A Jolly Day with 6, 6A! (3)

Until '66 by train.

What became the London and South Western Railway's branch to Bude left their "main line" to Plymouth west of Okehampton. Initially opened to Holsworthy in 1879 it was extended to Bude in 1898. An additional link from Torrington reached Halwill Junction in 1925. The LSWR sought to develop Bude as a holiday destination ...

... but it was too long a journey (5 hours plus from London Waterloo) to attract the level of business enjoyed by, for example, the Devon resorts and branches.

In the summer of 1958, there were seven stopping trains Monday to Friday between Okehampton and Bude, of which one conveyed through coaches from London Waterloo. In addition there was the Atlantic Coast Express, a through train from Waterloo at 10:35, running non-stop from Exeter St Davids to Halwill, then calling at Holsworthy and Bude only, arriving at Bude at 15:25. Most trains conveyed through coaches to Padstow (via Launceston), usually marshalled in front of the Bude coaches in the down direction. The portions were divided at Halwill.

On summer Saturdays there were the same seven stopping trains but three of them conveyed through coaches from Waterloo. On Sundays there were three trains each way in summer only, although prior to 1958 there had only been one.

Stagecoach service 6 (and its predecessors) follow the line from west of Okehampton to Holsworthy. Between Maddaford Moor Halt (a late addition from 1926 - bottom right) and Ashbury (top left) ...

... the line runs alongside the road. (click on map for an enlargement). The trackbed can be clearly seen from the top deck of one of Stagecoach's finest.

Halwill Junction must have been a busy little place for the signalman with four single track sections to manage.

The ironically named Beeching Close covers the station site today.

Road and rail now diverge, but meet up again at the former terminus of Holsworthy. Here, nearly 50 years after its closure, this little line still provides an annoying curse for our service 6. Chapel Street bridge remains ...

... as an impediment to double deckers, so we turn left, pass Waitrose on the site of the station and continue via Underlane and Bodmin Street ...

... to get to/from the Library time point. This diversion does, however, allow is to get a glimpse of the Derriton Viaduct ...

... now magnificently refurbished as part of the "Ruby Way" cycle and footpath which links Halwill with Bude. Happily, perhaps, this route is "safeguarded" against future development to allow for the flying pig possibility of re-opening the Bude branch.

Whilst the bus turns northwest-ish to Red Post then west, the railway continued southwest-ish before tuning north to its terminus on the edge of Bude.

Here Bulleid** Way reminds those "in the know" that here once stood the LSWR terminus.

** And Bulleid?

Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid (19 September 1882 to 25 April 1970) was a railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, developing many well-known locomotives.

His weirdest, and ultimately unsuccessful, design was the Leader steam engine (yes steam!) ...

... but he was also a pioneer of diesel shunters.

Who's a clever designer, then?

A post about the run on the 6A from Okehampton to Launceston and back to Exeter follows later next week.

 Next bus blog : Saturday 28th March 

A Jolly Day with 6, 6A! (2)

One Starts, the Other ...

A somewhat distraught Mrs fbb alighted from her unwanted train to Exmouth at Exeter Central and sought advice.

The man on the barrier listened and responded, "show me your ticket and I'll let you through the barrier."

Which, of course, was no help whatsoever. She decided to walk back to St Davids in the hope of getting another train to Dawlish as fbb had said they were every half an hour. The less-than-helpful man-on-the-barrier told her to "go right" then left to get to St David's.

Now there are signposts ... BUT ...

... none at the clock at the end of Queen Street. So she went sort-of left here and kept going. But wrongly. Unfrotunately she missed the very mall finger posts until she got to the end of Streatham Drive (top left) ...

... where she found a sign directing back from whence she had come!

Thankfully some helpful local yokels directed her via Howell Road and a footpath and eventually she was back at St Davids. Hooray!

By now it was too late and too complicated to get to the meeting.

So she went home on the 1025 after two hours of fun and frolic at the expense of poor information on St Davids station. But not after nearly punching a series of railway staff who seemed to know nothing about trains except by prodding their tablets. But then they were First Great Western staff and the trains to Axminster are run by St*g*c**ch S**th W*st Tr**ns! 

In a situation where confusion is easy, as at St Davids, surely the train dispatcher on the platform should be announcing which bit was going where and, BEFORE departure, the conductors of both split trains should make announcements and allow time for Mrs fbb (and others) to repent of their heinous transgressions. Or even have a signs that say "rear train" and "front train".

The railways served Mrs fbb badly on Monday, but, as she often says, "Public Transport is not for the public, it's only for regular travellers who know all the secrets."

Meanwhile, back at Exeter bus station, fbb is enjoying the comfort of a freezing waiting room with doors locked open and the heaters switched off. Welcome to Sragecoach!

fbb was well pleased to see that the stand notices had all been updated to show the 6 and 6 ...

... but less pleased to see that Stand 14 had been vinylled afresh ...

... for the X54 which hasn't run for over 18 months. But then it is run by F*rst B*s and we have nothing to do with them. There doesn't seem to be enough room in the bus station; because service were regularly leaving from the wrong stands; here an X46 wrongly branded as Gold ...

... leaving from the 39/X38 stand.

There was plenty of publicity in the excellent travel office but on closer examination the new 6 and 6A had not been added to the maps. Their predecessors (X9 and X10) remained.

Can fbb treat Stagecoach to a felt tip fen?

Departure was scheduled at 1110 on Service 6 to Bude on a nice double decker which had arrived at 1055.

There was a delay before departure because a "senior" pass came up on the ticket machine as "not valid" when it was, palpably, valid. This bit of bureaucracy from the Council (presumably) is one of the daftest. Why should passes with a photograph ever be genuinely (as opposed to technically) invalid? The holder of the card is clearly the guy on the photograph and equally clearly an old crock. The Exeter delay meant that we left five minutes late and never recovered the lost time as we shall see.

But 6 and 6A journeys are, historically, all about the A30 and the Okehampton and Bude railway branch.

Service 6 follows the quicker route to Okehampton, mainly along the much improved, dualled A30.

There is a brief diversion via the original A30, Cheriton Bishop and Crockernwell ...

... before re-joining the fast road to Okehampton.

For these two villages the 6 joins the 6A (of which more later), the latter sticking almost entirely to the old road. The 1110 from Exeter deposited one solitary passenger at Cheriton Bishop otherwise its diversion was fruitless. Approximately 15 souls travelled at least as far a Okehampton including one interchanger with luggage from the train at Exeter St Davids.

What was encouraging was to see shiny new bus stop flags along most of the route (no stops on the A30 itself, of course!).

All the stops as far as Okehampton had new flags and timetable frames (with new timetables in then). First Kernow and Buses of Somerset please note where appropriate!

By now we were nearer 8 minutes late and the section to Bude offered less opportunity of "pedal to the metal".

The views from fbb's chosen top deck offside seat were glorious, possibly a little less than perfect due to cloud cover. An interchange of passengers at the West Street time point meant the run to Bude had a similar modest load.

All proceeded normally and, in places, as fast as the speed limits would allow, until an industrial estate near Stratton (a few miles before Bude) appeared on the starboard side. Alarmingly we pulled in, reversed and the driver tootled his horn.

A change of drivers took place. fbb noticed a Stahecoach single deck parkeed in the extensive yard, so some clever scheduling had been necessary.

This made us 10 minutes late. Thus a 13 minute layover at Bude Strand ...

... was reduced to 3! There was no time for fbb to explore, even photograph, the stop; but observation suggested that all the publicity was up to date. This included the recent replacements following the sale of a chunk of Western Greyhound then its total collapse. 

Go Cornwall (Plymouth Citybus) 576

   renumbered 12 from April

   Bude to Plymouth

which used to be First Bus 76!

Stagecoach 595

   Bude to Wadebridge

being the most significant of these.

For the record, these were the published times (summarised) for the journey from Exeter and back to Okehampton.

We will look at he run from Okehampton to Bude tomorrow with a passing glimpse at its former parallel, the London and South Western Railway's branch.

 Next bus/rail blog : Friday 27th March 

A Jolly Day with 6, 6A! (1)

Which Didn't Start Well for Mrs fbb!

Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel; Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester; Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham; Henry, Earl of Derby (later Henry IV); and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, throw down their gauntlets and demand Richard II to let them prove by arms the justice for their rebellion.

Blog readers will remember that Michael Watson, boss of Stagecoach South West based in Exeter, "challenged" fbb (in the nicest possible way!) to enjoy the new 6 and 6A service to Bude and Launceston respectively. The day chosen was last Monday when Mrs fbb had a prayer and bible study meeting scheduled in Dawlish.

As this was her first time at this group she decided to throw caution and financial prudence to the wind and travel before 0900 thus requiring an "Anytime" day return. The huge expense is mitigated by the joy of having an old fogeys card's validity without a morning restriction for journeys way out west. So she paid a massive £9.30 instead of using a Devon Day Ranger at £6.60. The 0737 from Axminster is a busy train in term time with approx 65 persons boarding. "There'll be even more at Honiton," proffers the guard, "what with students and commuters."

Meanwhile what does meanie fbb do? His departure from Exeter is much later. Answer; buy a paper and enjoy breakfast in Axminster caff before catching the 0903 on discounted off-peak day return to Exeter at £6.55, saving a gargantuan 5p over the Day Ranger Price.

Bacon, sausage, egg, tomato, beanz, mushrooms and a hash brown plus toast and a mugga for £5. Scrumptious! The 90 minutes waiting time (in the warm and cosy caff and in the somewhat less warm but pleasant waiting room) allowed fbb to finish the "i" crossword and have a detailed look round the station, noting (what a surprise) that the "onward journey" poster was utterly and farcically out of date.

The 31 is now the X31 and it never has served Uploders and Walditch; the 380 became the 4 many moons ago and Wreath Green is a bit of a mystery. The rest of he index is equally useless. 

On the positive side, the young gell in the ticket office was polite and extremely helpful to all who purchased tickets and there was a lovely pot of flowers in the Gents.

Plastic but a very homely touch. 

fbb also snapped (passing at speed en route) work on the much delayed Cranbrook Station ...

... which now appears on Stagecoach timetables as ...

... "# opening in Spring 2015". Just under two years late. Which spring? Hopefully this one!

Anyway, back to Mrs fbb. Her 0737 from Aminster duly arrived at Exeter St Davids on time at 0821 on Platform 3 as predicted by fbb.

The 0842 to Dawlish was heralded as leaving from Platform 1, again as predicted by fbb.

So the good lady merely had to nip over the footbridge and await her steed. The 0842 (note "A" = starts from St James' Park where be its depot) ...

... duly arrived at 0838. The screens insisted that ...

 Passengers for Paignton must 

    join the FRONT carriage   

... and this directive was repeated by a computer on the loudspeakers. Dawlish is on the way to Paignton. So that is what Mrs fbb did. Obediently she boarded the front carriage.

Knowledgeable rail travellers will know what is coming.

Mrs fbb tends to rely on the encyclopaedic knowledge (?) of her adoring hubby so she simply did not twig that, although her train came in from Central ...

... front first, a mysterious and secret transmogrification came over the carriages once stationery at the platform. The front, into which Mrs fbb had obediently lept, became the back; and the back became the front. Then the lads at St Davids uncoupled the new front that was the back ...

... and sent it off on its way to Dawlish etc. Meanwhile Mrs fbb, innocent of these ferroequinological niceties ... 

... was ensconced obediently in the front which was now the back. She was somewhat surprised when she re-appeared at Central and thus realised that all was not at all well. She was now an unwilling passenger on the 0845 from St Davids to Exmouth.

The outcome of this sorry take will be revealed tomorrow when fbb will actually make a start on his trips on the 6 and 6A!

 Next bus/rail blog : Thursday 26th March 

Fastlink Falters? - First Follows [2]

Greenock-based McGill's said it will launch its first service on the purpose-built bus route between the city centre and the new Southern hospital in Govan from May 11, around two weeks after the first staff arrive on site.

Managing director Ralph Roberts said the "high frequency" McGill's Fastlink will operate seven days a week between 6am and midnight.

Mr Roberts added that the bus industry would "not be slow to spot a need" for improved public transport amid warnings that some nursing staff were threatening to quit over parking shortages.

It comes amid concerns that the strict fleet criteria for vehicles operating on the Fastlink route was deterring commercial operators from committing to the service.

All Fastlink buses will carry the same branded livery regardless of the operator, and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport - the public body in charge of the service - has said all operators using the route must meet tough targets on emissions, vehicle cleanliness and customer service, as well as using only accessible low floor buses which are fitted with CCTV and smart ticketing technology.

McGills current services in the area are focussed on the Braehead shopping centre. (click on the map to enlarge)

 Service 7  runs every ten minutes Monday to Saturday (every 30 on Sunday) via Partick. It continues to Linwood.

 Service 21  runs every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday (every hour on Sunday) from Paisley to Govan via Renfrew.

 Service 23 / 23A  runs every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday (every 20 on Sunday) from Erskine to Glasgow

Currently these route pass "near" the SGH site.

 Service 26  is currently irrelevant for SGH but does serve Braehead every 15 minutes (every 20 on Sundays) on its way from Nethercraigs estate via Pailsey and Renfrew; but runs some distance from SGH.

Despite this, the company lays claim to the 26 as an SGH route. 

Frequency claims don't quite match the downloadable timetables; the catch-all phrase "up to" should be included.

The company web site is already flaunting its new pattern of services from 11th May.

A new  service 17  between Paisley and Glasgow, via the new SGH and Partick. The 17 will operate every 12 minutes, 7 days a week from 5.30am-midnight.

Glasgow bus watchers will know that the 17 is not new; it disappeared from the Arriva and McGill catalogue relatively recently. It is not clear whether this is in addition to or replaces service 7, but likely to be the former.


A new Fastlink service, the  SouthernFlyer , which will operate from Glasgow city centre to the hospital every ten minutes from 5.40am until midnight, 7 days a week.

Elsewhere on the current web site the new route is quoted as "F1". "McGill's will operate Glasgow's first Fastlink service, the F1 from Monday 11 May. The F1 will operate from Glasgow city centre to the new SGH (South Glasgow Hospitals) 7 days a week. Our timetable will be available very soon." 

fbb wonders whether the delay in publishing the timetable my be because the infrastructure may not be ready until June.

Three existing services will see route amendments to allow them to serve the new SGH from the 11 May too. These are:

 Service 21  from Paisley to Govan, via Newmains, Renfrew, Braehead and the SGH.

 Service 23  from Erskine to Glasgow via Inchinnan, Renfrew, Braehead and the SGH.

 Service 26  from Nethercraigs to Glasgow via Paisley, Renfrew, Braehead, the new SGH and Govan.

First Bus currently have only a modest presence at SGH.

Route 3 is a service from the city centre following a large loop via Pollokshaws, Silverburn Shopping and Cardonald to Govan. 90 has its history wound up in former circular services but now starts from Partick and runs via Springburn, Hampden Park and Govan to Braehead but not via the City Centre.

That leaves the 747. This serves SGH, Braehead and Glasgow Airport and like McGill's 7 and new 17 runs via Partick and the Clyde Tunnel. It operates currently every 30 minutes.

This service will be replaced from May 10th by  new route 77 running "up to" every 10 minutes.

Scotland's biggest bus operator, First Glasgow, today announced details of new Service 77 which, from May 10, will provide vital, direct and quick links from the city centre and the west end to the new South Glasgow Hospital and Braehead. The 77 will serve a number of communities including Charing Cross, Kelvingrove, Partick, Thornwood, Braehead shopping centre and on some journeys Renfrew and Glasgow Airport. 

In what is a significant investment by First Glasgow, twelve modern vehicles will provide dedicated services on the route. All the buses will be specifically branded in a soon to be revealed Service 77 livery, and fitted with leather seats, free on board wi-fi and extra rooms for buggies and wheelchairs as standard.

The company also revealed that the 77 timetable is specifically designed to reflect visiting times and shift patterns of doctors, nurses and other staff at the hospital. Buses will operate seven days a week, commencing from the city at 5.20am on weekdays and 5.50am at the weekends, with buses from the hospital running until 10.48pm each day.

It looks very much like the old 747 with an enhanced frequency to SGH and Braehead.

We wait, with breath very bated, to see the timetable, the new livery and, specifically, how running times will compare with McGill's F1 and McGill's new 17.

One thing is certain - the level of expenditure on Fastlink (£40 million) has NOT gone down well with Glaswegians.

Frankly it is a complete waste of money (£40million for that!!), a crap design and it has added loads of traffic lights to junctions which never had any lights and made the road slower for everyone.

Who do SPT and GCC think they are where was the public consultation on this completely pointless exercise? This is the stupidest idea SPT have had since their last stupid idea which didn't work either.

Just been looking at the promotional video. Can we have bad taste bets as to how long until the first person gets knocked down by a bus on the "wrong direction" bit of the central bus lanes?

A couple of shots from the video illustrate "wrong way" running around bus stops built in the middle of the road.

Scary and viewed as lethal by many!

 Next Bude bus blog : Wednesday 25th March