99 At Sarfend; Twice?

Incredinly Italian!

Rothesay - and yes, that's Lena's Family!

Brora - and Peter and Lewis' family. And if you don't know where Brora is (fbb had to look it up!) here's a map.

It is in the traditional county of Sutherland which. of course, means Land of the South - hence its location in the far North of Scotland!

Largs - famous haunt ot the fbbs. Chunks of the Nardini family returned to Italy and the shop closed. New owners have retained the name and style. And scrumptious ice ream!.

Milngavie - also a regular call in past years from the fbbs.

Scarborough - the company ceased trading a while back but the retail shops still bear the family name. The late patriarch of the family was a close friend of Jimmy Savile and was linked with the latter's disgrace,

Northampton - so the Gsllone's of fbbs youth (and still trading) is just the tip of the Italian Icecream-berg.

Sarfend - coming along in a moment.

Initially Irritating ...

It was this picture that popped up on-line that baffled fbb. So his first resource was to the every (un)helpful First Essex web site.

Nowt. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nary a mention of 99. One last check on the route map; because you never know whether First has withdrawn the route and the "news" item is something that was simply badly researched by young Jemma, commissioned to fill a gap in a trendy web site feed!

And look, there really is a 99 to Shoeburyness!

And another First 99 bus appeared in similar garb elsewhere. Like the six wheeler above,  its windows have been blocked by advertising which should nicely impair the views as it happily hies to the seaside.

fbb's first thought was that Cadbury's had sponsored a revamp of the bus service in Southend and named it 99 after that delectable adjunct to an ice cream cone. For those unfamiliar with this consummate creamy confection, here is an old lady enjoying the very thing!

So does the First Bus 99 in Southend still go? And is it now sponsored by Cadbury's Flake.

No and No in that order!

Here is Cadbury's explanation.

Bridlington as well? But tacked on to the bottom of the above web page is a note saying that this offer is now finished. 

But hang on! If First's Cadbury sponsored 99 service was short-lived, then why does it appear on their map and why is there no timetable in First's on-line list.

Infuriatingly Incompetent

Then a rather slow-witted fbb twigged! The 99 on the First Bus web site is NOT sponsored by Cadbury's and is NOT run by First Bus. It is operated by Ensign.

Oh yes! Ensign is owned by First Bus! So there is no reason why the timetable should not be on First's web site - but it isn't.

Since the halcyon days of fbb's youth, the traditional open top service at Southend has been the 68.

These days it, too is run by Ensign as First gave it up some years ago!

It strikes WEST from the elongated pier ...

... running to Leigh-on-Sea, see? It runs every hour or every 30 minutes ...

... according to date. 

Surely it would have been less confusing to have separate timetable panels for the different dates?

Uncle Roger French featured the 99 a few weeks back which is why the errant grey cells of fbb should have worked out what was happening (or what wasn't happening) with the Cadbury's deal.

As we have seen, the 99 runs EAST to Shoeburyness ...

... also the terminus of the c2c railway line (once known as the London Tilbury and Southend). 

fbb has been to Shoeburyness and is feeling much better now. It has been tidied up since his last and only visit sixty years ago! fbb remembers multiple carriage sidings ...

... now the obligatory industrial estate. 

So back then there was still evidence of the area as a Military Garrison.  Open top 99 terminates on Rampart Terrace, a memory of that military magnificence. (?).

But that was then; back to now. fbb supposes that the best description you can offer for Shoeburyness is ...

...  flat!

Interestingly Innovative

Service 99 comes with some stunning publicity ...

... again with a variable timetable.

Return and day fares are shown ...

... also the fares for a combined 68 and 99 open top binge day!

The implication of the publicity is that "local fares" including the current £2 fare are available for single rides but that would make two singles on the 99 cheaper than the £5 return. So maybe not?

What is most interesting is the buses themselves. Reputedly there are four ...

... each taking the name of a possibly fictional ice cream product.

And here they are:-

Strawberry Streamliner

Mint Choc Cabriolet

Bubblegum Beachcomber

Buttersotch Breezer

Nobody seems to have pictured the converted orange one, but a check on registrations does, at least, show where these converted buses used to live, work and play. They have been retired from an arduous life in Manchester to the delights of Summer by the sea at Sarfend. The above bus has become/will become "the orange one".

What could be nicer for a hard-worked First Bus bus?

The service is sponsored by Rossi's ice cream; the company having been big in the town for almost ever ...

... although prices have gone up a bit recently.

Readers will not be surprised to know that ice cream is big business in the town ...

... with this big shop being at Westcliffe.

Why, even pontificating Portillo has popped by for a pistachio plateful!

Yummy!!

Maybe next time he could ride the 99 whist eating a 99! That would be truly memorable TV, like the rest of his series.

Whoops. Southend is now a City. Similarly, (?) fbb blogs from the aspirational new City of Seaton. Soon everywhere will be a City, even tiny St David's in Wales.

 Next Interesting Ipswich blog : Tuesday 20th Aug 

Saturday Variety

 Eiffel In Yorkshire?

Above is a picture of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, just. The town is a tad to the west of Halifax ...

... and take note of those four storey houses on the hillside, a distinctive feature of the town.

Only they aren't! They are NOT four storey houses at all. Thy are two two storey terraces built on top of one another, as in the diagram below.

The front doors are marked with a blue arrow; there are no back doors. But look at that road name on the left.

So, if you approach the town on the Halifax Road and then fork right up a hill called Birchcliffe Road ...

.., you come to this building.

Some locals call that bit with the turret "The Eiffel Tower". On the left is the thoroughfare called Eiffel Buildings ...

... with the road leading back down to a bus stop (see below). 

To the right of the tower you will find Eiffel Street.

Just peeping in on the left are the top halves of the properties on Eiffel Buildings. The top of the houses on Eiffel Buildings are actually on Eiffel Street.

So what was Gustave Eiffel doing on a residential hillside in Hebden Bridge?

Nobody seems to know. Here is an extract from the work of a local blogger.

A nice, sunny Sunday, which I saw nothing of, being confined at home grading assignments and wondering (among other things) what I was going to offer for today’s shot. But I did not give up; as night fell I got this shot of the tenement-style housing across the way. Why this line of top-and-bottom housing (the upper levels will be a different house from the lower, facing the street behind) is named for Gustave Eiffel I have no idea, probably it was all being built around the same time as that tower in Paris and so someone paid tribute.

Any other offers?

A nice way of getting there is to combine it with a ride on the Keighley Bus B3, branded Bronte Bus ...

It runs every hour and the ride is glorious.

Talking Of Glorious Rides

Here is a picture of a bus in splendid country.

Where is it?

Where is the country and where is the bus?

Answer tomorrow.

Tiny Mini Tampo Magnificence

A few days back fbb was talking about "Tampo", more correctly "pad" printing. Oxford Diecast makes (gets someone in China to make?) a vast range of diecast model vehicles including hundreds in OO scale. They have just announced three highly decorated Minis.

Here are enlargements of the "pad" printed artwork on the side panels.

Superb detail for a tiny mini but at a superb price as well. £9.95. OUCH!

But even more OUCH is this HO model.

It is not OO gauge (4mm to the foot) at but HO at 3.5mm - so too small for OO scale layouts! And ...

... the price is too big for ANY layout.

 YIKES!

Here We Go Again

How many times have we met a bus that runs on road and rail?

This delightful little creature is about to re-open an SNCF branch - maybe.

The branch from Étang-sur-Arroux to Autun ...

... closed since 2020, is to reopen in 2025 or 2026 as a commercial testbed for the Flexy battery-electric lightweight road/rail car. The €15 million cost is financed by a grant from Corifer (Council for Railway Research & Innovation) announced at the end of June, permitting running trials to start in the autumn. 

Gare Autun, below.

On reopening, there will be up to 10 return journeys daily.

Flexy has been developed under SNCF’s Tech4Mobility innovation programme by a consortium of Michelin, Milla Group and the Railenium research institute, with support from Bretagne and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté régions. Based on a Renault Master van with the chassis modified to accept Michelin’s patented road/rail wheels, Flexy has capacity for 14 passengers. 

This map shows the route ...

Google Maps indicates an intermediate stop at Laizy, the station being called Brion Laizy. Google doesn't go down the dirt track leading to the station but an enlargement via Google Streetview suggests thare are few facilities ...

... and few passengers. There isn't even a platform!

The line is VERY rural and VERY "basic".

To pick up and drop-off passengers, the car can leave the rails at level crossings or ‘intersection platforms’ and run on local roads. Battery power provides an operating range of up to 200km with speeds of up to 50 km/h on road and 70 km/h on rail.

Will it be a huge success like its many, many failed predecessor.

Japan?

Germany?

U.K.?

Time will tell! 

The UK's Eiffel Tower

fbb is reminded by correspondent Andrew of a possible competitor in the tall tower stakes. Edward Watkin of Great Central Railway and proposed Channel Tunnel fame decided to give his Metropolitan Railway passengers somewhere to travel to.

His plan was to out tall the Eiffel Tower, but at Wembley!

Only the first section was built and opened ...

... offering a very limited fun experience! When one corner started sinking, it was closed and subsequently demolished.

If only Gus Eiffel had been in charge?

A Little  Modelling Project

fbb's attempt to paint the beading on his ancient coach was only marginally successful. But it will do. Not every carriage on a full sized preserved heritage railway is in tip top condition; so the old bloke is being realistic - a feeble excuse!

He has eventually identified the coach.

It was originally produced in 1963 painted maroon and ivory as part of a set to go with the Caledonian Railway "Single". The real loco is preserved ...

... and the model was a good likeness by 1963 standards.

The coaches were not quite right, as fbb has discovered. But versions were sold in Midland Railway maroon ...

... and fbb thinks that it was a very tatty version of this that he acquired about ten years ago.

As was normal back then, the coach came with no interior furnishing.

So fbb made an attempt to add seats and compartments some years back, The results were horrible. But leading with the beading, himself decided to have another go.

It would, of course, be a bit of a bodge.

A floor was cut to fit - it fitted sort of - and seats were glued on ...

... after a quick nip up the road to Peco at Beer to get some seat shaped plastic strip.

There was potential - with the rest of the seats still to be affixed.

But this is a corridor coach although it has compartments. Or is it?

More research needed. Additionally, some painting is very necessary.

More tomorrow.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 11th August