Saturday Variety

 Things fbb Never Knew - No 932

It was French author Jean Baptiste Poquelin who wrote a famous play inspired by the above loco. It concerns a dream of a duck that turns into a steam engine and traumatised the gentry of pre-revolutionary France! OK, this "canard" refers to "Le Mallard Imaginaire" and we know Poquelin by his stage namer, Moliere! (Pause for a feeble French literary chortle!)

Mallard was a 4-6-2 (Whytes wheel notation) "Pacific" and  classed by the L N E R as an A4.

What fbb did NOT know (bad house points all round) was that the L N E R had an A5 Pacific - but it wasn't a swish super smashing main line express loco ...

... but a humble tank engine. What fbb also did not know was the the "A" of A4 was the code for ALL the L N E R Pacific locos - hence A5. The A5s were absorbed when the L N E R merged with the Great Central (G C R).

The GCR Class 9N (LNER Class A5) was Robinson's last passenger tank design. 

They were designed to pull the difficult suburban services out of Marylebone, which they performed admirably for over 30 years.

The GCR built three batches between 1911 and 1917. A fourth batch was ordered by the GCR, but was built after Grouping in 1923.

There are a goodly number of 2-6-4 tank loco designs ...

... including that modelled by the venerable Hornby Dublo for many many years! But a 4-6-2 tank is a rare beast indeed.

You can soon buy one in OO scale, however.

Currently advertised by Rails of Sheffield and manufactured for Sonic Models, a company relatively new to the market, they are on offer at a pre-order price of just (just!) £150. Please remember whether you want three coal rails on your bunker or five! Or whether you want G C R dome and whistle or L N E R ditto. Tough decisions.

fbb loves the G C R green version but such extravagant expenditure is too much for your penny pinching author.

E Plates - Coming And Here Already

The idea is that your boring old car number plate would be replaced by and electronic tag (as used for convicted criminals). This would, inevitably, be more expensive than a sheet of colored plastic and would transmit your car details (and anything else HMG wanted to add to it!) to whoever had the kit to receive it.

THEY could know where your car was, what speed it was doing, how much fuel it was consuming and what colour underwear you were wearing - if any. Apparently, according to its proponents, privacy would not be invaded.

Yeah - right!

But E-Plates have been known to omnibologists for ages and ages. They are the stove enamelled square (not quite square) route number labels affixed to London Transport bus stop "flags". Now superseded by sticky-backed plastic, the originals are of considerable interest to collectors and enthusiasts.

fbb has a few, in poor condition and of no great value.

The "basic" model is black on white but with a blue-grey tint for "Night" services lettered N. 

Green Line express bus services were, surprisingly, green ...

... and some plates were double height as in 55 above. fbb does not know why! Then there were express routes, on a blue background.

The 803 popped into fbb's ambit whilst he was researching the proposed H E R T in Hertfordshire.

It appears that numbers in the 800 series were used when Country Ares bus routes ran out of 300 and 400 numbers.

You might wonder what a double height 803 E Plate might cost if you wanted to add one to your collection?

Of course you wondered. And here is the answer:-

Yikes!

Yellow "plates" (for pay before boarding) were never made in metal!

Red plates with white lettering are very rare indeed!

One of fbb's is a white plate with red lettering. Will it be worth a fortune? Alas no.

Also something fbb doesn't know : why are they called E plates? What happened to A, B, C and D plates?

More Cheap Fares ...

from Arriva

Arriva joins the cheap evening fare club, but only until 31st August. For many folk, finding any evening bus at any price is a bit of a challenge, so the offer may not be as wonderful as it appears. Another one for the Arriva notices collection?

from Sunderl And District

Without knowing what the local Sunderl fares were, fbb cannot really comment on the value of the offer. Second division worthies are pictured at the launch!

A quick gander at the GoAhead North East web site reveals the full set of the new colour branded buses ...

... plus a printed list.

Graphite? Where's green, orange, white, taupe, heliotrope? Or Stiffkey (Stooky) Blue?

And we have a reminder of the fares offers for the whole Go Ahead North East area.

There are hints that these bargains may continue beyond the end of summer. Maybe they are worth keeping until at least January 2022 - Building Back Better!

Spoke Too Soon Department

A blog or so back, fbb was suggesting that an OO gauge locomotive had just broken through the £300 price barrier.

The Southern Railway Wainwright D class in green, with DCC control and sound is offered by Rails of Sheffield at £325 - plus postage!

Sadly (?) their stock appears to be sold out!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 15th August