Saturday Variety

Remembering Semmering!

During his recent researches, fbb came across a short black-and-white film reporting on the electrification of the mountainous railway line. The commentary was all in German and the technical terms were too much for fbb. But some of the pictures were fascinating. 

The film begins with some shots of the railway being built between 1848 and 1854,

The sobering thought is that all the construction was done without the benefit of modern machinery amd without a single computer. They did have slide rules which appeared in the 17th century when you could blame John Napier for inventing logarithms [Weren't they fun at school?] ...

... and mechanical calculators. fbb still has his father's slipstick. He used to take it into IT lessons when being a supply teacher. Hidden in a wrap of brown paper, the question was, "What sort of computer is in this bag?" The kiddies were amazed!

Even so, the physical skill needed to turn numbers into a viaduct, building it with very little mechanical help is almost unimaginable.

The film doesn't obviously say when the line was electrified but fbb guesses either just before or just after WW2. Most shots show the poles to hold the catenary; but of particular interest to fbb were the pictures of steam hauled trains.

A close look reveals that they were all double haded with two small locomotives.

Might that be, thought fbb, because the bigger locos wouldn't go round the corners? 

One freight train pictured in the film had two at the front and a third engine at the back. 

But here is a puzzle picture from the film.

What is being built here?

Answer at the end of this blog/

And a sleek diesel unit bumbled out from one of the tunnels.

Very art deco, very 1930s.

Popular Pounds Park Provision

In 2021 fbb blogged about a change in Sheffield bus routes consequent on the closure of one of the more popular city centre bus stops. The replacement was very much "round the back by the bins".

"Fear not," quoth the City Council, "we will be turning that car park into a "landscaped public open space" and providing state of the art bus shelters with real time information, armchairs and central heating. It will be wonderful".

Well, with just what the weary Sheffield shopper needed after a busy morning of retail therapy, Pounds Park opened last year.

Instead of a "public open space" it morphed into a children's urban adventure park, and very popular it is with the kiddies, fbb is told.

It has just been announced that the Council has agreed to spend £914,000 on the long promised "transport hub". So about five years late, then.

fbb guesses that it might be ready in 2025 but a year's slippage is always a possibility.

Quite how you can spend half a million smackers on three bus shelters and some real time displays is totally beyond fbb's understanding.

And why bother anyway, as hardly anyone uses the stops on Rockingham Street as they are so awfully inconvenient.

Maybe the Council has designs on getting King Charles to formally open the three bus shelters?

Today's Triang Toy Train!

Triang renamed itself as Hornby in the late 1960s and recently the company has been making much of the 70 years heritage of the Margate HQ that houses the company's long history.  These "retro" models can sell well and, boy, does an ailing Hornby need as much dosh as it can possibly wheedle out of the paying public.

So the above box represents today's take on the Triang R2X trainset from 1958. There was a very similar R2 set and fbb is unsure of all the differences.

The R2 had different electrical equipment.

Essentially the consist was one Jinty 0-6-0 tank loco and two maroon coaches. Here is the loco back then ...

... and now.

And here is a coach, then ...

... and now.

The track then was Mark 2 grey based ...

... with the modern version being far more realistic.

The trainset as a whole is much better than in 1958 ...

... and it beats inflation, being about three times the price after adjustment for the changing real value of the pound.

Ashley Down's Birthday

Sounds like a lower tier footballer or a very minor music star.

There is a Birthday, a 0th birthday!

In fact it is a new railway station in the Bristol area; a re-opening to be precise.

A full blog is planned for Monday.

Hydrogen Hopes?

Despite difficulties in obtaining economic and non-polluting hydrogen, the desire for such power in public transport is growing. In an attempt to frighten us all, some wag blogged about this topic recently and included this well known picture.

fbb is fairly certain that modern vehicles store their hydrogen in strong (and heavy!) tanks, not the canvas bags of the Hindenbirg.

And we have had plenty of experience in storing some equally highly inflammable fuels, both in bulk and in vehicles. It is a spirit made from "rock oil"  a k a "petroleum".

Semmering Puzzle

It is the beginnings of an electrical sub station!

 5 Days to Go 

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 29th Sept 

Futile First Failure - 95 (Part 1)

Tram To Bus

Until 1956 (PMF!), Sheffield Transport ran a frequent cross city tram service between Walkley (north west; map top left) via city centre to Intake (south east; map bottom right). 

As was standard with many tram routes in the city, the two termini were just plonked in the middle of the road as below at Intake.

But when the buses arrived, such simplicity would be impractical. At Intake ...

... a rater splendid turning circle was built. It had toilets, a waiting area and a small shop. below we see it in much later bus days ...

Nowadays the shelter and shop have been demolished and the toilets are, to coin a phrase, no longer in use.

Nothing is now scheduled to turn in the lavish turning circle. Surely it should have been sold off to a developer as a site for 50 luxury apartments?

Changes were made at the other end of the route. The service was every 5 mins between Walkley shops and intake (PMF) and the "shorts" turned via back streets ...

... to a stand in Camm Street ...

... before setting off back to city and Intake via South Road..

Half the service was thus extended along Bole Hill Road to a terminus at Tinker Lane.

Originally reversing from Bole Hill Road into Tinker Lane, the scourge of one manning led to a layby being created whereby a 95 could just sidle back a bit ...

... and nestle into its luxurious nibble.

Below is an earlier trip with the vehicle settled happily alongside the stone built shelter.

The 95 remains the only Sheffield City bus route with a reverse onto its stand.

In recent years, with big changes to bus services along the Mansfield Road, the 95 ceased to be cross city and terminated at the bus station, sorry,  Sheffield Interchange. It was one of very few city services that ventured into the near deserted station.

Then came the strangest link-up in the minds of Sheffield Traditionalists. The route became 95 and 95a from Walkley Tinker Lane ("shorts" had long since disappeared) and continued from city centre to Firth Park in the north and then on via Wincobank or Sandstone Road to Meadowhall.

The 95a involved some exciting hill climbs ... 

... and descents ...

... and a double run to Sandstone Road shops.

But, from 1st September it is all change again.

And there has been a consultation! So that's all right, then.

What is more difficult is working out where the new 95, 95a, 95b and 95s actually go.

As you may have guessed - there is no map!

"PMF" = Potential Memory Failure. 

 Next First Failure blog : Wednesday 14 Aug 

Convoluted Consultatioin Con-Job (3)

Greystones Quirks

Yesterday, fbb commented that Stagecoach route 6 (via Greystones) did not mention the estate anywhere in the limited non-publicity.

Thanks to Pinterest, which seems to be able to read fbb's mind, the 81/82/83/84 leaflet from 1996 doesn't mention Greystones either!

Then fbb mentioned that Greystones was once served by Sheffield Transport route 61. Actually that was only half the story. It was a 61 from city and a 63 to city being part of the Abbey Lane circular.

Interestingly (?) number 83 was originally used for the route to Birley to the east of the city. 

To provide for the 83 and 84 via Greystones, the Birley route was renumbered 63, using one of the numbers that plied the hills of Greystones - they swapped over!

But back to the tripartite consultation, where ...

... It's All On Line! ...

... but only if you know to look on THREE different web sites. 

Sheffield correspondent Andrew sent this picture of the frame for route X74 and X54 at Sheffield Interchange.

The changes to these routes are significant but there is not even a tiny mention of the "consultation" - even the on-line details - to encourage users of these routes to offer their views.

First Bus And Greystones

Seems positive?

Unfortunately First publishes neither timetable nor maps, so understanding their proposals is far from easy. Here is what is said about Greystones.

Let's look at an extract from the current 81/82 timetable.

Note that the shambles of a timetable shows roughly (again really really rough) four buses an hour on the core section of the route. So when First tells us that the frequency is increasing to every 15 minutes, they either mean every 15 minutes to Dore and every 15 minutes to Millhouses - NO CHANCE - or they lie!!

Yes, they lie!

The 81 runs to Dore ...

... every 30 minutes. Mostly the 81 runs FROM Dore as well, but sometimes (for operational and confusing reasons) some buses show 82. Buses to the Millhouse loop also run every 30 minutes as route 82.

That little wiggle is also a lie, there is no weird loop off Millhouses Lane. 

So despite the enthusiasm of First for an increased frequency, the note actually tells us (if you have the skill to interpret the truth) that the half hourly 82 will be diverted via Greystones, putting back the estate's frequency that First gave up when it withdrew the 83.

Whilst it will make journeys from Millhouses longer, hardly anyone uses the loop as it is presented so badly that you need an Einstein-like mind to work out when your bus might arrive.

So what happened to Stagecoach 6 via Greystones?

Stagecoach And Greystones

This is what Stagecoach tells us about changes to its tendered route 6.

Yes, go on, route 6?

So, goody, no change to the route via Greystones; folk will still be able to get from the estate to the University Halls, Broomhill and the Hallamshire Hospital on their tedious way into the city centre.

Hooray!

BUT ...

The PTE (Whoops SYMCA)!

It doesn't read well on a phone so fbb will extract the text.

A revised route and timetable will be introduced to improve reliability. Service 6 will operate along Ecclesall Road and Ecclesall Road South rather than serving Greystones and Bents Green, which are now covered by revised service 82.

Someone should tell Stagecoach as their people obviously haven't got a clue about what is happening!

There is a map with weedy lines, so not too easy to read ...

... but it does show the 6 NOT running via Greystones.

Even more helpfully, there is a timetable for the 6 ...

... which,  perversely, shows the route as an back-and-out circular; which it isn't.

But all this presents potential users with a problem. Neither First nor Stagecoach have provided maps or timetables - well how could they as it is all "out for consultation"?

But the PTE/SYMCA knows the truth. It is all a done deal and the "consultation" is just playing the game, but ultimately it is a total waste of time.

There are many more changes, the most significant being from First Bus and the SYMCA; but fbb will hold back his comments on the First Bus goodies (improvements, of course, yeah right!) until the actual timetables are published.

But, for the time being here are a few delightful snippets.

Shiregreen changes from 75/76 to 47/48

Chapeltown changes from 1a/11 to 76**

Gleadless Valley changes from 1a/11 to 47/48

Walkley changes from 95/95a to 54/55/55a

Meadowhell via First Park changes from 95/95a to 75**

Waverley changes from 73 to 55

Dyke Vale Road changes from 41 to 8a**

and there's more.

The obvious reaction from Sheffielders ...

... and VERY!

** revised route numbers still unclear!

 Next Cornwall blog : Thursday 11 July