Sunday Variety

The Answer's A Lemon

 The Big Lemon , initially competing with Brighton and Hove Buses, later carved out for itself a business with wider environmental and community aims. Its areas of operation expanded to Bristol and the surrounding area.

 Today  the company starts another innovative bus service right in the centre of Bristol City. It runs from The Dings (names are strange things) into the city centre - although, perversely, "The Dings" is not mentioned on the timetable panel as such.

The timetable on Lemon's web site is, perhaps, a little clearer than the over complex presentation c/o Traveline.

The route runs seven days a week with just the first journey out not operating at weekends. It serves areas to the east of the city centre which lack a convenient and direct bus into town.

It wiggles, as does everything omnibological in Bristol, through the city centre ...

... terminating just past the former Tramway Centre on the banks of the harbour.

Generally the publicity is good, but badly let down by a poor computer generated route map.

The concept of the 61 has been well received.

 A spokesman  explained a bit more.

And the article, but not the timetable, gives the route in more detail.

So please Big Lemon, give us a proper map showing stops and road names clearly! 

 Surely you want folk to use your bus? 

Jubilation For Jess

We all know Jess, don't we?

Postman Pat

Postman Pat

Postman Pat and his black and white cat

Early in the morning

Just as day is dawning

He picks up all the postbags in his van

Postman Pat

Postman Pat

Postman Pat and his black and white cat

All the birds are singing

And the day is just beginning

Pat feels he's a really happy man

But this blog will ignore Pat's Jess and introduce its readers to this late feline Jess.

The report explains all, with one huge mistake.

Jess was not a resident of Andover Station, Jess was a cat; and therefore in full charge of Andover station!

Jess now stands safeguard at the two ticket windows making sure that passengers behave themselves.

A good and noble way of remembering such a much loved character!

Suspicious Suppression At Scarborough

The sea front services at Scarborough were once a scene of cut throat completion and aggro between operators.  Incumbent East Yorkshire (a k a Scarborough and District) tried, unsuccessfully to oust the intruders, But more and more buses joined the fray with "barkers" at the main stops cajoling the threatened public to take a ride.

Sanity returned with a strict Council brokered agreement on timetables and the amount of time allowed for loading at the busy stops.

Currently there are three "at it".

East Yorkshire has the best presentation and the newest fleet ...

... with dogged competitor Suncruiser offering an "interesting" mix of older OT conversions.

Viscount Travel is a recent contender with its "heritage" vehicles.

Their publicity shows a VR, now classed as vintage, but fbb can find no picture of the vehicle in reality. 

This bus does appear, however.

fbb, showing his needle sharp memory and acute observational skills (snigger snigger) immediately recognised the bus.

It was, of course, the open topper run for just one season by Hulleys of Baslow ...

... before Stagecoach killed off any chance of Hulleys success with its much expanded Peak Sightseer services. 

Is an ex London Trident a "vintage" bus?

It was an open topper with London United!

But on Scarborough seafront, tension has returned. Here is one of the bus stops with three separate timetable frames attached, one for each open top operator.

But Ben Gilligan the Boss of East Yorkshire is far from happy. One of his competitors ...

... yes it's Suncruiser, has slapped a poster over the top of the Beachcomber poster and route map.

A dastardly deed indeed!

Shock horror in Scarborough!

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ...

... one that readers may never have heard of.

There is just a small possibility that he is not known to any of fbb's transport enthusiast readers. But here is a brief biography.

The only translation necessary for the full and intellectual understanding of the above paragraph is to explain "gandy dancer". Gandy was a manufacturer of large agricultural tools ...

... including those in use on the railroad in the days before mechanisation.

The "dancer" refers to the songs and rhythmic body movements used by the mainly black workforce as they sought to cope with the back breaking work of keeping the track level and aligned.

A short video explains.

They would probably be called "platelayers" in the UK.

Anyway E S Dellinger left the railway and became a writer, initially of a magazine and later of the novella genre of short stories all linked to the one character, OR of single story slim paperbacks.

If the cover illustrations are anything to go by, the present publisher's nickname of "Pulp Fiction" could not be more appropriate.

The covers offer a vicarious joy in themselves. Here is just a sample.

Or maybe you would like this one.

You just have to wonder what dark deeds Kiamichi Bill gets up to as a Switcher on the Railroad.

Sadly, It Was The Wrong Size

Although it fitted the hole in the top of the cistern, the screw thread thingy on which a contraption screwed to fix it to the lid, was too small and you can't by a new screwed thingy on its own. Not only that, but the white ribbed plunger that activates the flush valve is also too small, so when it activates, it falls out. 

Useless.

So back to fbb's cobbled repair.

A generous application of abrasive liquid kitchen  cleaner and much manipulation of the plunger eased the embarrassing stickability and prevented the continuous flush problem. Nasty and bad for the water bills!

It now doesn't  stick, mostly!

A good soaking a WD40, followed by a luxurious libation of vegetable cooking oil and ...

Tada!

It seems to be working correctly.

Thus fbb adds plumbing bodging to his many few practical skills.

Talking Of Scarborough ...

How's this for a "one stop shop"!

And Talking Of Spending Money ...

This is a controller for your model railway.

Yes, you did read it right! Just under £600 to make your toy trains go.

fbb winced at the huge price of his first and only controller ...

... bought ten years ago. He shelled out a whole £45 of his precious pennies on this essential electrical equipment. Now it would cost you £53 and, no doubt more as inflation inflates.

But it does the job.

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Today and tomorrow the fbbs host their monthly Fellowship meetings c/w delicious afternoon tea. This month Mrs fbb is serving coconut and raspberry tarts.

fbb has taken on his duties as taste tester VERY seriously - well someone has to do it - and pronounces them super yummy; even though, normally, he is not at all keen on coconut!

The Biblical content of the meetings is a look at the Miracles of Mark's Gospel Chapters 4 and 5, aiming to understand how the God of Big Miracle an do similar (sometimes a bit less spectacular), miracles for each of us ...

... IF we trust His complete reliability!

To reduce pressure, Monday's and Tuesday's blogs will be a two-parter based on a recent television programme, but expanded and enhanced.

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 Next Big Train blog : Monday 2nd September