Good News But Not Quite (1)

It was generally agreed by the bus industry that, when services were reduced "for the duration" the broad pattern would be for Sunday services to operate all week with extra journeys where needed to get people to work. In Sheffield, Stagecoach cooperatively did just that and these Sunday-type frequencies remain. But First was, some would say, over cautious and opted for an hourly frequency even when a normal Sunday used to offer buses at least every 30 minutes.

From yesterday, and on Mondays to Fridays only, most of First's services are being doubled in frequency, i.e. to that Sunday-based half hourly headway.

Hooray.

In particular, some areas that lost their main service completely got their buses back.

Hooray.

Lovely in Loxley

Loxley was a small hamlet on the north western edge of Sheffield ...

... reputedly the home of Robin Hood (a k a robin of Loxley). The housing provided residence for those working at the forges and grinding businesses in the valley of the village's eponymous river.

Until the 1960s its bus was route 16/116 to the Btadfields Low and High. 16s ran hourly, later reduced to two hourly and renumbered 61.

The route still runs and is back to hourly as circular service 61 and 62 ...

... seen here in the tendered hands of T M Travel in glorious Sheffield weather.

It is now run by Powells and retains its generous frequency despite the crisis ...

... and it is a gorgeous ride!

As housing extended along Ben Lane and Rodney Hill, Sheffield Transport added a revised service 14 to better serve the newer development.

That became a First Bus route ...

... to be replaced by Sheffield Community Transport (SCT) 31 running a more complex route and a less direct journey into town.

Then SCT withdrew from all bus services and First came back on the Loxley route by tagging the village onto the end of its 52a (see map above). When the 52a was slashed back to hourly, Loxley was abandoned.

From yesterday, the 52a returned.

Hooray!

Fantastic for Flanderwell

Flanderwell is a large 1960s (?) estate developed north of the A57 Bawtry Road that links Rotherham with the former mining village of Maltby.

There is a lot of it, but serving it with buses has never been a great commercial success. Its most recent manifestation has been to incorporate it into First's prestigious (?) Steellink X1 service between Sheffield, Meadowhell, Rotherham and Maltby - as route X10.

But come the coronavirus crisis cutbacks the X10 became ex; leaving a paltry but adequate hourly X1 passing by on the main road.

On the map above, the X7 has been withdrawn (before virus cuts), the 4 is not running and the 3 is reduced to a few Monday to Friday shopping trips.

This has left Flanderwell with no buses to Meadowhell or Sheffield and a minimalist service into Rotherham.

But the X10 is back.

Hooray!

Triumph for Todwick
Todwick was a very small village inconsiderately just off the A57 to the east of Sheffield.

Back in the day, Sheffield Joint Omnibus Committee route 15 ran every hour to Dinnington "via Todwick Village". Buses from Sheffield would turn right off the A57 along Goosecarr Lane (picture above top left).

Thanks to the dualling of the A57, that turn is now impossible which makes serving the village very messy.

But the X54 and and the occasional diverted X55 were expunged at the same time as the nearby X5 service was reduced to hourly. The 29 runs to Rotherham via a different route.

Poor sweet Todwick, but not poor on Sundays. Whilst First's commercial X54 had gone, T M Travel's tendered X54 still ran every hour on Sunday! Crackpot!

It has recently been reduced to approx every two hours.

So when the lads from First decided to put the X5 back to half hourly, the clever chaps (maybe chapesses as well) decided to run the extra journeys via Todders.

The "normal" X5s run via Wales (there's lovely boyo!), and along the B6059 to Anston and Dinnington. The extra X5s exit their normal route by turning off at Kiveton Park then unclassified to Todwick and A57 onwards; similar in the reverse direction. Clever eh?

Whilst current restrictions mean that the all night celebratory parties at Loxley, Flanderwell and Todwick cannot happen ...

... there may well be a quiet cheer or two now that officially essential bus travel is restored.

This happened on the day that Boris has encouraged us all back to work if we can do so safely and avoid using public transport. Now that is the same public transport that the government has encouraged operators - encouraged by slipping them substantial bags of pennies - to run for essential workers.

Confused.com!!!!

So that's the good news  ...

But ...

 Next extra buses blog : Wednesday 13th May 

Wow! That's Really Huge!! (part 2)

The tease with which fbb ended yesterday's blog remind him of an anecdote shared by a former colleague, Ann. In his younger days, her brother bought for himself a three wheel car and announced that he was taking it over on the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Slightly frustrated by bro's over-excitement about his entry into the motoring brigade, Ann innocently asked, "how will you manage getting the car on board up the two planks?"

Panic ensued!

Chortle chortle!

In the 1920s (?) The London and South Western Railway started their car ferry service from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, near Ryde. The island terminal was basic, simply a roadway laid down from the end of Fishbourne Lane to the edge of Wootton creek.

And that was about all there was.

It is somewhat bigger today.

(Google Earth view taken BEFORE the latest developments)

Barges full of vehicles were drawn by tug boats ...

... and, yes indeed, there were only two planks!

Later, more conventional ferries arrived on the route.

The last of these small and, frankly, primitive vessels survived until 1984 when "Fishbourne" was finally retired.

fbb remembers a journey across to Portsmouth in very windy weather when the vessel bucked and rolled most spectacularly, accompanied at one point by a loud crash as a whole shelf of teacups was emptied onto the floor (maybe better called the "deck"!) The boat made no further trips that day.

The mainstay of the fleet at that time was the so-called "C" class of boat, all named after Anglo Saxon kings (what else?).

But big changes were afoot with the arrival of the first of the "Saint" class vessels, significantly bigger than anything that hat floated previously.

Ultimately four female Saints plied their trade between mainland and island; St Helen, St Catherine, St Cicelia and St Faith.

Then, on the cusp of year 2000, Wightlink talent scouts found a part built ferry languishing in a shipyard in Gdansk. Known universally by the crews as "The Pride of Poland", she was christened St Clare.

She was even bigger. After her arrival, there was a brief period in which the company tried to run all five boats in high summer. It was a disaster, as loading and unloading delays meant a 40 minute crossing often became 90 minutes. Holidaymakers were not at all happy!

But the loading problem wouldn't go away and the company had aspirations to obtain another big big boat. 

Meanwhile, competitor Red Funnel was "stretching" their car ferries and adding a second deck. Double ramps were installed at both terminals ...

... and, reportedly, Wightlink was beginning to lose commercial traffic to the Southampton company. 

So double ramps it was for Wightlink at Portsmouth ...

... and Fishbourne.

The Pride of Poland was modified to accept two level loading and unloading and the newbuild would, of course, be so equipped.

Enter, in August 2018, Victoria of Wight.

Wow! That's Really Huge!! (Presumably the "of Wight" was necessary as there are plenty of Victorias and Queen Victorias floating around?)

It takes over 1000 passengers and can handle 178 cars. It has ten lounges and, yippee, free wifi!

And fbb has not yet sailed in her. Travelling from Seaton to the Island, the easiest route is from Lymington to Yarmouth, as previously (and often - yawn) reported.

But one day ...

On 25th January this year Cicelia, the last of the four Saints, was gracefully retired and moved to the Mediterranean. Here she joins the former Saints Helen and Catherine (Anna Mur and G B Conte are respectively their new names) working for the Delcomar company sailing from Sardinia. 

Definitely the end of an era; but there is a concern.

Instead of a fleet of up to four/five ferries for the Portsmouth Fishbourne run, Wightlink will now have only two, Vicky and Clare. Admittedly they are both big, but what happens if the elastic bank breaks, and it certainly will - probably on the busiest Saturday of the Summer.

"Aha!", says the Management, "we will be using the "spare" from the Lymington Yarnouth run if there is an emergency."

Klaxons sound, red lights flash and Wightlink regulars fear the worst. The Lymington boats have been found to be under-powered and the engines catch fire if they work too hard in windy weather. So to cover, say, for a huge and fully booked Victoria having an off day you have a much smaller Wight Sun/Light/Sky - only about half the size.

As someone once sang ...

There may be trouble ahead 

But while it's Vicky and Saint Care we love and romance 

Don't face the worry and chance 

Before the menders have fled 

Before they ask us to pay the bill and while we still have the chance 

Let's lose the worry and dance! 

Soon we'll be without the Sun, Light, Sky as they're in use and then 

There may be teardrops to shed 

So go Red Funnel, less risky, with much better chance? 

Let's ditch Wightlink and dance

Hey ho - Red Funnel will be booking-up all three of their boats, so you end up with the same risk! Maybe Bognor this year rather than the Isle of Wight?

 Next top-up blog : Monday 18th March 

Wow! That's Really Huge!! (part 1)

The interwebnet is a truly amazing "thing" - it knows so much about you. Somehow the computers have worked out that the fbb's used to live on the Isle of Wight and, therefore, from time to time, unsolicited pictures arrive to rekindle some fond memories.

Here, for example, is a train on its way from Newport to Ventnor West.

It has just exited from St Lawrence tunnel and is approaching the diminutive station ...

... a building which remains to this day.

Equally the terminus station building is still there also in private hands.

The Line closed in 1952. fbb did, however, walk through the St Lawrence tunnel before it was closed off on "elf'n'safety" grounds ...

... and to create a mushroom farm, itself no longer trading!

"Urban Explorers" visited in 2017 - details on line.

Also on a railway theme is this picture.

It shows a train (probably one of the first trains) at Bembridge Station. The gabled building is distinctive.

In this case the building did not survive ...

... being replaced with trendy seaside dwellings.

But the only other stop on this short branch from Brading ...

... at St Helens, is still extant although somewhat changed from its active railway life.

Nevertheless it is still very recognisable.

The line closed in 1953.

The fbbs lived for nearly thirty years in the Seaview area and it was from Nettlestone that Creeths ran the first ever motor bus on the Island. In the very early days two vehicles are shown here parked at Nettlestone Green.

The house in the background is called "Green Corner" (it was at the corner of the green!) and was owned by the Creeth family.

It is still very much there. The front room at the far side, with its own front door ...

... was designated as a waiting room for intending bus passengers.

How many present-day bus company owners would contemplate having a waiting room in their family home?

After the last of three daughters died, the fbbs tried to buy the house with the aim of living therein (obviously) but using the "waiting room" as a small community lounge. The owner chose not to sell at that time and the fbbs have since moved away.

All three of their sons attended Nettlestone School approached by a drive beside Green Corner.

And whilst in reminiscent mood, how about this shot of Seaview Pier ...+

... one of very few chain piers in the UK, built like a suspension bridge.

It was destroyed by storms in 1950 and 1951 and the remains were demolished in 1952. The Pier Hotel struggle on for a few years renamed the Halland Hotel ...

... then was demolished leaving a tatty empty site for many years. Modern flats now fill the gap!

But what your memory-rich (?) blogger has never before seen documented is that the bus from Sea View to Ryde ran (presumaby at busy times) from the pier rather than the village centre.

Can anyone "out there" shed any more light on this intriguing photo? And busy times then were a lot busier than they are in the village today!

Oh dear, fbb has become so immersed in personal nostalgia that he has almost forgotten to expound on what is "Really Huge".

It started quite small!

 Next "really huge" blog : Sunday 17th March