Saturday Variety

From 305 To X11

We'll be introducing a new service X11 which will replace the Doncaster services that have been withdrawn.  X11 will serve Iport - Tickhill - Maltby - Rotherham Hospital - Waverley - Sheffield

Above is the headline and below is the timetable extract; and that, troubled bus passenger, is all you get from First.

There is no map!

Fortunately (?) we have a non-leaflet from the PTE which offers a different style of explanation.

There is also the somewhat mysterious highlighted "places on the route".

Ever since the PTE started using this style of leaflet, fbb has tried (really he has tried!) to understand the logic of this information. There is, of course, the "Stopping Points for the X11" panel.

Doncaster to Tickhill would appear to be the same as the old 305 - almost ...

... but you have to be very knowledgeable to work it out. Note that Rossington appears well before the bus has reached Rossington; likewise Tickhill appears out in the sticks and far from anywhere in Tickhill you may want to go.

There is no map.

But referral to the PTE's network map suggests that there are now no journeys to Harworth (below map, just off the bottom) ...

... and there is no mention of any journeys via Westfield Road, the little wiggle in Tickhill. 

The route in Maltby is unclear ...

...  but after a diversion via Rotherham Hospital - not mentioned on the stops list, of course ...

... the X11 runs fast via the Parkway into Sheffield. BUT it does seem to take another double run into Waverley ... perhaps.

It is clear that most of fbb's loyal readers will simply not understand this; but fbb confesses that he does not understand it either!

What he also does not understand is why a Doncaster works service, sponsored by two businesses in the Tickhill area, should be extended to Maltby and Sheffield.

Here is the Monday to Friday timetabble ...

.... every two hours plus extras. The Saturday timetable ...

... a simple two hourly headway and even a Sunday timetable has tr0ips to Tickhill only.

Remember (if you could ever forget) the "normal" and direct service to Tickhill is the half hourly 22 ...

... hourly on Sundays.

It looks like another 95a and 95b disaster in the offing.

Hesitant In Haywards Heath?

No 3 son lives in Haywards Heath and was bemused to see a bus branded Lewes Lynx as he set off shopping one day last week. fbb was commissioned to investigate.

Firstly, the bus is operated by Compass Travel, something of a success story in the area.

More importantly, its Lewes Lynx does not venture north to Haywards Heath - ever! It is, as its name suggests, the local bus in Lewes, route number 127. It shuttles between the town centre and two of Lewes' housing areas.

In a clever bit of scheduling, the route serves Landport (map top left) twice and hour but Malling (upper centre) only hourly.

Good route branding for Haywards Heath, eh?

Book Not Reviewed

Simon Kohler, ex Marketing Manager at Hornby (retired, or was he pushed?) has written a book about the company's development of its TT range.

The project has been both commercially risky and enthusiast controversial.

For those who don't remember (or those who never knew) TT120 is a new scale of 2.8mm to the foot, the same as continental TT. The old UK TT was developed in he early sixties by Triang ...

... with a scale of 3mm to the foot. Triang TT failed and was discontinued.

fbb has not bought the book but will keep an eye open for "pre owned" copies.

Bother At Bradninch

Bradninch is a pleasant town in East Devon, a few miles south of Cullompton. Its Guildhall dates from its days as a borough, a status no longer held. Outside the Guildhall is a splendid bus shelter.

The church, too, is rather splendid inside ...

... and out.

But, talking of its bus shelter, this snippet popped into fbb little laptop a few days ago.

Stranded? Packed stops ignored?

Hmmm.

Until April 20th, Bradninch is served every 30 minutes by Stagecoach 1 and 1A.

The current timetable offered four buses an hour to Cullompton, two of which run via Bradninch ...

... and one continues to Tiverton. Here is a timetable extract.

From 20th inst, four buses an hour will still run to Cullompton but all via the 1A route.

"Told you so", cry the journalist public transport experts of Devon Live. What about poor Bradninch?

Not quite right, says fbb who does understand.

Buses on route 1 will still run every hour via Bradninch and, as at present, will continue to Tiverton.

This will be a 50% reduction in buses via Bradninch, which is not good. But the village is not "cut off". 

What is unclear is what prophetic skills the journalist has which enables him or her to see "packed stops ignored" even before the service has changed.

Amazing vision are not normally the prerogative of jobbing journalists who probably never travel by bus.

Nostalgia Par Excellence.

fbb has no memory of ever having seen this product.

Much fun was had by all!

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 The Easter Jigsaw 

Nothing!

There was an urgency to get Jesus' body in the tomb by sunset on Friday because that was the start of Saturday, The Sabbath, when no work could be undertaken.

Wrapped in a plain linen cloth (not as white as shown above!) the body was placed in a donated tomb. The stone was rolled across the entrance and the tomb was sealed and guarded.

So nothing happened on the Saturday.

The women awaited their duty in completing the burial embalming which would happen very early (first light) on Sunday morning.

The disciples, who had run away, were gathered in fear and distress; fear tht they might be next for the Cross and depressed that all their hopes met in Jesus had come to nothing.

So nothing happened on the Saturday.

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 Next Variety blog : Sun 20th April