The State Of Freight Of Late (2)

Hidden Technology

There are loads of pictures of Presflo cement wagons on line, doubtless because there were loads of Presflo wagons built.

Yes, lots!

For some strange reason nobody seems to have taken any pictures of the underside, where lurked the pipes and valves to provide the compressed air to Pres the flo! Fortunately a company that produces (or has produced) metal kits for an O gauge version ...

... Based round a metal body that comes in the do form of an engraved "fret". This (just a part) shows the main tank body ...

... plus the strengthening frames stuck on the outside. Also with the kit you had lots of fiddly castings ...

... many of which would be well hidden underneath the wagon. fbb wonders whether the £50 Bachmann OO wagon has all this hidden detail hence the potential purchaser's pipery-pricey problem!

When the Prestwin was created (in much smaller numbers), much of the control contraptions for compressed air to empty the "tanks" was placed where it could be seen and maintained, namely on the top.

fbb's Hornby model has a one-colour plastic moulding making a spirited attempt to replicate some of the detail.

It is lovely and lumpy ...

... and with a few touches of paint to delineate the bits and pieces (no, fbb hasn't a clue), the model could be made a little better. Probably the whole lot filled up with cement glurp anyway, so detail was obscured, and any colours did become cement-grey.

The real things was more complicated ...

... and will have looked a bit like Mrs fbb's ball of knitting wool after Mr Tubbles had been attempting cable stitch.

The wagons, both real and model, had an inbuilt handedness. One side wad quite plain between the silos ...

... and the other had dials, valves and pipes, presumably to ackle the servos that would have controlled the heavy duty pumps lurking elsewhere.

The real thing is much more fun!

But for £2.40 (the original price of the Hornby model) you cannot have everything. No doubt if Accurascale were to retail this model today, its Chinese constructors will have added all this "stuff" as separate mouldings and the wagon would come on packs of four at £200.  OUCH and again OUCH!

Which brings us neatly to a quick hurtle through the models that you can buy today - some expensive and some like fbb's tenner a truck, reasonably cheap.

Building Buses Back Better in Cambridge 

But first an apology to correspondent Keith who sent fbb the Wells horrors reported yesterday. Thanks Keith. Todays' piece of omnibological joy comes via Alan (of Northampton fame)!

It was followed 24 hours later by this, also from Alan under the tag line "It's Bedfordhire Too" ...

It is unlikely that your busy logger will find time to review these cuts until after the secret Sheffield changes  - unless they are so secret the public is not told about them until after they have happened. 

But the Stagecoach East mauling of its network doesn't happen until 30th October, so ...

WATCH THIS BLOG!

Anyway, the mayor is going to.ofer these loss-making routes to other operators so they, too can make unsustainable losses.

So that's all right, then?

Hackney Collapsed Transport

In case you missed this.

fbb suspects that Clint is primarily interested in making money rather than "serving the Channel Island community"!

But that is now the end of Hackney Community Transport, a community interest company that palpably failed to provide much in the way of interest to any community.

Nice idea, chaps, BUT ...

_____________________

Just in ...

STOP PRESS

Stagecoach Yorkshire (which includes Chesterfield - in Derbyshire!) has just published outline details of its extensive changes from 2nd/3rd October. They are actually somewhat less extensive than fbb has expected with only minor changes to the main cross-city routes. Still oodles of work for GoTimetable!

No timetables, don't be silly!

First Bus?

That would be even sillier!

 Next freight and other stuff blog : Friday 23rd Sept 

Sunday Variety

An Old Fake Tank Wagon

The significant thing about the non-fake Hornby Dublo tank wagon is that it carries the "Hand" logo for Power Ethyl (i.e. Petrol). The original was one of three design introduced by Hornby in 1939 with original couplings ...

... and re-introduced post WW2 with Peco-style couplings. But as production at Binns Road was ramped up, the design was changed to mirror the removal of "The Hand" from full sized Power items.

fbb does not have a wagon with "The Hand" in his collection - but a cheap "place holder" would suffice until one turned up at a reasonable price. Even better would be "The Hand" plus original pre-war couplings. Even better but ludicrously expensive and well beyond fbb's pay grade!

fbb had bought (foolishly) from this supplier before, namely a very poor effort at creating a Coca Cola Hornby Dublo wagon by sticking bits of cheaply home-printed paper over the tank body.

You can see the join.

fbb was under no illusion that his Power fake would be similarly adorned with what the seller called "home made decals". But this time the join is less perceptible, being a rather inelegant hole for the filler cap.,

And if you look closely you can seen the white edges of the so-called "decal" on the underbelly of the tank itself.

What is even more silly is that the seller has over-painted the cast tank ends in a colour that matches the poor quality printout!

This is the correct colour!

But, as has been said, it is a place holder!

The orange box contents will follow in due course.

Sent To Coventry

Correspondent Alan (of the Northampton variety) has visited the new Coventry station and surveyed the opportunities for bus/rail interchange as part of the "rebuild".

Once upon a time, Coventry station looked like this ...

... with a tram into town right outside the "porte cochere" - an excellent intermodal connection. But in 1962 as part of the West Coast electrification, the station was rebuilt and looked like this:-

A teenaged fbb visited (with Alan!) soon after opening, and found it a wonder of the age.

He even visited the buffet on Platform 1, now demoted to a waiting room, where he bravely purchased a "Steakwich" to sustain his bodily needs. It was some sort of bun containing a thin-ish slice of steak - cooked to order no less - and was delicious!

Because the 1962 station is a listed building it has NOT been rebuilt! An extra chunk has been added along side. Here, towards the end of the construction phase is a view eastwards overlooking the Warwick Road.

The new bit is coloured red.

But since 1962 and until recently, buses could approach the station via Eaton Road and stop near the main entrance.

If you know the secret, you could also find buses on the Warwick Road bridge, accessed by a rather creepy footpath and steps as shown below in instruction for an event using bus 539.

So how is bus/rail interchange as a result of the "rebuild"?

Of course it is worse!

The bus stops outside the station building(s) have gone ...

.. to make way for taxis and car park access. (Of course, what else would you expect). It is clear from the plan where the bus stops have moved to.

Isn't it?

Oh yes, there it is in small print - and exit to Warwick Road and to the stops that have always been there.

But hold on, we hear our reader cry, was not there a super smashing bus terminal included in the plans for the "rebuild" of the station?

Yes, there it is on the opposite side of Warwick Road and thus further away from the old station building but, maybe close enough to the new bit, accessed via a tunnel under the busy main road ...

... except it doesn't look like the artist's impression picture! Here is Alan's photo recently snapped.

Well, there is the tunnel, but ...

... no super smashing bus station facilities!

Alan takes up the story. with a list of routes that stop on the Warwick Road bridge.

Then there is the new facility!

Alan continues:-

But you COULD look on-line (National Rail Station Information) to prepare yourself for the ordeal. But don't bother ...

... the diagram IS UTTERLY OUT OF DATE!

Yet another example of bus improvements that aren't - well done all concerned.

Guernsey - A P.S.

Correspondent Richard has send his personal experiences.

Below an over-enlarged Google view of bus stops painted on road or pavement at Vazon Bay.

There is no Streetview on Guernsey so the above is the best fbb can do!

And remember the "round the island" bus routes where your flat fare was not acceptable? You had to buy a day rover instead. fbb came across an on-line advert for these services from the recent past (2012?).

A full round the Island bus trip for £1.

Bargain!

 Next Variety blog : Monday 30th May