The Saturday Variety Show

And THAT Reservoir!

Photos from Google Streetview show the overflow clearly ...

... but in the glorious Derbyshire summer, there was a lot less water behind the damaged dam.

Were there to be a catastrophic collapse, similar to that of the Dale Dyke dam (Sheffield) in 1864 ...

... the town of Whaley Bridge would be smashed to pieces as was much of the Upper Don Valley in Sheffield.

Built-up Sheffield was much further from the dam wall than Whaley Bridge.

Here is Reservoir Road leading down to the train's station on the Buxton Line.

Spot the railway bridge beyond the cars.

But this announcement from First Transpennine seem a little odd.

Now fbb cannot claim to understand the worries of the Whaley Bridge situation but does wonder whether there has been an over-reaction.

Let's investigate.

If you travel (down hill) through the town, you come to the A6 bypass (GREEN).

The original A6 was the RED road through the town. If you take the yellow road that leaves the map extract centre right, you will cross the A6 and come to the High Peak canal at Buxworth.

You merge with the ORANGE B6062 and the road then climbs - and climbs a lot ...

... until you come to a railway bridge over the road.

Looking back down the hill, you are at Buxworth Station ...

... although you would never know it was ever there today!

The station gateposts remain!

It is almost inconceivable that a dam collapse could reach Buxworth station, let alone flood it.

A little further north the YELLOW B6062 runs below the railway and on an escarpment above the River Goyt.

Again, the railway is up high ...

... and the River Goyt (natural outflow for dam water) is down low.

It would need the efforts of Guy Gibson and his boys in blue to create a collapse sufficiently horrific to cause major damage to the Hope Valley line.

The A6 is pretty much in the valley bottom and would fill up quite nicely ...

... but, to the best of fbb's knowledge and on-line research, the A6 has not been closed!

OTT reaction or a prudent safety measure?

Another Model Railway Gift

When fbb was enjoying a declining career as a teacher "doing supply" (enormous fun!) he often teased his "students" by quizzing them on the blockbuster TV programmes and films. The kiddies became quite infuriated when fbb talked about the boy wizard and his adventures.

"Have you watched Barry Putty and the Plastic Teacup?"

Somewhat late in the progress of the franchise, Hornby Models have just introduced their take on the Barry Putty saga. So, if you have a few quid to spare why not collect the whole set, beginning with the train pack.

Then there is a set of station appurtenances ...

... and about £75 for station platforms to put them one. You will need an "oval" of track as a minimum, a transformer and controller and, of course a baseboard, say £150.

Perhaps you could adapt a castle kit as "Hogwarts" (£80), leaving your artistic genius to create a mysteriously mountainous landform and the model is beginning to look good.

A train set used to be expandable with with the application of "pocket money" items - but today's pockets need to be deep and well filled.

All power to Hornby if they have hit on a populat product series but fbb will stick to Thomas the Tank Engine, Toby the Tram Engine, Annie, Clarabel, Henrietta and Ryan. Three locos and three carriages plus a few trucks cost about as much as the Barry Putty train set.

For those of our readers who are expert, most of these models are reworked standards from the Hornby back catalogue.

The loco is a GWR "Hall" (in red - outrageous!) with an added headlight.

You can buy a Ford Anglia ...

... in pale blue ...

... for about a fiver, but the doors don't open and you might have trouble getting it to levitate.

And A Long Wait ...

Remember the old trick? Send a "green" apprentice to the tool store to obtain and long weight ("wait"?) and leave him at the door for the rest of the working day.

Scarborough Stations platform 1 has the usual bum-freezing metal seats ...

... but stroll a little further to the outer end and you will meet this delight.

It is 100 metres long (approx) made of cast iron (brackets) and wood (seat planks and back) and is unique on the UK's railway system. Worth missing your Nova 3 (eventually) for a long wait on a long bench?

More bits tomorrow.

 Next variety blog : Sunday 4th August