Sorting It Out?
One thing does seem clear in this combined First Bus amd Arriva timetable fot buses to Thurnby Lodge, namely that everything runs via Uppingham Road. The route out of Leicester starts with Humberstone Road ...
... and ancient readers may remember a station of that name passed by most trains going north to Loughborough and Derby or Nottingham. All that remains today of this little used stop is the retaining wall that sat behind the station building at road level; and the remains of the subway to the platforms.
A little further on there appears a three way split in the road.
Uppingham Road veers to the right, Scraptoft Lane is straight on; Tennis Court Drive is on the left. (Wonder where Tennis Court Drive used to lead?).
The comprehensive Leicester Buses map shows this junction clearly.
fbb quotes OUTBOUND routes only!
37 uses Uppingham Road
38A uses Uppingham Road
56A uses Uppingham Road
747 uses Uppingham Road
56 uses Scraptoft Lane
38 uses Tennis Court Drive
The 56/56A (like the 38/38A) is a lollipop route with buses going alternate ways round the sticky blob that forms the edible part of a lolly.
... but NOT buses like the above, not any mote. SIGH!
The 56 does not really concern us, except that it passes along the northern edge of the Thurnby Lodge estate.
It is coloured DEEP ORANGE on the above map. Also of note is the 40 Orbital referred to in yesterday's blog showing dotted PALE ORANGE. The 38/38A lollipop is RED which leaves us with the 37 (it was the 53, remember) in dotted PALE BLUE.
So (pay attention, it is important!) the 37 is almost a 38A outbound, then becomes a 38 on its return journey.
The 37 and the 38A (outbound) trundle happily along Dudley Avenue ...
... and at the end by Thurnby Mead Primary Academy (noble name designed to make the school sound better than it is) they turn left .and at the end of Oakyn Road there is a bifurcation. 
The 38A turns RIGHT past The Styrrup Cup pub to continue its lollipop route ...
... whereas the 37 turns LEFT then RIGHT to complete a turning movement and join the 38 that has come via Nether Hall tunning "as outward route 37 reversed" back to the city centrer.
The 37 terminus and the time point for the 38/38A is listed as Bowhill Grove which might be the shopping centre that we met yesterday.
Co-op is far left on the map; 38A (and 40) on the left of Bowhill Grove, 37, 38 (and 40) on the right.
SEE, IT'S REALLY SIMPLE!
But, as an interested outsider, can you glean that from the First Bus timetable?
But fbb has a suggestion.
RE-WRITE THE TIMETABLE
SO THAT PASSENGERS
CAN UNDERSTAND IT!
What a really, really silly idea that is, when you can get your scheduling software to spew out something that is barely comprehensible.
Good, innit?
Strange Words For Ferroequinologists
Younger readers (are there any?) might struggle with this announcement in the Model Railway press.
Ellis Clark is a model railway retailer and manufacturer in Skipton which, hitherto, has specialised in top quality "O" gauge products. Here is a picture ...
... of Managing Director Ellis (left) and shop assistant Albert (right) as per the title above the cameo. Ellis has just announced that the company will be producing its first "OO" model, a Quad Art.
Quad Art?
Here is a video of a Quad Art on the North Norfolk Railay. Qaad means "four" and Art tis short for "Articulated". The Great Northern Railway introduced a revolutionary fleet of four coach sets for its London suburban services.
What was unusual for these sets of four was that the bodies shared a bogie where they joined.
Seen above in the set as preserved.
So Ellis and Albert will sell you a set of four as shown in this computer generated image.
As usual these days, the set will be of the highest specification.
The varnished teak render looks superb ...
... just compare it with the real thing at Weybourne
Price is "just" £325 - that is £81.25 a coach (OUCH!) - and you only get FIVE bogies rather than EIGHT! But you cannot really buy less than the full set of four. Ellis won't sell you anything less than a full set!!
Order today and delivery is expected in the third quarter 2024.
fbb would have to be barking mad to order a set from Ellis! Mrs fbb would certainly have a bone to pick with her hubby! Her fury would blow fbb mansions' woof off despite fbb's dogged determination to collar one of these new models. A sorry tail indeed.
Hyper groan!?
Next Thurnby Lodge blog : Friday 12th May
The 37/38 combined timetable is a little complicated because it is a slightly complicated corridor as shown by your explanation. There are two Haymarket Bus Stations shown at the the top as Arriva & First run from different but neighbouring stands (which it should be commended for showing) & as a circular you have a separate arrival stop for Haymarket listed at the end (& likewise inbound & outbound stops on Uppingham Road shown duplicating there). The looped nature means you have two stops listed for Bowhill Grove as the 38A is on the opposite side of the road to the 37 & 38 (& I suspect opposite ends of Bowhill Grove in practice - the 37 & 38 tend to wait time on the first stop at the north of the road whilst I think the 38A waits on the first stop at the bottom so which ever stop on Bowhill Grove you are using the bus won't pass early) so it is logical to not show them at the same line. There is, of course, a 3rd Thurnby Lodge timing point for the 37 to highlight the different route it is taking to turn around. In this matter I feel FBB is being a little unfair as without separating the 3 routes into separate beds you can't get a simple timetable and if you do that you lose the ease of understanding what is now an integrated corridor as part of the multi-operate partnership.
ReplyDeleteErmmmm . . . . Quad Arts were used on the Great EASTERN services from Liverpool Street to Chingford, Cheshunt and Enfield Town.
ReplyDeleteAnd for a bonus point . . . the replacement electric services were known as the CHENFORD services , , , Cheshunt; Enfield; Chingford.
With TfL looking for names for Overground lines, "Chenford" would fit nicely, but that'll never do!!
The picture appears to show a 5 car Quinart set...
ReplyDeleteYes, the black and white picture definitely shows a Quint-Art set on the Great Eastern, possibly near Stratford, with a GE N7 loco rather than a GN N2 - both 0-6-2Ts though. Having had a look around, it appears that the GN section only ran Quad-Arts (often in pairs) while the GE section, although mostly running Quints, did have a few of the 4 coach variety (slightly different to the GN ones though).
ReplyDeleteThe LNER quad/quint set situation is even more complicated. As noted above, the GE section had both quad and quint sets, of which the quints were more common. The GN suburban services quads (on which the model is based) actually came in two different formations, one each of which were semi-permanently coupled together into 8 car sets. Between the two quad sets there was a special coupling and short buffer arrangement. As a consequence, the GN sets could not operate in four car formation. The preserved set at Sheringham had the buffing gear altered so it could operate singly.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, to be strictly accurate, Ellis Clark should be producing two different quad sets which can then be coupled together.