Public Transport Christmas (5)

A Transport Stable ... ?

The town is often referred to informally as "Stabbo". It is not known when or where this colloquialism originated. The local newspaper, Nottingham Post, suggests that 'Stappo' might have been used once, and that this became 'Stabbo' over time.

Unashamedly, fbb will use this as a feeble excuse to rename the town Stableford! There are plenty of paces with Cow as the first three letters of their name ...

... but Cattle seemed absent from the annals of public transport. As did Stable, but not now fbb has slightly renamed hat town that lies on the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.  

Stableford had a railway station on the Erewash Valley line, that runs due north from Trent Junction to Chesterfield.

It had buses by Barton ...

... but today's public transport is largely in the capable hands of Trentbarton.

The i4 is the main stopping service between Nottingham and Derby ...

... offering an excellent, frequent ...

... with smart branded buses ...

... erm, most of the time!

Running north south through Stableford is the fly15, operating between Ilkeston and East Midlands airport.

A few years back the service had a spectacular launch ...

... suggesting some interesting places you might visit using the fly15!

Pity the lads couldn't get fly15 on the blind display! But again, it offpers a good frequency both locally and all the way to East Midlands Airport.

Or A Transport Inn?

There are plenty of bus stops at pubs with Inn in their name, but places with Inn within are not "in" when it comes to full transport Inn information. Fortunately, fbb found two with "new"  to review with a view to using one of the few!

Here is one ...

... but a bit out in the sticks for an fbb blog. After all, he has mangled Nasareth and Bethlehem for a second year running! But hold fast there! Isn't there a railway station called Pontypool and New inn?

There it is on the "main" line between south and north wales (map below, lower right).

But at first glance this bastion of Transport for Wales goodness doesn't look like a source of goodness for an fbb investigative blog. 

It has an entrance via a subway ...

... lavish passenger facilities ...

... on a wide island platform.

Certainly it looks like a "blasted heath" style of unstaffed halt!

But things have been happening at Pontypool and New Inn. It has a new foot bridge with lifts

But once upon a time, the station was called Pontypool Road and once upon an earlier time it looked like this!

So what happened?

That is for a later post-festive blog. But now, another Inn with a problem.

Full On At A Full Inn

The bible tells us that ... 

... "they laid the baby in a manger because there was no room at the Inn."

And that is all we get. No innkeeper, no cattle lowing, no camels, sheep, giraffes and baby ocelots. Just a manger, Mary and Joseph!

It wasn't pretty ; it was pretty grim. But then nobody could accuse the Son of God of being so remote as to misunderstand the human condition. Where was the midwife; where was the gas and air machine; where were the doctors and where was the hospital bed?

Scary!

Stable Theory Unstable!

Again, the drawings can be so farcical as to make the whole story seem farce or fantasy. Which of these pictures is an accurate representation of what the Bible tells is?

A draughty cattle shed?

En plein  air?

Packed with some very weird visitors?

And loads of unhygienic animals!

Or maybe just mum and dad and the child?

In the cave?

The cave?

The most likely location for the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour, the Crucified and Risen Lord, was one of the caves that are still used for livestock at Bethlehem.

The caves were (and still are) not far from The Shepherds' Field.

That makes sense ...

  Next Public Transport Christmas blog : Weds 24 Dec