Saturday Variety

 Vive La France

The UK is supposedly the sixth largest economy in the world, just above La Belle France at Noi 7. So why, pray, is France one of the greatest countries for new tram systems, whilst the UK is, to be blunt, absolutely pathetic! Recently a web site has published two lists.

Here is one ...

Readers may wish to add up the kilometers of new tramway being built at the moment.

Here are some pictures of current tramway systems where extensions are under way or planned. They all look VERY impressive.

Strasbourg

Montpelier

Ile De France (Paris)

Nice

Lyon

Bordeau

Impressive, eh? How are we dong in he UK?

Of course there is another list, this time new lines and extensioins not yet under construction but approved and due to be started soon.

Apparently we in the UK cannot afford such glories as new tram systems. So how can they manage to find the Euros in France?

VLR In Coventry - Build Progress

The theory is that the "Rail" is so "Very Light" that the track can be laid on any road surface without recourse to protecting or diverting services underneath. 

But there is a snag. At various points on a VLR route, say at roundabouts, the VLR track has to be level with the road surface.

So here is now it has been done in Coventry - and it's much more time consuming and expensive that just plonking track sections like a model railway on any available road surface.

You can see that the top layers of the road have been excavated. The track is in the form od "slab" sections.

Here we see lengths of rail being glued together using he Thermite welding technique - spectacular ...

... but simple.

Presumably the road surface will be built up once the track is in place? Looks like it!

Standard shaped groove tram rail has been laid. But it is lightweight.

At least the lightweight construction, means that an excavator can fairly easily remove the track, then the road surface will be relaid. Thus, if the idea goes belly-up or the money runs out, or both; the full road width can be recovered!

Remember The Hythe Ferry

It was bought by Red Funnel who, you would have thought, were in enough financial "schtum" to not bother with another loss making service. The service was then withdrawn because Hythe Pier needed major work.

Local new reports reveal that work on the pier has started or, maybe, will start soon.

Nobody is saying when it will be finished, or even IF it wil be finished. This is only the "first phase".

It's The Skills Of The Press - Again!

Well, fbb knows and, in theory at least, everybody who has passed a driving test should know. fbb asked his dear wife and she was a bit hesitant but got there in the end.

Here is the sign ...

... and we have something similar on the Esplanade at Seaton.

They both mean "two way traffic". The sign is used when you are leaving a piece of one way road and joining a thoroughfare which is used by, guess ...

... two way traffic! (Seembles!)

Windows 25 - Part 3

Regular and excited readers will remember that fbb's skylight windows did not consistently fit the carriage shed roof which had become badly warped.

So fbb re-glued the "glazing" easing the warp into an unwarped state and holding the whole lot down with a series of heavy clamps.

But warped plastic has a determination to stay warped, so when fbb removed the clamps, guess ...

... the warp had warped back! Hence the advice of Bill Bodge and Fred Fudge; "BISTO"! 

For those unfamiliar with one of the many historic modellers' mottos, the acronym expands to ...

Bin It, Start Trying Origami. 

fbb has tried origami and found it even more frustrating than railway modelling. 

The obvious solution was to rebuild the carriage shed roof completely. But the ghosts of Bill Bodge and Fred Fudge were hovering around and so fbb decided to bodge it and fudge it.

He filled the gap and this straightened the edge! From the normal viewing distance (i.e. from Seaton Esplanade!) it was hardly obvious. Perhaps the original architect had improved the aesthetics of a utilitarian building by including a shallow graceful curve at ridge tile level?

Or fbb had messed up his original construction?

What would it look like with the skylight window frames in place?

Puzzle Picture

Obviously it's a vehicle flyover and it isn't there now.

So where was it? Answer tomorrow.

 Next Variety blog : Sun 11 May