in the area, fbb mussed the September 6th launch. Not only that, and thanks to Mr Rotheram's efficient team, all activity before 6th inst has vanished from the interwebnet!

fbb cannot do his usual contrast and compare when big changes happen. He really missed the bus.

But at least your incompetent blogger has the "Metro" list of changes to peruse.

So, tomorrow, the old bloke will begin with trunk route 10. Sadly, his historical knowledge of route 10 is slightly less than nil. One thing we do know is that the road between Liverpool and St Helens was the subject of substantial competition.

 Next St Helens blog : Tues 22 Sept 

Sunday Variety

 Who Pays?

It now appears that the NATS shambles was "a software fault". We are not being told what particular part of the ginormous wodge of computer code threw a wobbly BUT it has to be worrying that a collections of electronic 1s and 0s should be so destructively disruptive.

The total cost to the airlines and the travelling public must have been eye-watering.

The airlines want some money to cover their losses.

How much did an administrative delay add to those costs?

But who will pay?

At the moment, it looks as if NATS is not liable ...

... which is daft!

(W)Hole Loada Bovver In Durham

It doesn't seem much of a pothole, IF the picture is genuine, easily rectified by a bucket of asphalt and a mini roller.

Or is fbb and the author of the article missing something?

The shiny new bus station ...

... is certainly shiny and new!

But where are the bus timetables?

Each stand has a departure list ...

... plus a next bus departure screen ...

... for each stand.

Also there are a few of these dotted around ...

... as usual in time order. What is really needed; what would really help the passenger, is a list of bus routes in numerical order with each departure alongside each route.

So, no timetables, no maps and no enquiry office; a first class example of how NOT to encourage bus travel.

BUT, on the positive side ...

... the toilets are lavishly lavish. As well as two Ts (unisex cubicles) we have THREE extra facilities.

Which begs the question, "What or whom changes in the Changing Places room?"

Does a weary shopper change into "something more comfortable" for the Arriva ride home? 

The mind boggles!

Actually it is a superior "accessible" luxury super-loo ...

... with loads and loads to vandalise.

The superloo room looks just about the right size for an enquiry office, leaving the "accessible" toilet to be accessible.

For the record, fbb's conclusions are based on videos posted on YouTube soon after opening. Maybe the missing essentials have now been found?

Durham County produces no meaningful public transport information, having ceded that onerous (?) task to ...

... whose web site claims to provide "timetables".

It doesn't!

Yet again we simply have departure lists.

If you can find them, Arriva has on-line timetables, but the finding is less than easy. It would appear that Arriva no longer supplies printable on-line timetables.

Good, innit?

Arriva used to have a high quality Bishop Aukland map!

Used to have.

And Now, Chiltern

When will we notice any real difference?

Andy's Snack "Thing" Taste Test

Accompanied by a mixed salad with fbb's patent dressing, a sauce being a melding of salad cream, vinegar, whole grain mustard, sugar and a good dash of Henderson's relish.

The salad was delicious; but the Prime Ministerial favourite was, to put it mildly, disappointing. All four corners were empty. The minimalist chunks of 'sausage' were tasteless; which leaves the beans and cheese.

Imagine a dessert spoonful of mashed baked beans with a sprinkling of mild cheese all crushed into a soggy pulp. fbb's 'parcel' did nor include a recognisable bean, not a bean!

fbb does not think much if your taste, Andy!

Who Remembers?

fbb can convince himself that he can remember, but, honest injun, he is probably conning himself!

Electrified services from Liverpool Street to Clacton started before the blue/grey era. So here is a class AM9 in British Railways maroon livery as applied to all main line coaching stock on the Eastern, North Eastern, London Midland and Scottish regiions.

So, logically those were the paint pots taken from store to decorate the Clacton Express 100mph units; and yes, it was an EMU doing a ton in the early 1960s!

Not only did the units become TOPS code 309 and blue/grey but those delightfully sexy curved windscreens fell foul of safety requirements.

Their replacements were ugly and cost a lot to create, involving some drastic bodywork work.

Somehow that front end looked even more ugly in Network Southeast colours.

The same re-jig applied to the Glasgow electric class 303 "Blue Trains".

Their photogenic curved windscreens ...

... were also replaced with flat glass but lacking the extreme ugliness if the 309s.

Tomorrow we grapple, somewhat belatedly, with another yellow livery.

 Next St Helens franchise blog : Mon 21 Sept 

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Saturday Variety

 80th Anniversary P. S. Waverley ...

... or is it?

It all depends. 

She was launched on 2nd October 1946 by the wife of the Chairman of the London and North Eastern Railway Company.

Her Maiden Voyage was not until June 16th 1947. 

Soon afterwards, under nationalisation she became a British Railways vessel.

Anniversaries of ships are usually dated from launch, but next year we can enjoy another 80th celebration of her Maiden Voyage. 

Each year she has a very busy season shown below in summary for 2026.

Clyde Spring: Friday 8th – Sunday 10th May

Oban & Inner Hebrides: Tuesday 12th – Tuesday 19th May

South West (South Cornwall & South Devon): Friday 22nd – Monday 25th May

Bristol Channel & South West Wales: Tuesday 26th May – Wednesday 17th June

 North Wales & the Mersey: Friday 19th – Monday 22nd June

Northern Ireland: Tuesday 23rd & Wednesday 24th June

Clyde Summer: Friday 26th June – Sunday 30th August

South Coast & Isle of Wight: Thursday 3rd – Tuesday 22nd September

London & Thames Estuary: Thursday 24th September – Sunday 11th October

Clyde Autumn: Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th October

Special events are planned for the October launch celebration.

And an fbb family snippet ...

The vessel was saved for preservation by a lavish donation from Mrs fbb's father, Jack Stewart. He sent £2.

---------------------->

By far the best bit of a Waverley cruise is to stand and watch the original engines at work.

Not at all bad for an 80 year old! If only fbb were as smooth running!

The scenery is spectacular, particularly for the Clyde cruises!

Sprat and Winkle?

The name refers to a type of coupling used by more 'serious' modellers in OO gauge. The hook engages with a wire bar on the adjoining vehicle ...

Design: They consist of a thin, inverted metal hook and a bar configuration that retains a realistic cosmetic appearance (such as simulated 3-link chains).

Operation: Hooks stay locked together while pulling under tension. When pushed into compression over a hidden magnet placed beneath the track, a small counterbalanced metal arm (dropper chain) is pulled down, releasing the hook. 

Delayed Action: Moving the locomotive back allows the uncoupled wagon to be left behind deliberately anywhere along a siding.

The name is taken from a branch line in Hampshire but no one seems at all sure how it got its unusual label. 

For approximately 65 years of his interest in railway modelling, fbb had always thought that the name was derived from Mr Sprat and Mr Winkke who developed the couplings for their American modelling chums.

You learn something new every day!

Herewith a map of the Sprat and Winkle line, long closed!

For the record, today's most used OO couplings are based on a similar principle but use a raised or sprung ramp to do the unhooking.

Mr Sprat and Mr Winkle's hook is pulled DOWN using a magnet, whereas, with the more usual type (above) the hook is pushed UP by the ramp. The strange-lookimg 'swallow' tail (above right) fits into a socket on the rolling stock.

Fascinating, isn't it?

Ironing Boards : More Excitement

fbb was not entirely sure that he could tell the difference between Thameslink's old, hard, thinly covered and uncomfortable seats. 'Old' is on the left, 'new' in the right. Certainly the Thameslink hero on the right ...

... doesn't look significantly more "at comfort" than the Thameslink heroine on the left.

fbb remembered the good old days riding on seats with interior springing.

First Class seats were particularly luxurious!

What fbb had failed to grasp is that the new Thameslink seats do have interior springing. Compared with the above, it is fairly weedy springiness - but springs they are ...

... in a thin sandwich between cushion and seat base.

As far as fbb knows from his very limited knowledge of ironing boards, they do not usually have springs!

GWR Not Happy With TfW

First GWR has acquired some cast-offs from Wales, presumably freed by Valley Lines electrification (?).

What are GWR complaining about? The trains at fbb's local, Axminster, were first introduced by British Railways (not "Great' back then!) in 1990 - creeping very close to 37 years old!

Puzzle Picture

An historic map, but if what?

Answer tomorrow!

The Power Of Advertising

Readers may remember a recent intervention by Andy Burnham in the snack trade. He opined publicly that his favourite Greggs product was a sausage, bean and cheese "thing" - a slogan taken up with enthusiasm by Greggs PR people.

Well, lured by both politics and advertising, Mrs fbb brought back to fbb mansions the bake at home version, albeit wrongly named.

fbb will report fully on a taste test in tomorrow's blog.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 20th Sept