Sunday Variety

The Search Begins

fbb, you may choose to remember, has expanded the scope of his world famous (?) tank wagon collection by adding examples of yellow Shell tank wagons from other furrin parts. The above is a Pre WW2 model by Trix and versions are available on line. They are not drastically expensive, but the post and packing can almost double the cost.

That is a bit too much for fbb's relatively shallow OAP pocket!

If any of our readers, UK or world wide, ever spots one, please get in touch via fbb@xephos.com

Italian Invasion Imminent?

Every one imaginable wants to run trains through the Channel Tunnel. Deutsche Bahn began the trend by parking one of their trains at St Pancras ...

... c/w a fake destination sign!

Tricky Dickie wants to join the fun; and now ...

... Italians State Railways are on the Chunnel trail ...

... sometime next year???

All operators have the problem of getting trains that are compatible with the huge variety of systems in use across Europe. That's what caused Deutsche Bahn to retreat.

No Surprise Here!

The idea of a National Grid is that electric can be whizzed all over the country to bolster supply when there is heavy demand. This tends to be a failure as the UK is a small country. So when it's cold in Glasgow, it is likely to be cold in Seaton. Getting a system that is snappy enough to do the switching quickly and for short periods is technically tricky and expensive to install.

So fbb, cynic that he is, is waiting for Power Cuts when the juice sucking AI data warehouses come on stream to confuse us all with Artificial  Incompetence.

So when the old bloke saw this headline ...

... he leapt nearly a quarter of an inch off his armchair and whooped in delight - silently so as not to disturb the cat.

Then he read the article. It's in Nigeria.

But, any time now!

STOP PRESS

Too late to re-arrange the page, fbb has just realised that he posted this item last week. As it is somewhat prophetic, maybe his readers would do to wonder when the same headline will apply to the UK. It won't be long!

Sense At Last!

For the last few years Local Authorities have been introducing "Demand Responsive" bus services financed, not by fare paying passengers, but by you and me, the hard-pressed and un-asked tax payer.

It appears that the huge level of subsidy to cover the huge level of costs to run these fo a very small number of passengers is now being recognised as a waste of money.

Yes, that IS a surprise!

Another Surprise

The often ignorant writers of these news snippets can imagine some terrestrial anomalies in promoting their dotty ideas.

The point is that the longest daytime train of old no longer runs ...

... leaving the Sleeper to Inverness to replace it with a substantially inferior journey length, But the author of the piece knows something that fbb doesn't

Is the train fitted with extremely powerful on-board floodlights to illumine the scenery? If not the view os something like this ...

... from the Playschool-style square window far left in the above cabin p[picture.

It's night time, innit? It's dark, innit? You cannot see much of the spectacular views innit?

fbb has sleepered from London to inverness but that was later in the year. If you wake up early there is some great scenery as you get much further north. But, at this time of year ...

... you will not see much, innit?

But you could take a daytime train from London Kings Cross to Inverness, same distance but achieved in a much quicker time and with views (some even spectacular) all the way!

Daytime is generally a lot cheaper!

fbb recommends LNER class 800 bi-mode Azuma stock, seen here at Inverness ...

... and below, en route.

Amazingly, ou do get better view during the daytime!

And it is NOT 500 miles but 581 miles! (That's nearly 600).

What a privilege it is to have the accuracy of Internet news items!

Yet Another MP ...

... reckons his mission is to "improve the buses".

All the best mate. 

You do realise, Mr Fox, that almost all your buses are run as a business and you have no control or authority over them at all. Neither does the Council unless it wants to take them over and run them itself It is called "The Economics of the Market"!

Coming To A Nearby Railway

More to follow in due course!

And A Puzzle Picture?

What is happening here; and where else in the UK is a similar activity necessary?

Answer tomorrow.

 Next Thames Valley blog : Monday 5th Jan 

Lugg Hole : Lugg Valley : Lugg Minster (3)

Problem Solved - Or Is It?

Yeomans has been around for ages running buses and tours ...

... with a tour brochure offered on-line today.

Yeomans has the same squiggles on its publicity and the same livery on its vehicles ...

... but once trading at Yeomans Canyon. 

Herefordshire bus experts would know about the Canyon name but fbb cannot find out its history. 

Like Lugg valley there was a stripey version of the paint scheme ...

... now supplanted by those squiggles!

But you would have to be very naive indeed not to realise that Lugg Valley and Yeomans are under the same management structure; as confirmed by yesterdays list of directorships held by Mr Nigel -

- whatever he actually looks like!

fbb can confirm that every one of those delightfully colour coded bus routes formerly operated by Lugg Valley ...

... is now operated by a totally separate and unconnected company called, erm ...

... Yeomans!

And there is no change in any of the timetables. The only change is that the buses will (eventually?) have Yeomans on the side and not Lugg Valley!

Concerns have been raised that a bus company is continuing to run services in Herefordshire while a linked firm is to be banned over safety concerns.

But, legally, the two firms are, indeed completely separate entities and are treated as such by the Law, by the VOSA and by the Traffic Commissioners.

Yeomans Travel operates about 40 public services, including school-only runs in the county.

The Hereford firm has the same sole director as Lugg Valley Travel, which was told it could not put on services for four years following an inquiry into the safety of its fleet.

A Yeomans spokesman said the sanctions were "nothing to do with this company".

Which is, technically true, although it does seem daft!

The VOSA inquiry told director Nigel Yeomans he would be banned from holding an operators licence from December 31.

It seems that the ban only applies to Lugg Valley - but even if it were a universal ban, a new "O" Licence holder could take over at Yeomans with no change to its expanded operation.

Jago Frost, from local pressure group Rail & Bus for Herefordshire, said: "The Lugg Valley situation definitely raises concerns as to the owner's attitude to safety, and it would be fair to say that we are alarmed."

To sanction Yeomans, the VOSA would have to find faults there and as yet there has been no spot inspection. Many bus watches think there should be, but legally it would have to be separate and start from a clean sheet of paper.

Meanwhile, it has emerged Yeomans Travel no longer operates the National Express bus service between Hereford and London.

A National Express spokesperson said the decision was made after the public inquiry.

So National Express regard the two as one!

They added: "The safety of our customers, employees and the public is our number one priority. Following a public inquiry, we have suspended Yeomans from operating our services and the 445 service between Hereford and London will be covered by our other partner operators."

What about the council that subsidies some of the transferred routes?

A Herefordshire Council spokesman said the authority undertook "due diligence" checks, including checks on safety standards compliance.

He said: "Our priority is to maintain continuity of services while ensuring public safety, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and liaise with Yeomans and the relevant authorities."

But the fact remains ...

At the VOSA, a spokesperson said Lugg Valley Travel (NOT Yeomans - fbb) was investigated because that was the specific operator of the bus which caught fire.

Yeoman's is not our problem, guv, says the County!

A spokesman for the Traffic Commissioner's office said it acted upon submissions from the relevant bodies, adding: "Any investigations into Yeomans Travel would be separate."

So there we have it, or possibly we don't.

In one sense there is nothing for fbb to investigate. But it would be fair to suggest that the whole situation is less than satisfactory.  If the maintenance at Lugg Valley was "the worst the Traffic Commissioner had ever seen" you would think that a check at Yeomans depot would be a sensible precaution.

It's the same depot!

ugg Valley Travel Ltd, The Travel Centre,

Old School Lane, Hereford, HR1 1EX

And Yeomans?

Yeomans Canyon Tours Ltd, The Travel Centre,

Old School Lane, Hereford, HR1 1EX

Here is the Old School Lane depot ...

... with an aerial view.

Nice looking depot; with that tidy looking building, the company ought to get it right.

At least the bus passengers of Herefordshire still have their buses!

P.S. The depot is clearly near a railway and a map shows Old School Lane as north of the city's railway station.

Before the "crisis" you would generally see Lugg Valley buses at Leominster ...

... and Yeomans at Hereford.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 4th Jan 

Lugg Hole : Lugg Valley : Lugg Minster (2)

It Began In November 2024

Mortimers Cross marks the junction of the A4110 and the B4362 north west of Leominster. There is a pub/caff there ...

... which looked less than open when Streetview passed by.

Opposite the pub on the southbound side of the road is a perfunctory bus stop layby.

It was here that a Lugg Valley bus came to a heated end!

From the above shot it looks as if it was an engine fire caused, possibly, by a fuel leak. The fire was extinguished and the vehicle looked intact but, well, burnt at the back! There were no reports of casualties.

fbb thinks the back is where the  engine is!

The next event was a visit to the8 depot from His Majesty's Vehicle Inspectorate in January 2025.

Under normal circumstances, an operator of buses is required by law to have his vehicles tested (to higher than car MOT standards) at specified regular intervals; sometimes, for busy city buses, as often as every six weeks. This usually takes place at a DVSA testing station. Additionally, inspectors can arrive at the depot for spot checks or, under the authority of a police officer, check vehicles at the roadside. 

[Health warning : fbb has not operated buses for yonks and his understanding is based on the way things were several yonks ago. E & O E!]

Sanctions can range from the most severe ...

... to delayed prohibitions; i.e. get it done quickly or else. A vehicle might be called back to the testing station to check if the work has been done.

Items that always result in some VOSA action are faults with brakes, tyres and lights.

Although press reports are often unreliable it would appear that five Lugg Valley buses were "stopped" with immediate effect. Many other safety issues were found. 

If deemed necessary, a full report goes to the Traffic Commissioner and either the company's  licence to operate buses is revoked OR the key staff (directors and manager) are banned from holding their roles - OR BOTH. In this case it was and it did.

Sometimes an operator will accept the inevitable and close the company, even before judgement is passed.

[Information health warning! Nigel Yeomans was born in 1956 which makes him 69 years old. Either the above is a very old picture or it is the wrong Nigel Yeomans.]

Thus Nige, Lugg Valley's only director, was banned from holding that office for four years. The Lugg Valley company was also banned from operating buses for the same period - hence the close-down.

But, of course, he was not banned from holding office in other companies. And he has had roles in eight companies some of which still exist. He appears to have resigned from most current companies.

(Information from Companies House web site.)

Mr Yeomans has definitely resigned from several varieties of the Lugg Valley company, but remains the sole director of some operations under the name of Yeomans.

This means that commercial bus services run by Lugg Valley can be transferred to Yeomans operator licence and all can continue unhindered.

In a further blog (which might be delayed as it is the fbbs' Fellowship meeting this weekend), your investigative blogger will try to unravel who is running what from 1st January 2026.

Yeomans Travel (now there's that familiar name!) ...

... in a strangely familiar livery, may be involved; but another independent operator in Herefordshire is Sargeants.

O, the tangled web of the UK's public transport services.

Maybe it is time for "Great British Buses" with a livery to match "Great British Railways"? 

Of course fbb is not serious - well not about the livery, anyway.

But the core idea ..... Hmmm?

Christmas Crisis

Sadly without photographic evidence.

One of the fbbs' Christmas Day guests is wheelchair bound. On taking his place at table, he managed to entangle his chair wheel with a string of decorative lights and drag down lights, curtain and a chunk of the curtain rail. 

That sort of thing takes real skill but it did add a little entertainment to the festivities.

Later, in a feverish attitude of repair or replace, fbb cut the string holding the lights to the curtain rail and, in so doing cut the wire for the lights! 

Twerp!

Also the old man could not remember the curtain rail and runner technology, well hidden behind the rail and installed 12 years ago!

A chunk of "chocolate block" ...

... ensured a free and uninterrupted flow of electrons to the lights plus several hours of physical endurance to produce an effective re-assembly of curtain rail.

The string of "twinklies" will remain in operation until 12th Night.

And so to the last of our "A to Z of Christmas" seasonal thoughts.

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  Z ooming to  Z ion

fbb listened, with some frustration, to the ABC's New Year Message.

In an attempt to be non-controversial, the message was about "The Social Gospel". She missed the point. Being helpful to others is a result of the Christian faith but it is not the core purpose of the Christian faith. 

What Jesus preached more than anything else was the need to obey God's "laws" and when inevitable failure overtakes us, to seek forgiveness for our "Sin".

Why?

There, is on offer in the Bible, an eternity - and there are two possibilities. One is an eternity of darkness and sorrow, perhaps even of deep anguish ...

... whilst the other is an eternity of Joy, Peace and Goodwill to all with whom God is pleased.

Don't miss out the phrase "with whom God is pleased". T & C do apply!

Pictures of either the bad eternity or the good eternity can only be pathetic human attempts to describe something that must, by definition, be utterly indescribable.

The Bible Book of Revelation has battles between human and human (we see plenty of them every day) ; battles between human and environmental destruction (very topical!), battles between good and evil and one final battle between the Ultimate Evil and the Ultimate Good.

Wonder who wins in the end?

Zion was the hill upon which Jerusalem was built, more specifically, the Temple of the Old Testament. The hill gets a bit lost in modern Jerusalem but it is still there, honest!

By extension it became the hill of the poetic New Jerusalem, heaven - the 'temple' of eternal good!

Surely it is worth considering a personal Zoom to Zion, because that is what CHRIST-mas was for.

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  Next Lugg blog (possibly) : Sat 3rd Jan