Sunday Variety

Stagecoach Stockport Switch Suspended

The cunning plan was to add all 170 electric buses to the Stagecoach fleet operated for Manchester's Bee Network. But it simply isn't going to happen for a good few years. The headline (above) quotes a "depot difficulty".

Here is the Stagecoach depot at Stockport, sheltering under the shadow of the famous railway viaduct.

A peep though the door reveals plenty of space.

Indeed, it appears that there is more than enough room for the depot to be used as a staff car park.

There are cars all around!

And there is still plenty of room. The depot has been rebuilt and is very good condition ...

... you couldn't even use the word "tired"!

GROAN!

So what is wrong with the depot?

Answer, nothing!

Those vehicles are being part-funded by the first round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme via a successful bid led by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Most recently it had been envisaged that the depot work in Stockport would be complete by Q3 2025. However, a report to go before the GMCA Joint Clean Air Scrutiny Committee on 26 September notes that “challenges to site availability” have pushed that back by at least a further three years.

In an indication of the scope of difficulty in finding a suitable location for large-scale battery-electric bus operation in Stockport, the report says that TfGM continues to work with Stockport Council to source one and that the new depot is expected to be operational no sooner than late 2028.

No sooner, so could be later, much later

The Volvo BZL fleet intended for Stockport will instead be deployed from depots including Middleton – which Stagecoach operates under the second tranche of bus franchising in the city region – and Hyde Road and Ashton-under-Lyne. The latter two are currently outside the Bee Network but will move from Stagecoach to Metroline in early 2025 under the third tranche.

But there is still no explanation of the "problem" at Stockport depot.

One of fbb's correspondents has hinted (expertly) at the depot difficulty.

There is not enough electricity. The pipes delivering the electric to that part of Stockport are far too small to fill up 170 batteries overnight. The only way it could be done is to switch off the whole of the rest of Stockport overnight.

This would not be the most popular decision.

It will take at least until 2028 to upgrade the supply and, it seems, the National Grid is uneasy about spending the money.

Blog readers may remember a relatively recent BBC documentary which revealed that the UK has a shortage of generating capability and, even it extra power stations could be built in time, the National Grid would need massive investment to deliver said juice to where the chargers would need to be charging.

And that means more and bigger pylons ...

... and we know how popular they will be - and very expensive!

It's all going terribly well - as confidently predicted in this blog.

First Has Another Trainset ...

... with second-hand rolling stock!

The story so far:-

ORR will allow Grand Union Trains to run four return services a day between Stirling and London Euston, starting in 2025.

The trains would call at Larbert, Greenfaulds (for Cumbernauld), Whifflet (for Coatbridge and Airdrie), Motherwell and Lockerbie, and in England at Carlisle, Preston, Crewe, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central. 

Larbert, Greenfaulds and Whifflet would all gain their first direct services to London.

The company said it will use former Virgin Class 220/221 trains that are stored off-lease. 

Some publicity shows 225s from the East Coast main line ...

... but, pre take-over, Grand Union has said that it would use diesels because of, guess what, "power supply problems on the West Coast main line"!

First has not, so far, revealed what trains it will operate.

In the longer term, Grand Union aims to use electric or bi-mode trains, but added that “with current power supply being an issue on the WCML” it would use diesel power throughout the electrified route.

Grand Union was also planning to run from Carmarthen to London but this project appears to be stalled and is not included in the First Rail take-over.

More New Old Trains

Strange things continue to happen in the OO gauge model railway world. 

In the good old days, you either started with a Triang set ...

... or, if your parents were indulgent, you had Hornby Dublo ...

... and you grew the model from there.

Now it is much more toys for very old boys! 

Recently there has been an outbreak of real nostalgia models, dating from before the current crop of wealthy old biys were alive.

First Hattons announced their "Genesis" range of generic four and six wheel coaches in a plethora of ancient liveries.

These coaches were not models of any specific type, but acceptable examples which would pass muster for all but the most pedantic and specialist of modellers.

Then Hornby did the same.

fbb had intended to get samples of both, but Hattons sold out so quickly that he missed out! But Hattons ordered a second batch from the factories way out East. Then Hattons closed down but the "second batch" was taken over by Rails of Sheffield from whom fbb has ordered a sample due for delivery very soon. Well, the old miser has paid for it!

Both companies offered a huge range of liveries all available with optional internal lighting.

But fbb suspects that no more will be produced from either stable,

So expect a very belated contrast and compare in a future blog.

Then Rapido, well known for its eclectic range of very accurate (and very expensive) old-style models, announced something out of character.

They would be offering a truly huge range of "generic" bogie non corridor (suburban) coaches in oodles of different liveries. And they would come with lighting as standard.

Their video explains.

In a rush of financial resource from the pocket and blood to the head, fbb has ordered one. He will have to wait until later in 2025 for it to materialise, by which time he will probably have forgotten that he ordered it.

He doesn't pay for it until the model is in stock.

For comparison, here is the very first clerestory coach (pronounced "clear story" being the extra "storey" on the roof with clear glass to allow more light into the carriage) offered by Triang in the very early 1960s.

Back then we thought it was wonderful!

Two New UK Platforms ...

... but not yet open. A Puzzle Picture.

But where are they. A clue?

The bus is on route 395 to Stony Stratford.

 4 Days to Go 

 Next Ashley Down blog : Mon 30th Sept 

Sunday Variety

Hapless Happenings at Honiton

Honiton Tunnel : Eastern Portal

fbb arrived at Axminster station at 0950 yesterday to collect No 3 son off the 1003 arrival from Waterloo. Son was visiting for the holiday weekend and dear papa was surprised to see a train in platform 1. 

Trains in opposite directions pas each other at Axminster just after each hour. They do not normally park there!

What was slightly more discombobulating was that there was a train in platform 2 as well. Being  bit dozy, fbb did not spot tha platform 2 train as it was hidden behind the above.

Back in 2022, Notwork Rail instituted a huge amount of work on the eastern portal of Hointon tunnel.

This is because of unstable land in the embankment to the right of the tunnel mouth.

So on Tuesday last (20th Aug) there was a landslip at Honiton tunnel.

The slide was temporarily supported by very large sandbags ...

... and all was well until ...

Except it wasn't all well. South Western Railway's service of dark green class 800 bi-moses (sic!!) was disrupted again from Thursday of last week. Or so one on-line news feed thought!

It was this disruption that greeted fbb yesterday.

This time it was more of a sludgelip than landslip.

The Notwork Rail team opined that the problem was less with land coming down from above, and more with water seeping up from below. So the track had been excavated!

Either way, no trains could run  between Axminster and Honiton.

No 3 son was on the 1003 arrival from Waterloo and the very nice man at the station informed fbb that it had left Crewkerne, previous stop to Axminster.

But with trains on both platforms at Axminster there was a bit of a snag. And the line between Crewkerne and Axminster is single track!

So the 1003 arrival had to wait until the 1006 Departure had left from platform 2. Thus No 3 son was held at the end of the Crewkerne double track section until the departing 1006 could ease past.

Here comes No 3 son (and a few others) arriving wrong platform at 1025.

The dead train on platform 1 then sprang into life to form the 1106 to Waterloo.

Meanwhile, with a bevy of taxis ...

... and an anonymous grey minibus ...

... passengers were being conveyed westbound. 

fbb thinks there was a train every two hours from Honiton to Exeter St Davids, the one unit having been trapped at Exeter.

Who would run a railway, eh?

Beastliness at Burton

For many a long year there has been a nearly non stop bus service between Derby and Burton upon Trent. For many a long year it has been "joint" between Trentbarton and Arriva, the latter as successors to Derby corporation.

fbb thinks (unreliable brain cuts in and quickly cuts out again!) the "joint"ness was a response to early post-deregulation competition. Again, fbb thinks (with no time to check in his Great Britain Bus Timetable collection) that the service used to run every 15 minutes with operators alternating.

Currently the service is every 20 minutes with an unfathomable 50:50 split between operators as shown on Trent's web site.

Blog readers may be able to guess what the code "A" might mean. 

Trent's posh leaflets simply show an unallocated 20 min headway with no mention of the "other" operator.

The leaflets used to be very posh ...

... but recent editions have beem more mundane.

Here is a Trentbarton bus for the X38.

And Arriva?

By comparison, Arriva's leaflet is utterly stunning!

Yep, there isn't one!

Arriva's on-line timetable, as we might expect ...

... doesn't mention Trent journeys. Here we see old and newer Arriva livery.

And a response!

The boss of Trent has become almost apoplectic on line, because ...

... as from August 31st Arriva has registered a 20 minute service on the X38. Arriva has, arbitrarily and one-sidedly, broken the joint agreement.

Horrid Arriva!

In response, Trent has registered a 15 minute service on its X38, at the same time extending it from Derby city centre to the bus station. The new times are on the Trentbarton web site but with no mention of the bus station.

Has fbb got it wrong - again?

On Arriva's web site we can see the new timetable ...

... NOT. The only mention of Trent is in the blurb about tickets, which pre-dates the kerfuffle.

So from next weekend there will be five buses every hour running almost non-stop ...

... Between Derby and Burton upon Trent. And there simply will not be enough passengers to make either of the services commercially viable.

Who will crack first?

fbb suspects Arriva will have withdrawn completely by Christmas. Surely the new investment bank owners will not tolerate such wasteful activity?

Watch this space!

Hello Doctor Yellow But Goodbye

Dr Yellow is the nickname of certain trains on various bits of the Japanese high speed network. There have been many Doctors Yellow over the years ...

... the most recent looking like this.

These are standard very nigh speed trains carrying passengers, but they are fitted with a range of monitoring and recording technology to inspect the track and overhead catenary, but at the scheduled high line speed.

In practice, these trains are simply substituted for a standard passenger train; slipped almost at random into the timetable.

Because of this unpredictability, they are seen by the Japanese populace as being harbingers of good luck. If you see a Dt Yellow, good fortune will harbinger and fill your day.

fbb prefers the  reliability of God for His more sustainable "good fortune".

The latest units on these routes are N700S stock ...

... and they are very snazzy indeed.

2+2 seating in these wide bodies trains is for "first class" passengers ...

... with 2+3 for the "lower orders". In a 2+3 coach, two sets of single seats are removed to make way for wheelchairs.

There is still room for the trolley! 

These trains are as stunning as they look.

N gauge model company Kato has a set in its catalogue.

But the point of this excursion into the N700S trains is that a small extra fleet as been ordered, each unit to include an even more extensive collection of measuring and sensor stiff than on the Dr Yellow stock -  which will then be retired.

It is not made clear whether the N700S technology trains will be panted yellow. If not, there may be a shortage of good luck on offer for the superstitious Japanese rail watchers. No harbingeing!

And tomorrow ...

 Next Monorail blog : Monday 26th August