Sunday, 8 February 2015

Snow, Snow; Thick, Thick Snow!

And, Talking of Videos?
This one was sent by No. 1 son, spotted on YouTube.
There are several "Things to Note".

1. The location, Canada. (Salisbury, New Brunswick)
2. The shortness of time between warning lights (with clangs)
     and the arrival of the train.
3. A totally ungated level crossing on a proper (?) road.
4. No fences along the track.
5. The length of the train and ...
6. The snow. In the UK the line would have shut down completely!

If you are thinking of visiting, here is the crossing in finer climes ...
... accessed by turning off Salisbury's main street at the XTR petrol station ...
... and following road 112 (Fredericton Road) northbound. Snow not guaranteed!
The crossing is top left and is the location of the former Salisbury passenger station, long since closed.
The first permanent settlement of what was to become the Village of Salisbury was begun in 1774 by immigrants from Yorkshire, England. Taking advantage of the fertile soil of the Petitcodiac River system's intervals, these first residents built successful farms and also turned to the area's timber-rich forests to establish thriving lumbering operations.

Dairy farming and lumbering continue in the locality to this day, while fur ranching has been a tradition here since the early 1900's.

Transport of goods in and out of the community was by means of the river initially, as well as over the region's rough trails and roads.


The arrival of the European and North American Railway in 1860 provided access to the ports of Saint John and Shediac, no doubt increasing business prospects immeasurably.
St John station; c. 1895

The village is believed to have been connected to the outside world by a telegraph office located in the railway station as early as the 1860's.


Nearly half a century later, in 1906, the village's first telephone exchange was established.
E and N A R loco

Salisbury was/is on the line from St John to Moncton; the dot above the "T"" of North.
click on map to enlarge

Memories of "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill", British Transport film from 1955 ...
... available in its entirety on YouTube.
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Bicycles Underground
Storing bikes underground happens in Tokyo and a nice Australian man wants to do the same here.
We are not told how much the parking fee is!

But that's just storage. Cycle Paths underground (no, it's not April 1st) are proposed for London. Using closed tube tunnels. Here is the article from yesterday's "Times" - so it must be true?
It is true that the Jubilee Line used to run from Green Park to Charing Cross, eventually to continue via Aldwych and Fleet Street then on out East. It was originally to be called the Fleet Line. And it is true that there a tunnels some distance east from the station.
These tunnels do progress under the Strand towards Aldwych.

It is also true that the line between Holborn and Aldwych is closed but still usable.
But they don't join. Making the link, even if it were practicable, would be horrendously expensive. And who pays for the ramps to cycle down to tube level? Or do we have a series of Eco Cycle twiddly whizzers for bikes with motive power still ensconced on the saddle?

The mind boggles!

fbb has a better idea. How about mini-personal hovercraft using London's sewers?
Don't pooh pooh the no bovver hover!

For more tasty (?) pictures click (here).
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 Next rail blog : Monday 9th February 

Saturday, 7 February 2015

Bits and Pieces : Something for the Weekend

A Strange Coincidence
Last week, fbb extolled the virtue of the word "traipse"; but, lo and behold, our Northampton correspondent guided fbb to Radio Times and its puzzle page 155. The print version of  the "Only Connect" connecting wall looked like this:-
And there was the word "Traipse"
 

But now, a video to watch:-
It is a scene that is reminiscent of one of the side-splitting moments of comic smash Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, but for the driver and passengers on this Norwich bus it was no laughing matter. Bus bosses said the driver ended up in a fix after reading no access for any vehicles “except buses” on road signs which a City Hall spokesman has confirmed are to be “adjusted to eliminate any ambiguity”.

So it was that one of Fearnley's finest set off down Magdalen Street in Norwich and came face to face with an impenetrable wall of plastic barriers. Austin Powers, eat your heart out!
  

And another one!
But embarrassing videos are like apocryphal buses; you wait for ages and then two come along together. This time it is another set of road works and a rather lumpy mini roundabout at Holts in Odham.  Service 425 runs via Wildmoor Avenue, terminating at the end of the loop.
Buses then do a "U" turn round the roundabout and return to the Centre.
Only this one didn't!
Kerrrunch!

We've Got a Green Capital.
On a more positive note; did you know that the UK now has one of these?

B

The European Commission recognises success in creating green cities with a high quality of life. This prestigious award gives the successful recipient a unique opportunity to further enhance the their reputation for creativity, culture and innovation.

And the European Green Capital for 2015 is ...

Bristol

It was awarded due to Bristol's ability to demonstrate rapid progress, and continuing ambition, across a wide range of quality of life, environmental and green business aspects. 

Or was it just that Bristol filled in a questionnaire and paid the fees? Whatever the "value" of this award, First Bus has just launched its "Green Capital" logo.
Recently appointed First boss James Freeman is seen here, well wrapped up against the icy blasts, with Councillor Mark Bradshaw, assistant mayor.
Bradshaw is also a member of BLASJC**; so three hearty cheers for that positive contribution to Public Transport.

The "Green 2015" logo also appears on the latest batch of Streetlites, also "unveiled".
** For those who have forgotten what the slick and memorable acronym BLASJC stands for, it is the Bus Lane Adjudication Service Joint Committee.

 Next rail blog : Sunday 8th February 

Friday, 6 February 2015

A Traipse to Tiverton [5]

Interesting "Independents"
Once upon a time there were Tilling bus companies and BET companies which covered much of mainland Britain. Effectively, post WW2, these were run by the state. Town's and cities' buses were run by the Local Authority which left a collection of "independents" of varying size. Nowadays all bus operators are "independent" of state or local ownership. But we are creatures of inaccurate habit and we still tend to describe the smaller companies as "the independents".

The "big boy" at Tiverton is Stagecoach, running in from their base at Exeter. A feeble First bus appears apologetically on service 22 from Taunton, leaving the rest to the locals.

The biggest small operator is Dartline, based in Clyst St Mary near Exeter.
The company started in 1987 and subsequently absorbed Roberts Coaches in Exeter and Bow Belle of Crediton. It now operates coaches on private hire including this splendid motor specially for Exeter Chiefs.
Prison, County Court and School contracts are also operated, including two vehicles that languish at Seaton each school day ...
... having delivered kiddies thirsting for education to the prestigious Colyton Grammar School.

Ordinary bus routes serve a very wide area of Devon, including rural services from Moretonhampstead, Bridford, Newton Abbott and Sidmouth; the Digby Park and Ride and a service for Exeter Chiefs' matches, both in Exeter; and tendered town services in Exmouth, Crediton, Cullompton, Ashburton and Tiverton. Busy busy!
The 348/9 run alterate ways round a loop via Cowley Moor estate ...
Also in this part of Tiverton-world is one half of the 343, running hourly cross town ...
... continuing to Cotteylands and Palmerston Park.
Lastly there is the 352/3, another loopy "circular" ...
... which ends up a Tidcombe. The name souds like that of a quaint Devon village, but, yet again, it is a large housing estate named after Tidcombe Hall. The Hall's owner hit the local headlines last year:-
Notorious conman Kevin Wright is currently serving a four-year prison sentence following his theft of nearly £1 million from a children’s cancer appeal’s funds. Two years ago, however, he was enjoying life and running a company, Bobby’s Healthy Shop, out of his Tiverton Home. Here one of his workers describes working for Wright, a tyrant who forbid staff from eating white bread and monitored their every move.

Buses run half-hourly with gaps ...
... on a route that sort of terminates on Glebelands Road ...
... where the stop and shelter are situated.
The "Westcott Road", as in the timetable, is a side turning where the buses reverses.

Two other operators serve Tiverton. Redwood Travel runs a Friday only bus from  Hemyock ...
... with helpful blind and number display.
There is also a Redwood's Tuesday only service ...
... to another clutch of delightfully named Devon villages.

Holcombe : The manor house known as Holcombe Court was built by the Bluett family.
It is situated to the immediate west of the parish church, hidden behind a high boundary wall, and is described as "perhaps the finest Tudor house in Devon". The last element of the village's name, "Rogus" often mistranscribed as Regis, is that of the tenant of the manor at the time of the Domesday book in 1086.

The final visitor to the bus station during fbb's hour of observation was Beacon Bus.
After a crew change ...
... the 398 would whizz off to Minehead. Or would it? The blind said "Minehead" but a notice on the stand warned otherwise.
Despite "Minehead" on the blind the frame told us that the 1240 would only run to Timberscombe with no connecting shuttle.
fbb wonders what was really happening in the sure and certain knowledge that bus travel is always something of a mystery, to be treated with "polite suspicion" by the unwary. Maybe the "stop near Brook Street" might reveal all?
Who knows? There is no mention of "the shuttle" on the Beacon Bus web site ...
... but Traveline seems to confirm that the 1240 gets no further than Timberscombe!

Perhaps fbb will go and have a look!

 Next bus blog : Saturday 7th February 

Thursday, 5 February 2015

A Traipse to Tiverton [4]

Coffee Break, then Buses.
Until the middle of 2013, Tiverton's tourist information centre was housed in a purpose-built building at the end of the bus station. After moving to the museum (see yesterday's blog - read again) the site remained empty until Summer 2014. A local team took over the lease for a cafe.
It is being transformed into a cafe/coffee shop, albeit one inspired by the style of the 1940s and '50s. The shop is named after the owner's late grandmother who was well-known in the Tiverton area for her professional cake-making and catering skills. The new business will comprise a family run cafe selling tea and coffee, as well as cold drinks, cakes, freshly-made doorstep sandwiches and baguettes, breakfasts, salads and other snacks.

In the window was a notice the like of which fbb has never seen before:-
What a superb idea. Once inside, there was a strong 40's theme including the period dress of the "baristas". A side room was particularly delightful, set up to represent a real historic living room.
The item of furniture glimpsed on the right is the original dressing table made for the original Elsie May's wedding. Nice touch. The coffee was good as well.

But we must get back to the work in hand. In yesterday's blog, fbb commented that the bus station seemed disappointingly empty. But between 12 noon and 1300 (approx) everything happened with a great congregation of bus services whizzing in and out.
Service 55 and 155 run every 30 minutes direct to Exeter; 155s continue every two hours to Barnstaple. Occasional journeys are numbered 55B ...
... and divert via Silverton and Thorverton villages, off the main road.
Once an hour the 1 appears; disgorging its happy passengers, few of whom have interchanged at Parkway station. Because it's Stagecoach, there are full timetables in the frame.
Indeed, every stand had full timetables ...

... except one. Guess which one?
Correct! It is the non-existent First Buses in Taunton and Bridgwater or maybe First Somerset, who knows? Note that the service is shown as terminating at Richard Huish College ...
... but with every journey except one carrying a note (1).
Oooh, look, note 1; eight out of the nine departure times shown only run as far as Taunton. Daftness supreme. Here's what should be there, suitably enlarged ...
... with no mention of Richard Huish College.

You can buy a monthly ticket for ...
... "Buses of Somerset" [BoS] but, of course, that company doesn't run any buses at Tiverton, as far as the confused passenger can tell. Brand awareness? What brand awareness? While fbb observed, a 22 arrived and departed.
The former London cast-off was in the smart BoS livery but the engine sounded as if it were about to fall out of its compartment in a heap of bits.
Chug chug, clunk clunk, ping ping as it left in a cloud of (possibly illegal) exhaust smoke. Undoubtedly the worst sounding vehicle of the day, fbb hopes it made it back to Taunton in one nearly working lump! Although which way it might go remained a complete mystery. With the high commitment to quality infomation (NOT!) it is no surprise that the service has been cut back time and time again. 

There were no maps for any of the routes serving Tiverton; this despite an excellent "local" diagram in the appropriate Devon county timetable booklet.

But it was the so-called "independent" operators that claimed the majority of stand space at this busy lunch time concours d'elegance omnibological.

 Next bus blog : Friday 6th February