Tuesday 19 March 2024

A Gift From A Celeb (2)

A P.S. From Yesterday

fbb mentioned the "split step" as one of the SYPTE innovations. Brighton and Hove had similar on their back loaders yonks ago, but this aid to access was very new when it arrived in Sheffield. It is unfortunate that there was a lump of bus intruding into the bottom step to spoil the simplicity of the idea. Low floor buses rendered such a ruse unnecessary but they were a long time coming.

An Introduction
Peter Sephton, one of the many bosses in the PTE era was asked to write an intro to the Shades of Brown and Cream book. 
His opening paragraph does give some flavour of the overall contents.
The authors have certainly covered the aims and objectives of the politicians in their record of the innovation and development of the fleet. For fbb's taste, however, there isn't enough on the operational side of South Yorkshire PTE.

There are 18 pages of fleet lists but no network maps; not even a list of services "adopted" from Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster transport departments. Neither are there details of the county-wide route numbering system referred to by fbb in a previous blog.

The Context
The opportunity is missed to give a full location for many of the pictures. OK, there is a page about the trial of a Foden double decker ...
... but it doesn't tell you that the bus, as above, was pictured at the delightful City terminus of Ringinglow. 
Yes. It really was a terminus well within the city's boundary!

The original service 4 is seen having reversed onto its stop opposite the hexagonal "Round House".
Likewise, we are told of the experimental use of a bendybus on route 56 to Wybourn ...
... and there is even a map, but a bit of context might have helped.
Wybourn is an ex council estate quite close to the city centre.
It is still served by a route 56 but it goes a different way!
Local colour, the bus set in its operating environment, is often a significant contribution to understanding the engineering and political policies. The Wybourn experiment was not pursued. It has been served with very ordinary buses ever since.

Bendy Bent Buses!
Of you like pictures of buses that have crashed or caught fire, this is definitely the book for you.
There are also chapters on the work of the depots and the engineers therein ...
... plus a whole section about service vehicles including pictures of very venerable vehicles inherited from the Municipalities.
The Commer lorry was retained as an apprentice vehicle ...
... still in Sheffield Transport livery; but fbb remember it in use. For example, it carried the railings for the temporary departure stand on Bridge Street for the buses to Hillsborough for Sheffield Wednesday home games.

Publicity Matters
There are, fortunately for the likes of fbb, a number of examples of printed publicity.  Here is Leon Motors service to Finnnigley., an independent company which was ultimately absorbed by the PTE ...
... a leaflet for the villages to the north east of Doncaster amongst others
But there should have been more!

Also, and typical of the innovation mentioned in Peter Sephton's introduction, were the Nippers. These were routes to areas which would have ben difficult to serve with a big bus.
They were part of the County's political policy of ensuring that everyone had access to a bus service.
It was a noble but expensive aim as was the County's low fares policy which fell fould of Margaret Thatcher's "Commercialisation" and "No Subsidy" legislation.

The Politics Takes Over
Indeed, the book ends with the warning publicity put out by the PTE in protest at the forthcoming legislation.
Thus led to privatisation and deregulation and a slow but unstoppable decline in the Public Transport service for South Yorkshire. 

We are given a glimpse of the pre-privatisation "SYT" ...
... and a glimpse of another thorn in the side of the bus services, namely the Supertram.

Rails Revolution??
The PTE did not last long enough to run the trams, but, ironically, a change of operating company is happening right now. (See tomorrow's blog).

Of course, the PTE also had responsibility for local trains, but, unlike the other PTE areas, South Yorkshire only managed to ever paint one DMU in "Shades of Brown and Cream."
A railway snippet will follow tomorrow.

A Conclusion
The book is expensive but does have 420 pages to partially mitigate the cost!
If you like buses and their technology, this is an excellent and stimulating book. If you want to know where and when the buses ran, fbb recommends that you borrow someone else's copy or find a nice man like Riger French to give you theirs!

fbb suspects that, had he suggested spending £40 on a bus book to the domestic finance committee, there would have been a large number of raised eyebrows.

Perhaps NOT a book for the average enthusiast but most definitely a good buy for the engineering and vehicle specialist.
======================
So the three chosen disciples accompanied Jesus up the hill to experience a superhuman vision of Jesus as the Son of God, rather than Jesus the popular itinerant preacher from Nazareth,
And they were FRIGHTENED; they would have been scared witless. So they wanted to build tents for the three apparitions in human form. Weird or what?

Not weird at all. From the Mount of Olives, they could look down over the Temple and see the Festival of Tabernacles in progress. At night is was particularly glorious. It was a magnificent festival of light, of music and of worship.

For the week of the knees-up families would build huts in which to take their meals, sometimes called "booths" but, in posh terms, called "tabernacles" (OK, tents in modern parlance). The whole shebang was to remember God's salvation and guidance (pillar of fire, remember?) as they fled slavery and made their way hesitantly to the Promised Land.

It made a bit of panicky sense to build tents for the Divine threesome!

But there was more.
The Jews were the "apple of God's eye" and the apple is a "pome". The nissing four letter fruit is also a pome.
======================
  Next South Yorks Catch-up blog : Weds 20th Match 

Monday 18 March 2024

A Gift From A Celeb (1)

A Sheffield Bus Book

This is a prequel to a similar book on the privatised South Yorkshure PTE, the Mainlne years. Today's book covers the PTE era fom 1973 to privatisation in 1986.

fbb was resident in Sheffield until 1984, so much of this time sits somewhat shakily in the old man's Leedle Grey Cells. 

But, as ever, fbb's interest has always been bus routes and the operation thereof (fares, timetable and route maps) but this book is mostly written from an "engineering" point of view.

But step back a pace or two. It was an email from Roger French that drew fbb's attention to this fascinating volume. The Rog email saud, "they sent be a copy which I have read and I thought you might like it."

Of course!

The chapters all have enigmatic titles ...
... but cover the PTE year by year. In a way, this makes following events and developments a but messy, so fbb has gleaned a few sample recurring themes as part of this review.

One on-going topic is the PTE's somewhat unconventional livery, hence the book's title "Shades of Brown and Cream".

The colour of brown was officially called "coffee" ...
... with experimental "weak coffee" on the left. Three "motorway" coaches show two different PTE liveries against the far superior Sheffield Transport blue and cream.
Black coffee (dark chocolate?) appeared ...
... some double deckers with a full chocolate bottom.
Weirdly, deep red in a different arrangement ...
... was tried but was never taken any further.

On a more serious note, there were experiments with electric vehicles ...
... of various types ...
... including a few hundred feet of trolleybus!
And how can we forget the left hand drive bendybus giving jolly rides from the bus station.
The PTE was a pioneer of "kneeling" buses.
... and, not pictured, the famous (?) Sheffield split step; now superseded by low floor vehicles.

As well as livery, the PTE struggled with an effective logo. The first attempt was purportedly drawn by the General Manager's grandson with his first set of Christmas felt tip pens.
It is a good thing Ray Stenning never saw it! There is a very minor error in the book. The author's picture is of an "alternative logo" ...
... but it was actually the County's suggested logo with the PTE name encircling the green SY leaves on the Yorkshire white rose. It appeared near the door of some buses in addition to the adopted SY logo on brown.

Even that had two versions.
Actual, the newer logo and the darker coffee was far better all round, but it did not last long as we shall see in tomorrow's part 2.
=========================

Yesterday's word puzzle was ludicrously easy! 

But where does the Easter story really begin, That's a toughie. Theologically it starts with Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden and continues throughout the whole of the Old Testament. But fbb will start with the Transfiguration.


Jesus took disciples PETER, JAMES and John up the hill and appeared in "Divine" form. Some critics may comment adversely on this incident but they shouldn't. IF there is a God, he is genuinely Super-human (beyond human). This incident is, obviously, super human.

And there's more! How would YOU react to some "happening" like this.


Another weird title; and the highlighted word is "not wrong"! But the sentiment of the whole word is notably appropriate!

And Tabernacles?

 Next Brown and Cream blog : Tuesday 19th March 

Sunday 17 March 2024

Sunday Variety

Selling A Bus Service 

Mr Palmer runs a good range of buses in Bedfordshire. The vehicles look smart ...
... and the operation has a good reputation locally. One of its routes uses the Luton Busway.
Here is an extract from their service C which runs approx half hourly.
So Grant has made a promotional video suggesting, with some justification, that hus route C via the busway is faster than a motorbike on the parallel toads.  Here os a map pf the route (split into two for legibility.

From Dunstable
To Luton
Here is said video.
Nice One Cyril Grant!

Selling a bus service; now th kiere's a novel idea. You could print leaflets, put up posters, provide good quality maps and have a well-staffed and friendly travel office in "main traffic hubs". Now there is a good plan for selling your product, viz a bus ride.

Maybe some other companies will take up the idea?

Oh yes; you could have a staffed telephone line as well.

Ukraine's Trains Helped By Spain's

In the early days of the Wat we were all saddened by the pictures of Ukrainians fleeing from the onslaught. The efforts of the railway system to ensure a safe and speedy exit became legendary.

But Ukraine does have a problem with its trains.
Whilst a few cross-border links (mainly for passenger trains) are to the standard gauge of 1.435 meters (4 foot 8.5 inches), the majority of lines are to the Russian gauge of 1.520 metres (five feet in real money). Changing wheel sets at the borders with EU is currently slow and inefficient. Freight trains are needed to be slick especially when carrying wartime needs IN or essential money making exports OUT.

One expensive solution is to build new standard gauge lines.
But another answer is to create gauge changing technology at the borders so trains do not have to stop.
Once in place this will make a huge contribution to Ukraine's;s war effort and its economy in general.
For those unfamiliar with the clever stuff, Many of Spain's Talgo express trains ...
... can change gauge at the border without stopping. 

Here is a visual of how it happens. Effectively, the rails push the wheels along their axles to change their distance apart. A locking mechanism ensures they ONLY change at the special track, not arbitrarily as they whizz aling ay high speed!
Clever folks, these Spanish guys and gals.

Looking Better : More to Come

Remember that oddly shaped piece of white plastic. It was designed to hold the camping bus and the Nissen hut holiday let; a group which crosses a gap between two pieces of tunnel. Both tunnel sections need to be removable, BUT the two "buildings" share a circuit of lights.

Trees are now fixed along the back "wall" of the base whilst the two architectural creations sit om the white base,

Some extra landscaping is still needed plud a few fences to stop hapoy holidaymakers plunging to their death down the chalk cliffs of Peterville.
There are a few gaps to fill and a few wires to hide. But the whole unit lifts off as one lump.

Fluffy Bunnies, Daffodils & Chocolate?

Really?

There is a very tenuous link between the above picture and the "festival" called "Easter", but it is rarely promulgated. In this blog's traditional annual "review" of the real Easter, we may possibly spot that all but forgotten link.

So for a couple of weeks, the fbbs will be sharing the Easter quiz puzzles that will be appearing on their seasonal leaflet.

Here is your starter for ten! (click on the graphic to enlarge)

All you have to do is to complete the missing words. You need a clue? One is a domesticated animal and one a fruit conserve. Easy peasy! Later quizlets might be more tricky!

Explanation tomorrow!

 Next Book Review blog : Monday 18th March