Better Late Than Never (1)

The Power of the Press (1)

(mini blog)

The new service is NOT route 22!

The Leicester Mercury announced the above new bus service in its edition published on Wednesday 15th October. Thanks to our Leicester correspondent, David, fbb can provide the actual article ...

... complete with one of Centrebus' finest sloping at an alarming angle. fbb is assured that nowhere along the route will buses lurch so dramatically, but do hold on tight just in case! Unfortunately, David's phone camera skills were not in full functioning mode that day, so the actual text is a bit fuzzy.

But, showing true dedication to his blogging muse, fbb has waded through the morass of interrupting adverts, delivered to excess by Leicester Mercury, and extracted the salient details from amongst exciting news about foot fungus!

A new bus service has been introduced to link neighbourhoods to the north of Leicester with the city centre. The new Centrebus 21T service will go from the new Thorpebury in the Limes development near Barkby, down Barkbythorpe Road, Humberstone Lane, Barkby Road, Gipsy Lane, Catherine Street, and Dysart Way, finishing at the Haymarket Bus Station in Leicester.

The buses run every 30 minutes in each direction during the daytime, Monday to Saturday, with hourly services in the evenings and on Sundays.

Centrebus said the new service will make "travel to work, school, shopping and leisure activities more accessible for residents". The service is subsidised by David Wilson Homes, the house builder behind Thorpebury in the Limes.

So where is Thorpebury, obviously a new suburb?

It has made a tentative but anonymous appearance on an Ordnance Survey map ...

... being that blob of housing between the two yellow roads. We can see a bit more on Google Earth ...

... and it will probably have expanded further since someone put a shilling in the meter to power the Google Earth Satellite. 

There is, however, no mention of Thorpebury OR the 21T bus route on the Leicester network bus map ...

... just an unserved lane leading to Barkby Thorpe - presumably being the Thorpe of Thopebury.

The lane is marked on a map - faintly - but is busless.

The plans are extensive ...

... with the current area of development being bottom centre in the southern block as shown below.

Into this developing development comes Centrebus 21T ...

... on a route subsidised (heavily) by the developer.

Here is one at its stunning terminus.

Tomorrow, we shall look at the new route, its publicity and timetable and, interestingly, what we can glean from Streetview, Google Maps and any oddments published locally in Leicester.

There will also be a little surprise!

Tank Wagon News

Yet more on a topic which always excites our readers. Don't yawn too loudly! 

fbb has been collating the collection and labelling the shelves.

Depth of field problems mean that the labels are not a crisp as they might be in the pictures. There isn't  room to get all a head-on view without some significantly costly lenses and a proper significantly expensive camera.

The labels are small but need to be; as some of the shelves are quite thin! What has shocked fbb is that he owns a collection of tank wagons from 24 different suppliers.

There is some overlap as Triang, Triang Hornby and Hornby represent different ownership of the same range. But it is useful to think of them as separate suppliers. Some of these are retailers who have commissioned their own products from other mainstream suppliers. Note that the word "manufacturer" is now totally inappropriate, as almost every company buys in its models in from China! Only Peco and Dapol manufacture part of their product range in the UK.

But fbb has uncovered a small but intriguing tank wagon supplier mystery. 

Resolution will happen tomorrow.

A James Bond P.S.

Isle of Wight Alan emails to confirm that Roger Moore definitely did not drive the bus although he was pictured close-up at the wheel but VERY briefly. 

A senior London Transport driver, with a build similar to the star, was despatched to the location to do the actual driving.  Alan, who worked for Lindon Transport at the time, cannot remember the name of said driver.

Continuing tomorrow.

 Next Leicester blog : Tues 21st Oct 

Sunday Variety

Stagecoach Bus : Steel Blue

fbb has never been keen on the new Stagecoach corporate livery and its dullness is very apparent on the vehicle above.  These monsters are being deployed on the express services between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fife.

The network is extensive and has become a major part of the Stagecoach business.

But fbb must defer to Mrs fbb who likes the steel blue!

Here we have a brief photographic history of Stagecoach's "Express" livery. Two early versions ...

... begat "beach balls" generally, but heavily disguised in Fife.

The livery turned blue for no apparent reason ...

... but beach balls (partial beach balls?) re-appered to complement Motorway Maintenance yellow.

Always renowned for a consistent image (?), how will people react to Steel Dull Blue? Maybe the paint style will change again very soon. 

Let's hope so!

Can I Still Post Letters?

So queried a slightly agitated elderly lady, bemused with Seaton's technologically advanced new pillar box. It is solar powered ...

... but does still have a slot which will receive letters (if our readers can remember what they were). It is comfortingly made of heavy cast iron and still painted red; despite it being owned by a charming Czechia chappie!

But the solar power is needed because it now takes "small parcels", although fbb could see no definition of "small" anywhere on the box. Back in the day "busy" post boxes had a larger slot into which you could stuff quite large parcels with a good dollop of brute force and ignorance.

Anyway, here is what you have to do to get the parcel shute to open.

So it is scan if you can, man; or rant if you can't; just as you do with  any modern technology. 

Of course, if you can't you will not get in a flap if you use the app, dear chap, mayhap.

As you will still have to pay the postage at the post office, which stands next to the box, then why not let your friendly post office counter person, drop it into the bag as usual?

And, to delight or confuse potential small parcel posters (who may be too small to reach the slot?). there is one of these on the top.

It is firmly fixed such that fbb could not dislodge it; but, shhhh, don't tell Daniel Kretinsky that the silly blogger did try.

He looks a bif scary, not at all like Pat!

All together now!

For the London Bus Spotter

The above luxury vehicle (former RT?) is a film star, having appeared on-screen with the iconic eyebrow raising Roger Moore as 007, Bond, James Bond. The general opinion is that Mr Moore  did not actually drive the bus!

It's a clip from from Live and Let die.

Zipper Zapped

fbb is not sure what you would spend £5000 on to decide whether to keep the bus going. The problem is that it is funded by Hereford Council which is not a real borough council, as Herefordhsire is a unitary authority. 

Mr Mayor is right; effectively Hereford City council has no more powers (and no more money per head of population) than a footling Parish Council.

Surely something like reducing the level of car traffic in the City  should be the task of the Unitary County Council?

The Zipper ...

... is an excellent service and reasonably well used, running every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday.

Unfortunately, the route is rather confusing ...

The stops are well marked, however,  and, if it all gets bit baffling, you could always go round and try again!

So, come on politicians, whether City or County, bang your municipal heads together and find the cash! For a start, the £5000 you are spending on thinking about it could be better spent on funding it!

Kite Flying?

fbb does not think Scotland has got the money; and neither has England or the UK.

And in London?

There is bit of track which might be capable of being adapted (expensively?) to carry passenger trains.

fbb thinks that Rachel hasn't got the money, neither has Mr Khan.

Perhaps instead of Kite Flying euphemistically, the proponents should try flying kites. 

It would be less stressful and far less costly than paying big bucks  for consultants and advisers 

 Better Late Than Never blog : Mon 20 Oct 

Bakerloop's Bemused Variety

Is It Or Isn't It?

The original Superloop was a series of limited stop bus services forming a super loop following the North- and South- Circular Roads around London. A few oddities were included, being theformer Express route 607, the peak our only journeys from Russell Square and Croydon and the new cross river link viabthe Silvertown tunne.

There are expansive plans for even more Superloop branded routes but none of the part 2 batch will loop anywhere. 

Has Transport for London chosen the right brand name?

Neither the original plan, nor the Mark 2 scheme makes any mention of a Bakerloop BL1 express bus between Waterloo and Lewisham.

Both original and Mark 2 maps show the route, brown on the original map and from Waterloo ...

But dark green on the later Mark 2 and starting from Elephant and Castle. 

Clearly TfL could not make up its corporate mind.

The bus stop on Waterloo Road offers us a Superloop with an SL6 white-on-red 'C' Plate for the peak hour Monday to Friday occasional journeys to Croydon ...

... and a Bakerloop plate plus a brown on white BL1. So the Bakerloop is not a Superloop route?

At Elephant and Castle there is a solitary poster in the entrance to the Bakerloo Station ...

... which emphasises its Superloop credentials ...

... confirming that the route is "Express" and advising that this Superloop is "known as" Bakerloop!

Bus stop posters are back to emphasising Superloop ...

... but with a map which suggests that passengers can travel all the way round the loop at Lewisham. The picture is a bit fuzzy but stops are shown beyond Molesworth Street and one stop past The Clock Tower.  But we npw know you are thrown out at Molesworth Street.

There is no Lewisham loop on the Superloop Bakerloop!

Whilst the bus branding makes no mention of Superloop ...

... the door to the driver's cab in these new buses shows ...

... Superloop. Several of the bus stops, showing the brown BL1 on the stops, include the multicoloured London Transport roundel for ...

... Superloop!

Panel timetables, fairly useless as ever ...

... show the Superloop logo and the Bakerloop word!

There agin, at least one internally illuminated poster .,..

... makes no mention of Superloop, but the illustration does incorporate part of the multi coloured roundel.

In his recent video, sharing a BL1 rude with Uncle Roger French ...

... Geoff Marshall was pointing out the many aomalies and admitting that, as far as branding was concerned, he was ...

... bemused and confused.

Who can blame him?

If that's what you want for Manchester, Andy ...

... pity the poor bemused Mancunian passengers ...

... who would surely be as baffled as Londoners!

Fortunately things have always been so much better oops north! Don't  ruin it, Andy, by trying to be just like London.

Autumn Quiz Answers

Doncaster - all local branding has been abandoned by First in favour of the latest weak corporate identity; from brand to bland.

St Ives Cornwall - part of the former bus station remains in use as a bus reversing area.

Whitby

Stirling

GoAhead - Go Coach also competes over part of the route

Hi

Cinema Coach

The final six tomorrow.

  Next Sunday Variety blog ; Sun 19 Oct