Saturday Variery

 Dawlish Drenching

A few years back (it was in 2014!) the Great Western main line was breached at Dawlish. It was a bad 'un, to be sure! So it was that a huge amount of money was spent on a mammoth rebuild of the whole of the sea wall.

The problem is, apparently, the expanse of wet stuff on the right in the above picture. When it us windy, the water gets "lumpy", to use a technical term.

It has ever been thus, as in the halcyon days of steam ...

... the 'Western' class diesel hydraulics ...

... and the much lamented HST.

In more recent times, we have the humble DMU ...

... the cramped Voyager ...

... and the slick but uncomfortable 800s.

The trains may change but the sea remains; when the wind blows, the big wave flows and the track goes!!

The latest interruption is minor compared with 2014. The big slab of seawall remained strong, but the boundary wall of the track  bed ...

... like Jericho in 1200BC, when the Israelite pounded round the walls, succumbed to the pounding of the sea.

And, in case you didn't  notice ...

It does pound.

Notwork Rail wants to make the route resilient!

Didn't the orange army do that in 2014?

But fear not dear GWR passenger ...

... the local MPs are on the job.

So that's all right then?

It's a wonder previous MPs haven't though of that?

Apparently they have, every time a storm hits. So no hurry then.

Two solutions have come and gone; and come and gone ... etc.

Ludicrously expensive would be to build a new line further in land - certainly not a new idea.

Not quite so expensive would be to reinstate the route fron Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton. Most of it is still in operation ...

... just Okehampton to Tavistock to sort out.

The argument here is that you would still need the coast route because there are plenty of customers needing the line - but if you sent Cornwall trains via Okehampton, you could make the battered bit into single track and thus a bit further back from the pounding.

The sad fact is that the little man with the big cigar and silly hat ... 

... probably built the line in the wrong place!

Playbus in Place ...

.. with a Lego flower bed. But without Lego flowers!

They might be a bit big!

Some of the flowers were N gauge ballast plus pink paint ...

... creating floral 'clumps', surprisingly effective from a normal viewing distance.

Some astute blog readers will also be surprised by the lack of detritus, spilled paint and ugly gaps in the scenery of the 'installed' picture.

That is courtesy of the "Magic Eraser" utility on fbb's 'tablet'.

Here is how it works.

Take this picture of the much missed Goodwin Fountain outside the Town Hall in Sheffield.

But say that you don't  like Bert as he waits for the 'City Clipper' bus.

Speak nicely to the computer and it will outline Bert ...

... and with the tap of a button, there he is ...

... GONE!!

fbb could have obliterated Enid, far right, but he left her in situ in case you thought the old bloke had simply used a different picture!

Yet another good reason to treat anything on-line with a huge bucket of suspicion.

And Fake News On-Line

To be fair (although the author of the above doesn't deserve fairness) the impression is that a train operating company has gone bust. Even if that were to happen the great and glorious UK Government would step in to maintain the service!

To be fair (halfheartedly) the actual news is utterly different from the picture.

Here are some if the services now lost to the nation.

These are something akin to the items below as used for electrical isolation on a  model railway. fbb uses OO size.

And this ...

...whatever it might be, was also a product. fbb is sure that, if you want any cold bolts expanding, there will be other companies that can oblige.

Phew, what a relief!

The Latest Peterville Purchase

What for? Why? How Much?

Answer tomorrow.

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 15th March 

Assorted Australian Adjuncts

 Problem Solved (1)

fbb was concerned that premium fares on the YELLOW Airport line might be unfair fares for passengers on the rest of the yellow line running south from the city centre.

Of course, his worries are unfounded because the Airport line does NOT continue past the city centre. At some ill-defined point the Airport line changes, like Cinderella's pumpkin, into, tada ...

... the YELLOW Gold Coast line, upon which the current 25c (50p) flat fare is suree valid.

Maybe the rubric should say the cheap fare is except fares to the Airport, rather then on the Airport line.

Problem Not Solved, Yet

Most long distance trains are tourist or leisure related. If you want to get anywhere further away in Oz, you fly. So Brisbane has THREE airports.

In the north there is one for the Sunshine Coast.

The rail map shows a bus link, route 600 ...

... but with no apparent link to the rail network- yet. A link to the GREEN Line is "approved", but so were trains to Portishead (in the UK) oodles of years ago!

Back at the southern end of the yellow line ...

... there is a link to another route in YELLOW. This is not a Gold Coast line branch but a tram!

It is called "G-link" (for Gold Coast - gettit!) and, as is so often the case with trams (see Manchester UK), you are not allowed a timetable.

The route is wiggly and not fast.

But, we hear you cry, surely we are making for an airport?

For that you need to change again ...

... to a route 777 bus.

Note that a tram extension is "under construction" but with no mention of a final progtess to the Airport.

The 777 runs every 15 min seven days a week and ...

... it is double deck!

The buses are what used to be known in the good old lorry driving days ...

... as a rare example of a "Chinese Six" (two axles at the front, rather than their usuaul location at the back).

Are these the only double deck buses in the Brisbane area?

The Olly doesn't  count!

It's a caff, not a bus!

Problems Solved, Possibly?

What about suburbs that don't have trains?

The train map shows "selected" bus routes with no explanation of why these particular services appear on a rail map.

And look, there is another bus to Carindale, additional to  the 200 previously blogged.

The 222 is also a BUZ services and appears on a 200 and 222 leaflet which is indexed as just the 222.

Each service runs every 15 (every 10 at peak).

The 222 leaflet map ...

... also includes a 217 plus the 200. So there is more to Carindale than initially appeared to fbb. That's why you need a proper network map! 

IF fbb ever completes his Carindale map ... 

... he ought to add the 217 and 222.

Problem Solved, Soon!

Remember that empty station on the loop line in Brisbane city centre.

The line and station ate opened to serve the annual "Ekka" exhibition. Once simply an agricultural show, it expanded to be a full-blown entertainment.

The train takes the strain of the happy crowds.

Other exhibitions are served from time to time.

But this loop line us now getting a major upgrade as the Cross River Rail.

The line's logo ...

... looks rather familiar.

Did Translink pinch it from Transport for London?

The new tunnel ...

... will serve an underground station at Roma Street ...

... and the business district at Albert Street

The line re-emerges to serve a rebuilt Dutton Park station.

Here is a geographical plan of the new line.

This new route is to relieve pressure on the congested city centre tracks.

Here is a video.

It seems Brizzy is making a better job of fully coordinated, integrated, rapidly developing public transport than anywhere in the UK. 

What has Oz got that the UK has lost?

Next week we survey changes in Brizzle, not Brizzy!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 14 March