Weekend (further extended!) Variety - 4

And On To Lichfield?

You would guess that the LNWR intended to extend its Sutton Coldfield branch north to Lichfield by going straight ahead from the original terminus. Unfortunately, by the time they decided to do it, development blocked their straight-on way north. Early development of Four Oaks Park was a definite obstacle.

A wiggle was necessary! And to start the wiggle a tunnel was necessary.

Then it got even more complicated. The LNWR had to "miss" the Midland Railway tracks on the Sutton Park line.

So a new station had to be built on the curve ...

... followed by a short tunnel; under the northern end of Sutton's High Street.

The complications continued. Whilst the section nearest to the station could be a normal arched tunnel ...

... the other "half" under the high street used the "cut and cover"  method by digging a huge trench ...

... and roofing it over. You can see the join in this picture, snapped during a safety exercise in 2024.

Looking back towards the station you can see the arch roof end ...

... and near vertical side walls supporting an added flat roof. 

On High Street, properties on both sides of the road were acquired and demolished. Back then the western side had a small terrace of half timbered cottage, seen below in part.

A drawing shows these, the only remaining half timbered properties in Sutton at the time. They were summarily demolished in 1888 to make way for the cut and cover.

The other property shown in the old photograph have been removed subsequently.

Two shops were also demolished on the eastern side of the street and there remained a gap until the 1930s, when a flat roofed building was added.

This has recently gained a new roof!

One article also reports that two cottages behind the above shops were also felled, but fbb cannot identify them accurately.

But very soon, in the east, the cut and cover tunnel ends and the Lichfield line passes under tthe Sutton Park line.

Nothing but trees and undergrowth can be spotted from street level at the eastern tunnel mouth ...

... but no doubt you could hear the trains as they rumble by.

On that Sutton Park line (map below, running diagonally)...

... the station building at Sutton Coldfield Town (to the right of today's one remainng station) ...

... is now a private dwellling. Sutton Park Station ...

... has fared less well and is now a car park for adjoining commercial use.

The line itself still carries plenty of freight ...

... as it is used as an avoiding route to miss the crush of New Street station.

fbb cannot read the date of full and final closure of the stopping passenger service but he travelled to Streetly in 1957 for the Jubilee Scout Jamboree, held in Sutton Park.

All fbb can member is wandering aimlessly and tediously amongst millions of tents.

The train ride was good, though.

Superloop a k a Bakerloop Launch

Transport for London recently held a "launch" for the BL1 (Waterloo to Lewisham) supposedly a precursor to extending the Bakerloo Line. It was a media event, rather than a public party time - there were no goody bags.

Is the name " BAKERLOOP EXPRESS " now the official name? Will it appear on the buses, when (and if) they appear?

But there was a launch bus!

It was designed to announce the new and proposed (???) route to journalists and that seemed to include every London YouTube vlogger and a mulitude of bloggers as well.

But there was a launch bus!

It was Geoff Marshall who revealed that it was brown and white as per the Bakerloo line. fbb thought it was just a rather dull red! The brown seemed a little too ruddy for matching Bakerloo brown, which looked more correct on the route diagram ...

... and on the car cards displayed within.

But the fbb eyeballs are somewhat less reliable than they once were. But even so ...

... it still doesn't look "brown" enough.

Of course, it wasn't painted, merely adorned with yards and yards of sticky-backed plastic!

The boss of GoAhead's London operations, whose bus had been "re-presented", told Geoff that, after the launch, it would have its branding removed and revert to a normal Superloop vehicle.

But the seat moquette would remain.

Indeed, Mt Khan's merry men had completely refettled to bus (only the lower deck was ever pictured!) in the same seat covering as Bakeloo Line trains.

The bus also had a different moquette for "priority" seats ...

... although fbb could not find a Bakerloo train equivalent.

But the old bloke did notice the coloured poles on a Bakerloo line (very boring) train video.

They look more like the bus, but not the same as on the line diagram.

Puzzle Picture?

A new Model Railway manufacturer is revealed.

This popped up in the fbb in-box a day or so ago. fbb has never heard of the company  ICYMI . Japanese? Indian?

Or maybe it means "I Commend Your Modelling Interests"!

Or, FYI, maybe there is another explanation.

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fbb will conclude his current series of blogging parallel prognostications tomorrow.

 Next Variety (goes on forever?) blog : Wed 5 Feb