Sunday Variety

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(here) at approx 1015

LIVE on Sunday morning
thereafter "streamed"

Good News From Sheffield ...
Good News From Travel South Yorkshire ...

fbb is often accused of being "down" on South Yorkshire PTE, an attitude heartily endorsed by folk who live there and struggle to use the bus service. The "Good News" is that after months of "masterful inactivity" on-line, current timetables have now started to appear; not only on-line, but in the form of departure lists at bus stops.

At last!

Here is the stop opposite the shops at Bradway and outside the Goff Club.

Passengers would board here to make their way back to the terminus at Bradway Bank, confusingly also called "Bradway" by bus operators and the PTE although it isn't.

Old Mother Redcap, the pub at the terminus, is closed and has been for several editions of the map. For MOST of the day, Monday to Saturday, Bradway is served to Stagecoach route 25 ...

... with half the journeys continuing to Longford Road. To this timetable must be added some early morning and late evening buses on First's route 24, which normally terminate at Low Edges, but fill the gaps in service 25.

The PTE timetable merges 24 and 25, sensibly, but shows neither of them correctly - contrast and compare the 25 journeys in the morning.

Two First Bus 24s extend to Bradway Bank (Prospect Road). Notice, in passing, that Stagecoach does not admit to the Skelton Lane variation after leaving Cross Street in Woodhouse.  - you just have to KNOW.

Anyway, here is the Monday to Friday departure list as displayed outside the Goff Club.

It correctly shows First Bus 24s as terminating at Prospect Road. Below is a line diagram for Stagecoach 25 which runs to Prospect Road, then on to Longford Road and, oddly, back to Prospect Road. What it doesn't tell us is that only half the 25s go to Longford Road.

The departure list from the frame is worse.

There is no way of knowing which of the departures you might want if you were foolish enough to hope to get to Longford Road.

It is even worse in the other direction where the PTE timetable does not mention Longford Road at all.

You just have to guess! And at the other end of the route, it implies a distinct lack of buses to Skelton Lane. In fact ALL 25s go there.

So full marks TSY for posting current departure lists, but poor marks for perpetuating inaccirate and misleading information.

Good News From Sheffield ...

Good News From First Bus?

South Yorkshire bus forums, Twitter etc are awash with some remarkable news. The lumping of First's Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster operations with Leicester, Stoke on Trent and Worcester seems a management step too far.

But, almost secretively, there was a new livery launch in Doncaster a few days ago. This took place at Doncaster Racecourse but seems to have been ignored by the local press - even ignored by First Bus with no mention on their web site.

But not very imaginative? The livery is the same generic fuchsia fronts which proliferate in Leicester, for example.

Hmmm.

But then comes something much more interesting.

The Doncaster image reminds us oldies of the unusual final paint job from the days of Doncaster Corporation. A plain red plus town crest was enhanced by an oddly curved bodyside stripe in purple, edged in white!

The new Sheffield variety only barely picks up the colours of good old Sheffield Transport; lots more blue and only the tiniest hint of cream.

Pity.

First only has two depots, in Sheffield and Doncaster. So what happens to buses in Rotherham? Surely the good folk there will be decidedly unchuffed to have an arbitrary mix of "Sheffcaster" vehicles on their local routes.

fbb does not know how "official" the two "depot" based liveries might be - the source of the forum posts seems to be unofficial.

More news eagerly awaited?

P.S. fbb has it on the highest authority that the new red and blue liveries are technically "proposed", but a formal decision on adopting is due any time now.

Freight Is Greight

One of the rare delights of some of our preserved railways is that they do operate goods trains. Clearly such operation earns no money for the line; but it does re-create something of the real railway. Here is a train of vans trundling along the Great Central.

Very nice - but was there ever a van train with such clean wagons?

Also on the Great Central, a coal train ...

... and a diesel hauled mixed goods.

Trix Triang Twin

fbb has been reminded that OO gauge models of electric locomotives took a big step forward with Triang in the 1960s. The Margate company introduced overhead catenary ...

... and masts which clipped into the track, thus needing no baseboard fixing. The catenary could be wired up to allow two trains to be controlled on one track, although how often this facility was used is unclear. Three locos were produced initially. A class EM2 from the Woodhead electrification ...

... and its "Transcontinental" equivalent.

Delightfully, Triang plonked a steeple cab body on their ubiquitous "Nellie" 0-4-0 chassis and offered a "UK" version in green ...

... and transcontinental in red.

But this version in BR black may well be a hobbyists repaint.

This little model could easily be the basis of replicating some of the really early 1906-ish locos as covered in Henry Greenly's book, subject of recent blogs.

Something like the above (but without the three-phase pick up!) would sit nicely on the dock shunter chassis.

 More "Variety" tomorrow : Monday 3rd August 

Saturday Variety

Worrying Walls And Wearisome Windows
Time for a song:-

Now I am makin' windows to build a carriage shed

As a clumsy bodger, I should've stayed in bed!

Now it's a job that just irks me

I struggle most frustratingly

If you could see what I can see

When I'm makin' windows

Buy frames in; but they don't fit

You cannot see the sense of it;

It tends to make me want to spit

When I'm makin' windows

But for my hobby I'll work hard

And I'll never stop (1)

I'll try to make it proper

Till I finish off the top.

With loads of glue and plastic sheet

Edges cut that don't quite meet

I'm starting now to grizzle and greet (2)

When I'm makin' windows

It comes unglued, sweet names I call.

On the floor the bits will fall.

I'w tempted just to smash it all all!

When I'm makin' windows

The original carriage shed (now in self destruct mode - actually totally self destructed!) had a crude and plain back wall, a single sheet of ply with laser cut windows stuck on top of white plastic sheet to simulate the quarry face outside.

Foolishly, fbb decided to do better with the replacement.

Wouldn't it be nice, the old bloke thought, to have longer thinner windows at the top of the wall where they would let in the maximum of light streaming over the top of the cliff? Having bought five windows to match those in the front wall, some surgery would be needed.

So get chopping.

Place the top and bottom blocks of ten panes side by side and you have long thin windows.

But - they don't quite match!

After (a) misery, (b) panic and (c) resignation to apply yet another bodge, fbb grovelled in his box of stuff he had forgotten was there and found some plastic strip.

Fortuitously, the thin stuff filled the gap and the thicker stuff created the missing frame bottom.

Equally fortuitously, the resulting windows were almost exactly one inch deep. fbb finds it easier to work in the old money. So, take a strip of wall 2 inches deep, the bodged windows and another strip of wall ½ inch deep and you have the requisite total height of 3½ inches to match the front.

The windows are placed on a strip of "glazing" running the full length of the wall - so all that remains is to fill the gaps (roughly, what else?) with rectangles of placcy sheet, apply an extra layer to hold it all firmly and, hoopy frood (3), we have a back wall.

from now on, it becomes almost a repeat of the front wall, so it is unlikely that there will be more "Carriage Shed" reports until fbb is due to glue it all together. Many blog readers will heave a great sigh of relief.

Notes on the above text.

(1) Until nature and God take their inevitable course.
(2) Greet : Scottish patois for, erm, "grizzle".
(3) Hoopy Frood : expression of utter joy as utterly uttered by or about Ford Prefect in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Pretty Park And Electric Ride

A notable development happened in York last week. The first of a big batch a double deck all-electric buses were "launched" for the city's Park and Ride network.

For the duration, three sites have been closed ...

... but, despite on-line evidence to the contrary, Askham Bar has re-opened to showcase the electric deckers.

These was an official launch, but somewhat muted because of social distancing, with the press not turning up in their droves. fbb guesses there was no free grub!

Round About Roundabout in Cambridge

Yesterday a "dutch-style" roundabout was opened. fbb is well aware that our friends from the Low Countries have a very determined policy of traffic calming, including roads that are pavements, or maybe better thought of as wall to wall pavements along which cars may travel - but slowly.

fbb had never heard of the eponymous roundabout - until now. And here is part of a Dutch dutch-style roundabout.

They are driving on the right and roundabouting widdershins.

Now lets go to Fendon Road in Cambridge. Confusingly, there are two roundabouts on Fendon Road, one at each end thereof.

This refettled one is NOT the one outside Addenbrookes Hospital but the other one, top right.

In essence a broad multi-lane roundabout  ...

... has been reduced in size and a new circular cycle lane added as an outer concentric ring. There are pedestrian crossings at all four entrances/exits and it appears that said persons on foot share the space with persons on bike.

Is that MORE risky than avoiding cars?

Priorities for City 1 and City 2 buses?

Guess!

Enjoy two minutes of exciting video.

Fawley Follow-Up

Correspondent Alan reminds fbb of the late great John Farrow ...

... charismatic boss of Hertfordshire Railtours ...

... who was celebrated for train trips visiting obscure bits of the national rail network. In 2012 he went to Fawley (and again in 2015). Alan sends the full working timetable for the 2012 excursion with this extract showing times from Southampton ...

... to Fawley and on to the Bournemouth area.

The train returned to Victoria by an "interesting" route.

A  Simple Mistake?

fbb is renowned for his misplaced typing; with his laptop seemingly capable of transposing letters or even words! But you don't expect high incompetence from something like the Radio Times. This howler was also sent in by Alan.

And A Big Surprise - NOT

Another demand responsive service bites the dust.

The area that WAS served is shown on this simplified map.

fbb attempted to research "the 211 Speke zone" but, as ever, the Arriva web site failed to deliver.

One twitter twitted all that needs to be said.

Perhaps said twit writer could list all the places where a demand responsive service HAS worked "connecting housng to railway stations with through ticketing"?

 More Variety blog : Sunday 2nd August