Saturday Variety

 Another fbb Bludner

In yesterday's blog the above timetable was incorrectly shown shown as 88. It should have been 304, the same as the 1973 route number. The operator is Centrebus and yesterday' blog was corrected at 1015 (yesterday!)

Service 88 between Hitchin and Luton the wiggly way ...

... was service 364/364A in the 1960s but did not appear to exist in 1973, certainly not in the London Country timetable book. But it has re- manifested itself in recent times as .. 

Hitchin to Luton 88

This is operated by Red Eagle.

The main line route between Hitchin and Luton (currently 100/101 running from Stevenage via Hitchin and onwards) does not feature in any of the London green us information. Its old equivalent may have been a United Counties service.

fbb's pathetic excuse for this error is that both the timetables have the same "shape" and were deceptive to the old man's "detail vision" problems.

Tea Green (on route 88) offers no tea (?) but has a pub and a water tower ...

... and a delightful people shelter buried in a hedge!

It also has a good well-equipped timetable frame ...

... with timetable.

Memo : must try to find the United Counties timetables to check one or two things. Maybe hire a small JCB for the search!

Baffling Bus Banished

Readers may remember the utterly mystifying town service at Lyme Regis, operated by Damory a brand of GoAhead's More Bus operation.

It baffles no longer because it no longer exists.

What has happened is that Damory have lost  a school contract in the Lyme Regis area. Dorset Council has awarded it to their own in-house bus operation, presumably to save a pound or two.

The 71 operated in between those two school runs and Damory cannot afford to operate the town service on its own and Lyme Regis Council cannot afford to pay the higher charge required with no school pennies to help.

Ergo, saving a few clods has caused considerable distress to the residents of Lyme Regis and would, if the money could be found, cause considerable distress to the Councils budget.

It is called joined up thinking!

This Is Called "Selling"

The UK bus industry has taken the years of privatisation to realise that its is selling a product, namely a bus ride and NOT providing a service. The media and a large percentage of the travelling public has yet to grasp this. After 40 years articles still appear demanding a bus service with no thought of how the provider is to get paid.

But here is Reading Buses a few week back.

And the explanation.

fbb is plagued with Flash Sale adverts for model railway stuff. No week goes by without some manufacturer or retailer seeking to improve long term sales by offering a short term cut price.

Sadly, fbb has never seen an offer for totally free models!

In a sense the Reading offer was not totally free, but a two day offer to encourage patronage.

Did it work?

Diversification For The Bearded One?

Another powerful business practice is to diversify. You aim to develop  new markets and services that can use surplus resources to make bit more lolly. Pubs have quiz nights or curry nights, veg shops offer frozen food or baked goods

So whilst enjoying a rest during one of his typically understated PR shoots, it appear that the Bearded Bus Beautifier from the Bush has moved into sports equipment, albeit in a small way. With the blessing of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews, this almost royal and numerically ancient design guru is offering ...

... packs of persoanlised golf balls.

Sadly, fbb thinks that the projenitor of these weirdly alluring fimpled spheres is a different Best Impressions.

But there must be some good ideas there.

Stenning false beards?

Stenning subdued clothing?

Stenning multi-coloured funerals?

The possibilities are endless.

The "other" company will also sell you a Pitchfix. No, neither does fbb!

Green Line (Green Bus) Gallery

Some readers may not be aware that Green Line operated double deck vehicles. The livery was a smart deep green and the Green Line logo was often displayed between top and bottom deck.

In service they usually had black on yellow blinds ...

... and, latterly, Routemaster "coaches" were in operation on some services.

What were never operated were six wheel Routemasters ...

... or Green Line Borismasters!

Doubtless this would be called AI now!

Whist exploring this topic, fbb came across this.

It is a lowbridge country bus (NOT Green Line) parked outside of Staines West station.

The main buildings  still stand.

fbb feels a "proper" blog coming on!

Plunger Puzzle Picture Part 2

Should do the trick. The fbb's downstairs WC might be working soon.

Hmmm?

And, tomorrow, discover some fbb recommended reading matter?

Perhaps not!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 1st September 

Izzy, Nick, Tom and Gus (2)

Fools Rush In ....

The fool in this case is fbb and not Gustave Eiffel, seen above in a studio portrait with his granddaughters. Trying to cover the worldwide work of the celebrated Engineer, Architect and Meteorologist (who died in 1923 aged 91) in a short blog is just plain daft!

 ... Where Angels Fear To Tread.

Gus was no angel; he spent a couple of years in prison for fraudulent deals during his work on the locks for the Panama Canal! 

But the breadth of his work is simply staggering. This blog will offer a taste, as they say, "in no particular order", of the scope of his work.

The quote, by the way, is from Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism and, to his deep chagrin, fbb had to look it up. He "did" Pope as part of his A Level English course and had failed to remember the source of those well worn words!

Bad house point!

We begin in 1860 when Gus was nobbut a lad of 26. He was consulting engineer, supervising engineer, designer (sources vary) for what became known as the "Passerelle Eiffel". Passerelle means footbridge or gangway, so the Passrrelle Eiffel was a railway bridge!

It crossed the river Garonne at Bordeaux, effectively linking two chunks of the rail network together. And it did include a footbridge.

It was a long trek!

Until 2008, Eiffel's bridge carried a double track main line electrified and used by TGV trains!

When the new bridge opened the aim was to demolish Eiffel's 1860 crossing but, thankfully, protests were huge and the structure remains, but now inaccessible.

One of the key campaigners was one of Gus's great ((?) granddaughters.

There are proposals to re-open the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

And A Double Decker

You can immediately spot the Eiffel style of giant Meccano here in Portugal. The top deck is roadway ...

... and below is railway. Hopefully Portugal has not copyrighted it when pictured at night.

From The Sublime ...

Eiffel designed and built a simple suspension bridge for a park in Paris ...

... but spectacular and delightful.

Gus's biggie in France is the Viaduc de Gabarit ...

... taking an extant railway over a deep gorge.

Bearing in mind it was bult using human power and simple tools, the construction is mind-blowing.

The Viaduc de Garabit is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truyère, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region.

The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin, and was opened in 1885. It is 1,854 ft in length and has a principal arch of 541 ft span.

Back to girders on piers for this one.

Here fbb has forgotten to note where it was, but he has recorded what it has become. The girders have gone but one pier is equipped with a launch pad for bungee jumping.

Would Gus, as a lover of the spectacular, be impressed with its recycled purpose or disappointed to lose his Meccano?

Not Just Bridges

Here is what looks quite innocently like a waterside warehouse in Izmir, Turkey. 

It looks a bit like a shopping centre now (which it is!) but here is a shot of the renewal and rebuild.

But once inside, we can, once again, see Gus's Meccano in the roof.

Then the bus station in La Paz, Bolivia ...

... still very much in use today!

And still beautiful ...

... maybe the most beautiful bus station in the world!

General Post Office Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

Also very much the place to purchase philately and post your post.

Nyugati Station in Hungary ...

... also very much in use but due for a massive extension "round the back".

Nice Observatory ...

... iron framed, of course!

Dijon Fruit and Veg Market ...

... cuts the mustard!

And beautifully formed in Angola!

Palácio de Ferro is a historical building in the Angolan capital Luanda, believed to have been designed and built by – or by someone associated with – Gustave Eiffel.

Maybe, or matbe not?

The Legacy Lives On ...

The Millau Viaduct is so big you simply cannot comprehend it.

From base to tip of the main piers it is taller than the Eiffel Tower!

The bridge deck (but not the towers) was built by the Eiffel Company!

Gus would be oh so proud of that!

Is Gus a greater engineer than Izzy, Nick or Tom? His work was certainly flung wider over the globe than Izzy or Tom. Nick's AC electricity is a special case because there is an awful lot of it about!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 10th August