Living the Luxury Life

If only ...

When the "upstart" Midland Railway arrived at its own terminus in London, its directors intended that the world would know that something special had happened.  The Something Special was the St Pancras Hotel, created in all its gothic magnificence by Sir George Gilbert Scott.   Sadly the hotel closed in 1935, a victim of changing travel patterns and the tough economics of running such an opulent building.

But it's back.   After years of being shrouded in plastic and scaffolding the Marriott Renaissance St Pancras Hotel re-opened in March. Pictures for Marriott's website show how magnificently the building has been restored and adapted for the modern guest.  The Gilbert Scott grand staircase is just ...

... wow!   There has been a genuine and successful effort to recreate the luxury of the past and combine it with modern standards.

"The Gallery" old, versus "The Gallery" new!

Even something as prosaic as the hotel lobby is special.  It was created out of the former "cab road", where cars once unloaded their passengers (before that, Hansom cabs!).   Now a fitting welcome to this magnificent renovation.

 

The archway here is the same arch as seen on the front elevation of the hotel, above.

So, armed with a selection of Armani suits, one's butler to iron "The Times" and a smartly uniformed chauffeur, fbb is ready to book a suite for the weekend.     Or, maybe, for a first visit, one might go for one of the cheaper rooms:-

It doesn't hurt to "slum it" now and then; to see how the other half lives.   After all, they do have cheap rooms.

And they do have a very well-equipped gym, just the ticket to keep fbb honed to a pitch pf physical perfection.

 

Perhaps not.   If only  ...

Hey ho.  Dream on, dream on!   Do they do a pie and chips bar meal, just to have a look?   Unlikely; so it will be back to the £19 a night at a Travelodge somewhere, with fantastic views of a motorway junction.

next blog : due on Friday April 15th 

Blupdates [issue 3]

Some extra "stuff".

First; fbb is corrected by a correspondent.  Arriva is owned by Deutsche Bahn.   The "Bundesbahn" form of the title was dropped when the East and West German rail systems were merged.   fbb has ordered himself to stand in the corner, suitably attired.

For some mysterious reason the first "read again" link on this page resolutely refused to link!  So fbb has had to add some irrelevant drivel to persuade Mr Blogger's software to work properly.  So here is a panel from a current Centrebus web site.  Enjoy!

 

The internet is a truly useful resource.   fbb's "O" level classical skills suggest most strongly that it's NOT latin.  "adipiscing", "nonummy"?   Perhaps it's a secret code?  The plans for Centrebus to take over the remnants of V**l**??

How to use the Internet (read again)

The tailpiece on this article referred to a really daft bit of timetable publication by Travel South Yorkshire.  A recent peek at their web site finds the "bludner" corrected on-line.  Did they read fbb's blog?   fbb wonders whether they had to bin yet another load of erroneous leaflets as well.

Bamboozled by Bethesda (read again)

fbb came across this ...

... whilst researching background info.   It is Bethesda Station, but very much NOT the Welsh one formerly operated by the London and North Western Railway.  This illustrates the danger of blindly believing what you read on-line.  The North Walians would be very impressed indeed with such a service to their Bethesda!

This one is on the "red" line of the Metro in Washington DC.

Underground Overground (read again) 

Quite a bit to add here.  fbb is reminded that the original old Isle of Wight underground trains, as well as wearing the dull all-blue livery, also appeared in blue and grey ...

 

 ... ending their lives resplendent in Network South East colours. 

Meanwhile a wag on line doesn't like the present maroon livery - he calls it "tired" - and suggests a version of Stagecoach colours ...

... far to garish for the Island. And then, what happens when the new old trains fade away, old soldier style, as they approach their 75th birthday?  Rumours suggest that some 1972 stock from the Bakerloo or Piccadilly Lines will grace the Island's tracks.

Far too modern-looking for our tiny backwater.   And Boris has cancelled the Piccadilly line upgrade anyway.  Is it possible that our Undergound OAP-Ts [Old Age Passenger Trains] might live to be 100?

Ave RV, in praise of a bus route (read again)

fbb came across this diagram which explains, in  layman's terms, how a Hydrogen fuel cell works.

It shows how Hydrogen [H2] from the blue tank is combined with Oxygen [O] from the air (pale blue arrow) using a fiendishly clever (and expensive) membrane (shown in red).  This produces electricity for the green motor and water [H2O] as a harmless waste product. Clever eh?   At least it will be when (and if) we can afford it!

Blupdates issue 2 (read again)
The Numbers Game (read again) 

More information on Sheffield's elusive "Route Zero".  It ran on Wednesday to Saturday evenings from Autumn 1997 according to the operator's staff newsletter "Mainline".   This shows one actually in service, in the dark, at Hunters Bar outside the former almshouses.  It had a flat fare of 50p - quite high for those days. Thanks to a correspondent for pic and info.

(North) Home Town : Northampton 1 (read again)
(North) Home Town : Northampton 2 (read again)

Two snippets here.  To augment the single deck fleet used for service the Eastern District and to prepare for oen man operation, NCT bought two second-hand saloons ex Wolverhampton Corporation.   They actually looked quite smart in Northampton colours ...

... much smarter than in the dull wulfrunian green.   A vehicle from a similar batch as delivered new and on display (as a preserved vehicle, hence the 1960s icons in the window!) at a recent Coach and Bus exhibition .

At the same time, United Counties acquired some ex-Trent vehicles which wore something like NCT livery; read and cream.  A bit confusing.

In a dastardly slur on the veracity of fbbs inane ramblings, one foul fellow has suggested that fbb has invented the community of Buttocks Booth. Not so. Here a pic of a United Counties bus, on the erstwhile "long way round" route from Wellingborough, showing its full blind. The 401 route in its modern guise of service 38 is due to "get the chop" and run only as far as Moulton; but it will still serve Buttocks Booth.

The former community, now only represented by the Lumbertubs pub and restaurant, was clustered round the road junction, and presumably takes its name from an old tollbooth.  But whose buxom buttocks balanced on a bench there? Well, sadly, that piece of history is lost in the mists of time.

Incidentally, fbb's mother used to attend a weekly whist drive in the community hall behind the pub.   (Yawn, yawn!) This picture looks (roughly) south.  Kettering Road crosses from left to right, Lumbertubs Lane runs to the left of the pub (First Northampton service 2) and the "street view" is taken from Moulton Way, route of Stagecoach 38 and 39.

  EXTRA blog  : Thursday April 14th 

Bartona Multiflora Exotica

Is it a bird?  Is it a mammal?  Is it an insect?
Is it a potentially life-threatening tropical disease?
Nope!

It's a bus.

Back in the heady days of the sixties when the younger set were enjoying their recently gained "freedom" by supping dinky shallow cups of frothy coffee and tucking into a Brunch Bender Egg Burger at Wimpy's, a youthful fbb was enjoying an occasional trip to Nottingham.  Then there were no trams to delight the lad but there was an alternative to Northampton's ultra-conservative Daimlers with Roe bodywork ...

 OK this one was much later than the 60s - but you get the idea!

...and the never ending Bristols of United Counties.  And that alternative was Barton.   The company ran its first bus from Chilwell to Nottingham Goose Fair in 1908 and later built a replica.

The enterprise was founded by Thomas Henry Barton (always known as "The Guv'nor") who ran the business until his death in 1946.   But what fascinated fbb was the magnificent and eclectic collection of vehicles operated by them over the years.  Early post-war vehicles were always adorned by lots of aluminium flashings ...

... hence the name coined by fbb and used as this blog's title, Bartona Multiflora Exotica!

Later, the company always used coaches (high backed seats, step entrance, usually WITH conductors) as single deck vehicles.   This beauty photographed by fbb in the mid 60s (?) showing another Barton innovation - front exit and (behind the roadsigns) centre exit, for use when one man operated.

The pinnacle of its innovative enterprise, however, was bus 861.   This was a Dennis Loline chassis, chosen by operators who needed to negotiate low bridges etc., but with a lowbridge body glued onto it.   A lowbridge body was another way in which operators used standard chassis vehicles to enable them to use roads which passed under, guess what, low bridges.

So the bus was twice low height, if you can grasp the concept - and not much taller than a modern touring coach, SINGLE deck, of course.   Why did they do such things?  fbb reckons they liked having FUN.

fbb well remembers a speedy ride from Nottingham to Derby (express via A52) sitting very uncomfortably top deck front.   Here the drivers cab below intruded well into the upper deck.  The floor at this point was only an inch or so below the bottom of the seat cushion, so knees were (almost) inserted into fbb's nostrils.  Ouch!

The livery mellowed in the 70s but the scent of experiment pervaded the company.  The vehicle above, for example, was rebuilt from a single decker and was fitted with an engine usually used in tanks!   A throaty roar indeed.

Sadly, in 1989, Barton sold out to neighbouring Trent and was slowly absorbed into the Wellglade parent.

fbb salutes the memory of "The Guv'nor", T H Barton OBE... 

...in the present age of corporate identity, elf'n'safety, tick-box accountancy and remote office-bound management (fbb is "filling up") we shall never see his like again.   Even Stagecoach's big cheese, Brian Souter, "went corporate" despite his initial "tesco bag and trainers" management style.

P.S. Brunch Bender Egg Burger?   Yes, that was real.   It was a burger plus frankfurter sausage, cut and curved, (see below, "bender" is top right under the sliced tomatoes!) with an egg.   Of course, served with "fries" which, as we all know, were far superior to "chips".   Scrummy!

next blog : due on Wednesday April 13th  

Power to the People?

Civil Disobedience at Wellingborough!

This picture appeared in the local "rag" at Wellingborough, and NOT on April 1st.

It shows two "senior citizens" holding a sit-down protest in front of a bus on a Wellingborough local route, one of a huge batch of "tendered" service likely to be withdrawn completely in the very near future.

Northamptonshire has announced that ALL its tendered service money with be "chopped" from April.

The local "plod" is seen trying to persuade the protesters to "come alonga me quietly" and get "banged to rights".   The driver is trying a look of abject horror but hasn't won any prizes at RADA!

It was a "set up", probably in a town car park if you look behind the bus, but Northamptonshire's reaction to the financial "crisis" is one of the most extreme.  Meanwhile, back at the county town...

... Meridian Bus announces that its is withdrawing from its service 86 and 87 circular services (also tendered by the County) from March 19th well before the funding axe falls.

 

The Meridian web site claims that the service is not "secure", despite running it for two years!   The poor villagers of Pattishall, Stoke Bruerne ...

 

... Astcote and Gayton are beside themselves with fury.   Their two two-hourly circular (both ways round) services partly shown in this extract:-

 

are replaced, on a temporary contract, by a much poorer schedule, operated by Stagecoach.  A revised route and less journeys:-

Pretty Pattishall gets a couple of 86s "the long way round" to Northampton (via Towcester) in the morning and a couple of circuitous 86s back, afternoon and early evening.   Not very conducive to "growing the market".

Historically, however, the new poorer service is similar to the frequencies that the villages used to get before the arrival of various rural bus grant funding packages.  In 1997 Goode's coaches could only manage this, to Pattishall;   

whilst way back in 1979, United Counties provided only a sporadic three trips a day on route 333 via Gayton.

So the services have only reverted to their historic "normal", at least for the time being.   Even this could go soon - WILL go unless Stagecoach becomes super-philanthropic or manages to persuade the dozen remaining residents who don't have a car to travel more often.

But what of poor Meridian Bus, forced to give up this business due to a lack of a secure future?   Do not, dear reader, weep too soon or too long.  Meridian Bus already competes with First in Northampton with its busy service 31 to King's Heath Estate and its web site also announces a brand new service 42 from 18th April:-

Meridan is a little coy about  revealing the destination if its route 42 with the answer to life, the universe and everything.  Its website still advertised the 86 and 87 a fortnight after withdrawal!   But the secret is out in Northamptonshire's timetable library:-

Meridian will compete with Stagecoach between Northampton and Mere Way Tesco.   fbb's guess is that the newcomer's bosses see more dosh on the Tesco road than they ever made pootling round Pattishall.

So the rural residents of South Northamptonshire lose their lifeline; whilst travellers toddling to Tesco get more buses than they need.  Is this REALLY the best way to ru(i)n Public Transport?   Nicholas Ridley, privatisation king 25 years ago, has a lot to answer for.

P.S. Maybe it's the latest craze.  This from the Plymouth Herald on 6th April.  See Plymothian Transport blog (here).

next blog : due on Monday April 11th 

Aaaah! The Good Old Days

But were they that good?

Grovelling in a rarely opened drawer recently, fbb has rediscovered his loose leaf folder of United Counties timetables.   Like so many companies, UC caught leafletitius in the 70s but for a while offered a postal update service.  It is interesting to compare 1979 (National Bus Company) publicity with its successors, in this case Stagecoach and Arriva.

Services from Milton Keynes to Deanshanger were, to say the least, sporadic in 1979; but by 2011 Arriva, successor to Milton Keynes Citybus, was offering a far superior service ...

... from occasional to hourly.  These improvements are possibly more to do with the growth of the New City of Milton Keynes, but, nevertheless, improvements they are.

What about Wellingborough, a tad smaller than Milton Keynes?   A half hourly local route to Hemmingwell in 1979, ...

... with weekday and Saturday variants, becomes ...

and easily memorable every 20 minutes with the added excellence of a clear and accurate route map.

So, better twice over in 2011!

Back in 1979, United Counties followed the fashion of the day and made a resolute effort to provide every small community with at least one return bus journey a week.   This led to some well-nigh incomprehensible timetables; in the case of Ramsey to Peterborough with almost every journey carrying detailed diversions.

Only the 0655 from Ramsey was "normal" - every other journey needed some sort of explanatory note.  Stagecoach was quick to undo that style of operation and create clear frequent services aimed at the majority of prospective passengers.  Some villages are sacrificed, but the main destinations are much better off.

The Wellingborough map has already been mentioned - and the improvement in quality is equally evident in the Bedford area.   We move from a crude kindergarten-style offering in 1979 ...

... to high quality, clean, clear and concise cartography in 2011.

So, ostensibly, things are much, much better in 2011.   Or are they?   Is what is obtainable on-line, for example, readily accessible to a non-wired passenger?  How many of United Counties' day-by-day customers have the ability (or the willingness) to download and print out the improved information?

Will Henry Higgins plan his hurried homeward journey to Hemmingwell "on-line"?   Will Ronald Roberts research a relaxing recreation in Ramsey by "logging on"?   If fbb dwells in Deanshanger, who can tell him when the buses run?   Does the village Post Office stock leaflets for the 14/14A?

Where is the obvious place in Wellingborough to pick up a leaflet for the W2?   The enquiry office in Silver street is long gone.   The Tourist Information Office has closed, because, according to Northamptonshire County Council, tourists never come to Wellingborough.  There's a positive attitude, then!   fbb does gather from a correspondent that the lady in the rather splendid library SHOULD have "some leaflets".

 

Is that facility indicated on bus stops?  Guess.

Good services, much improved - but with excellent publicity NOT readily available.   Which are/were the "Good Times"?   The jury is out.

And now we have "The Cuts".  

P.S.  Back in post '79, pre Stagecoach days, a pic of a United Counties "Street Shuttle", service A to Hemmingwell.

Also, according to Stagecoach, the W2 Hemmingwell service will escape the chop.   Milton Keynes 14 to Deanshanger etc. might be less certain.

EXTRA blog on Saturday April 9th