Ideas Above (About?) Your Station

More Modelling Nostalgia

As a wee lad, fbb had  Hornby "O" gauge tinplate railway with locomotive, two carriages and three trucks. It needed setting up on the floor and interest soon waned. Sadly a station as shown above was not part of the parental gift. The old man cannot remember what happened to it, but by aged 12-ish the lure of a "OO" layout began to taunt the young chap.

But any layout with its salt really needs a station where the trains will stop and collect their imaginary passengers. For the young lad there was, intially, a choice. If you had loadsa pocket money (or generous assorted relatives!) you could buy Hornby Dublo.

The buildings were in a modern Art Deco style and made of metal. They oozed luxury and opulence and, if your chum had the full set, you were scythingly jealous.

Or you could buy slightly downmarket plastic from Tri-ang.

A bookstall in green plastic slid into the black hole in the right hand building. It often disappeared into the great shadowy mists where lurk felt tip pens, drawing pins, important keys and small change.

For their time (and we are talking 55 years ago, at least) they were remarkably good models. Over the years the merged Tri-ang Hornby company produced some more modern appurtenances, small ...

... and large.

In those far-off halcyon days of pocket money purchases, an Airfix kit at 2/- (10p) came to many an aspiring hobbyist's (and fbb's) rescue.

Nowadays the fashion is for (much) more expensive "big boys" toys in the form of "resin" cast buildings ready painted. This is a typical offering from Hornby.

Or, of course, if you are really skilfull, you can "scratch-build" your own. Here is a part of a superb GWR station at the Pendon Model Museum.

You have to be a dyed-in-the-wool accuracy fanatic to aspire to such detail and to be capable of building it. fbb isn't!

But imagine fbb's nostalgic delight when, on the shelves of his local model shop, he spotted an R62 ...

... but an R62 without its laughably inappropriate chimney stack.

Part of the aforementioned station set, this was billed as a "platform waiting room". The design incuded a rudimentary "Gents" with the assumption (from two small windows round the back) that the "Ladies" was accessed from the comfort of a small waiting room with a roaring coal fire in the grate.

Those really were the days.

At £2.50, this second-hand R62 was a bargain - Ebay offers can be as high at £9! But terracotta coloured brick-less plastic was a bit naff, so fbb set to and started an "upgrade".

First repair a window spar, add a more realistic chimney pot and create a representation of a door through to the theoretical Gents loo.

Then cut a hole in the bottom to allow for fitting "glass" and, at a later stage, lighting ...

... and we are ready for painting.

Whitewashed stucco and blue "woodwork" finish the job; but the chimney pot has fallen off. Perhaps an electric room heater is installed? The toilet windows now have frosted glass ...

... which, no doubt, will bring a little extra comfort to those in need of evacuation. And, before the purists shriek in horror, the floor of the Gents entrance will be painted to match the platform!

£2.50 and a dollop of paint brings a 55 year old cheapo model up to an acceptable standard; acceptable by fbb at least.

You have to wonder whether the designers of that early Tri-ang station range would ever have imagined that their "toys" would be still in use 55 years (or more) later. It is a credit to their design that they are.

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They Think It's All Over ...

Matthew writes: "Then all the disciples left him and ran away." 

Yes it was all over as far as everyone was concerned. By sunset on the Friday ("Good" Friday) the corpse had been wrapped in a cloth and placed in Joseph of Arimatha's tomb.

When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea arrived; his name was Joseph, and he also was a disciple of Jesus. He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph. So Joseph took it, wrapped it in a new linen sheet, and placed it in his own tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.

There was urgency in this as the Sabbath began at sunset on Friday after which no work (even burying!) could be done.

The next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees met with Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later.’ Give orders, then, for his tomb to be carefully guarded until the third day, so that his disciples will not be able to go and steal the body, and then tell the people that he was raised from death.

It is Now!

Only a few women remained to deal formally with the burial and that would have to wait until Sunday morning, after the Sabbath.

So that's it then. The "Son of God" is dead; his followers have deserted him and the promised revolution has not happened.

On the Saturday you would have to say that Christianity was finished before it ever started.

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 Next bus museum blog : Sunday 5th April 

A Jolly Day with 6, 6A! (5)

Pushed Over the Edge?

In November 2014, Stagecoach registered changes to its services between Exeter and Okehampton with one peak trip extended to Launceston.

Whether this was the final blow or not, the ailing Western Greyhound announced the withdrawal of its once-prestigious 510 service from the end of February 2015.

By negotiation with Devon County an expanded X10 and a revised X9 were registered by Stagecoach to start immediately; but now numbered 6A (Launceston) and 6 (Bude) respectively. Service 6 journeys run mostly direct via the A30 between Exeter and Okehampton whilst the 6A bumbles via the villages.

Having been all the way to Bude and back to Okehampton on the 6, fbb was now ready to ride to Launceston and thence back to Exeter on the 6A.

The route west follows the "old" A30 leaving its newer replacement some distance to the north. (click on the map for an enlargement).

And here fbb has a confession to make. On leaving Bude earlier, the rain and drizzle started which somewhat impaired the views from top deck front. There was a tantalising glimpse of the of the Meldon Viaduct ...

... on the line between Exeter, Okehampton and Plymouth; considered and rejected by Network Rail as an alternative to Dawlish. There were what might have been spectacular views of the gorgeous moors ...

... but which for fbb were just a uniform grey! Pity. But this leg of the 6A is on the list for a return visit when brightly shines the sun. Even Mrs fbb might be persuaded to take the ride! Potentially glorious.

As previously mentioned, the bus was running about 10 minutes late (pretty standard for the whole day) which meant that Launceston came and went with the briefest of stops.

The 90 minute run back to Exeter was again through late afternoon murk. A "mature" lady passenger who had conversed briefly with fbb on the outward run rejoined at Bridestowe and, noticing his camera and timetable began to expound on her views (at length!) on bus travel, rail travel, MP's salaries, new trains for the Great Western line, Dawlish, Okehampton, Beeching and, in general, anything to do with transport.

Needless to say, she was not impressed with fbb's answers along the lines of, "you can have all these improvements you want, just put 10p in the pound on income tax."  It is amazing how transport "amateurs" think the mysterious "them" can fund everything, conveniently forgetting that "their" money is "our" money graciously handed over via P.A.Y.E., V.A.T. , T.I.N. and other tax.

fbb enjoyed the lovely little villages and was looking forward to the Pathfinder version. The name suggested some primitive Poldarkian trail-blazer who opened up the wild west by striking tin, copper or mangelwrurzels and thus creating the idyllic Devon village. Oooh arrrgh.

Sadly not. It's a vast caravan and chalet site aka holiday park. (As an aside, Five Mile Hill appeers to have been missed by Goodle Streetview's street viewing car so fbb cannot use that source for a picture.

The junction close to the A30 is as far as you can go on-line.

Once again, good roadside publicity prevailed with brand new 6A flags throughout ...

... mostly with timetable frames. It was pleasing, too that these were timetables not lists of departures; so the innocent abroad could get some guide as to when he/she might arrive at their destination. Perhaps these timetables could have been a little bigger - easy to enlarge the PDF file - but they were all in place.

fbb understands that the timetable may soon be "tweaked" to  try to overcome a little tightness in the timings which were "inherited" from Western Greyhound. If fbb's experience is typical, the summer traffic will make most of these schedules impossible.

One other feature of these services gets a "could do better" school report from fbb. The map on the leaflet is poor.

Although the roads served are shown with commendable accuracy,place names are sadly lacking. Tedburn St Mary and Pathfinder Village are missing near to Exeter and nothing appears on the road from Okehampton to Launceston. Likewise a total emptiness of settlements  is evident for the "positioning" journeys that run between Bude and Launceston.

It is hard to work out why. fbb is tempted to suppose that the cartographer didn't know where the buses went, but the road map part of the diagram is accurate. Whatever the reason, the map is poor; it should at the very least, show all "time points". Perhaps, as this was something of an emergency measure, they just ran out of time!

One other snag with he 6/6A timetable from Okehampton TO Exeter schedule is that journeys are not evenly spaced...

... with two buses every two hours. It is hard to see how his could be avoided whilst retaining efficient use of vehicles but maybe the clever schedulers at Stagecoach could find a cunning plan which would give Oakhamptoners a more even service to th county own.

Conclusions : an excellent service with good vehicles, good views and good fares. Well worth a try if you are in the area. 9 out of 10 for effort!

For the record, previous 6/6A episodes can be read as follows:- [1], [2], [3] and [4].

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A Good Day to Die?

In the twentyfirst century, we tend to sanitise the Crucifixion. In the case of Jesus we are told that he "set his face to go to Jerusalem" and made no secret of the fact that he as going there to die. His trial was ludicrously illegal and the punishment was designed to be  cruel and painful as possible.

So why not walk away? Why not go into hiding?

700 years before Jesus was born the Old Testament prophet Isaiah "got the message" and spoke out.

We despised him and rejected him;
he endured suffering and pain.
No one would even look at him;
we ignored him as if he were nothing.

But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
the pain that we should have borne.

All of us were like sheep that were lost,
each of us going his own way.
But the Lord made the punishment fall on him,
the punishment all of us deserved.

The message of The Cross is both simple and profound. God-on-Earth (Jesus) went willingly to the horror of the cross to take on His shoulders the punishment we should be getting for our "sins"; for those frequent occasions when we do not live as God ordains.

Was the crucifixion a life-changing event for mankind - or a tragic end to a deluded life?

The next two days provide the answer.

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 Next model rail blog : Saturday 4th April 

A Jolly Day with 6, 6A! (4)

Okehampton for Lunch

Okehampton was founded by the Saxons. The earliest written record of the settlement is from 980 AD as "Ocmundtune", meaning settlement by the Ockment, a river which runs through the centre (so really should be Ockmenttown) . It was recorded as a place for slaves to be freed at cross roads.

Like many towns in the West Country, Okehampton grew on the medieval wool trade. Notable buildings in the town include Okehampton Castle ...

... which was established by the Norman Sheriff of Devon, Baldwin FitzGilbert (d.1090) .and the Chapel of St James.

St James' Chapel is a Chapel of Ease, situated in the heart of Okehampton town. It is an ecumenical chapel and belongs to the town of Okehampton. It was restored in 1862 by Ashworth and is built of Medieval granite.There is Tudor and 18th century woodwork with a reader's desk and pulpit, the latter dated 1662.

Buses in the town include, in addition to the 6 and 6A, Stagecoach 5A (part of the take5 rebranding of services via Crediton) ...

... runs every two hours and and Plymouth Citybus 11... 

... running hourly.

This will be renumbered 46 in April to increase confusion (?). Plymouth seems to be struggling to get its network stable and (possible?) profitable throughout. Additionally there is a significnt number of local routes, too complex to cover in this blog.

Information at the main stops is excellent with (at the West Street time point) an up-to-date Devon "flag" ...

... augmented by a 6/6A stuck up version.

What was superbly helpful was a bus stop map of the town ...

... complete with up-to-date index. It would have been perfect had the cartographer remembered that Somerfield became the Co-op from 2008 onwards. But some good house points for Devon County. But not quite so good for leaving a Western Greyhound frame and timetable for their withdrawn 510; withdrawn from mid-February.

What was sadly missing from the centre of Oakhampton was anywhere to sit down in some semblance of comfort; bus stop perches are totally inadequate for either rest or for fbb's ample rear end.

Arrival from Bude was 1425, departure for Launceston was 1510.

So a late lunch was in order. Fortunately, right outside the 6 arrival stop was the splendid Turners Bakehouse ...

... which supplied pasty, cake and quavers to replenish energy resources for sitting on yet another Stagecoach bus for a potential two hours and ten minutes. Had fbb found Marion's cafe in St James Street (under previous ownerhip on Google Streetview) ...

... sitting down and lunch could have been combined. Will do the next time. Instead a lovely cheering potta was all that fbb purchased therein.

It's tough work, but it has to be tackled (the lunch and tea, not the bus!).

But the 1510 to Launceston was fast approaching (actually it wasn't; the 6A, too, was about 8 minutes late).

The bus was older (less new?) than the vehicle on the 6 but comfy and warm nonetheless. Here it is on arrival in Launceston with zero layover but just time enough to change staff and allow fbb a PNB.

More about the 6A tomorrow.

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3,200 Years and Counting

In about 1200BC, Moses was inspired by God to lead his people out of slavery and on to Canaan, The Promised Land. But the Egyptian King (aka Pharoah) was not too keen to lose his labour force. The Bible records 9 "natural disasters" brought on by God via Moses: River turned to blood, frogs everywhere, gnats, flies, death of cattle, boils, hail,locusts and 24 hour darkness.  Each time the King said yes, then changed his mind.

The tenth plague was to be the death of the oldest child and animal (i.e. the firstborn). Moses gang were to protect themselves from the tenth plague by painting blood on their door posts.

Then "the angel of death" would pass over their houses. Devout Jews celebrated The Passover every year.

Jesus and his gang met to do just that on Thursday evening. He told them that he would be "The New Passover", that his blood would be used to save the people all over again.

Today's communion (or eucharist) service commemorates what Jesus did and said at his last supper.

He knew what was coming - and why.

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 Final 6/6A bus blog : Friday 3rd April 

Pre-Election Hype - With a Rider?

Breaking News from the CMA

It was once called the Competition Commission but, like everything else governmental, it has to be reconstituted and rebranded. But one of its purposes is still to stand up for the consumer.

So a report (published today) is of interest to bus management, less because it affects the public transport industry per se and more because it lauds bus and rail privatisation as a first rate exemplar of how consumers have benefited from competition. Some consumers and many transport operators may challenge the report's basis, but it does provide something of interest for the likes of fbb.

The report is 348 pages long with dozens of statistical tables, all far too detailed for an fbb blog. But some of the proposals re of interest.

Chapter 43 begins:-

Many bus companies do not publish their fares. Customers are required to choose, and board their service and then ask for the price. This can be annoying, but does ensure that destructive competition by price (fares) is harder to implement. The introduction of the Guaranteed Un-Revealed Selection System in the trial area should reduce the use of "loss leader" products.

The section goes on to propose that grocery prices are not shown on posters or advertisements, or listed on the shelves but only revealed after the customer has reached the checkout.

The Authority does, however, recognise the success of the rail industry in encouraging off-peak travel by offering very low prices. 

The plan is for Supermarkets to offer very cheap prices (on a small number of products) for customers shopping very early in the morning or late at night. Under this plan, Branston Baked Beans would be priced as below:-

The terms and conditions for these offers would, perforce, be incomprehensible to all but the most "savvy" shopper, but it would mean that companies could massage their overall pricing structture (in an appropriately named "basket" of offers) to convince the public that prices had not increased "overall".

The report saves its most revolutionary scheme till last. In the same way that bus operators must allow competitors to use their bus station even if they own it, big supermarkets will be obliged to allow local businesses to rent space in superstores and trade alongside, say Tesco.

The report cites an experiment in the town of Saxborough in Yorkshire's South Riding.

Here the Tesco Extra store was obliged to provide space for a local corner shop. The space had to be fairly allocated so that the corner shop could trade on an equal footing. The creation of the Office for Guaranteed Reasonable Unified Building usage (OffGrub) would arbitrate.

Small shopkeeper, 5 foot tall Rajesh Patel, is quoted (in the local press) as saying, "This has indeed been a bonanza for Mrs Patel and my good self. Our business is increasing an incredibly good deal. We are grateful to the wonderful English government and Her Majesty the Queen for allowing us to stuff our shelves and Tesco at the same time, goodness gracious me." Mr Patel is also chairman of the highly successful Saxborough Sterotypes Society and a leading voice in the community.

Tesco was unavailable for comment.

fbb has had barely enough time to digest the whole report, but it is, most definitely food for thought. Apparently the trial area (including Saxborough) will be reviewed after six months and we can expect a further report in exactly a year's time.

The report's author, Dolly Fariposa ...

... is emeritus professor of Policy at the Turin Institute of Rail and Road Transport.

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Yorkshire Rider Rides Again

Another Heritage Livery from First Bus. (click on the bus to enlarge)

On 21 October 1988, Yorkshire Rider was privatised, being sold to a management buyout. In August 1989, the new company purchased West Yorkshire Road Car Company from AJS Holdings. In August 1990, the York businesses of Reynard Buses, Target Travel and York City & District were purchased. On 15 April 1994, Yorkshire Rider was purchased by Badgerline. It was included in the 16 June 1995 merger of Badgerline with GRT Group to form FirstBus.

The bus bears the name Brian Parkin.

January saw the funeral of one of Leeds' leading transport historians. Brian Parkin, who in addition to a career within the coach industry had also been editor of Metro Transport News for over fifty years, a substantial contributor to the five-volume set of books 'Leeds Transport' by the Leeds Transport Historical Society and served as an encyclopedia of knowledge to enthusiast organisations in West Yorkshire.

Nice touch, First.

Rider livery had numerous variations and several brand names (e.g. Gold Rider) but here is a preserved Leeds bus in the same livery as that adopted by First.

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This blog was published (briefly) in error on Sunday 29th March - apologies for the confusion - fbb

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How the win friends

and influence people.

Tell the nation's leaders that they are total failures!

Jesus was hungry. He saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, so he went to see if he could find any figs on it. But when he came to it, he found only leaves ...

... because it was not the right time for figs. Jesus said to the fig tree, “No one shall ever eat figs from you again!”

Not very nice to the fig tree! But what did he really mean?

Trees are always a picture of the Jewish Nation. So Jesus was warning the leaders of the day that they were not "bearing fruit", not doing what God wanted. Because of this, they would lose their privileged status as "God's chosen people." They would not bear fruit again.

Severe, or what? But, in fact, the message of Christianity did not stay bottled up in the arid religion of the ancients; it spread like wildfire, all over the world.

But the criticism did not endear Jesus to the bosses. More tension!

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 Next Bus Blog : Thursday 2nd April