The Red Book 1977 - A Review

fbb was "very excited" to purchase a scan of a LT Red Book for 1958 from Ian Armstrong of bus routes web site fame. He was so convulsed with awe and wonder that he bought a hard copy for 1977 to contrast and compare.

For most of its life, the book was strictly for LT staff only.

Much had happened with London's iconic red buses in the 20 years or so that lay between the two similar-in-scope volumes.

But first, an apology. It has been quite tricky to get photograhs of this book - the pages tend to twang and the combination of print quality and faded page age has led to some poor efforts. But you will get the idea!

1958 -  Internal Phone numbers GONE

Everything is now BT!

Bell Punch becomes Gibson

And we no longer have the luxury of Fire Brigade numbers!

Index no change

Pleasingly, the index is still mammoth ...

There is still no locality beginning with X!

Since the 1958 edition, however, Zoological Gardens has gained an explanatory "Regents Park".

The timetables, shock horror, are now using the 24 hour clock and in increasing numbers show the full timetables where frequencies have been cut back, especially on Sundays.

The policy appears to be to show all journeys when the headway is evey 15 min or wideer 

Some services have "repeat patterns" with journeys that do not run the full length of the route ...

... an even bigger shock to LT management today when everything runs "all the way". Well it does unless "turned short" to regulate the service and infuriate the passengers!

Showing all journeys does make for some huge tables, especially when occasional and unpredictable journeys do not run all the way as with 27.

More Lettered Services

We see the early days of W for Wood Lane, H for Hampstead and E for Ealing ...

... which enables us to sample the usual crackpot LT frequencies.

What daft thinking ever decided that a bus every 24 to 27 minutes was ever a sensible service to operate. Surely, make it every 30 min!

Red Arrow routes

We also have the Red Arrows ...

Inter station bus

From something quite distinctive, by 1977 it has become a service that is all but moribund, operating on Sunday Night Monday Morning only.

The half-upper deck was to allow room for heavy luggage in the "boot".

Night Services

These are now prefixed with letter N and some of them now operate on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Holborn was the terminus of those Saturday night only trips on the N98 from Romford.

Oddities?

Again apologies for poor quality reproduction. Sightseeing tours were yet to proliferate into the vast business that they are today.

But the top two are weird. Wembley Stadium and Wimbledon Stadium "Special Services" are designed to operate for sporting events, but the rubric on the timetables says "will only ooerate if staff are available".

Seems tough if you are expe9cting a bus!

Wimbledon Stadium was the home of greyhound racing ...

...  and speedway.

The stadium was closed in 2017 and demolished one year later.

Trolleybuses and Excursions GONE

Which provokes a challenging puzzle picture.

Where is this picture located?

Please Note : the final instalment from Lyme Regis should be published tomorrow.

 Next Lyme and Chips blog : Thursday 1st August 

Carousel And Water Don't Mix

But Not Like This!

Above shows part of Drayton Manor Theme Park closed by flooding for a whole week in February 2020.

On the other hand these are bottles of water on offer from Reading Buses ...

... part of a bit of a do in Henley, outside the town hall.

A close up of the bottles' caps may give a clue.

Somebody has stuck neat little blue labels on the bottles' lids. They read "Aqua 28".

Also there for a time was a bus ...

... beautified by a Bearded Beautifier from Shepherds Bush, one Mr Stenning. The bus, incidentally, is a bit of a mystery. It was one of a batch delivered to Stagecoach Sunderland ...

... gas powered and thus well up on the scale of environmental brownie points. Here is the bus in Stagecoach garb ...

... and in service in Sunderland. Here it is again, repainted and promoting Service 28 Aqua at Reading.

So, what;s going on? 

It is possible that readers may recgnise this map ..

... as it is remarkably similar to route 800, just taken over by Carousel buses.

The 800 has a few journeys via Binfield Heath with its clearly marked bus stop.

But then until 28th inst it was operated by Arriva - so there is no bus stop sign and no timetable display.

There, told you. The 0945 from Reading runs via Binfield Heath at 1010.

What fbb does not know is whether Reading Buses started their Aqua 28 as a spoiler for the ailing Arriva or a warning shot across the bows for the more alive and kicking Carousel.

There is good route promotion inside the Aqua bus ...

...with a route reminder as well.

There are high quality leaflets ....

... and, best of all (or worst of all depending on who you are), Reading runs half hourly whilst the 800 is only hourly along the same roads. 

Of course, Carousel does run half hourly between Reading and Henley but via two different routes.

Will GoAhead's Carousel company respond?

Watch this blog!

There is no new network map on Carousel's web site but each route does have an updated timetable and a simple map attached ...

... both hugely better than the poor offerings of the outgoing Arriva.

Good Time In Lyme 

Trips For Chips (2)

fbb plus Mrs fbb took a trip on Axe Valley 378 from Seaton to Lyme Regis on Friday 26th July. The trip was not particularly dramatic in any way, but thoroughly enjoyable and is a good example of the pleasure of simply taking a bus ride. It's cheap (either £2 or, in the aged fbbs' case, free) and you don't have to drive. 

More importantly in  Lyme Regis, you don't have to park!

Axe Bridge

Once a toll bridge but built as part of the project to bring the railway not quite close enough to Seaton.

The toll house and the bridge were constructed in cast concrete, certainly the first road bridge to be so built in England. Here we see old and new looking back towards Seaton itself.

With the opening of the bridge, the former track to Axmouth Harbour became a proper road from which the views of the estuary and the wetlands are glorious. When the tide is out, the views are, well, mud!

Axmouth

Before the bridge the only link across the Axe was by ferry from Axmouth village, once sited here at the foot of Church Street. That's  Axmouth church.

Seaton Church, the alighting point of the ferry, is behind the tree!

Axmouth has two nearly adjoining pubs, both serving good nosh, but the fbbs' favourite the Ship.

Axe Valley's finest now joins the A3052 for the run to Lyme.

Rousdon

The time point is Rousdon "Garage" which hasn't been a true garage for many a short year or so. There is still a car sales lot but no fuel sales or car maintenance facilities. The old showroom has been an "artisan" (aka ludicrously expensive) bakery and now trades as ...

... "Koffie". fbb s not sure what it sells!

If you look VERY carefully to your left (as you speed to Lyme) when passing signs to Ware (Where?) you might be clever enough to see Cannington Viaduct in the misty distance.

It's hard to spot but a visit (on foot or car) is a delight.

It is almost all that remains of the branch line from Axminster to Lyme Regis. The double arched bit is where the viaduct started falling down as they built it, so extra bracing was added - sounds very much like fbb's railway modelling skills!

Lyme Regis

The views as you enter the town are wonderful, but ony feebly photographed.

Two buildings attract the eye as the bus descends steeply into the town. There is Umbrella Cottage ...

... a singularly appropriate name! Then comes Coram's Tower, now assorted flats.

We alight at the Co-op ...

... and stride off down the hill to find Chips.

There will be more on the buses when we come back, replete with unhealthy fried food, from Lyme Regis tomorrow.

The Delights of Journalism

An article appeared recently in an on-line piece from Liverpool.

There is even a picture of a Belfast "Glider" to set the juices flowing.

But reading on, things look a little different.

It appears there are no fixed plans as yet (that catch-al phrase "plans are ongoing") and a Glider bus might be appearing in the next two weeks or it might not, "I think actually there's one coming to the Wirral."

Don't hold you breath Birkenhead!

 Next Red Book blog : Wednesday 31st July