Monday Variety

 The Best O' Leicester

In 2020 Arriva took ove route X6 between Leivester and Coventry after Travel de Courcey went into administration. The X6 was then every 90 mins Mon to Sat only.

Nowadays we associate Arriva with retrenchment, service reductions and sales of unprofitable bits of their business.

But the X6 is something of a success story.

It now runs every hour Monday to Saturday and has recently gained extra peak and later evening journeys.

There is a respectable Sunday service.

It has benefitted from coaches in a very un-Arriva-like livery.

As well as extra journeys, the X6 now runs a simple timetable with trips that ran via an alternate route withdrawn. Everything goes that same way.

Sadly the latest livery is boring blue Arriva ...

... with a brand "sticker" added.

That is the good news. The bad news is the complete lack of printable PDF timetables on line; the above scrollable table is all you can get.

Of course there are no useful maps; only incomprehensible cartography created by poor-quality bought-in software.

As usual with Arriva, it is easy to work out where the bus goes if you know where the bus goes and have a top-grade knowledge of the Leicester street map!

It is a real pity that an improving service is let down by inadequate and poor quality publicity.

Worrying At Westfield

We are back at Westfield, West Lothian. Google Maps shows two bus services at the tatty and information-less bus shelters in the village. Route 6 is tendered by West Lothian Council ...

... and runs from Westfield (map, top left) ...

... south to Whitburn and Avonbridge.

There are, however, evening journeys on service 29 ...

.... operated by McGill's Midland Bluebird

... which helpfully take you south to Bathgate (but NOT Whitburn!) or north to Falkirk.

A similar route was operated by Bluebird's predecessor ...

... First Bus.

Even more helpfully, West Lothian produces no timetables, not even for it's own tendered services! You are referred to Traveline Scotland ...

... which fails to mention the 29!

Good, innit?

As well as the computer driven 29 table, Midland Bluebird also offer a PDF of the complete timetable (extract only shown here) ...

... and  full map which emphasises the limited evening service via Westfield.

But what, our readers may ask, led fbb to the West Lothian Westfield.

'Twas this article:-

It seems a lot of money, but a noble decision, to fettle up a viaduct that is utterly disused.

It is slightly worse than that. The passenger service via Westfield ended in 1930! But, if you follow the line of the viaduct towards the village ...

... you can spot the site of the station to the north of the road ...

... and, across an acute diagonal, a splurge of grass where once chuffed the very occasional train.

Bad News For New Operator

Readers will remember fbb's  report on this new operator in South Yorkshire.

This statement has appeared on the company's Facebook page:-

It is with sadness we report that last night there was a fire at our depot, resulting in us losing a large amount of our vehicles. This incident is under investigation, but the cause has been deemed as accidental and deems no risk to the wider community.

During this time, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone involved in responding to the incident to help us continue our services for our communities.

Impact on our services

Earlier today we let you know that services 63 and 43 would unfortunately not operate today (31st October).

We understand the inconvenience this disruption has caused, and for that we apologise.

What’s happening now

We remain determined, resilient and rely on teamwork. Despite the circumstances, we are proud to confirm that we have secured sufficient vehicles to restore our scheduled services, thanks to the hard work of our team and support networks.

From Sunday (1st November) our services will resume as planned, this includes service 43 and 51.

From Monday we expect all our services to operate as normal, with no disruption anticipated.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.

Should any unforeseen operational issues arise, we will communicate this at the earliest opportunity using our Facebook page and website.

We look forward to welcoming you all onboard tomorrow.

So congratulations to the whole team on a quick and positive result to what could have been a much worse disaster.

Cottage In Situ - Possibly

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Screaming AbDabs Department

fbb couldn't get the sound to work on his laptop. The sound was jiggling the little jiggly bit that said sound was making a noise, but it was doing it silently.

Checked that internal speakers were working on laptop. OK.

Checked the 500 places where you can adjust the volume. All OK.

Called technical support (No 3 son) who tried it all again.

Tried on Mrs fbb's laptop. Silence.

Downloaded a different video. Beautiful sound!

Tech support looked at the Video Download App.

Whaaaaat?

It had apparently re-set itself to download videos SILENTLY - i.e. without sound.

This is how it should be:-

This is how it was:-

Question : Why would any sane person, or even fbb, ever want a sound video without sound?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Re-downloaded video - all O.K.

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More Oddities Tomorrow. 

 Next Variety blog : Tuesday 3rd Nov 

Sunday Variety

Positive Provision for People at Pot House

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!

 Next Variety (?) blog : Monday 2nd Nov 

Saturday Variety

 Thanks John : But No Thanks

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.

So the big porch has to go ...

... and be split into bits ...

... with these bits repurposed ...

... into a narrower porch-like entrance.

Will it work?

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Darwen Developments delayed "a demain!"

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 1st November