{"id":3674,"date":"2024-01-13T02:29:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T02:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/saturday-variety-19\/"},"modified":"2024-01-13T02:29:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T02:29:53","slug":"saturday-variety-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/saturday-variety-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Variety"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Older Bus Model<\/span><\/p>\n

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Not that one above, but something very similar. fbb bought a second Oxford Diecast cheapo “bundle” of shop-soiled (but not very) models or models with faults (but not many). One was a Routemaster bus which fbb forgot to photograph before starting work on it.<\/div>\n
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For reasons that may become obvious, the first job was to\u00a0 disassemble the model …\n
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… which involved the terrifying removal of rivets with the help of a power drill. If you are not careful it is easy to break the sintered metal body.<\/p><\/div>\n

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fbb wasn’t and he did!\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Out comes the super glue again and, hopefully, you can’t see the joins – and even if you could, the paint quality is a bit bobbly. (apologies for a technical term) so it doesn’t matter.<\/div>\n
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Clearly the model was dressed, not for the bus enthusiast but for the souvenir trade …\n
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… with no side blind, a minimalist front blind …<\/p>\n

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… and a very incorrect fleet name.<\/p>\n

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The platform pole and the “glass” for the lower deck back window …<\/p>\n

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… were very much gorn!<\/p><\/div>\n

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All in all, not a good accurate model to grace the bus rally diorama that will ultimately adorn Peterville Quarry Railway.<\/div>\n
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So what might fbb do with his cheap and almost nasty bus acquisition?<\/div>\n
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At least it is not as nasty as some, as here with a ridiculous extra narrow window!\n
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That unique and unrealistic feature only appears on Routemasters mide by (or for?) Budgie Toys.\n
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Weird!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
An Older Bus Station<\/span><\/div>\n\n
Looking at on-line pictures of the “old” bus station at Durham and its recently opened replacement …\n
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… it is not easy, at first glance, to tell which is which! (the new one is atop the old – above).\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Durham once had an even older bus station …<\/div>\n
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… which fbb guesses was owned by United and used by …<\/div>\n
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… United and Northern. It was, as you might expect, an Omni<\/span>bus Station – what more could a passenger want?<\/div>\n
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Quite a lot more, it would appear, so a swish new bus station (now the old bus station) was built on roughly the same site in the 1970s. It had head-on reverse out stands …<\/div>\n\n
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… and an enclosed passenger waiting area. It was used by United and Northern …<\/p>\n

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… which begat Arriva and GoAhead respectively.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The new new bus station is a clone oif its predecessor but a bit smarter.\n
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fbb will take a look inside<\/span> the premises in tomorrow’s blog.\n
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Trafferth yn y Felin<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thngs were certainly not looking good in Wales. The headline horror is the 20mph b;anket speed limit replacing 30mph. Generally speaking this small change alone may well make some urban routes unviable.<\/div>\n
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Then there is the prospect of the final round of subsidy and grant money post Covid.<\/div>\n
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Operators were very worried.\n
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The final statistic in the above piece seems grim.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

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Is it right or is it a scary exaggeration taken opit of context?<\/div>\n
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If it is right numerically and right contextually then the operators have good reason to be worried.<\/div>\n
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But much more worrying is the prospect for the humble passenger.<\/div>\n
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But That Was Then (Summer 2023) – Now …\n
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Even the Wales office of the Confederation of Passenger Transport i a little more upbeat.<\/p>\n

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Mt Hill is not 100% convinced …<\/p>\n

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… and offers a slightly cautionary tale.<\/p>\n

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So the original article was a fuss about nothing? Or maybe a shot across the bows of the Welsh Government which has been muttering all year about cutbacks.<\/p><\/div>\n

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We shall see …<\/div>\n
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Puzzle Picture<\/span>\n
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Please identify this station of the Great Western and Metropolitam Railways.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Amndwer tomorrow.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Next Variety blog : Sunday 14th January\u00a0<\/div>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Older Bus Model Not that one above, but something very similar. fbb bought a second Oxford Diecast cheapo “bundle” of shop-soiled (but not very) models or models with faults (but not many). One was a Routemaster bus which fbb forgot to photograph before starting work on it. For reasons that may become obvious, the first job was to\u00a0 disassemble…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}