Looking at Lumo
Lumo has made a name for itself as a low cost inter city operator between King's Cross and Edinburgh. From the late May tinetable change, we were told, trains would be extended to Glasgow.
Two trains arrive in Glasgow early evening but only one returns later in the evening.
Arriving back in London at midnight does not seem an attractive proposition! It may be cheap, but becomes very expensive if you need an overnight stay before completing your journey.
That is the trouble with these low cost companies. They are absolutely fine if you can travel when they want you to.
Also on-line is the new Stirling to Euston timetable.
Calls at Larbert, Greenfaulds'(for Cumbernauld) and Whifflet will all be useful for folk from areas to the east of Glasgow.
But the web site seems to back-track on what is actually running (none of it at the moment) and when the service will start. The website does list several journeys that will not start until near the end of July.
There is little point in publishing times of the trains are not running.
Neither is it clear what rolling stock you will get for your money. It won't look like this, however.
Remember when you could squeeze you face out of those opening carriage windows and spot what was coming in the opposite direction. Armed with that generic information a skilled loco spotter could just spot the number for his Ian Allan "Combine" book as the train roared past!
At least Lumo will have air-con!
Lumo Look-Alike
The above train is run by Dutch low cost operator GoVolta.
It has recently started services from Amsterdam to Berlin and from Amsterdam to Hamburg.
Don't look for high frequency; indeed, don't look for frequency at all! Each service currently operates three days a week!
The company promises a once daily service later in the year with Amsterdam to Paris to follow.
It's timetables are totally secret. At least, fbb has not found one yet. Presumably you only get times when you book!
There are web sites in Dutch ...
... and German, with the latter changing to English when you open it.
There has been a launch ...
.. and pictures are available of the carriages, outside ...
... and in.
Opening windows? And more room in 'Comfort' class.
An NS compatible loco will haul the train in the Netherlands, replaced by a DB suitable loco at the border. These machines will come from 'spot hire' companies.
The web site does admit that the trains will be slower than the current DB services on similar routes - due to a speed restriction on the old coaches which are from Belgian Railways!
The ambiance looks somewhat tired even if the outside is pretty.
Peachy's Batty?
No, that is not an adverse comment on the sanity of Peachy, whom we met yesterday. It refers to his latest model railway in the new TT120 scale.
It's official name is Batty Moss, but he calls it, simply, Batty; so it really is "Peachy's Batty"!
Wikipedia, which knows everything almost to a divine level of omniscience, tells fbb that Batty Moss is an alternative name given to Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle and Carlisle line.
But Ordnance Survey knows nothing of such a name.
Some maps offer Batty Green ...
... and areas of Shake Holes.
No, neither did fbb!
They occur when areas of top soil etc are washed through gaps in the rock into water courses below. They are different from sink holes, apparently!
Anyway here is Ribblehead Viaduct for real ...
... and here it is with a steam special crossing.
Here it is photographed from Peachy's private Gyrocopter.
Big, innit?
And fbb never knew that the viaduct had been made single track in 1984.
Peachy's Batty is also single track and far from being finished.
It is a "representation" and not built to exact scale. Compare the model with the steam train picture!
Or here us a Northern two car diesel unit for real ...
... and Batty Peachy's Heljan 'Bubble Car" on his model.
Peachy's first name is Chris, he says so in his video.
The interwebnet (from whom no secrets are hid!) reveals that he is really Chris Hobbs and is a very good modeller - one of those that makes fbb weep at his own inability.
Thanks for your helpful and entertaining YouTubings, Chris, Peachy or Mr Hobbs!
=====================
... showed Jesus arriving in the Temple after his Palm Sunday parade. The missing words could be either ...
DOVES
or
BIRDS
If you wanted to offer a sacrifice, you had to buy an official dove at a much inflated price. This was ostensibly to ensure,that the bird-to-be-excised was pure enough for God. It was a rip-off and had no basis in Biblical teaching.
Likewise the collecting box.
MONEY
or
COINS
Ordinary specie was not good enough for the Temple - it might be "unclean", so you changed your cash into official Temple coinage. Rip-off the second!
Jesus was right to condemn this corruption of Bible Faith. As the Old Testament tells us, what God hates is religion.
What God loves is a repentant soul.
But "the authorities" did not like his arrogant attack on their profitable and 'essential' enterprises!
Tomorrow's Puzzle
Find the missing words.
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Next 'bus replacement' blog : Tues 31 Mar
Lumo are getting some ex EMR class 222’s for their Stirling operation. 222005 can be seen on the WCML doing driver training/route learning runs at present.
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