fbb's Summer Advebtures 1D

First, A Correction.

fbb wrote, correctly but incorrectly, that there was no railway station at Otterton. There most definitely was a station at Otterton ...

It was called "East Budleigh"! As you enter Otterton, you cross the track of the railway ....

.... but can see nothing of the privately owned station buildings.  Back in the day, you could have observed the sweet little station from the bridge.

It was never very busy!

The station is now a private dwelling, still with a working railway ...

... which holds public open days from time to time.

The Rotten One

At Otterton

(At Last)

The fbbs were going to Otterton Mill, but decided to take a trip through the picturesque village ...

... enjoy the reverse turn at Ottery Street on the back road to Sidmouth ...

... where the bus reverses into the side road.

The fbbs would alight at the mill stop (Otterton Green) on the return.

As they approached the stop as marked above, the driver, somewhat grumpily, advised that the stop (clearly marked on the above map!) did not exist. "You should have got off in the other side," she explained.

And indeed, there was a stop on the eastbound side.

Fortunately Ms driver agreed to allow the fbbs to alight. 

But fbb's unuttered question was, "How were two elderly visitors to Otterton supposed to know about the selective stop situation."

The incident was doubly (or triply or quadruply?) worse. fbb, always aware of the problems that oft beset the brave but mildly ignorant bus-bound explorer, had checked Google Maps - and there ...

... were stops in both directions (above, far right).

fbb also checked the all stops version of the 357 timetable and ...

... there were stops at "Green (E-bound)" followed by "Green (W-bound")!

So logic, Google Maps and Traveline all said there was a stop where Stagecoach said there wasn't. But Google Maps gets its data from Traveline whilst Traveline gets its data from ...

... Stagecoach; as the company that has registered the service. Failure to operate a registered service is a serious matter which could lead to a fine from The Traffic Commissioners. 

To pour salt on the wound, exactly opposite the "Green" eastbound shelter; (remember?) ...

... was (fanfare of trumpets) ...

... the "Green" westbound shelter!

There was absolutely no reason why this shelter and its stop should not be used; as it has been since Sir Walter Raleigh took a weekly ride to Sidmouth for a pensioners' lunch at The White Horse.

fbb guesses that somebody has been putting theoretical "health and safety" before common sense and service to the public. Very likely the proponent of this secretive stupidity has never been to Otterton.

Perhaps the pedantic pen-pusher (these days, a kommitted keyboard klonker and a sedentary screen scrutineer) wants to reduce his company's passenger numbers. Passengers are such a nuisance and really do make running a bus service so, so troublesome.

Talking Of Troublesome

The far end of fbbs layout, just beyond the castle, will eventually become a two siding halt, called, with significant fbb originality,  'Peterville Castle Halt'.

But it really needs a bit of baseboard creation. Currently it is bodged! So fbb decided to fettle up a temporary bit of a base by making a stout box from stout corrugated card, stoutly ...

... plus half a tube of 'No More Nails'. fbb created a sort of "girder" construction for strength - or maybe for slightly less weakness.

This could be fixed to the wall and existing base, temporarily, with sticky pads; and would surely take the weight of a short OO gauge train.

It fell off the wall, unprovoked, as fbb was settling down for beddy-byes.

Gaffer tape has added an extra bodge, plus a second sticky fixer bearing on the frame of the under-the-eaves access door.

Track laying to follow.

And ballasting!

The bodged existing base plus cardboad unfill will then form a template for No 1 son to see what to saw. He is more skilled than fbb at carpentry, being less destructive of domestic furniture and elderly digits than a wobbly handed, macular degenerate fbb!

His skills are booked for his next visit to fbb mansions.

 Next Phone Box blog : Friday 14 Aug 

fbb's Summer Advebtures 1C

Rotten One At Otterton Part 2

The 57 "parent"

In recent years Stagecoach 57 has run from Exeter to Exmouth and on to an Exmouth suburb, Brixington. A few years back fbb attended the launch of the 57 as Stagecoach Gold ...

... with an enhanced headway of every 15. But the Gold eventually tarnished with a reduction, after a while, to every 30 min. How the gilded mighty are fallen!

The 57 is now back to every 20 min, but no longer runs through to Brixington.

That privilege now rests with route 99 ...

... recently enjoyed by Roger French as part if his blog series travelling on all the routes numbered 99 in Great Britain. Such a project almost makes fbb's collection of tank wagons seem normal.

If you are desperate to relive the delights of a 57 to Brixington, the evening service still runs through, but changes its number at Exmouth to 99 as shown by * on the timetable above.

The 157, 257, 357, the children

The 157 was our service from Sidmouth to Otterton, seen above at Exmouth. The service 157 is hourly, but for passengers from Exmouth there is an additional hourly route 357.

Let's hope they get a better bus today!

The headline also mentions a 257, for which fbb could find no photographic evidence. A recent (but maybe not current) timetable shows us a school journey only.

It is likely that the 257 no longer exists ...

... certainly not in the Stagecoah catalogue.

When planning his schedule for last Thursday's trip fbb was very surprised to find that, according to the Stagecoach web site,  the 357 offers journeys from Exmouth to Sidmouth.

It doesn't serve Sidmouth! 

Well done, Stagecoach!

So, if the 357 doesn't go to Sidmouth, where exactly does it go?

At first glance it looks exxactly like a 'short working' of the 157, with just a trundle along the main road to Budleigh Salterton's Public Hall.

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Note the bus, far left.

But it has a diddy diversion in Exmouth ...

... via Cranford Avenue. Sarlsdown Road time point is half way along Cranford Avenue but, of course, Sarlsown Road doesn't feature on the map.

Devon County's network map is no help, as we shall see.

But, when we look at Traveline's poor route map ...

... there appears to be a large terminal loop totally ignored by the 357 timetable, above. So why cannot 357 passengers travel to the northern reaches of Budleigh Salterton.

Traveline takes them from the 357 on a 12 minute walk from the Public Hall 'terminus' ...

... or a six minute walk from the 157. But to add to the challenge there is an extra 5 minutes to find the Exmouth stop for the 157! Shouldn't they use the same stops? Oh, they do use the same stops!

Well done Stagecoach.

So, why does Traveline make you walk, when the bus continues on its loop?

Here's why!

The tinettable FROM the Public Hall does give timings fo the loop via Knowle, Greenway Lane and the Hospital. 

So why doesn't Traveline tell you to stay on the 357? Look at the arrival at Public Hall, xx50 Monday to Friday and xx49 on Saturday. [Question : Why the difference?] 

Departures are at xx07 six days a week. 

That means a wait of 17/18 minutes before continuing the journey to the beautiful backwoods of Budleigh! Traveline ignores the through bus because it is quicker to walk.

Spot The Where The Train Isn't

The 157 follows a different inland route upon leaving Budleigh Public Hall and aiming for Otterton ...

... but the Geographical map is better.

Cross referencing to Google Earth ...

... we can spot the foliage scar of the railway entering the map from Exmouth top left and leaving to run via the station-less Otterton top right. The line was quite a way from the town centre.

But, fbb is reminded, there is Stagecoach incompetence at Otterton, promised and, at last, revealed tomorrow.

Blast The Ballast, A P.S.

A few dobs of green paint have removed white blobs caused by over-enthusiastic toning down. The track under the old road bridge has also benefited from some rather garish green colour soaked into yet another strip of Mrs fbb's old bedspread.

So what's the drill, then?

It is propping up a tree while the glue sets. The tree kept falling across the track but needs to be in that position next to the bridge to hide non matching backscene - a typical fbb bodge.

You definitely can't see the join!

The garish green will be dumbed down by the application of some "scatter" material when fbb can find the box!

 Next Otterton blog : Thursday 13th Aug 

fbb's Summer Advebtures 1B

 Rotten One At Otterton

Aeons ago, fbb was verbally chastised by an adoring relative, of the posh female variety, for misuse of the word 'rotten'. "Only fruit is 'rotten'" she boomed threateningly!

Bill The Bard wasn't talking about fruit.

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" is from 'Hamlet''. It is spoken by the guard Marcellus in Act 1, Scene 4, after a ghost appears at the castle.

And, talking of the Spectral World ...

Ghostly Ghastly Guesthouse

As fbb's Stagecoach 9A sped between Colyford and Sidford, the old man amused himself by checking how accurate the "next stop" display (with verbal) announcements were.

They were hard to hear in a bus packed full of excited passengers, many of whom would alight to experience the delights of Sidmouth's folk event.

The best the system could manage was a strident "The Next Stop Is" followed by the stop name un a much quieter voice.

But the screens were OK except when neither matched reality in their timing, on three occasions. 

Then there was this:-

"The Next Stop Is" followed by Three Horseshoes Inn. There were no passengers on or off, but fbb was able to snap The Inn That Wasn't There'.

It was there, once ...

... but was closed when the fbbs arrived in East Devon in 2013. It slowly decayed ...

... the rumour being that its owners could not get planning permission to demolish it. So they left nature to do the job for them ...

... very successfully.

It was replaced with a house a couple of years ago,

The "official" stop name is really "inappropriate". But it does appear to be a development with no name. It seems likely that Three Horseshoes Farm (upper left on map view below) took its name from the pub!

Sidmouth Stop Shambles

The 157 is hourly, the 382 and 899 both run very approximately every TWO hours. The 9/9A is every 30 minutes. The 387A has one departure in the morning and one arrival in the afternoon on Thursdays only.

But when it is busy it can be chaos. When a broken down bus blocks one stand ...

... and when half hourly Folk Festival shuttles come and go.

Each shelter has a bus stop sign ...

... and there is just one electronic display screen affixed high on a pole. Depending where the sun is, the tiny screen can be illegible. At busy times it is often surrounded by a scrum of anxious locals and visitors trying to read it. Or, as fbb overheard from an overheated potential passenger:-

"It says the 9A to Seaton is 'due' but it hasn't changed for 10 minutes!"

And can you read the information on the bus stop flags?

So when the fbbs passed through twice, there was chaos as folk folk and non folk passengers tried to find their bus. And was the 9A going to Seaton or Exeter? And had anyone seen a 157 to Exmouth?

The lady who posed the latter question had already mussed one 157 which arrived at the outer end of the row of stands, then left, ignoring passengers waiting at the correct shelter. She was thrilled!

In peak summer, and certainly during the Folk Festival, there should be a man in a peaked cap and a high-ves vist helping the passengers find their correct bus.

It is called good customer service.

For the record, Sidmouth used to have three high quality timber shelters as befits a demure seaside resort with no slot machine arcades. 

One was burnt down by the idle youff and replaced by a smaller timber hut, still extant ... 

 

... the other two, presumably to save maintenance costs, are more draughty less comfortable standard characterless products and far less "green".

Well done, Devon county!

More on customer service tomorrow as this blog became more complex as it was compiled. The owner of the 81 plus year old brain (it was formed in mother's womb) needed a bit more time to sort out a weird Stagecoach timetable and a weird Stagecoach route.

But, in the meantime ...

Blast The Ballasting continued ...

It is certainly looking better ...

... but way way short of the work of skilled modellers. They use a proper ballast spreader!

fbb needs to rediscover his sleepers by removing the grey poster paint! Others have had similar problems ...

... but others simply don't bother.

To be fair, above is part of a narrow gauge layout. In reality narrow gauge track is often laid to a lower standard that a British railway main line. But below is part of Simon George's "Heaton Lodge Junction" in 'O' gauge.

Note the variety in ballast texture but also admire the 'main line' perfection.

It's enough to make a grown man cry.

 Next Otterton conclusion blog : Wed 12 Aug