Saturday Variety

Oops Forgot

As fbb explored the Forch Railway (the tram/train that thinks it is an S-Bahn railway at Zurich), he omitted to tell his utterly fascinated readers about the timetable.

Monday to Friday trains (trams?) run every 30 minutes from Esslingen and every 15 from Forch plus peak hour extras.

On Saturdays the frequency is similar. On Sundays there is a service every 30 minutes throughout that day from early (very early!) to late.

At Forch you will find another proper station ...

... and, in the distance, a superbly modernised depot ...

... complete with splendid mascot/logo.

And, like the rest of the line, we can see how year-by-year improvements have made this company and its "oddity" into a thriving and up-to-date business.

And, in case you were a tad befuddled by yesterday's blog, here is a geographical map of the line, with the Zurichsee (lake) on the left.

Aberdeenshire Discovers The Truth

Yet another failed "Uber-Style" service which operated in the "greater" Inverurie area is to close.

The Council complains that it costs too much to run and there weren't enough passengers.

Well, that IS a surprise.

What is also a surprise is why the Governments are opening their cost-of-living strained piggy-banks to subsidise what must now be blindingly obvious non-starters. What is very annoying is that it is your money and mine that is being wasted by a prodigal pack of politicians!

P.S. Whilst searching for a picture, fbb spent some time clicking on the arrow on the minibus (above) in the vain hope of starting a Ready2Go video! Daft 'aporth!

It's part of the livery, innit!

Merseytravel New Trains - At Last!

After months of "negotiation" with the Unions. agreement has been reached to actually use the new trains for passengers. Astounding!

Bluebell Train From the Past

If you thought that the top preserved (heritage) railways were all about steam with the occasions diesel day, you may wish to rethink.

We can now welcome a "Thumper" to this most gorgeous of lines.

It will be good for nostalgia to hear the Thumper thump at Horsted Keynes.

For those ignorant of this class, it is a diesel electric two-car unit. So it thumps!

From One Extreme ...

fbb, wallowing in nostalgia, looks back at his teenage days when a model railway layout looked like this.

The old man would have been overjoyed to own something similar. But such a layout pays scant regard to scenery and realism. Of course, no layout is realistic, including fbb's effort, now indoors and in the process of being re-assembles.

fbb still over-fills his sidings!

But there is an increasing number of layouts "out there" which strive for a much greater level of realism.

Note that the hills are big and, relatively, the trains are small.

Most such layouts are professionally built and part of a public (pay on entry) exhibition. They are way beyond the aspirations of Bill Bodge and Fred Fudge as they advise fbb in his creative (non)abilities.

Arriva Chickens Out - Again!

If you haven't spotted this ...

Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire work in partnership with Arriva North East, Northumberland County Council and Cumbria County Council to bring you an improved service between Newcastle, Corbridge, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Brampton and Carlisle.

You can now buy the full range of daily and weekly tickets, regardless of which company’s bus you use.

So if you want access to Stagecoach’s full Carlisle network, you won't have to wait for a Stagecoach bus to buy a Carlisle MegaRider ticket. Likewise, customers travelling to Cobalt Business Park, and other North East locations served by Arriva, can now catch any Cross Pennine bus.

What are you talking about fbb? Service 685, joint between Stagecoach and Arriva, runs from Newcastle to Carlisle accross the Pennines. Stagecoach (above) gives all the detail.

At one time it was very joint with vehicles in the same livery. But recently its togetherness has declined with Arriva tending to use standard livery buses.

But whilst Stagecoach seem to be maintaining the status quo, Arriva tells it for real.

Passengers are advised that from the above date, all Service 685 journeys currently operated by Arriva between Newcastle and Carlisle will transfer their operation to Stagecoach. This means that Arriva will cease to provide any journeys on this route beyond this time.

Regrettably, this decision has come about following the continued national bus driver shortage, in which Arriva, along with many other bus operators across the country, are facing challenges with driver recruitment.

For some time now, Arriva had only showed their own journeys on-line whereas Stagecoach has provided a full timetable ...

... although even their stuff has now lost its "Cross Pennine" branding. It used to be so much better,

As is usual with the "its all on line" policy, some parts of Stagecoach do admit the change.  Others don't as we see above.

Effectively Stagecoach will be running the full service from Monday.

Odd, is it not, that Stagecoach can find the extra drivers needed but Arriva have a shortage.

Arriva, they tell porkies?

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 22nd January