Monday Stuff

Meteor Power?

The team has many years experience racing and developing motorcycles at the highest level. After several seasons competing in the World SuperBike paddock to achieving race wins and lap records in the British SuperBike Championship Meteor Power embarked on the design of a high performance engine upgrade package for use in MotoGP. The company is now developing their own electric motorcycle, compact hybrid powertrain and fast charging system.

It would be stretching the imagination to breaking point to suggest that a motorbike is part of even the broadest definition of public transport. So why is it here?

With a goal of becoming the McLaren of the two wheel world whilst also selling and licensing power train and other engine technology to Tier 1 and OEM customers.

Now choose your piece of transport, thinking of something as far from hig-powered racing motor bikes as it might be possible to stray.

Answer:-

Is that weird or is it just plain ....

weird?

Signs Of The Times

The recent massive growth in cruising, usually on huge ships with lavish facilities ...

... has come to a .

Here is one of the worlds cruise ship parking lots, just off Weymouth.

The skilled ship spotter may well be able to recognise them in silhouette; but if not ...

That is an awful lot of capital sitting floating there and earning not a bean.

The Most Photographed?

According the the company's twittering, this class 170 diesel unit is the most photographed train of the East Midland Railway.

It is the first to appear in their new livery.

fbb still prefers Stagecoach's paint job.

Stop The Pigeon!

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (or simply Dastardly and Muttley in the UK and Ireland) is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a spin-off of Wacky Races. 

The show is widely known as Catch the Pigeon or Stop the Pigeon, based on the show's original working title and the show's theme song, written by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (and based on the jazz standard "Tiger Rag") which repeats that phrase so often that it is frequently mistaken as the show's actual title.

Here is an opportunity for all our seriously minded readers to consider the qualities of 20th century cinematographic art and to ponder the deep seated human philosophy hidden in these short films.

Or, possibly consider this pigeon:-

Certainly one way of evading the Flying Machines!

Railway Modelling In The 1920s!

Travel with fbb to Clapham South Undrground Station.

The station was designed by Charles Holden and was opened on 13 September 1926 as the first station of the Morden extension of the City & South London Railway, which is now part of the Northern line.

Other proposed names for the station prior to opening were "Balham North" and "Nightingale Lane".

The apartments above the station, named Westbury Court, were a later addition, built in the mid-1930s.

So much is well documented. But fbb is grateful to Tim Dunn, prolific tweeter, for this snippet from London Transport Museum.

A 12 inches to the foot scale model! It might be a bit big for the back yard of fbb mansions?

Tramway Domination

After indulging is his nostalgiafest in the centre of Sheffield, this picture popped into the old man's inbox. 'Twas a shot that fbb had never seen before.

It is undated but must be pre-WW2 from the cars and the lack of damage. The road is Haymarket, looking towards the General Post Office on Fitzalan Square.

The buses would be travelling to/from Pond Street bus station or Flat Street.

A later more recent picture ...

... early 1960s (Atlantean in the distance) but with tram tracks still in situ but no longer used.

And very recent. Much quieter as the road is effectively buses only .

The footbridge partially obscures the former post office building, now part of Hallan University. Wilko (left) used to be Woolies.

Celebration VE Day

Another bit of the Twittersphere with inadequate information. This is a still from a short video showing one person's representation on the 8th May.

fbb is not sure what is under there but it looks like something modified for the one-vehicle parade.

And How Much?

fbb never ceases to be amazed at the prices people will pay for stuff for their model railway. Prices have rocketted over that last few years but at first glance this seemed to take the proverbial biscuit.

The real wagon operates on the Irish State Railways with a non-standard gauge of 5 foot 3 inches.

It carries bags of fertiliser on huge pallets, thus the wagons are nicknamed "ferts". The model is made by a company called Irish Railway Models (there is a big clue in the name).

When fbb read the article in the June issue of Hornby Magazine his flabber was almost totally gasted. The price - £100.

Yeeerks! £100 quid for a wagon.

Upon re-reading the article, it was revealed that the "ferts" come in packs of two - so it's only £50 a wagon.

Only?

Next is a Guiness Keg Wagon. 

Prices have not yet been announced.

If you are thinking of buying a few, please note that, despite the wider gauge in the Republic of Ireland, these models are built to run on standard OO gauge track.

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First Bus Sheffield

Good News

This post will now appear tomorrow - explanations then

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 Next "improved service" blog : Tuesday 12th May