{"id":8364,"date":"2024-09-24T01:29:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T01:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/sunday-variety-on-tuesday\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T01:29:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T01:29:48","slug":"sunday-variety-on-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/sunday-variety-on-tuesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Variety on Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

University Upgrade Uplift<\/span><\/p>\n

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There must be a huge number of bus managers and transport bloggers who are perennially excited<\/span> by something. Sam Turner (of Sam’s Trains fame) is one such. But now he is joined by Robert Williams of Reading buses.\n
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His latest new bus route is upping his heart rate noiceably.<\/p>\n

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fbb thinks (so possibly unreliably<\/span>!) that,\u00a0 previously, service 21 (CLARET<\/span>), which runs via<\/span> the University, had gained extra short-workings to the hallowed halls of academe during term time.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

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Now Mr Williams has made them a separate branded route.\n
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“White Knight” is the name of the Uni Campus but fbb does not know why.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Unfortunately the on-line presentation is currently, poor. There is no proper map, just one of these …\n
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… which is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. The only timetable looks like this ….<\/p>\n

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… where you have to specify date and day to get the table. A chocolate coffee pot?<\/p><\/div>\n

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There is no PDF of the complete service.<\/div>\n
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Disappointing!<\/div>\n
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Puzzle Picture Answer No 1<\/span>\n
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Wigan Corporation c\/o GoAhead. Here is a real one for comparison purposes.<\/p>\n

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Puzzle Picture No 2<\/span><\/div>\n
Of course the star of the image is Ivor The Engine<\/span>.<\/div>\n
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This was the product of Oliver Postgate (Noggin the Nog and Captain Pugwash) and Peter Firmin.\n
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The other visible characters in the above picture are Edwin Jones (a k a Jones The Steam – Ivor’s driver), Dai Station and Evans the Song (choirmaster). Not appearing, but probably residing in the boiler, would be Idris the Dragon.<\/p>\n

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But what is of notable interest is that an OO gauge model of Ivor and some rolling stock is being produced for Rapido Trains.<\/p>\n

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To enhance the nostalgia, cut-out figures like the originals are also included with the sets. fbb would have preferred proper 3D versions.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Talking of 3D, Rapido has been showing 3D printed mock-ups which look delightful!\n
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fbb has fallen in love with Ivor …<\/p>\n

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… but the loco and two goods wagons …<\/p>\n

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… are priced at \u00a3200.<\/p><\/div>\n

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That does deserve a loud and resounding “OUCH<\/span>“!!<\/div>\n
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Here is a bit about the background to the series.\n
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And there is more!<\/p>\n

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Perhaps fbb could save up his weekly pocket money and get one for Christmas? Or for his upcoming 80th Birthday in early 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A Big Technological Surprise<\/span>\n
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So no surprise there, then.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Liverpool Launches Lovely Livery<\/span><\/div>\n
Again<\/span>!\n
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Mega Metro Merseyside Mayor Steve Rotheram is pictured with current Transport Minister the Lovely Louise in front of the “launch”.<\/p>\n

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There has already been a launch of the proposed “Glider” bus network.<\/p><\/div>\n

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… also “wrapped” in Metro yellow.<\/div>\n
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Manchester Heritage Livery<\/span><\/div>\n
from Stagecoach\n
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To fbb the orange is a bit too red, despite the fact that it was always a deeper orange than the original SELNEC …<\/p>\n

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… and maybe even deeper that SELNEC’S succesor brand, GMPTE.<\/p>\n

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And In Manchester Today?<\/span><\/p>\n

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So no surprise there, then.<\/div>\n
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Watching Paint Dry<\/span><\/div>\n
fbb was intrigued by this item …\n
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… and decided to investigate further.<\/p>\n

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Now watch again and count the number of locomotives!<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a09 Days to Go\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Next Austria blog : Weds 25th September\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University Upgrade Uplift There must be a huge number of bus managers and transport bloggers who are perennially excited by something. Sam Turner (of Sam’s Trains fame) is one such. But now he is joined by Robert Williams of Reading buses. His latest new bus route is upping his heart rate noiceably. fbb thinks (so possibly unreliably!) that,\u00a0 previously, service…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8364","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\/8364"}],"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=8364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}