Sunday Variety

Problems With Fencing

It's all right; fbb has not taken up a new hobby. In the correct gear he would look like a cross between a Dr Who monster, Hannibal Lechter and a barrage balloon. No it is this sort.

But the fence on part of the private car park to the rear of fbb mansions has been "in decline" figuratively and literally for over 12 months. The weekend storms have exacerbated it's decline. You would not believe the implications of trying to get it rebuilt!

Well, you might if your property has any assets shared with others.

One of the below would be mildly amusing by comparison.

So the Round Tuit did not materialise yesterday.

But fbb did some experiments with bits of Mrs fbb's  old quilt.

But the new green bit looks like a finely manicured lawn at a popular National Trust property. More experiments are due when a can of yellow spray paint arrives. Maybe it is stormy weather and stormy daylight at Peterville Castle?

Or just rubbish modelling!

Scrapper Is Scrapped

C F Booth began trading in 1920 and for the ardent train enthusiast, a trip to Rotheram to get a glimpse if what was being torched was often on the agenda.

These pictures show the sort of stuff that might rock up there.

They also did buses.

Now comes the news that thus much loved (?) destroyer of beautiful buses and trains ...

... gone bust! It used to be that these "Scrap Merchants" were the ones driving the Rolls Royce  limos; a far cry from the old image.

From Yellow Buses To Black Door?

Mega Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has announced (at the last possible minute) his intention to (a) resign as mayor and (b) seek MPship via a by-election in Manchester.

He needs the permission of the Labour Party to do this and the grey suits who run things may intervene in this fair and free democratic process.

But politically savvy bus watchers have long been predicting Mr Bee Mayor's move, since before he was elected to the Manchester position. The big black door is in his sights.

Perhaps Andy will make big changes at No 10?

Wow! Scything satire on an fbb blog!

West Midlands Next?

And will franchising make it any better?

Where's the money coming from?

The livery has gone from blue ...

... to red ...

... to a rather depressing grey.

Coventry, once "different" from Brum ...

... has also gone grey.

But fbb's impression as an occasional user over the years is that majority operator National Express has done a good job.

But that's politics!

Modern Trains Boring?

Or steam hauled at speed?

The new stuff doesn't seem to attract the kiddies any more!

Now those were the days!

This news snippets says it all.

A new Desiro looks very much like an old Desiro - so just a little bit boring to look at, but certainly ...

... a lot faster if you want to get anywhere.

4 hours 20 minutes, Paddington to Swansea as advertised above. Fastest train on the current timetable, 2 hours 39 minutes!

Tomorrow, we need to tidy up Cornwall.

    A GoAhead PS blog : Monday 26 Jan 

Saturday Variety (sort of)

STOP PRESS

Merseyside Is Happening!

First we have the politics!

Bet Liverpudlians are really excited - especially after the non-event in Manchester. fbb has ignored paragraphs of over-hyped hyper hype.

And so to the practicalities. (click on the image for an enlargement)

What we do not yet know is what the detailed networks will look like. Will they just be the existing networks but with yellow buses? Steve Rotheram wants to be like London but might end up being like Manchester.

They can share yellow paint!

GoAhead Grabs All (Part 4)

Thanks to Keith Shayshutt's book, fbb can append a National Bus Company (NBC) map of the Falmouth Redruth Truro triangle. Have fun trying to read it. It is a pre-MAP map with MAP being the NBC's massive "Market Analysis Project" adopted in an attempt to bring losses under control.

It didn't  work, so they tried privatisation!  (Cynical, eh?)

Note most services are numbered in the five hundreds. This is because Western National, Southern National and Devon General had a combined route numbering scheme.

Even if the detail is too cluttered, it offers an interesting comparison with Cornwall network map of the area today.

There is quite a bit missing these days, notably in the Frogpool area, but colour and better print quality makes what's left easier to read!

Today we look at the long standing 'main line' route between Falmouth and Truro. Historically there were many variants with all sorts of diversions off the main road. 

Nowadays there is only one route, still with a few wiggles to reach passengers just off the main drag.

At first the brand was a minor 'UNI' addition to First's standard livery ...

.... with just U1 and U2 on the route diagram. The full all-blue livery followed, then the U4 was added later.

We know that First Bus cut the frequency of the U2 to hourly and, in the same rush of blood to the head, decided to devalue the 'U' for University by extending the U1 north to Newquay.

To cope with the diversions of half the service via St Agnes, the route U1A appeared ...

... thus devaluing the simple brand still further.

But it didn't last and things returned to something like normality.

fbb thinks those short working to the Uni campus (now renamed Tremough Falmouth from the better known Penryn) only operate during term times.

Then comes the GoAhead competition from September 2025.

But, instead of cloning the U1, GoAhead created a route 32 (DARK BROWN) ...

... which involves a small diversion via ASDA at Penryn. The 32 only runs hourly.

From the February timetable change the existing 32s join the Falmouth to Redruth table as 33A, running only as far as the Uni Campus.

Why are they not part of the new 32, one may wonder? fbb guesses that the new 32 is more complex and confusing than it's U1 predecessor, so adding in the ASDA trips would blow the passengers' comprehensibility fuses. It certainly blew fbb's at first!

Hmmm. 

We still have two buses an hour but it is beginning to look as if bus operators are steppig away from serving the campus. Would that be because the hallowed halls of academe are no longer coughing up the cash for previously lavish U services.

Anyway, here is the new 32.

Muddled, innit, compared with First's  U1?

One other change to note is that the non-Uni 32A trips are extended to Threemilestone. GoAhead does not tell us that in its blurb and fbb is not sufficiently familiar with passrnger needs as to hazard an explanation.

One thing is very clear.

In general, GoAhead is providing a worse service that that of the ailing First Bus.

It is equally likely that Cornwall Council's aspirations to take over the county's buses as in Manchester and Merseyside are off the agenda!

They ain't  got the money!

How Much?

We are all well aware of the excruciatingly expensive model railway stuff, so costly that only the well-heeled ex investment bankers can afford it.

So, how much might you pay for this OO 3-car Azuma ...

... complete with large oval of track, a siding c/w buffer stop, rerailing ramp, controller, power pack and coloured 'track mat' on which to lay out the layout?

And the train has working headlights (white, two) and rear lights (red two) which automagically swap over when the unit reverses.

Answer tomorrow.

Peterville Castle

Landforms are added between 'white' and 'black' castles with 'soil' and undergrowth to follow. The distant hills (!) now have their rolling skyline but the colour is still wrong. An artist friend suggested that fbb should add some purple to show 'distance'.

The undergrowth is also too green!

fbb may get the obligatory Round Tuit while you are reading his pearls of ferroequinological and omnibological wisdom, so maybe a bit more tomorrow.

Disappointment At fbb Mansions

fbb was catering supremo for yesterday's not-very-fine dining. Menu is a bought-in chicken and leek pie, tinned sweetcorn, a pack of gash asparagus from Seaton Library and multi-coloured carrots from Aldi. No spuds! 

Orange, yellow and purple carrots were in the bag.

But ...

... the purple carrots were orange in the middle. Disappointing.

And a further disappointment. The purple dye in the carrots turned the orange and yellowl beasties a muddy brown colour - adequately flavoured but not attractive to the eye.

Ah well; you live and learn even at nearly 81.

 

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 25th Jan 

Go Ahead Grabs All (3)

Frustrations At Falmouth Part 1

A Song And Dance At Helston

But not the traditional Furry Dance as extolled incorrectly as the Floral Dance by the late Terry Wogan.

It's  about the buses, innit!

According to transport historians, there has been a bus service from Penzance to Falmouth via Helston for over 100 years. For many of those years it has carried the number 2. Around a quarter of a century ago the main service ran between Penzancec and Helston ...

... with only occasional trips going all the way.

The major 'traffic objective' at the Falmouth end developed as the campus of various bits of assorted Universities. The site is now massive!

Most students and staff approach from Truro and Falmouth, but the link from Penzance soon became hourly all the way.

Note for later reference; the running time is one hour and forty minutes! With the expansion of services to the campus, the 2 became U4.

Buses were given a Universities blue design complete with route diagram for U4, with U1 and U2. For a brief time there was a U3!

Needless to say, other liveries appeared from time to time ...

... thus devaluing the brand ...

... sadly all too typical of First's management. But at least the hourly frequency remained stable ...

... until last year's competitive attacks from GoAhead. Go went ahead with an hourly bus from Penzance to the Sainsbury store ...

... just outside Helston; plus an hourly short working to Goldsithney.

GoAhead revived the route number 2.

Everyone said that it would not last and it hasn't.  First is walking away from Cornwall, leaving it all to the relative newcomer, from 15th February.

But the new turntable is less than satisfactory. It seems innocuous enough as you read the incoming operator’s  blurb.

But look carefully and you will see two route numbers.  Helston to Falmouth trips are to become service 3 but not from the town centre. The timetable explains all.

The former competitive journeys to Goldsithney remain, but the through journeys would appear to be split at Helston. (Ignore the SD schooldays 'specials'). Service 2 terminates at Sainsbury's a nd route 3 runs from Sainsbury's to Falmouth.

But are they through journeys?

If they are split, then anyone from the Falmouth direction wanting to get to the real Helston has to change buses at Sainsbury's before arriving at The Seven Stars hostelry in the town centre. 

Whether the bus runs through or not, a five minute wait until proceeding into town will be really annoying,

And look at the running time for the whole route. It is now two hours and four minutes. Not many will travel all the way, but a penalty of up to ten minutes for passing Go at Sainsbury's will surely encourage passengers to Stop using the bus!

Where's  A Copper When You Need One?

Buses between Falmouth and Redruth (originally continuing to Camborne) were, before the U 'turn' numbered as route 41.

It ran erratically but mainly hourly with extras. By the time it became the U2 it was every 30 minutes to Redruth only, but coordinated with the U1 to run every 15 between Falmoith and the Universities.

But the U2 was later reduced to every hour despite being branded 'Copper'.

Again, when First remembered, the buses were also branded.

Here is a section of the current network map.

GoAhead chose not to compete with First's  U2 so the change from next month is minor.

The new 33 is remarkably similar to its coinage coloured predecessor.

Through journeys are still hourly but where have the 33A shorts appeared from? Does that represent a service improvement from the newcomer?

For that, our excited reader will have to wait until tomorrow.

  Next GoAhead (plus) blog : Sat 24th Jan