More Queen Marys
As you might imagine, the Southdown ‘Queen Marys’ were large machines for their day. Seating sixty-nine people in thirty feet of bus, they were substantially larger than anything Brighton (or most of Sussex) had seen on their roads before. In particular, they contrasted with the much smaller red and cream rear-entrance double-deckers run in the Brighton area by Brighton Corporation Transport, and the Brighton Hove and District Omnibus Company. While nowadays all three operators have been absorbed into the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company, then they operated as separate entities – largely coordinated rather than competing!
"All three operators" is slightly misleading. Most of Southdown passed to Stagecoach, NOT Brighton and Hove although there was some rationalisation over the years,
But here are two more of the Sussex Giants.
A man has travelled from Cornwall to the Isle of Lewis to make 52 calls from a rural telephone box in order to keep it in service.
William Arnold, who works as an artist and photographer, took the 1700-mile (2,735km) round trip to visit the rare phone box in Einacleit as part of a project to preserve phone lines in rural communities.
Ofcom guidelines state a minimum of 52 calls have to be made from a phone box each year in order for it to remain operational.
"The project is slightly ridiculous and comedic," said William. "But there is also a serious point about how we communicate with each other and how these phone boxes are often vital rural lifelines."
The 43-year-old has been working to save phone boxes since 2022.
"It all started on the Isle of Lewis when I was working on a photographic project and I wanted to call my partner who was staying back at the house to say I was going to be back late," he said.
"My mobile phone battery was nearly dead and I came across this pristine looking phone box that had the old yellow British Telecom branding from the 1980s.
"There was a phone in there and I was really excited because I hadn't used a phone box for years. But when I picked up the receiver, the line was dead and I was so disappointed."
And here is the phone box!
Whilst fbb would not contemplate a trip to Lewis just to use a phone box (the collector of over 100 OO gauge tank wagons would never do anything so eclectic and plain potty) the challenge to do it in theory is irresistible.
The complexities of such a project are beyond the scope of a Sunday Variety blog, but some time next week, the thrown-down gauntlet will be picked up.
A Lumo spokesperson said: "We have been experiencing some issues with the reliability of some of our toilet facilities onboard our West Coast services."
They added that they were working closely with rail company Alstom, which refurbished the carriages used by Lumo, to "rectify the issue".
An Alstom spokesperson said: "We recognise that this falls short of the standard fare-paying passengers should expect, particularly on long-distance services.
"Working closely with Lumo, we are reviewing the entire fleet position to reduce the risk of repeat failures, improve overnight servicing checks, and ensure toilet availability is restored and maintained wherever possible on the operator's West Coast route."
The 06:11 departure from London Euston on Friday, which was affected, ran with a 58-minute delay and terminated at Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.
Passengers were told their tickets would be accepted on ScotRail services.
The trains are refurbished Voyagers which are famous for smelly toilets. The tanks are not big enough to hold the effluent where the affluent are making long journeys. When the tanks are full the doors lock but bladder and bowels do not!
Lumo's loo lunacy seems more basic, with a total inability to cater for some basic needs.
Reports suggest that trains have been stopping for extra time at stations to allow desperate passengers to evacuate to evacuate; Or, in the words of the song, "skip to the loo, my darlin'".
The 222’s are not Voyagers. They’re from the same family but are called Meridians,
ReplyDeleteYes, and have different toilets from Voyagers which have not been known until now to cause issues.
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