Sunday Variety

After all, those were the traditional colours!

The corporation buses were in the same livery until they tried blue!

But in these image-conscious times, at least some B&H routes have a distinctive non clothes peg brand. The Coaster had become an intriguing mixture of blue and green.

The new buses for the route(s) maintain the colour mix of green, three blues, red, yellow white but applied in a different style – still swirly but unnoticeably different (now three blobby blues, green and white with no route branding!)

Are there two greens or is it just the lighting conditions? Livery can appear to change according to God’s meteorological whim or simply the settings on the camera!

fbb still reckons that the red and cream offer a more distinctive and quality brand, especially out in the country.

Look, no chimbley? That is because it has no coal, no firebox, no fire, no smoke and no gritty bits to land in your eye – so no fun at all. 

Here is a summary of the technology. And they DO require steam; they just don’t make it in the engine.

Soon you will be able to buy an OO model of a fireless industrial shunter, a bit like this real one.

You can see the small-sized version in the line-up of liveries available.

The model is from Rapido Trains and …

… the manufacturer’s price is £140 with some retailers discounting to about £120. Price per ounce is high but it is a sweet and distinctive model. Maybe layouts based on a gunpowder works or a biscuit factory will proliferate.

The Press

Ciaran is a worldly wise, 24 year old

Here is the traditional current map of the ends of the Metropolitan line oif London’s Underground.

But the map misses out a bit of line that is, very occasionally, used for timetabled passenger trains. An additional curve should be included (possibly dotted?).

It is the “North Curve” which should, more accurately, be called the “West Curve” because it faces west! Here it is geographically …

… and here it is c/o Google Earth.

There is even a diddy tunnel on the “North Curve” (that faces west) to add to the excitement of the journey.

… which run from Watford Town Centre. The train would leave from the less than appealing location of Watford Metropolitan Line station …

… well away from the centre. 

The Strength But Sadness of Superglue

Due to an over-enthusiastic dribbling of superglue, fbb discovered that he had successfully glued LED “bulbs” on to his model lampposts (hooray – it was very tricky and incredibly fiddly), BUT he had also superglued Mrs fbb’s clothes pegs to the delicate construction.

And here are the lights working. You can see illumination atop the lamp poles (4 off), lighting inside the downstairs living area of the holiday let and (just) a glimmer of light from one of the bedrooms in the up-cycled Nissen hut.

There are wires to hide and a few dobs of paint to add but the next time this model features in this blog it will be in situ on the top of Peterville Tunnel.

An on-line report tells us that the new Not-Very-Super Loop route SL3 is under test prior to a launch, soon.

Current and proposed frequencies are:-