First Buses

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sat 29 Sep, 2012 8:19 pm

Jogon wrote: Blakey, looks terrif. I'm told that once you get to 1900m above sea it is like breathing in HD, explained by lack of pollen + dust mites. Yes Jogon - the Jungfrau railway station is the highest in Europe at 11,333 feet asl - and the actual peak a few hundred feet higher. We were warned by the tour company that we may feel breathing difficulties and a little giddy or faint, and I did have an unpleasant quarter hour on arriving but a sit down with a coffee and regular deep breathing sent it away OK. After that I went through the ice caves with fabulous sculptures in ice, and then ventured out into the open air and the crisp snow - DO take sun cream and sunglasses (essential) - the vistas 360 degrees from there are beyond description.

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Sat 29 Sep, 2012 11:32 pm

Thanks Blakey. Sounds great. A proper busman's holiday with some rail travel thrown in.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 30 Sep, 2012 10:18 am

salt 'n pepper wrote: Thanks Blakey. Sounds great. A proper busman's holiday with some rail travel thrown in. Yes indeed - mind you, I've always liked railways just as much but simply happened to spend my career on the buses - after all you can't be in two places at once so to speak.I suppose I DID actually start on the railways at five years old. We lived in Ilkley then and Dad worked in the Leeds railway offices in Aire Street so I used to meet him from the train most evenings. When a lovely homely lady porter called Dora was on duty she used to allow me to collect all the little green card tickets as the passengers came through the movable barrier which was dragged across, near the main exit to the station - then the booking hall - which now houses the Post Office etc. I've never forgotten Dora and I was delighted to see a picture of her and other WW2 staff which has recently come to light in the collection of a Mr. F.W. Smith (former signalman at Ilkley) and latterly a volunteer on the Embsay railway. Another lady on the picture is Miriam Graham who was a guard in WW2 and later worked with me on the West Yorkshire buses as a conductress. The picture is on page 2 of his views on the website of the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway.Sorry I've waffled away again - mind you, those were far better days long before FirstBus was hatched !!

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Mon 01 Oct, 2012 1:07 pm

There seemed to be a large gathering of First staff in city square about a couple of hours ago(today 1/10/12) but don't know what it was about.

headingleylad · Post by **headingleylad** » Mon 01 Oct, 2012 2:03 pm

Nice to hear you had a good trip to Berne, Blakey. As a matter of interest Berne are getting rid of their trolley bus routes and converting them to tram routes, as they are unsuitable for a large city, Berne is a quarter the size of Leeds!

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 01 Oct, 2012 6:09 pm

somme1916 wrote: There seemed to be a large gathering of First staff in city square about a couple of hours ago(today 1/10/12) but don't know what it was about. I'm sure it will be in next Thursdays YEP...

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Mon 01 Oct, 2012 6:22 pm

raveydavey wrote: somme1916 wrote: There seemed to be a large gathering of First staff in city square about a couple of hours ago(today 1/10/12) but don't know what it was about. I'm sure it will be in next Thursdays YEP... Ha Ha Ravey,that made me

BIG N · Post by **BIG N** » Tue 02 Oct, 2012 3:19 pm

BLAKEY wrote: I've no technical knowledge of railways but it is obvious that there is insufficient strength in the flooring of the carriages. This causes the complete seats to visibly "wag about" A well noted phenomenom in the building of modern rolling stock caused by the monocoque ( spelling ? ) construction, basically the coach body is a tube with everything bolted too it instead of the old design of a solid chassis with a body built on top of it.Save's a lot of construction weight and, strangely enough, is much stronger than the old way of construction, something that was proved several years ago with the Pendalino derailment on the West Coast at Greyrigg and also with the East Coast derailment Nr Selby. BLAKEY wrote: To round off the evening nicely the Firstbus at 2324 from Infirmary Street to Ireland Wood was late - at THAT time of night !! Driver was probably parked up round the corner reading his paper or more than likely, as seems to be the norm these days, texting / playing with his phone lolGlad you had a good holiday Blakey, good to see you back

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 02 Oct, 2012 10:58 pm

BIG N wrote: [ BLAKEY wrote: To round off the evening nicely the Firstbus at 2324 from Infirmary Street to Ireland Wood was late - at THAT time of night !! Driver was probably parked up round the corner reading his paper or more than likely, as seems to be the norm these days, texting / playing with his phone lolGlad you had a good holiday Blakey, good to see you back Thanks BIG N - as you can imagine, loads to catch up with, and as always I was miles behind before I went away Concerning reading his newspaper or texting - possibly so, although I think he had just been transferred in from Madame Tussaud's because there wasn't even the twitch of an eyelid or the slightest grunt of acknowledgement to anyone - and when I think back to how many millions of passengers I must have willingly said "Ta" or "Thanks" to over the years its most annoying !!

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Tue 02 Oct, 2012 11:04 pm

Just back from the flatlands (badlands?) of East Yorks.The local buses were a rather fetching cream&maroon, a scheme which lends itself to nice looking buses.Dunno if it's merely First Bus Hull or what, but looked suitably different.