The Search For A Village
Looking at an old map of Edgbaston, we can impose upon it the three roads highlighted in an earlier blog. There is Hagley Road (GREEN), Harborne Road (ORANGE) and Calthorpe Road (ORANGE) fanning out from the Five Ways mega roundabout.
That "triangle" is, believe it it not, Edgbaston village.
Of course, it is no more a village than fbb is a professional steeplejack, but it is part of Edgbaston which is being/has been developed into a trendy "place to go" with "things to do".
Life in all its rich tapestry is available there.
According to its web site, you can be pampered ...
... you can enjoy afternoon tea ...
... and you dog can join you for both ...
... especially if it is a small yappy one! Look at the number of places where you can wine, dine and coffee ...
... all in the confines of this quaint little "village" - NOT! You can alight from your tram and walk past the village green ...
... where sheep may safely graze, and on into Greenfield Crescent where the joys of the village have been developed, mostly post StreetView. One joy still remaining is a truly glorious Birmingham Corporation road sign.
What IS good about the tram to the non-Village is that the former grim underpass at Five Ways ...
... is now tram and bus only, as you probably spotted on yesterday's blog.
There is lots of green road surface ...
Signs Of The Times
... to discourage motorists from inadvertently parking at the "Village" tram stop.
502 is looking New
The unwary may think that service 502 to Halifax is run by the Keighley Bus Company, part of the Transdev Group. It is actually operated by Team Pennine - also part of the Transdev Group.
It used to be a West Yorkshire PTE route ...
... passing to First at a later stage.
It found its way into the hands of Centrebus and then Yorkshire Tiger ...
... before being bought by Transdev ...
... borrowing a bus from Arriva ...
... and finally appearing in Team Pennine pink!
The point of this chunter through liveries and operators is to illustrate that the 502 is due to get branding ...
... as the Great Northern Line!
Comfused.com!
Plenty For Twenty
A look at a repainted and branded First Sheffield bus for route 20, Hemsworth, City, Yew Lane and Ecclesfield.
We have seen a vehicle like this before, but this twitterer has included a photo of the refurbished interior.
Very swish.
fbb does wonder how the proliferation of First bus branding, such a refreshing change from boring pallid Barbie and "son of Barbie" will survive, The new management structure at First. Big groupings always seems really daft when you are trying to attract local people to a local bus.
Signs Of The Times
There are many collections of amusing signs on line, most of them drawn from the vastness of the USA - and quite a lot of them are created to be funny.
fbb quite enjoyed this one below, appropriate in today's hot weather.
The four word summary of the message of the Gospel (Good News) of Christ is a delight. And it really is that simple!
One that was not from the USA was, nevertheless, entertainingly appropriate and very important for passing flies.
But, in amongst the heaps of Americanisms, fbb was intrigued with this one.
Various versions of this message do appear from time to time on-line, but fbb thought he might recognise this location. Look at the doorway and window in the top right, well behind the board.
And here is the same board with the same white plastic "chains" ...
... outside the Fleming Arms, Binstead, Isle of Wight.
You couldn't be more non-American than that!
Same place!!
Those WERE The Days!
And using it!
They Are Breeding - Honest
A third piece of destination blind for a service to the late lamented Birchley Railway has appeared in one of Seaton's antiquer shops.
They Are Breeding - Honest
fbb had a chat with the proprietor who knew nothing about it and proffered the view that big sales of these bits of blind were "unlikely".
He did reveal, excitedly (NOT), that there is a fourth section still to come!
Just too much excitement.
Fellowship Meeting Time - Again
Fairly easy - except perhaps Ronnie number 4. There's another page tomorrow!
Business News
From the Travel South yorkshire web site.
HCT Group has announced their Powells and CT Plus bus companies will close and services will stop running from Monday 8 August.
Originally founded as Hackney Community Transport in 1982, HCT Group was established in 2008. It operates 19 services across South Yorkshire from its Powells depot in Hellaby, employing around 50 staff.
We’re working tirelessly with local authorities and operators to provide alternative services, where possible, to keep you moving. We are committed to keeping customers informed and this page updated as these plans develop.
So far, Stagecoach have agreed to take on four services (but NOT Sundays on 61/62). More in tomorrow's blog.
6
Sheffield – Millhouses Tesco
61
Sheffield - Hillsborough - Loxley - Bradfield
62
Sheffield - Hillsborough - Bradfield - Loxley
201
Chapeltown - Stocksbridge
Operations in West Yorkshire - branded at C T Plus also closed at 1700 on Friday, last,
Next Variety blog : Sunday 7th August
Powells (Rotherham, South Yorkshire) and CTPLUS (Leeds , West Yorkshire) ceased operations at 17:00 on Friday. Details on TSY and wymetro respectively and local press.
ReplyDeleteThe green road surface in Edgbaston will, no doubt, be effective in keeping motorists out of the tram area. But on the continent they would use nice trimmed Grass, something we are afraid of using on English tramway. What a pity.
ReplyDeleteNot "Confused.com" as Team Pennine's branding of service 502 Halifax to Keighley is reminiscent of the rail link from Halifax Town station, through North Bridge, Ovenden and the triangle junction at Queensbury to Denholme & Keighley. This closed in 1955, and was built and operated by the Great Northern Railway{GNR}.
ReplyDeleteThe bus route copies the railway in providing a through service without the need to change at Bradford.
The 502 was never operated by Centrebus, there was period between First & Yorkshire Tiger where there was no through bus between Halifax & Keighley. TJ Walsh ran a partial service as far as Denholme which allowed connections with a Transdev service to Keighley during that gap. I suspect the Arriva liveried bus would be from late in the Yorkshire Tiger era (when Arriva livery was widely appearing with Yorkshire Tiger) rather than after the Transdev takeover where Team Pennine names would be apparent.
ReplyDeleteAnd, before all this, from the 1930's it was part of Yorkshire Woollen's route 2 – Ossett - Dewsbury – Brighouse - Halifax – Cullingworth – Keighley every hour.
ReplyDeleteThere was also West Riding's route 3 – Wakefield – Ossett – Dewsbury – Brighouse – Cullingworth, (missing Halifax) every hourly.
Ossett is about 5 miles short of Wakefield and Cullingworth is about 5 miles short of Keighley, making it necessary to change if travelling Keighley to Wakefield
There was also Hebble's route 2 – Halifax – Cullingworth – Bingley every hour
By 1966, YWD has taken over route 3 (cut back to Denholme by 1970 and, later, to Queensbury).
By 1970, YWD had merged Hebble's 3 into their 2, running alternate hours to Keighley (route 2) and Bingley (route 2A).
In 1971 it was gone from the YWD time tables presumably taken over by Calderdale Joint Omnibus Committee
By 1973 Route 2 was in the Calderdale JOC timetables, cut back to Keighley - Halifax only, every 2 hours
By 1975 Route 2 was being run by West Yorkshire PTE (Metro Calderdale), still cut back to Keighley - Halifax only, every 2 hours
By 1997 it had been renumbered 502 and extended Keighley – Halifax – Huddersfield run jointly by Calderline and Kingfisher hourly.
By 2006 it was being run by First, 4 journeys each way on Sundays only.
Still the same in 2011 and then it disappeared until revived by Yorkshire Tiger.
Correction
ReplyDeleteBy 1970, YWD had merged Hebble's 2 into their 2, running alternate hours to Keighley (route 2) and Bingley (route 2A).