Sunday Variety

Lost Ladder Lament

fbb was slightly miffed to find that his recently purchased Hornby 100 ton TEA rank wagon was not as illustrated on EBay. It lacked the end ladders.

Bur undaunted by his sadness, the old nan was able to order two ladders via EBay ...

... and they duly arrived, well packaged by the supplier.

They were beautiful to behold ...

... and ready the clip in place ...

... to be secured by a tiny dob of glue.

Then the end fell off!

Hopefully a bodge will be possible?

Watch this space!

Troublesome Tunnel Traffic

Another one!

fbb has already reviewed some of the multiple proposals for competitive services to join Eurostar in the Trans-manche Tunnel Transit.

Here us the latest contender.

Who is Gemini Trains?

They have got  a Lord on the board!

So that must make it special. Likewise the web site blurb makes it all sound special as well.

At Gemini Trains, our aim is to change the face of European rail travel. We believe that an unashamed ‘customer first’ service culture, coupled with great value fares and truly innovative offerings, will help reinvigorate rail travel.

Gemini Trains will be stylish, comfortable and a real pleasure to travel on, with routes planned between the UK, France and Belgium. In future, we plan to expand our offering to several new destinations across Europe.

Gemini Trains understands the growing demand for long distance rail travel and recognises rail competition is expanding significantly in Europe. Yet on the core Channel Tunnel route there remains only one choice for customers.

We believe there is a significant opportunity for a dynamic disruptor operator offering mixed ‘economy’ and ‘business’ seats at a lower price point than Eurostar.

Has Gemini got any trains?

Pardon?

Certainly nothing (yet!) to write home about!

In 2025, Gemini Trains announced several partnerships with different companies. They chose Siemens Mobility for the manufacturing of rolling stock, using the new Velaro Novo design.^[9] Gemini also announced that Rock Rail would be helping to finance the new fleet, and that Uber would co-brand the trains, allowing users to book tickets directly through the Uber app.

Will Gemini be paying to re-unstate Eurostar platforms at Stratford, the company's London terminus!

Welcome to Great Britain!

Time will tell.

A Natter On The Matter Of Scatter

Modern modellers are very keen on "static grass". Now in fbb's aged grey cells, all grass us "static" until you mow it, scythe it, burn it or concrete over it. 

The "static" in the description above has nothing to do with fescues forbidden from froliclicking freely over the fields!

It is about using "static" electricity to make your grass stand up like, well, grass.

Note the electrical connection above.

The results can be impressive but the costs are significant. So fbb simply scatters scatter.

The white staining is overdone and has been mostly washed off.

That's better.

Ballasting is in progress. 

A bit of hillside has also been scattered upon ...

... with undergrowth to follow which will hide the toomgreen green.

Narrow And Not Northern

It looks like a sprinter but the rails are closer together. It is a metre gauge version of a class 158 operating in Thailand.

Yep, definitely ...

... narrow gauge!

Exeter Electrified?

According to this 'news' item illustration, the third rail 750 volt DC electrification of the former Southern Railway ...

.... has now reached Exeter.

It hasn't. The line west via Salisbury still enjoys its reliable service of class 158/159 diesel units.

Bigger Barriers?

The above illustrates an article about the installation of full height ticket barriers at certain stations, to combat fare dodgers. The above samples from manufacturer Cubic seem unsatisfactory. Surely passengers would see the above as open barriers.

Clear plastic, he good for broken noses!

These are better but possibly not to wide, so less clear plastic ...

... but the wide gate is still transparent!

Or you could install some of these ...

... very effective at catching and deterring non-payers.

Here is a list of stations that will soon be getting the big, bold, bossy barriers.

Gipsy Hill?

Clearly, fbb needs to investigate that hotbed of fare dodging that is Gipsy Hill.

Where?

  Next Gipsy Hill blog : Monday 20th July 

Saturday Variety

Massive Minor Mayoral Mistake?

fbb has fond memories of the Mayor of Toytown, oft frustrated by the burdens of office and by Larry the Lamb. But he did wear a silly hat and a large gold necklace! Likewise the Mayor of Trumpton.

Oft accompanied by his obsequious Town Clerk, he oversaw the efforts of the town's fire brigade. 

Three cheers for Captain Flack and his well known team, Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub.

In view if this incontrovertible historic evidence, we find it difficult to come to terms with modern Mayorality ...

... and no silly hat!

But Kimbo has a problem ...

... someone's got their sums wrong. Now, to fbb's simple pea-like brain, just mislaying a modest one hundred million smackers seems (a) a lot of money, and (b) gross incompetence.

But not to our Kim, oh, no.

Whooops; they forgot that they would need to pay "the lads" (and lasses!) for driving the buses.

But what is £100 million between friends?

Nice to know, isn't it, that a mere hundred million sovs of lost money will make no difference; and the plan still "represents good value for money".

You Thought You Understood!

We all thought that the Welsh Government had already taken over all the trains in the Principality. Apparently the takeover is incomplete but the articles don't seem to explain why.

fbb thinks it is to do with (a) who pays the big bills and (b) who provides the money.

Ideally, the Waled Senedd wants to sign all the cheques but would very much like the UK government to provide more of the money or even all of the money. Quite how that fits with "devolution" is unclear.

More Devolution

Steve (Mayor Rotherham) intends to own and run his yellow trains.

Quite how this all fits with Great British Railways is equally unclear. May be the railways will be neither Great not British.

But GBR  seems to be happening ...

Great British Greater Anglia!

This time Heidi has sent her assistant to cut the tape.

Sir Peter Hendy did the business at the launch.

Also at the launch, somebody asked the Anglia MD the obvious but tricky question.

"Will GBR bring us all reduced fares?"

The answer from boss Jamie Burles says ...

... "No it won't!"

Livery Delivery

We tend to forger that Britain's railways alread has a red, white and blue livery. Here are some examples on real locos ...

... and in a couple of "traditional" carriages in model form.

Smart, innit?.

But with the richer blue as launched by Peter; and a broader white boundary between windows and body side, it would look Great, British and far more Railway than the zig zaggery currently proposed.

You could easily find room for an accurate Union Flag depending on window position.

Come on Peter and Heidi, make it look like a train!

 Nexr Variety blog : Sunday 19th July 

Surprised At Stourbridge (3)

Diamond 25/25A ...

... Becomes National Express 25 on 26th July!

Possibly!

We have so far gleaned that Diamond runs route 25 from Dudley to Stourbridge ...

... and route 25A from Dudley via Stourbridge to Kidderminster are part of the same tinetable..

Between Dudley and Stourbridge, the routes are identical. 

Now the PTE map is dated ...

... three years ago. It shows a service 25 as below from Dudley to Merry Hell ...

... continuing to Stourbridge.

See The 125 Arrive!

But proceeding south west we see no 25A, but a suspicious 125 on its way to Kidderminster.

Information then evaporates as we move from West Midlands County over the border into Shropshire. Surely, all we have to do, to continue our exploration, is to peruse Shropshire's County bus network map?

There isn't one!

This is an extract from the only cartography (?) available.

And there is the 125 from Stourbridge to Kidderminster, Bewdley and Bridgnorth.

That sounds like an old Midland Red route number ...

... an idea supported by the above picture of a D9 en route to Birmingham via Dudley. 

But the Midland Red enthusiast site ...

... knows nothing of a route 125!

Pursuing this identity crisis proved too much for fbb in the hot weather - the task was well above the old bloke's pay grade!

But he did pick up a 125 operated by Whittle Bus, running from Stourbridge ...

... via Kidderminster to Bridgnorth.

The route took Whittles from Kidderminster and Bewdley ...

... and then the "back way" via Hagley to Bridgnorth.

In 2004, with an uncharacteristic rush of blood to the corporate head, Whittles was bought by East Yorkshire. The venture into furrin' parts ended in 2015 when the Whittles business finally closed.

Central Buses quickly registered the 125 ...

... and produced some attractive publicity.

The route came under attack from a competitive route 25, operated by a certain Diamond Bus Company!

Central sold out to Diamond who cancelled their 25 in favour of the traditional 125 ...

... which is the situation on the 2023 PTE map above.

This From February 2025

Diamond Buses have announced they are ending the 125 Stourbridge - Kidderminster - Highley - Bridgnorth service from 31st March. I have written to Diamond Buses and Shropshire Council (who also want to save the service) to urge keeping the 125 route.

This is the only service linking Stourbridge with its sister town Kidderminster, and one of the only routes serving residents in Norton.

Shropshire Council is exploring subsidising the service in the short term using Government funding to improve bus services. Diamond Buses say the route isn't viable but services should be run for the public where they are needed and rural areas are generally poorly served.

The Wyre Forest and South Shropshire MPs have also signed my letter ahead of the service going out to tender at the end of this month.

And the 125 did survive ...

.... still run by Diamond but only from Kidderminster.

Stourbridge to Kidderminster is currently Diamond 25A now running through from Dudley ...

... with the identical 25 giving a headway of every 30 minutes ...

... between Dudley, Merry Hell and Stourbridge. 

The computer is too half-witted to show the two as one combined timetable!

But from 26th inst, National Express has won the contract for the 25/25A which it has sensibly numbered 25 throughout.

There is no county-wide route numbering scheme in the West Midlands but it is just about possible to find the new 25.

And, joy of joys, we can see an easy to read, no scrolling, easy to print-out PDF.

Blissful simplicity.

All we need now is an up-to-date Sandwell and Dudley PTE network map!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 18 July