Sunday Variety - mini blog

Problem Solved

fbb is grateful to correspondent Andrew (from Cardiff) for his help in identifying the above location as per yesterday's blog. fbb was perusing the Carto map of London's rail systems, looking for a station where District and Piccadilly lines shared a platform. 

The only two are Acton Town and Ealing Common. The Carto map shows shared platforms with BOTH alternate line colours, so dark blue and dark green. Sadly fbb's ocular indisposition meant that he did not spot this two colour indication.

Anyway, the platforms ay Ealing Common would preclude a train to Heathrow, as shown on the train's destination blind.

Look closely and you will see both colours. But a train to Heathrow would not be picking up its load f enthusiasts from here.

So to Acton Town.

Turning up the brightness does the trick!

And the disused siding cropped from the original photo is a head shunt for Acton Works. Here is the same picture of the preserved 1938 unit with the head shunt NOT cropped.

One of the delights of this blogging game is when a reader, rather than just telling fbb he is incompetent, supplies helpful and revelationary information.

Thanks, Andrew.

A Bit Of Bridge Bother

When Mrs fbb was a wee Scottish lassie, day trips from (near) Milngavie to Largs were de rigueur, as they were wont to say in Maryhill! Latterly the Clyde Tunnel opened at Whiteinch, followed by the Kingston bridge on the M8 so both were possible river transits.

But her wee daddy preferred the traditional .Yoker to Renfrew Ferry,

fbb well remembers paying visits to the Renfrew side where hoardes of buses, mostly Paisley independents ...

... were only occasionally joined by a Scottish Bus Group motor.

The service to Paisley was ludicrously frequent.

With the opening of the Erskine Bridge a little further "doon the watter", the Renfrew Ferry became a little chug chug passenger service only. The boat looks ludicrously fragile, but realistically much of the heavy industry on both sides of the Clyde has gone and the crowds no longer cross.

With the opening of the new Renfrew and Yoker vehicle swing bridge ...

... foot passenger numbers have further declined and the ferry has been withdrawn.

There is a vociferous campaign to get it back, but surely the obvious solution is to run a bus service across the new bridge.

You would think so! BUT ...

Cannot or, more correctly, will not!

The problem, says First, is that the bridge can be closed at the whim of river traffic and "could" be closed "for hours at a time".

If course this is nonsense. There isn't that much river traffic these days, and, surely, the bridge could be opened in between boats to allow buses to proceed. There may be a delay just as there is when Tower Bridge opens in London.

Poor response from First. 

What about the plethora of  independents that ply their trade at Renfrew and Yoker? McGills would seem to be a prime candidate with a much better track record of "having a go."

Another Troubling Bridge

When fbb was nobbut a lad, he remembers hearing, on the wireless, reports of an accident or a big delay at Stonebridge Island, near Coventry. In slightly more recent times there was a large roundabout there ...

c/w a Toby Carvery. Here is a fine Midland Red bus jist departing from the intersection ...

... with Toby in the rear. The A45 (east west) now flys over the north south road.

Historically somewhere in there was a coaching inn ...

... the Stonebridge Hotel. This was later extended dramatically ...

... but it did stand near a stone bridge over the river Blyth, the waters being bbalmost invisible in todays intersection environment.

Alas, there is now no sign of this venerable river crossing, just a weed-infested water course trickling below the on/off ramps to the east of the roundabout. Whether we look north ...

... or south, there is no sign of the original bridgej. Pity.

Are there any buses today that call at Stonebridge? There are bus stop poles and flags on the western A45 on ...

... and off ramps

And Centro provides a route map of sorts.

Stonebridge is the junction to the right. There is a timetable ...

... running on Mondays only.

Note that it is still referred to as Stonebridge Island!

Of course, back in the long lost days of the old hostelry, it was a great watering hole for the cycle club!

For those who might wish to don their lycra and speed off to Toby on two wheels, here is today;s map.

Modelling Matters

A slightly weird bungalow.

This is just one picture from a superb model railway with intricate scenery created with real skill.

The layout is a "re-imaginig" of the Lynton and Barnstaple narrow gauge line.

The bungalow is part of a former Airfix kit (now Dapol), dating from the very early 1960s.

It sold for two shillings (10p) then; and is now about £6.50, a high price for one of the most unrealistic models that Airfix created. It has the smallest coal bunker ever seen on a domestic residence and the.model's proportions are all wron!

P4 Scale?

It stands for Proto 4 which in turn is derived from Prototype 4 millimetre scale. The practitioners of this scale work to a track gauge of 18.83 millimetre (vice 16.5) which is very accurate for four feet eight and a half inches. But such hobbyists go further and seek to ensure that everything on their layout is accurately scaled to 4mm to the foot (or 1:76.4).

The results are magnificent.

It is way, way beyond the skill of fbb, but admirable none the less.

The Highest Bridge

The train is superbly decorated, but the flowers might not stay put if the trains gets up to anything like speed.

The highlight of this new line is the highest bridge on any railway line in the world. The bridge itself is not the tallest ...

... but from track to watercourse below it is the highest. Scale is difficult to assess, but the view below, with a test train crossing, helps with the wow factor.

For those whose geography is better than fbb's. herewith a map of the new through line.

Personal Note:-

The fbb's travel to Sheffield today and, if there is anything untoward to report, tomorrow's blog will be adapted to include the excitement. The fbb's would prefer to "pass" on travelling excitement.

 Next "Up The Pole" blog : Monday 23 June