Sunday 11 June 2023

Sunday Variety

 Puzzle Picture

Leeds! The city's trams were famous (?) for huge route numbers, often displayed blocking the front top deck view. Eat you heart out Contravision!
This style was by no means universal Some had smaller destination boxes which were less intrusive ...
... and some has blinds in a more conventional place.
The style, but with a slightly reduced size of font, continued on the motor buses ...
... and remained so into PTE times.
Sheffield Transport, too, had an "odd font" with a totally circular letter "O"
But the "S" was aways condensed.
 "C" and  "G" were also parts of a true circle.
But when the words were longer a more "normal" font was used.
Once again the big round "O" style continued into the PTE age.

Technology Puzzle Picture
What Ellis Clark is selling are "O" gauge "Buckeye" couplings.

Errm ... what?

Let's go back a bit. Way back when, wagons and coaches were joined by simple chains; which developed into what were known as "three link" couplings.

A slightly more sophisticates version has one asymmetric link. This meant thet rolling stock could be "close coupled" using the short bit of the link if required.
This unsophisticated system produced the "clang clang clang" as a train accelerated and the links became tight. Wagons had handbrakes.
Later vehicles were "fitted", i.e. fitted with brakes operated by air or steam. 

Screw link couplings arrived ...
... whereby the connection could be tightened until buffers touched. But, to do this, an operative had to stand between two wagons and do the screwing. This could be, indeed was, dangerous.

So "buckeye" couplings which came together without human intervention arrived on the scene.
On broad principle they operated like a model railway Peco or Hornby Dublo couplings of old.
The real things still needed a human hand to uncouple, but this was via a yank on a chain from the trackside and not between vehicles!

Some buckeye couplings were made so the could be folded down, out of the way of other linkage.
These were known as "drophead" couplings. Both sorts were usually spring to ease the sudden shock as a train moved off.

So there you are ... Ellis Clark drophead sprung buckeye couplings for your "O" gauge rolling stock.
The set of two will cost you £12.50. That is about the price of a cheapo open wagon in OO gauge.

Topless Art (Not What You Think!)
It was only a week or so back that fbb was extolling the virtues of MoreBus Bteezers. Two routes combined to offer a link between Wool Station and Lulworth Cove
Those services approach from Bournemouth and Poole. But coming in from the west is First Wessex X50.
This service supplements the rather sparse X54 that used to be part of a through service from Exeter to Bournemouh. The main thrust of the X50 east of Weymouth is to get folk to Lulworth Cove. The X50 runs hourly seven days a week,
And it appears that the Bearded Bus Beautifier from the Bush has provided one of his stylish and stylised interpretations of this beauty spot.
Here, for comparison purposes is the reality.
The rocky arch is Durdle Door; the nearby Cove is almost circular.
But don't expect such glorious views from your open top X50. This gets the merest long distance glimpse until you arrive at the main village and  car park.
Despite a rather faintly marked bus stop bay outside the visitor centre ...
... the buses stop at the entrance to the huge car park.
From here it is about 3/4 mile to the beach down a narrow road.
It is only when you get there that you get the view of the Cove! Or you can take cliff top paths and gaze down at the rock arch nearbyn! 
But it is the icing on the very pleasant cake of a ride on the X50.

The other poster was something of a challenge!
For this we need the other open topper, the X52, running west from Weymouth to Bridport.
This supplements he all-year-round X53 from Axminster to Weymouth.
So, where are those gorgeous golden cliffs?
Well, they are golden if you turn up the colour and the brightness!
They are the East Cliffs at West Bay, just south of Bridport.
But you cannot really see the cliffs from anywhere on the X52!
So you need to get off and walk - which is well worth the effort.

And the ride from Bridport to Weymouth - the best way to do it - is gorgeous.

Baslow Breezer Is Blue!
Hulleys publicity for their Breezer from Baslow to Castleton showed a very red bus, but on-line was a ranralising glimpse of something more Hulley-like.
Here it is coming up the hill out of Hathersage.
And here it is in red ...
... and now in blue with registration number very visible.
And here with Aldermaston Coaches running a shirt-lived sea front service at Portsmouth.
Before that, with the Bath Bus Company running happily in Windsor.
Even before that it was topless in London, but for the wrong reasons!
And originally!
Presumably Bath Bus Company fettled up the top deck after the accident.

 Next Red Arrow blog USA : Monday 12th June 

20 comments:

  1. Andrew Kleissner11 June 2023 at 07:32

    It's not surprising that Leeds tramcar 301 had "different" destination displays as this was in fact the last LCC car, the "Blurbird", built in the 1930s and bought by Leeds in about 1951. Amazingly the car still exists, restored to original condition, at Crich.

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  2. More bus present the more professional image on their 30 & 31, but don’t have enough open tops (they are all on the 50/70/80), so it only conventional closed tops for their services, but yesterday (Sat) despite the cloudy weather in this area (in contrast to a lot of the U.K.) both they and first were doing a roaring trade to and from Lulworth cove with full loads from both Wool and Weymouth directions, so good on them both!

    First do have all open and part open tops, but a motley collection of buses including some old vehicles (complete with vintage signing telling you not to smoke on the bus from 1st July 2007 onwards!!) and at least one still wearing branding for services around Newquay.

    Indeed the vinyl removal department is still struggling to remove city reds and “we’re all about Southampton” slogans from buses in Weymouth more than 3 months after they ceased to be anywhere in that city more than 50 miles away, so Wessex or Jurassic coast livery, is but a distant dream. There were also cancellations yesterday on at least x52, leaving 2 hour gaps between x53’s… not ideal!

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    Replies
    1. And the first day of First's X50 featured closed-tops after breakdowns!

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    2. And according to regular drivers Waterside Holiday Park banned the Sunseeker open air deck Enviro200s from its private site due to issues with dropping oil & not displaying its advertising. Other open-tops still have partial Kernow route branding, parts crudely tipped off. Did the start of the Summer season take First by surprise this year?

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  3. First Bus route X50, Weymouth to Wool is being extended to Swanage during the summer holidays (23 Jul - 02Sep):

    https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.service.gov.uk/search/find-registered-local-bus-services/details/610239/

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    Replies
    1. They’ve spotted that more’s 30 it doing well so they want a bit of that too!

      Let’s hope they can scrape together enough tatty vehicles and drivers to operate it! Lulworth has never been so well connected!

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    2. Will be cool to ride a First open-topper all the way but will the elderly fleet make it so far into enemy territory? Any 'special fares' between the competing operators, perhaps not assuming the £2 fare cap will apply?

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    3. Go-ahead and first are both in the government scheme, so £2 it is!
      I rode from Bournemouth Stn to Axminster stn this week (via Swanage and Weymouth) on 3 buses for £6, a bargain for us fare payers if ever there was one!!

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  4. Even more of a farce is the fact that First seemingly registered its X50 and X52 late so they couldn't operate throughout the busy school half-term holiday week (only starting as it ended) handing the custom to Go-Ahead's 30/31 on a plate. You couldn't make it up. And when visiting yesterday, not only were there X52 missing according to the post above, but its seafront bus info kiosk was closed!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, not much point in having a kiosk on the front once again if it’s closed all day, with a notice in the window which says it is or should be open!

      Looks like the £2 bonanza has caught them totally unprepared, and with no help or monetary assistance from the higher management at all.. it’s such a shame to see the U.K. big players one after another descending into such a shambles, even though, certainly in this case, I have no doubt that the local manager is working 25 hours a day to try and make it the best he can, but probably, on his own in doing so!

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    2. A couple of local drivers said the Wessex Manager Mr Gagg has quit First & joined local government down the coast somewhere.

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    3. First Bus in Weymouth does seem to be in a complete spin compared to 1 or 2 years ago - I guess that’s what happens with so much management changes

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  5. fbb, I think that the cove shown on the illustration is not the Lulworth Cove but the cove next to Durdle Door. Lulworth Cove is much more of a half circle. My first visit there was by paddle steamer from Weymouth. My second was by car as the only bus service was a somewhat limited one run by Dorset County Council

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  6. Sadly the changes to X50:and X54 by First this summer have deprived the residents of Lulworth of their direct bus link to and from Poole.

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    Replies
    1. Yes the X54 is in a very sad state with hardly any services left through to Poole making Weymouth-Poole or vv day trips impossible, will it survive the Winter? To think it was once part of the 2 hourly Exeter Jurassic CoastlinX53!!!

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    2. Yes it is odd that the departure from Poole around 4pm/4.30pm was for many years nearly always a full bus load of day trippers from Weymouth going home, but first have killed that trade off now with a last departure back from Poole before 2:30pm!! One wonders if they are trying to kill it off for some reason?

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    3. Agreed. And to the comment (on next days blog) not everyone lives near a railway station with many communities between stations or simply off the line so the X54 does have an important to play.

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  7. The original Jurassic Coaster X54 from Bournemouth’s Castlepoint to Exeter, later Poole to Exeter was a Devon sponsored initiative. I had used sections of the route - Poole to Weymouth and Bridport to Exeter. The demise of this route was the fallout between First and Dorset County Council in supporting commercial routes.

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  8. I think it was the X55 which operated between Weymouth and Castlepoint. This was separate from the X53 which operated (in its prime) from Bournemouth Square to Exeter.

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    Replies
    1. The X53 in its heyday (around 2006) ran from central Bournemouth (not Castlepoint!) right through to Exeter on certain jorneys, I recall catching one around 1550 ish back to Devon!

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