A Book Review (3) and More Variety

Another from the Book

Privatised Sold, Sold and Sold!

Mr Booth treats us to a view of a Hampshire Bus f40om the 1970s (in green livery, of course) ...

... on service 47 which ran from Winchester via Chandlers Ford to Southampton.

Buses soon became red!

With the arrival of privatisation, the livery changed to a rather garish and non complimentary red white and blue.

Stagecoach snaffled Hampshire Bus, but, for some reason, Uncle Brian Souter did not want the Eastleigh area and in tandem with his get rich quick policy, he sold the Southampton depot and the Southampton bus station.

That bit of Hampshire Bus went to Southern Vectis, more specifically a business branded Solent Blue Line.

On the very same day that Vectis did the deal with Souter, the Island company also bought the Eastleigh area routes from Basil Williams' independent Hants and Sussex business.

The Vectis team had to play "cloak and dagger" to ensure that the two bosses did not meet? They may have smelled a largervr0at than they were expecting.

Brian (long before he became "Sir") lumbered SBL with a right hash-bag of Bristol VRs, many still branded from their work in Cumberland - a bit like this one!

There was a wide variety of livery changes ...

... becoming more and more complicated!

But the 47 route number remained resolutely consistent! 

The sale of Southern Vectis to GoAhead presaged some rationalisation and trendy liveries. Our faithful friend the 47 became route 1, branded "the one".

But the route is much the same as the Hampshire Bus 47 from the 1970s.

Subsequently, of course, Blue Star stepped in to absorb the Southampton City routes when First bus couldn't be bothered to run them properly. Stability all round seems well established under GoAhead management.

Atrocious Illustration

Because reading books is now a bit of a handful (literally, three hands required - holding the book, turning the pages and holding a magnifier) fbb has taken the tablet. 

On this medium sized "device" he can enjoy YouTube videos and read articles with comparative ease.

The tablet technology seems to attract little newsy items, each with a come-and-read-me illustration. 

A popular topic is "the most amazing bloopers on the railways, at sea, in the air and on the media.

So this one looked a bit "extreme".

First fbb searched for a railway company branded "Citi".

Cambridge local buses were branded "Citi".

He did find a couple of American train companies that sported a mainly blue livery ...

... mainly for their freight business.

Of course the UK offers Lumo in a similar shade!

But fbb could find nothing on rails labelled Citi. There was, of course, the slight suspicion that the picture of the crash might not be real. OK, fbb felt it was a dead certainty that it was created by so-called AI.

But after a little downward scroll, guess what? fbb noticed this as a teaser for different set of mishaps.

Could it possibly be that two ludicrously unrealistic accidents happened in the same format?

Or could it be that some editor has simply reversed the image left to right as a "come and read me" header for yet another rubbish video?

The logo on the loco might be a clue?

itiD? In Cyrillic text?

Can we trust anything on line?

We can, of course, trust fbb's blog! - Usually!

Hornby's Welsh Train Pack

Remember in a piece about a coming together in Wales?

fbb reported that Hornby offered enthusiasts a train pack of the type of train illustrated above, but without he awful advertising "wrap"

The exciting news is that Hornby have reduced the price quite significantly ...

... from £510 (hyper OUCH!) to just a modest OUCH of £300.

Obviously, Hornby didn't sell many?

Quad Art In Teak

A while back, fbb was interested in Clark Railworks OO "Quad Arts" coach sets. Four coaches (the Quad) ran on five bogies rather than eight, so were defined as Articulated.

They were designed by the L N E R for London suburban service and ran in the fixed four coach sets. Originally hauled by steam tank locos ...

... seen above with two four car sets in tow. 

These coaches survived into British Railways use and here are eight coaches hauled by a D8000 class loco.

Clarks have just announced that the teak version of these sets have been delivered from Ulan Bator where they might well be made. Remember, nobody much makes model railways in the UK!

They look superb/

... and they are superb but they are also expensive. Most companies will sell you a coach for about £60 these days. but a Quad Art set of four will cost you ...

... a tad over £81 per coach - even worse you only get five eights if the usual number of wheels!

But remember you have to have all four!

Of the four versions in teak livery, three had already sold out (on pre-order) by the time the on-line adverts appeared.

So somebody must be buying them ...

... but not fbb as his carriage sidings will only hold three coaches and a loco - max! TripArt, or DuoArt anyone?

Flix : Rail In The Mix

fbb did not realise that the Flix Bus company, currently expanding rapidly in the UK ...

... is a significant operator of "open access" rail services. Here is a map of their network in Germany.

But, unlike similar operators in the UK, Flix has done deals with other train companies to offer through travel on the associate companies' services. So around Hamburg for example, at the top of the above map, there is plenty of intervailability as shown ...

... by he dotted lines.

The trains look great too.

How soon before we get a Flix Train in the UK?

The company has recently ordered 220 new trains in preparation for European expansion.

Wow!

And How's This For A Bus?

More "coming up" next week.

 Next Variety blog : Mon 2nd June