Saturday Variety

Fancy A Forthcoming Fares Fight?

Currently, two of Edinburgh's tours are charged the same, £16, which allows unlimited hopping off and on for 24 hours. An alternative panel suggests that this price applies to hopping off and on all three tours for 24 hours ...

... so who would buy a single tour ticket when you can buy all three for the same price?

But there is a special offer, headlined on the web site.

This price appears to be valid ONLY on Lothian's own-branded city tour ...

... implying that Lothian is competing with itself as the Edinburgh Tour is half the price of the City Sightseeing brand. Who would pay for a seat on a red "Sightseeing" bus when it is half the price on the yellow bus?

You can also buy a Grand 48 ticket ...

... which does charge for children.

BUT be canny!

If you have just one child in tow, it is cheaper to buy two one day tickets, (even at the full price of £16) totalling £32 rather than a Grand 48 for one adult plus child which totals £24 + £12 = £36.

Daft or what?

When First started its competitive Bright Bus, the fare was £10 but the decoration on the bus suggests that you will have to pay £6 per kiddie. That adds up (adult and one sprog) to £16 for the standard city tour as opposed to Lothian's £8.

The leaflet on the Bright web site refers to fares twice ...

... with the two tour price matching Lothian's three tour offer at £16. There is no mention of child prices and no mention of 48 hour prices. And what does the £3 upgrade grade up from and to?

The general conclusion is that Bright Bus is now more expensive than Lothian for a simple day tour and even more expensive if you have the encumbrance of children.

Adult plus three kids on Bright - £28

Adult plus three kids on Lothian - £8

fbb suspects, but with no corroborating evidence, that First will be carrying children free (hence no mention in the leaflet) and may well reduce their tour price to £8!

Or maybe £7?

What is very clear is that Lothian will struggle to make their usual walloping profit on this year's tours, a profit which, some observers say, keeps the rest of the business afloat and provides for Edinburgh's low fares on normal bus services.

But beware - fares to the airport are charged much higher!

And tram?

Same as the bus!

It costs £1.80 to ride all the way by tram from York Place to Ingliston Park & Ride, one stop short of the Airport, then a further £4.70 for that last stop into the terminal.

The airport station is the white square top right; park and ride is bottom right. It isn't too far to walk, and as they will have minimal luggage, maybe air passengers should simply get off at the the Park and Ride and walk the last bit!

Little Quirk?

Sound a bit like a quaint Cotswold Village, just across the fields from Great Quirk and not too far from Middle Quirk and Quirk St Ethelburga.

But here is First Kernow's open topper for ...

... the Exmoor Coaster based in Minehead.

The bus came to First as an open top  ...

... which readers may recognise. East Coast Buses is part of Lothian (Edinburgh Transport) and the vehicle once looked like this:-

Ironic that First, competing with Lothian as Bright Bus, should have obtained an open topper cheaply from Lothian to make money out west!

Britain's Modernised Railway?

A Twitterer grabbed this photo at Petteril Bridge Junction ...

... which is where the line from Carlisle Station (Citadel as was) to Settle and Leeds (GREEN) branches off from the line to Newcastle (YELLOW). The twitterer explains ...

... his steam hauled picture!

Nobody Ever Warns You

Railway modellers are slow to point out the frustrations of their hobby and no one has ever warned fbb of the dangers of Mr Tubbles' cat litter box for modelling projects.

Yes, it does look like a camper's Elsan, but, according to No 3 son who had acquired two such, cats prefer to pee and poo in private away from the gaze of their staff. 

So what fbb was not prepared for was the horror as he carried the "thing" to the rear of fbb mansions for "servicing' and discovered that the previous member of staff had not clipped the lid full into place.

The bottom bucket (in white), well filled with "used" diatomaceous earth granules, responded conventionally to the forces of gravity and came violently into contact with the booking hall from Peterville Quarry railway; the same booking hall that has recently been upgraded with new signage ...

... and internal lighting.

What nobody ever said is that, if a large bucket of cat litter lands on a resin cast station booking hall it is the booking hall that comes off worse. Ker-unch!

It shattered into three horrendous chunks but, fortuitously, the shattering was of the back wall unseen by viewers of the layout. Equally fortuitous was that the bits fitted together again perfectly thanks to two part epoxy adhesive.

So, be warned! Do not drop your well filled feline portaloo on to your resin cast buildings. It is simply NOT a good idea.

On A Happier Note
The construction of the cafe block at Peterville Quarry station has progressed dramatically. It no longer looks like this ...

... but now looks like this:-

Bodging has taken place!

For The Record - A Couple Of "Lasts"

(Groan!)

Rail enthusiasts have recently recorded two "Final Outings" of trains that your ancient blogger tends to think of as "modern". He well remembers both of them arriving.

One is the last High Speed Train to leave St Pancras, complete with proper headboard.

Secondly, we have the last "Networker" to travel north from Kings Cross ...

... also with its commemorative headboard.

Headboards are that shape because they were designed to sit on the topmost lamp bracket of a steam engine.

Apparently, railway junkies become venomously violent if their headboard is to a non-standard design - even if the steam-loco style does not fit the modern traction front end.

They weren't always that shape!

fbb remembers the excitement when Hornby Dublo introduced their three rail Bristolian set with headboard ...

... plus chocolate and cream coaches also with nameboards.

A ten year old fbb could only dream!

More bits and pieces tomorrow.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 30th May