Oh Mr Porter!

===================================

A happy transport minister?

Mr Patrick McLoughlin pulled the plug on the proposed change to the "West Coast" rail franchise early yesterday morning, saying "unacceptable mistakes" were made by the Department for Transport (DaFT) in the way it managed the franchise bids from FirstGroup, Virgin and two other companies. "I want to make it absolutely clear," he said, "that neither FirstGroup nor Virgin did anything wrong. The fault of this lies wholly and squarely with the DaFT officers. Both of those two companies acted properly on the advice that they were getting from the Department."

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, what will you do?

Your franchises are a fiasco

What a terrible hullabaloo!

Your minions can't add up right

So find someone who can

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, a terribly worried man!

First wanted to run the trains,

But Branson said "You must

have something wrong with your brains,

and mind that you don't go bust!"

The bearded Virgin wonder

would take the decision "to court";

Thus ripping the plans asunder,

"You've done what you hadn't ought"

At the DfT much suspending?

They're simply not up to scratch.

Branson's smile's never ending;

He's won the great slanging match.

Nearly fainting with the pain,

Dave Cameron cried out in vain:-

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, what will you do?

Your franchises are a fiasco

What a terrible hullabaloo!
Refunding the bidders' money

Taxpayers fleeced by more tax

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, the DfT was so lax!

All together now, one last time ...

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, what will you do?

Your franchises are a fiasco

What a terrible hullabaloo!

Your policy's gone down the toilet

Franchising's gone down the pan

Oh! Pat McLoughlin, a very unhappy man!

Today is "National Poetry Day"

===================================

After all this political and administrative nonsense, simple (but unnecessary) competition on the road between Plymouth and Ivybridge seems almost akin to sanity! 

Today's planned blog, "Investigating Ivybridge [2]", is now to be split over two days. We are looking at the publicity for Plymouth Citybus service 45 which started last Sunday; and comparing it with First's service 88 which will join the fray next Monday, October 8th. First Bus will be offering no Sunday journeys.

See also "Investigating Ivybridge [1]" (read again)

In simple terms the two routes are very different and fbb will "contrast and compare" as below (and tomorrow!)

Photo : Plymothian Transit (blog here)

 Plymouth City Bus  the route.

Is a main road only direct run via the A38 ...

... the centre of Ivybridge (as below) and terminating at the station.

The main map (above) could well do without the clutter of place names most of which (all of which?) are not served by the 45 as it whizzes along Embankment Road to join the main dual carriageway A38.

 First  the route

Is much more of a local bus in Ivybridge. Every 30 minutes, it serves the "Langham Levels" estate to the west of the town centre ...

... and then has alternate hourly loop journeys, both numbered 88 to confuse the passenger, ...

... via Cole Lane (Barbie pink) or St Peters Way (blue); both returning via Exeter Road. Most of these roads are also served by the sporadic route 180 ...

... which, from the map at least, suggests this service may be withdrawn or incorporated into the 88 in the future.

The 180, like the longer distance X80 does, however, use the old main road, via Lee Mill and Plympton, whereas the new route, like the 45, hurries along the faster A38.

 fbb comments 

So the first question to be answered in due course is simply this. Which service will generate the most business? Will it be the straighforward 45, nippy but serving only the traditional village areas of Ivybridge? Or will First's more tedious trek round the estates ...

Cornwood Road : good bus territory? Or not?

... be attractive to those residents for whom the existing 180 is too infrequent to encourage casual usage?

A difficult one to call!

More tomorrow.

Fat Bus Bloke's Bible Blog requires "some thinking" (read here)

 Next Bus Blog : Friday 5th October 

Investigating Ivybridge [1]

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Lengthy Journey for Lemon Jelly

Local corner shop "we only have raspberry and strawberry"; Co-op East Cowes, "only raspberry and strawberry"; Waitrose East Cowes, better but raspberry, strawberry, blackcurrant and orange; Tesco Express Wootton, guess what, or take it as red! Tesco on-line, YES but sadly not deliverable on time. But will they have any in the shop? Or a £5 delivery charge for one jelly?

In the end Mrs fbb decided to use orange jelly to make her specially delicious cheesecake.

Doesn't anyone eat lemon jellies?

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Now let's start our investigation of Ivybridge

near Plymouth (in Devon)
It's got a station; and some pretties!

Ivybridge is a pretty little town on the edge of the fabulous Dartmoor National Park. In its day it has been a staging post for the London coaches and the River Erme has enabled the town to be used for Mills as well. There were three Mills in Ivybridge, one still survives today, all powered by the river, the elixir of life for the town. This little river is now part of the attraction of Ivybridge flowing through the middle of the town and drawing many tourists to photograph its beauty in the heart of the town centre.

The name Ivybridge is derived from a small 13th-century hump-backed ivy covered bridge of the same name. Apart from swimming, it was the only means of crossing the river until 1819. JMW Turner is one of the famous artists who’ve been captivated by the town’s beauty, drawing the old pack horse bridge at the north end of the town.

And you thought that all Turners were splodgy?

The first station at Ivybridge was located north of the village. It was not complete when the South Devon Railway was opened, but was brought into use just six weeks later on 15 June 1848.

The building was situated on the north side of the track, immediately to the west of Ivybridge Viaduct.

The original line, station and viaduct were, of course, built for Brunel's "broad gauge" track and trains.

In 1893 the single-track viaduct was rebuilt with double tracks and still stands alongside a few remaining pillars from the original construction.

Passenger trains were withdrawn on 2 March 1965.

A new station was opened east of the viaduct on 15 July 1994. To fit in the narrow site, the platforms are staggered, with the eastbound platform nearer to Plymouth than the westbound.

It was marketed as a Park and Ride station with a large 100-space car park to entice car drivers off the A38 road into Plymouth, but the level of train service is hardly attractive.

Monday to Friday departures for Plymouth are, currently:-
0726, 0758, 0905, 1027, 1226,
1519, 1628, 1719, 1912, 2310.
The Sunday offering is particularly paltry.
1000, 1304, 1708.

Trains in the opposite direction are similarly irregular with, notably, a near four hour gap between the 1003 and 1356 arrivals from Plymouth on Mondays to Fridays. It is not a surprise that the new station car park is rarely overstretched.

One intriguing piece of trivia can be seen here:-

This is an ancient picture of the old station approach road and note the distinctive post in the centre of the shot. Now roll forward a good few years to the present day. Although the station is long gone, the access road, now a track, is still there and ...

... so is a similarly placed post. Probably not the same one, though!

So the much improved new bus services might well be attractive. Tomorrow our investigation continues as we examine the publicity from First Bus and Plymouth Citybus (Go-ahead) for the two new competing services.

 Next Bus Blog : Thursday 4th October 

Enigma Variations [3]

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The Times is much less of a "Thunderer" these days, much more a sensationalist "rag"; but occasionally Mrs fbb brings a copy back from her shopping expeditions. fbb quite likes the Times2 "definitions" crossword. The cryptic puzzle has always been beyond him! This letter, which appeared yesterday, deserves a wider audience.

------------------------------------------------------------

BUT:-
At Last We've Been to Croxley Green : the finale

Our journey from Hemel Hempstead's sixties sprawl on service 352, enjoyed a week or so ago by fbb after a fascinating visit to Bletchley Park, begins at Bovingdon.

Once celebrated for its WW2 airfield, later used (and still used) for filming nostalgic wartime scenes, the village's main claim to fame now is as the site of "The Mound" or H M Prison Bovingdon, seen here with Arriva bus service 52, now service 353.

The little village well (in the first picture) used to be surrounded by three pubs, now reduced to one.

Our very rural ride takes us via Chipperfield, typically picturesque but spoiled by a huge used car "lot" (seen here, creeping into the left of the pretties.)

Sarratt has a spectacular village green adorned here by an equally spectacular preserved London Country AEC Swift (Whoops, sorry, I mean Merlin, of course).

A few more twiddles and narrow bits and we arrive, totally unannounced, at ...

... Croxley Green. Yes, folks, this is really where it's at. This is the real Croxley Green; scene of many local high jinx, fun and frolic, typified by the annual Croxfest ...

... not quite Woodstock, or even the Isle of Wight, but most definitely a good time time. 

From here our 352 bus passes Croxley Station (London Underground Metropolitan line),  the site of the wrongly named Croxley Green station (formerly London and North Western Railway)...

... and wiggling round Gade Avenue traffic-lighted chicane ...

to call at Watford Met (Metropolitan) station before terminating in the delighfully peaceful Watford town centre.

A couple of real positives on this journey. At most significant bus stops on this very quiet run (passenger count throughout the journey, including fbb, was 8) there were timetable frames with timetables, not departure lists, inside. Example at Bovingdon.

Also in the centre of Watford, fbb was able to observe two constables dispossessing a "gentleman of the road" of his cans of lager by pouring the contents down the drain. The centre of the town is an alcohol-free zone.

The consequences of this enforcement action can be seen at the bottom of the picture! There are also on-the-spot fines for dropping litter, so be careful.

fbb guesses that not many of his readers would expect a scenic back-road rural run in Herfordshire. There are others available, but the 352 is one of the best. Try it for yourself one day. You will enjoy the ride.

Journey's end

.

Fat Bus Bloke's Bible Blog is back today.

And Darwin seems to be winning! (read here)
.

  Next Bus Blog : Wednesday 3rd October 

Enigma Variations [2]

OWA TANA SIAM
Locating Leeman Road Bridge

In yesterday's blog (read again) fbb confessed to being unable to locate this bridge in York. It can't be Leeman Road, though fbb, that's more of a tunnel!

But the fat bloke forgot the second bridge under Leeman Road ...

... here top left with the much more monstrous tunnel bottom right. Here is where the bus was photographed.

Thanks to all contributors for their help.

-------------------------------------------------------

Back to the Enigma.
At Last We've Been to Croxley Green : part the first

As Winston Spencer Churchill didn't say in October 1939:-

I cannot forecast to you the location of Croxley Green. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is total secrecy in Hertfordshire's national interest.

Trains ceased to serve Croxley Green station in 1996, but the signs were still there last Saturday. Bus timetables still refer to the stop as "Croxley Green Two Bridges." But Croxley Green simply isn't there and never has been. But we are ahead of ourselves.

Here is fbb's chosen steed, awaiting its four passengers at Hemel Hempstead bus station. The gentleman on the mobile phone is our esteemed driver, dressed in his smart, confidence-inspiring Red Rose company uniform. The journey is the 1315 to Watford via the Hertforshire hinterland ...

... and via the real, but utterly secret Croxley Green.

Hemel has more than its fair share of bus "interchanges" and the 352 calls at all four. From the bus station we run via the "original" town centre stops on Marlowes ...

... via Debenhams in Paradise, a new development to the south of the town centre ...

.. and via the utterly underwhelming bus facilities at the railway Station.

Hemell Hempstead station is not, as you might well expect, at Hemel Hempstead but was built at the tiny village of Boxmoor (red station dot, bottom left).

Hemel Hempstead station opened with the line as "Boxmoor". It has also been called "Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead" (1912–1930) and "Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor" (1930–1963) For many years, Hemel Hempstead station was almost a junction - a railway embankment on the south (down) side of the station led to the end of the "Nicky Line", a branch line through the town centre to Harpenden. However, due to arguments between the Midland Railway and the London & North Western Railway, no direct connection was made between the two lines. Nicky Line trains terminated at Heath Park Halt. (red dot near "Moor End")

There is nothing standing that would identify this little halt; even the embankment has been razed. Neither can you see much of the original Hemel Hempsted Station (the Midland Railway never included the "a") in the centre of the old town (village).. The line crossed where Midland Road became Adeyfield Road and the eponymous pub still stands. There is also a suspicious bit of bridge parapet by the silver car on the right.

Most of the Nicky line is now a footpath and cycle track.

The juxtaposition of the town centre bus stops is shown in a helpful on-line map.

Having  enjoyed (?) the high life in Hemel with its shops, offices and heaps of urban stuff, we are about to enter a different world. But, before we depart, a delightful on-line pic of what was defined as "The London Country Bus Station" in the 1960s ...

... and the Gade Valley timetable extract for the 352 from about 1997. Not a lot of change, all round?

Remember Gade Valley?

A pre-Arriva brand used for services in and from Hemel Hempstead.. The river Gade passes through the town and provides a little verdant oasis amongst 1960s concrete.

On leaving Hemel, our journey becomes as rural as many in the UK (well, perhaps not up to Lake District or highlands of Scotland) as we set off for Croxley Green and a subsequent return to urban sprawl.

Enigma Variations [1] was published on 28th September (read again).

 Next Bus Blog : Tuesday 2nd October