They seek it here, they seek it there
Its wheels are round, but never square
It will make or break you so it's got to run on time
'Cause there's a dedicated bus that leads to fashion
They say it does its little rounds
'Round the housing of Sheffield town
Eagerly providing all the latest trav'ling trends
'Cause there's a dedicated bus that leads to fashion
Oh yes there is (oh no there's not), oh yes there is (oh no there's not)
May be a bus for workers to be looked up?
So they can pack the frilly nylon bras with C cup
They need a dedicated bus that leads to fashion
Oh yes there is (oh no there's not), oh yes there is (oh no there's not)
The P T E just fails to give you information
So do not search at any stop or any station ...
To find the dedicated bus that leads to fashion.
fbb occasionally get some stick for his campaigns against South Yorkshire P T E; but this one provides a real mystery. The initial publicity for the timetable alterations from 2nd September is now on the Travel South Yorkshire (TSY) web site. It is good to have advance information and we are promised PDF timetables "when they are ready".
But this panel attracted fbb's interest and frustration.
T M Travel's 31 and 31a provide a hotchpotch of journey from Rotherham via Brinsworth to Meadowhall for shoppers (31) and to new employment areas on Brunel Way near the Waverley Housing estate (31a) as in the timetable extract below.
What the "forthcoming changes" panel advises us that from Monday 3rd September ...
Some journeys replaced by new 31R, 31T, 31NE and 31NW employment journeys specifically for Clipper Logistics (These new Clipper services will not be advertised due to the lack of information).
OK, lets start at the beginning!
When fbb arrived in Sheffield in 1963 to "study" at the University, he began to take an interest in the machinations of Sheffield Transport Department, helped by a friendship with John (then an employee in the Traffic Office) who became, briefly, fbb's brother in law. Trips out and about were a regular feature of Saturdays and Sundays.
One took them on route 46 (later renumbered 96) because journeys had been extended along Shepcote Lane (A631).
You can see a new STD bus stop flag on the lamp post far right. The new road absorbed the original "lane" ...
... to provide road access to the huge and brand new Tinsley Park steelworks.
Previously the land had been fairly barren with a colliery in the middle ...
... of which the remains were photographed in about 1960.
Part of the area was developed as a public park and part as a cemetery ...
... both of which still exist; although you might struggle to find the graveyard amongst the industrial units!
The steel works lasted only until about 1988 when it was closed and demolished.
The National Coal Board (British Coal by then) then excavated an open cast mine on the site which eventually became, amongst other things, the abortive Sheffield City Airport. From coal, via steel and back to coal - what goes around, comes around.
The cemetery just peeps in bottom right and upper right is the Tinsley Park golf course. The airport is no more.
Effectively Tinsley Park has now become a typical vast warehouse and light industrial expanse.
It is the nearer of the two sheds that provides the "raison d'être" for the evasive bus service referred to in the TSY notice.
Alas the former 46/96 along Shepcote Lane ceased many moons ago, to be replaced in part by another failed project, service A1; failed in the sense that it was announced as the first of a series of high quality "super" routes to help with regeneration. It ran between Sheffield and Rotherham via the new developments at Tinsley Park.
Its route has been chopped at both ends and it now simply links Meadowhall with Brunel Way at Waverley.
But tomorrow we will pick up the "Fashion" thread as we explore these new warehouses on the site of former steelworks on Shepcote Lane ...
The new 31 variants form a "traditional" set of works services running at shift change times.
Next fashion bus blog : Tuesday 7th August
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