Sunday Variety

Bus Model Number 3

Wikipedia tells fbb that it is an AEC Regal bought and equipped for Green Line services and introduced in 1938 when it would have been seen as a high luxury vehicle. The underbelly of the model confirms that it was from the EFE brand, now part of Bachmann.

Again it does have the intrusive body pillars, more intrusive because they are shiny chromium plate jobbies as seen here through the back window.

You can't see them from the front but side views still reveal the intrusion.

Like the other models, the lettering is exquisite although fbb's photographic skills are not!

As is obvious, Green Line routes were originally lettered and this bus carries Z for a route to Grays.

On the only lettered route map fbb could find, there is no Green Line to Grays, possibly because the route was in the hands of a potential competitor. On this map the Z runs to Windsor.

Several of these buses/coaches saw service in WW2 as ambulances.

The class was all withdrawn from passenger service by 1958.

In fbb's recently acquired scanned edition of a 1958 London "red book", Grays is served by route number 723 etc.

These extracts are printed on dull green paper but fbb has turned up the volume to aid legibility. Unlike the full timetable for route 711 as shown yesterday, the 723 complex just offers a first and last buses panel like central area (red) bus routes.

We are told that services run every 10 to 12 minutes and an "annexe" table shows which are 723 and which are 723B

723A details are not revealed!

The 723 still existed in 1980!

Three Little Trains From Kent

Because the tooling for Nellie, Connie and Polly had been discarded in an ill-advised Hornby (Triang) clear-out it was deemed uneconomic to recreate the models exactly.

Pity.

But the next best thing was to use the current "toy" 0-4-0 for the nostalgic purpose ...

... and the locos do retain something of the quirkiness of the originals. Bearing in mind the fact the Nellie first appeared in 1960, you would have to be well over 65 years of age to comprehend the difference.

When the new versions were announced, fbb shed a little tear as he remembered his youth and Nellie the first!

But Sam Turner (of Sams Trains fame) was far from impressed. Our Sam seems to be top man at slagging off Hornby for any and multiple reasons. He has a right to his opinions, of course, but fbb thinks he should remember that Hornby is in the business of making money for its shareholders not 100% commited to keeping Sam Turner happy.

Sadly, at the moment, Hornby are not doing either!

So, to celebrate Margate's 70th, Sam decided to refurbish an original blue Connie. His model, as purchased, was not in the best condition ...

... and needed a new motor and new couplings even before the body refurb. Armed with 3D printer, spray gun and spray booth, CAD design software and a silver Sharpie, Sam did a pretty good job.

But the result was not a genuine Connie.

Blue wheels and white-walled tyres?  Red and SILVER nameplate? Polished brass buffers?

And new small tension lock couplings!

Maybe if you are willing to make all those changes, you should not be worried too much about Hornby's celebratory version - in YELLOW!

Another 70th loco is a version of the ubiquitous (very much full of ubiquity) Jinty.

The original Triang locomotive had crude couplings and solid wheels ...

... together with old-style BR lion and wheel logo accompanied by over scale grey and red lining. But is was "iconic" and it might have been more nostalgic to recreate the crudeness of the original rather than plaster the model with never used Rovex text and give it a "brass" dome.!

fbb's first Triang loco was the not quite so iconic 2-6-2 tank, again with solid wheels ...

... which fbb replaced with proper see through versions.

Scary Viaducts.

The skills of our ancestor railway engineers are legendary. But sometimes you do wonder.

Here is Belah Viaduct ...

The viaduct appears briefly in the BTC film "Snowdrift at Bleath Ghyll" ...

Stainmote Summit is easy to spot as it is simply a sign!

But the view below Belah, over the parapet and into the whitewashed depths, is harder to spot.

The viaduct is long gone with little sign today of it ever having been there. Only the abutments remain if you know where to look.

Equally spindly was Crumlin viaduct near Newport South Wales.

It ran across the valley that carries the A467 north of this small community.

The road layout and many of the buildings have changed but fbb does wonder whether this retaining wall ...

... might have supported one of those huge pylons?

Whatever, enjoy this little video!

fbb has spent too much time searching for remains c/o Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Viaducts (?) - but he has failed!

The Crumlin Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the village of Crumlin in South Wales, originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway across the Ebbw River.

Hailed as "one of the most significant examples of technological achievement during the Industrial Revolution", in its 107 years of service until being dismantled in 1965, it remained: the least expensive bridge for its size ever constructed; the tallest railway viaduct in the United Kingdom; the third tallest viaduct in the world, after the aqueduct at Spoleto, Italy, and the timber viaduct in Portage, New York state.

Wikipedia goes on to tell fbb that the stonework for the pier bases remains on the hillside. Well, fbb cannot find any!

Slacker!

P.S. 0-4-0 Loco

fbb is grateful to correspondent Ian who sent an article from a Collectors Magazine. This reminded fbb of a Triang 0-4-0 electric loco with Pantograph ...

... using the Nellie chassis.

The article revealed the even more delightful Katy.

This had a shorter body than Nellie, but never made it to full production. The article from Ian suggested that Katy might be an attempt (a poor one!) to create something like this LSWR 0-4-0.

What might have been! This was the Class C14 in BR livery.

 Next Country Bus today blog : Mon 22 July