Little Nippers : Lotta Nonsense?

 Nipped Off?

fbb was very pleased that his parents bought his academic gown and hood for his graduation - and he wore it on ceremonial occasions in his teaching career. His gear was a black gown with a green slightly fluffy hood bearing a cherry red border.

But you would need a PhD qualification to sort out bus services as crazy competition began to engulf (literally) the streets of Sheffield post deregulation.

His 1989 timetable book is packed with Little Nippers!

No, that is not the bus logo - it is the mark of a children's football coaching service in the great City of Not Much Steel These Days.

There are no Nipper buses in 2025!

Necessary Nippers?

The original Nippers were a product of The Peoples' Republic of South Yorkshire, a political construct whereby politicians (coloured various shades of red) set out to improve the lot of their constituents.

The original "N" routes were designed to penetrate areas of the city where big buses could not venture. They served little nuggets of housing, notably small estates populated by the elderly and less mobile.

This was not the same as routes numbered in the 800 series and there were plenty of them by 1989.

These were operated by buses adapted to carry wheelchairs, at a time when most buses were not "accessible". The routes were usually just one return trip into the main shopping centre, running on certain days only.

Neither should the Nippers be confused with manager Bob Montgomery's attempt to bring the minibus revolution from Manchester to Sheffield's cross-city routes.

The Eager Beavers were pretty much a disaster on busy route 52 and they soon departed as did Mr Montgomery.

Sadly, fbb cannot remember the destinations of the original Nippers, but one, the N3, went to Broomhall, a previously unserved area between the University and the busy Ecclesall Road.

Nobbling Nippers?

A click on the timetables will permit an enlargement.

But with the approaching and later arrival of competition, the Nippers achieved wider notoriety. Bus watchers have different views on this route development, but a cynical fbb reckons that many were started to either see off competition OR to discourage competition.

Several Nippers partly mirror big bus routes, possibly with a extra wiggle here and there.

Here, in 1989, is the D1 ...

... from Sheffield to Coal Aston then going forward to Dronfield and on to Dronfield Woodhouse.

Sounds useful until you discover that, at various times, these locations are served by routes 203, 204, D2 and D3.

Confused.com!

Then there is a bus service from city somewhat indirectly to Sandstone Road, an area of housing in the north east of the city, unserved until the 1 appeared. This bit of 1960s housing hardly merits a bus service at all, but the Peoples' Republic was keen to serve its citizens.

So here is route 1, started back in Sheffield Transport days.

But on top of that we have the  M37 ...

... which follows a more direct route to augment the existing service but only in the evenings Mon to Sat and all day Sunday. But route 1 still runs at these times!

Confused.com?

Next is route 60 that conveyed fbb to his teaching work for a good number of years. Now numbered 120 and joined by the 83, the core route to city has not really changed.

Interestingly, the frequency at the Fulwood terminus was much the same as today ...

... but those short workings now run much further, to Ranmoor.  The line for Lodge Moor timings is there because a few 60s ran to the 51 terminus in the evenings.

But during the day there was an exact clone of the "big bus" 60, numbered M60 ...

... with all journeys extended to Lodge Moor.

Whatever the motive for this odd management decision, all buses occasionally had a bit of a bother getting there!

Brrrr! fbb remembers the winter weather up his mountain very well, very well indeed.

Numerous Nippers?

Wybourn and Manor were "old" estates even in fbb's day (mid 60s to mid 80s) but much of the older housing has now been upgraded or demolished and replaced. Back in 1989 it was still "good bus" territory. fbb cannot condense the history of proper buses in the area into a few choice blog sentences.

Suffice it to day there were always plenty of proper buses!

In 1989 we have TWO Nipper routes to Wybourn, the M10 ...

... and the M11, each every 30 mins.

The bus of choice became the Dennis Domino.

It is possible that the M10 and M11 replaced Wybourn's original big bus service. There was certainly no traditional route 56 in the 1989 book but there might have been a Wybourn elsewhere within the chaotic "normality". If there is, fbb has failed to find it.

Confused.com?

But the Nipper nipping to Manor was definitely an extra service.

Blogging time does not permit fbb to draw a route map for the M services as he probably won't live that long! But the M26/M27 run via Harborough Road, the big bus route to Manor Park Centre, and then performs a large both ways round loop in the Manor estate.

Helpfully (?), buses simply showed "Manor Circular" ...

... but you would think boarding passengers would not mind which way round they went, even if they were ...

Confused.com?

Nipper Novelties?

A Rotherham Nipper, N15, which had changed its route in 1989

A wheelchair bus on Nipper M59 ...

... plus its timetable extract.

An ex Eager Beaver Nipper bus on a normal bus route, the 63 Sheffield to Birley ...

... plus its timetable extract.

Finally a Noteworthiness of Nippers at East Laithe Gate Doncaster a k a Christchurch ...

... and the same bus-less location today.

Note the same terrace of houses and the wider pavement. (All buses now leave from the Frenchgate Interchange near the railway station.

 Next Demountable blog : Thurs 1 May 

Demountable Debatable 1 (mini blog)

But Firstly ...

Well, it seemed so at the time. fbb has tried to restructure his blog thinking to retain quality (?) but to reduce quantity. Over the last few weeks, the planned structure has repeatedly collapsed, largely due to fbb's lack of self-imposed discipline.

Hmmm?

So here is "the plan" again.

There will be full blogs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.

e.g. Sheffield's Little Nippers

Wednesday 30th April

First's Kernow  Stupidity

Friday 2nd May

On Tuesday and Thursday mini blogs will appear.

29th April Demountable Debatable 1

1st May Demountable Debatable 2

On Saturday and Sunday Variety blogs will appear.

fbb will aim to provide a rough guide to content from time to time, as above.

======================

Not Such A Big Revolution

It was the infamous Dr Richard Beeching, loved by all railway enthusiasts, that kicked off the so-called "Container Revolution". His plan was that goods would be conveyed long distance by "Liner Train" ...

... with the last leg from depot to customer transferred by the container on the back of a lorry.

Whilst the idea of dedicated trains with huge containers (then 20ft, now 40ft) was the apple of Dr Richard's eye, putting "containers" on trains then lorries is almost as old as the railways themselves.

Indeed, they might well have been road-hauled by a one horsepower tractor unit!

Pre-Beeching, containers came in very varied forms. Like the above, some were half a flat wagon in length ...

... and sometimes used by well known "names" like Captain Birdseye.

Occasionally, they would be plonked in an open wagon rather than on a flat wagon. 

And there were some different designs ...

... made of pressed steel sheet, available in miniature, of course, from specialist railway model retailers.

There were demountable containers for specialist loads ...

... as illustrated by some scale models. A model specialist wagon might be for nuclear waste.

The OO gauge model is pictured above; reality below.

In later years you could unload the old containers by fork lift truck ...

... a system still used today at smaller depots!

The unloading vehicles are now a bit nore sophisticated and they are able to lift much bigger forks!

fbb's fave container wagon, admired for its top-sophistication, was that produced by Hornby Dublo. The wagon was a very basic printed tinplate body on a standard Hornby chassis.

The container was a shaped block of wood with printed paper detail "affixed". But you did get an eye for your crane hook to hook into. 

Oh the fun we had back then!

Of course, these older containers were very different from the big boxes that are used today - but we do all depend of them for a huge proportion of what we wish to buy and consume.

But what about liquids?

Have tank demountables been demonstrated in the past?

To be concluded on  Thursday .

Everybody's At It

Hornby have now joined in with the fake model game. The idea is that you produce wagons that have never existed and flog them. They are either bought by collectors, by modellers who don't  know they are fake, or by modellers who like to consume the branded contents displayed.

The breweries are real - but they do not have any tank wagons, neither are they ever likely to rent any!

 Next Sheffield Nipper blog : Weds 30 April