Puzzle Pictures, Places and Poles (1)

It began with a picture forwarded from No 3 son who, as most readers will remember, works doing computer stuff in Basel, Switzerland. He is wont to challenge his father's intellectual acuity by sending a photo which fbb has to identify. 

This one was easy peasy!

A block of flats and a road junction. There was a bus shelter in the distance, but it was the premises centre left that gave the game away.

Fortunately there is only ONE Cafe Meier in Basel ...

... and the picture on-line gave out the right vibes. And so to Google Maps.

Gurgling with electronic delight, fbb reported his near instant success to the boy!

"But I asked you what was missing", came the reply, accompanied by two more snaps.

One was of the paved area outside the building ...

... and the other, a close-up of the bus stop.

Perhaps Streetview will help? Well, there's the caff and its associated bakery and pastry shop ...

... and a BVB bus parked outside.

But something has, perhaps, been paved over after the Streetview camera car bumbled by.

And the Streetview bus stop ...

... had gained an electronic thingey after the noddy  car's visit.

Then it clicked with fbb. That paved area was a former turning circle, but according to the system map, nothing terminates there today! Buses 33 and 48 call there ...

... but speed ever onwards; 33 to Schönenbuch Dorf

And here's one going there.

It's a gas, man!

The 48 continues to Bachgraben ...

... likewise with name on bus stop flag as evidence.

But we have met the 48 before in these blogs (read again).

But no matter. Because, in searching for suitable pictures, fbb came across this.

The 33 used to terminate at Wanderstrasse hence picture of bus at Bakery ...

... and turning circle now paved over.

As if to confirm this, someone has posted a video, filmed out of the back window of a 33, all the way from Basel Centre to Wanderstrasse. (yawn). Sadly it just gets to the stop as pictured above ...

... and the video ends. Shame! But the large pole and the no entry signs are the same; and work is now finished on the house across the junction.

But that very thick pole ... hmmm.

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And today IS your author's 

74th

Birthday

Many wonder how the old man keeps going.

Many more wonder why!

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 Next Basel Pole blog : Tuesday 26th February 

Something For The Weekend (2)

Growth at Gainsborough

A block or two in arrears, fbb referred to the station with just three trains each way on a Saturday. It is hardly a momentous advertisement for twenty-first century rail travel.

The station entrance is, to say the least, underwhelming.

There is an adjacent car park, nicely full ...

... possibly more due to the shopping facilities than an excess of rail travel opportunities! Opposite Marsdhall's Yard (c/w Costa Lot) is Lidl ...

... and at the far end of the warehouse shopping experience is ...

... Tesco. All life in its utter richness is there; all we need is some trains.

Of course, Gainsborough Central once had weather protection for its clientele ...

... and an opulent station building.

fbb wonders whether there will be any improvements ...

... when (IF?) the new hourly six-days-a-week service starts. Don't hold your breath!

Public Transport of a Sort?

A week ago, No 1 son took No 1 grandson to an open days at Sheffield University whereat fbb studented. Your noble  author was amongst the first tranche of eager learners who moved into the brand new Arts Tower in 1966. This view is from Weston Park ...

... with the Library in between.

fbb has written before about the Paternoster Lift used to gain access to the floors above. You hop gracefully into two-person moving boxes ...

... and, at you desired floor of egress, you hop out, equally gracefully. With practice, it is less scary than it sounds. The boxes, sadly, do not turn upside down at top or bottom.

fbb is pleased to report that the "lads" enjoyed over-the-top and under-the-bottom rides, recording the latter on phone video and posting it on Twitter.

Enjoy the experience (here).

They also drove past the former family residence ...

... on Crimicar Lane (bus 60, then 40, then 83a and120). The fbb's extended over a car port; subsequent owners filled in the car port and extended the porch.

Happy days!

Weather!

We can but thank Ogden Nash for the definitive poem about the up-coming meteorological season. (Read with strong Noo Yoik accent!)

The spring is sprung, the grass is riz.

I wonder where the boidies is.

They say the boidies' on the wing.

But that’s absoid. The wings is on the boid.

Mrs fbb's micro-daffs are blooming ...

... although Meadows, the groundsman, needs to do a bit more work on the potted plants that lurk below the boundary wall. The yellow makes a bright spot for passengers on passing 9A buses (Stagecoach : Exeter, Sidmouth, Seaton, Lyme Regis : hourly M to S, two hourly Sundays).

A week ago the old codgers took No 2 grandson to Escot Wildlife Park (web site here). There were Lynxes, a Scottish Wild Cat (it was furious), Wolves, Otters, and old bore (boar?) - but fbb was not part of the official display. (chortle chortle).

But the carpets of Drops of Snow were wonderful.

How To Encourage Passenger Growth No 392

Roadside publicity.

From Stagecoach in Northampton:-

Stick the "Major Network Changes" notice over the top of the index when there is plenty of room to its right.

And, whatever you do, don't tell us how the "major" changes affect the routes in the frame.

All together now: "IT'S ALL ON LINE!"

And from Stagecoach in Rugby:-

Make sure that the timetables are in different styles and stuck to a very tatty background and with really dirty plastic to see through.

Select some near illegible items to tax the viewing skills of the few remaining potential passengers.

And, above all, ensure that the notice from 2011 is left posted as it is so, so important in 2019.

Passengers? It's easier to run the company without them, don't you know!

Tomorrow, in the true spirit of Brexit, we return to a country which manages to stay tolerably aloof from the giant Brussels and Strasbourg monster. And tomorrow is yet another fbb milestone (or is it a mill stone?)

 Next Basel blog : Monday 25th February 

Something For The Weekend (1)

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The item based on No 3 son's puzzle picture

is postponed. It provoked far more interest

than expected and deserves a couple of 

complete blogs.

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L N E R displays proposed new stock

As well as painting one of its class 91 locos in "heritage" InterCity livery, L N E R (thats the UK's nationalised railway) has also been featuring its latest ideas for new trains at Kings Cross station. Thanks to Northampton correspondent Alan, we have pictures plus comments from two respected journalists who regularly write in Modern Railways.

Roger Ford (a k a Captain Deltic) ...

... says, "at least this freight loco will work first time out of the box."

Ian Walmsley, who has a "thing" about the quality of new trains ...

...  is enthusiastic about the proposed passenger stock.

"The seats will be so much more comfortable than a 700," he opines.

Meandwhile, transport secretary Chris Grayling ...

... comments, "It is right and proper that the government is prepared for a Brexit no deal and any consequent short-term decline in the nation's economic activity. It is highly appropriate that the people's own railway company should be in the vanguard of this policy of prudence.

And I thank Pru, the Ministry tea lady, for coming up with the idea.

More Brexit Ideas
We are warned that there may be difficulty crossing the channel, especially after the failure of the contact with the company with no ships. fbb commends two scheme of years gone by.

As ships won't be carrying so much fruit and veg, simply load on the cars and light vans by crane!

It is how we did it in 1950 before the advent of roll-on roll-off vessels.

Or, how about taking the car by plane.

The plane was a Bristol Freighter carrying TWO cars, later upgraded to a Bristol Superfreighter with a 50% increase in vehicle capacity.

Departures were from Lydd airport ...

... and fbb (as a teenage lad) accompanied his parents of a holiday to Innsbruck using that route. It was mildly exciting and VERY noisy. The old man drove all the way from Calais (?) to their holiday destination with overnight stops in Bruxelles and Würtzburg.

Now does fbb remember aright that the pilot was a Mr James Bigglesworth and his"se cond man" was called Algy?

Competition Fades in Derby.
Readers with a hugely retentive brain may well remember a past blog about bus competition in Derby. YourBus, having been largely seen off in Nottingham, moved along the A52 to Derby.

Their services 1 and 1A ...

... are a direct copy of Arriva Derby's similar.

Your buses run every 15 minutes both ways round.

Arriva responded by adding service F1 to their already frequent offering.

Generally, during the day, both operators' buses run around almost empty.

It was obvious that 19 buses an hour was unsustainable and bus watchers are surprised that neither party has not blinked earlier.

Your Bus has cancelled its registration from 31st March.

Big Freight From Canada
This snap popped into the fbb in-box.

Containers double stacked are hauled - slowly - along the sinuous track amongst the trees and mountains.

It is a sight like this that shows what rail does best - dragging huge amounts of stuff between big industrial depots.

Awesome!

And More Nostalgia!

Publicity issue before the trains were built! The revised front end, introduced in response to unions' concerns about visibility, really improved the look of what remains superb an iconic train.

More variety tomorrow ...

 Next Weekend assemblage : Sunday 24th February