Since FOCUS TRANSPORT website launched in July 2010, we have tried to delve into the website requirements of the average transport enthusiast
and mould the site accordingly. We must have done something right, as by March 2011 we were averaging well over 300 hits a day, yet all we
learned about transport enthusiasts is that their interests are diverse and a large number are very private people who keep
their hobby to themselves. (How many of the thousands of photographs snapped at a special event are ever viewed by any one other than
the photographer?)
We found that some just want to look at pictures and will read nothing more than a short caption, whereas others delight in long articles
delving into a given subject. Some only want nostalgic memories . . . others demand the very latest information and pictures
online NOW. Numbers are the be all and end all to many enthusiasts, but to others they are just a means of identification. Some are only
interested in certain operators (usually local) whilst others want to find out about public transport world wide. Then there are buses and trains
and trams and planes and ferries and hovercraft and models and layouts and . . . .
DEVELOPMENTS AT FOCUS TRANSPORT
How does one website cope with all this, at the same time keeping the webmaster sane? Well, we discovered that it is very difficult indeed
all on one site . . . and as the webmaster (writing this) has always been crackers then at least the second part of the question did not apply.
A website like this is slow to programme and extremely time consuming to update (particularly with photographs) on a regular basis. I managed
it for eight months but then pressing family matters dictated that I was no longer able to give two or three hours a day to the Focus website.
The problem was that nobody else knew how to programme it . . . but help was at hand.
Colin Sellers had provided photographs for Focus Transport from day one. He has now set up
FOCUS ON FLICKR
and with many contributions from
others, the site now contains thousands of photographs and is going from strength to strength.
But what about daily news and sightings with explanations, an extremely popular part of the website? For many years Richard Lomas has produced his own
TRAM BLOG.
Using the flexible approach of blogging, Richard is behind the very topical
FOCUS BLOG
with updates almost every day, replacing his own bus blog.
The other two members of our team, David Gambles and Tony Wilson, are learning how to directly add their own content as well as contributing to the other FOCUS sites.
So what of this site? From now on, every Monday (usually) longer in depth illustrated articles and comment will appear, covering a wide range
of transport related topics.
Thank you for your patience. Please tell us what you think of the new arrangements . . . or better still send in your own photographs and/or
text to be considered for publication. Remember, we have to be very careful that we do not infringe copyright legislation. Nobody whatsoever is
paid for their time or contributions to any part of FOCUS TRANSPORT. Payments by our sponsors are used to cover the costs of keeping the three
sites online. If you know somebody who would like to sponsor us, please let us know. Rates are very reasonable.
Of course, none of this would happen without people supplying content. Thank you to all who have. Please continue and encourage others to
join in. If you have a contribution, please
CONTACT
me. I will pass on your message if it is more appropriate for the Blog or Flickr sites.
Finally, please try to support our five sponsors. Links to their websites are here:
THE TALES OF TWO ENTHUSIASTS . . .
Enthusiasts are very different from each other. Here are the tales of two friends to illustrate the point.
First of all, ME! Am I a true enthusiast? After all, I don’t know any numbers whatsoever. Though following the latest developments in
public transport, other interests put enthusiasts’ events as a low priority.
I was born in a house on Caledonian Road, London with a high garden wall over which the tops of the buses were visible. I am reliably informed that
my first word was not the usual Mummy, potty or rusk, but BUS every time one passed.
I went to Grammar School and trained as a teacher . . . but I wanted to drive buses. After teaching for a year, I took a job as a conductor
for West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive based at Cotteridge, Birmingham. They trained me to be a driver. Around the time decimal
currency was introduced we went ‘one man’ on two door Daimler Fleetlines. I loved every minute of it, but my conscience (and family
pressure) dictated I should be in the classroom.
I returned to teaching in Birmingham and then gained promotion to Tuxford, Nottinghamshire. Having upgraded my licence to manual, I drove
part time for Kettlewell’s of Retford and National Travel North East (formerly Sheffield United Tours). The attraction of the road became
too much and before long I worked full time for Kettlewell’s (office and on the road) and then Marshall’s of Sutton-on-Trent before moving
to Stagecoach East Midland at Mansfield where I spent six happy years as a driver.
Circumstances made the irregular hours of bus driving impossible to juggle with family commitments so reluctantly it was back to teaching
and later working for social services. Now I am in semi-retirement, but busier than ever.
I run several websites so when there was nobody to continue the TRANSPIRE site I took that on. From that came FOCUS TRANSPORT and here
we are today.
So I have never written down a bus number but have fulfilled my ambition to drive buses as well as coaches as far as Hungary and Czechoslovakia (in
the days of the Communist regime). I am far more interested in the operational side of transport companies than the individual vehicles. I
have a particular distaste for so called enthusiasts who never travel on buses and trains on ordinary services but drive their cars
to special events to travel on one-off services.
Now to my good friend Neville whose interest in public transport is very different from mine.
We met in Nottingham in 1967 when we were both training to be teachers. Apparently I made an erroneous statement about Midland Red (I lived
in Redditch in the heart of Midland Red territory in those days. Midland Red just reached Nottingham with its X99 service). Having put me
right, we have spent the ensuing 44 years arguing about buses (and just about everything else!).
From a single digit age, Neville has always had a sharpened pencil and notebook on him ready to write down bus and coach numbers, and has
spent many hours on numerous street corners, particularly around Chesterfield, pursing this interest. He spends much time at home
transferring these numbers, but despite our long friendship, he has never confided in me what this process entails or how or where
the thousands (millions?) of numbers are categorised.
A founder member of
TRANSPIRE,
Neville regularly attends organised bus trips of several enthusiasts' clubs as well as travelling on
scheduled buses and trains far and wide (even when he had to pay before obtaining Senior Citizen status). Since wind on film cameras went
out, Neville has never taken a photograph.
Although Neville can quote numbers going back over half a century, he has no interest in the mechanical make up of a bus, except to know
whether the engine is at the front, centre or back. The kind of event that excites Neville is when the window rubbers of Bristol Lodekka’s
changed from black to white.
Neville used to own an ex-Felix Bedford SB. Storage was difficult so he now has a unique London bus body on an Austin Mini chassis which
he saw on a trailer in East Anglia with a FOR SALE sign. This he keeps in his garage at home and brings out occasionally (probably to the
Peak Park Preserved Bus Gathering on 19 June 2011). In addition, he has shares in some buses owned by the
CHESTERFIELD 123 PRESERVATION GROUP.
Am I a true transport enthusiast? Is Neville? Are YOU? The point of my ramblings is that every enthusiast has his or her own unique areas of
interest and catering for them all online is certainly a challenge!
For the confessions of FOCUS team member David Gambles on this website
CLICK.
For the confessions of website contributor Andrew Bagshaw
CLICK.
Have YOU a confession to share? Please
MAKE CONTACT
and get it off your chest!
Oliver Foreman
10 June 2011