The New B6
This is a School Holidays, Monday to Friday only service. You would guess that Brylaine has multiple buses usually deployed on their school contracts ...
... plus drivers who will have nothing to drive during the hols, so a route that might not be highly profitable could well work as a low-cost marginal operation.
The publicity is good ...
... and plentiful on-line ...
The route does serve several places of historic interest ...
... and comes with an excellent printed leaflet.
Local councillors have had their pictures taken with bus stop ...
... and bus!
The service runs Monday to Saturday ...
... with five through trips in each direction.
That is impressive for something so innovative.
But the B617 is just right for the current heatwave and Billinghay Pool.
For the record, the B617 begins by roughly following Brylaine's B5 (BLUE on the map below) ...
... between Lincoln and Woodhall Spa then strikes cross country to Horncastle.
Yes, innovative!
... augmented with a printed leaflet. A generous half hourly headway is on offer ...
... which requires three buses. Here is the route on a geographical map.
The route appears to take the A158 from Burgh le Marsh to Skegness, then northbound on the A52 to Mablethorpe.
fbb decided to have a look at existing buses in the Skeggy area and, excitedly, he found an on-line map of Lincolnshire's bus services ...
... but he struggled to find any timetables that matched the cartographic detail. Apart from the infrequent 7 ...
... almost everything else did not exist! Yes, you guessed it, the on-line map was utterly out-of-date!
A further search and a bit of judicious cropping produced this.
The B6 follows the 56 ...
... and the 59 ...
... increasing the schoolday frequency dramatically.
And The New B617?
And The New B617?
The route is named after the famous World War 2 bomber squadron.
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron commonly known as The Dambusters ...
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron commonly known as The Dambusters ...
... for its actions during Operation Chastise against German dams during the Second World War, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire ...
... and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. In the early 21st century it operated the Panavia Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role until being disbanded on 28 March 2014. The Dambusters reformed on 18 April 2018, and was equipped at RAF Marham in June 2018 with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning ...
.. becoming the first squadron to be based in the UK with this advanced STOVL type. The unit is composed of both RAF and Royal Navy personnel, and operates from the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
B617 would be a brilliant brand for a bus service; but perversely it does not serve RAF Scampton ...
... once the home base of Guy Gibson et al, which is due north of Lincoln!
RAF Scampton closed for good in 2023!
And another councillor!
Of course the service is subsidised!
A bus has also shared fame with a Dambusters aircraft.
Oddly, on a day when trips out are popular, there is no Sunday service.
But the B617 is just right for the current heatwave and Billinghay Pool.
Yes, innovative!
Next Sprinter Selection blog : Thurs 10 July
