Water Tower, Bristol Street. Swindon, 14/06/16.

Tags

Bristol Street Swindon, British Listed Buildings, Grade II listed, Grade II listed building, Great Western Railways, Great Western Works, railways, Swindon, Water Tower

To quote from British Listed Buildings. co. uk (mainly because I wouldn’t know where to start describing this rather unusual Grade II listed structure):

“Water tower for Great Western Works. 1870. Cast iron. Round storey stanchions. 3 bays by 3 bays, in 4 lifts, all diagonally braced and with cast iron girders with interlaced circles at each lift. Central bay on plan with timber faced shaft. Grillage platform for water tanks at top, the tanks a replacement of 1979-80. The water tower forms an important landmark“.

Now it stand in the grounds of the University Technical College and is, in my opinion, the best preserved landmark relating to the former Great Western Works on Bristol Street.

“Winston Churchill”, Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, 10/06/16.

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Black Country, Black Country Living Museum, Blackpole, Cadbury's, chocolate, Dudley, railways, Railways in Worchester, Trains., Winston Churchill, Worchester, Worchester News

According to my notes, this is a “O-6-OST Manning Wardle locomotive built at the Boyne Engine Works, Leeds in 1923” (I hope I have made a note of this correctly, for those of you who are interested in the technicalities of these things), but I’m going to refer to it as Winston.

For those of you more interested in chocolate than steam locomotives you might be interested to know that Winston was ordered in 1923 by the Cadbury brothers, of Cadbury’s Chocolate fame, and spent a considerable time at Cadbury’s Blackpole factory, near Worchester (a place I had previous known absolutely nothing about).

According to the Worchester News, the Cadbury brothers bought the former munitions factory site at Blackpole from the Government in 1921 and it became a centre for “marzipan manufacturing” and “the sorting of nuts“, amongst other things. In 1966 the Board of Trade refused permission for a new cake factory on the site and by 1971 production had moved to Moreton-in-the-Wirral. To quote from the newspaper again, “…of the 680 employees losing their jobs, 320 were described as “part-time married women“”.

Another interesting fact from the BBC News website, “The site had its own sports ground – BBC Hereford & Worcester’s Dave Bradley remembers that cricket teams loved playing there, as they were served chocolate cake“. That sounds like my sort of gig!

The Railways in Worchester website has some wonderful photographs of trains working at the Blackpole factory and they give a good impression of how busy the factory must have been in its hay day.

 

George Stephenson admiring a locomotive, Chesterfield Train Station, Chesterfield, 04/06/16.

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Chesterfield, George Stephenson, Industrial Heritage, Industrial Revolution, railway station, railways, Station, statue, Train stations, Trains., Victorian.

The Union flag flying from The Grand Hotel and Spa, Station Rise, York, 15/08/15.

Tags

badges, British Rail, British Rail Eastern Region, coat of arms, flags, North Eastern Railway, ornamental detail, railways, Station Rise York, The Grand Hotel and Spa York, Union Flag, York

Note the badges of the North Eastern Railway under the bay window.

Not all visitors to arrive in York, I’ve noticed recently, head into town, having passed through the historic city walls, having turned into Station Rise; in fact I’m probably in the minority. Station Rise has always been, in my lifetime, home to The North Eastern Railway Memorial, dedicated to the 2236 men of the company who lost their lives in the Great War, buses coming out of George Hudson Street (named after “The Railway King” George Hudson, railway pioneer, Conservative politician, dubious businessman and debtor) and this impressive Edwardian red brick building, which is now The Grand Hotel and Spa.

A plaque, a piece of history in itself, informed me that, “This building, now the headquarters of British Rail, Eastern Region, was head office of the North Eastern Railway from 1906“. I think I’m right in saying that York became the headquarters of the Eastern Region when it amalgamated with the North Eastern Region in 1967 and ceased to exist in 1992 [but if you’re an expert in these matters, feel free to correct me], so the plaque was already something of a curiosity when I started to notice the plaque when I was a much younger man than I an today!

The badge of the York and North Midland Railway (Top), the badge of the Leeds Northern Railway (left) and the badge of the York Newcastle and Berwick Railway, which formed the North Eastern Railway in 1854.

The plaque also describes the different elements of the North Eastern Railway badge, which is one of the most noticeable ornamental details and can just be seen below the bay window in first photograph and in detail above.

The Ribblehead Viaduct, Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, 18/07/15.

Tags

Grade II listed, Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent, railways, Ribbledale, Ribblehead Viaduct, Settle and Carlisle line, Settle and Carlisle railway, Trains., viaduct, views, walking, Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

The impressive Grade II listed Ribblehead Viaduct was a heart warming sight as my walking companions and I trekked from Pen-y-ghent to Ingleborough, probably because it was one of the most recognisable structures in Ribblesdale from which to take a bearing. The viaduct carries the Settle to Carlisle railway line over the Ribble Valley and we narrowly missed a steam train crossing, although we could hear its distinctive tones [we also had to the privilege of seeing and smelling the black smoke blown from its chimney, down the railway embankment, across a couple of farms and straight up into our eyes and noses].

Inspecting The Scarborough Bridge, York, 24/03/15.

Tags

bridges, engineering, Network Rail, Public Transport, railway bridges, railways, Reflections, River Ouse, rivers, Scarborough Bridge York, York

Hard at work.

According to Network Rail’s website, the Scarborough Bridge, which carries the railway line from York to Scarborough over the River Ouse, wont need replacing for another 120 years following its six million pound “facelift“, so these chaps must have been inspecting the recently completed work. It looks like a very tricky job!

This was the scene when I returned to the stop about an hour later. Do you think they’ve gone home?

Rhinoceros Wheelbarrow, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Hull, 29/11/14.

Tags

Hornsea, Hull, Hull City of Culture 2017, Joseph Armytage Wade, Museums, railways, rhino, rhinoceros, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Streetlife Museum of Transport Hull, wheelbarrow, wood carving

Made by Richardson & Sons of Hull in 1862.

In the October of 1862 Joseph Armytage Wade turned “the first sod” of earth to ceremonially start the construction of the Hull to Hornsea Railway. Having turned the first clump of earth Mr. Wade placed it into this fascinating wheelbarrow, shaped like a rhino; a heraldic device used by the Wade family. Mr. Wade was then given the spade and the wheelbarrow as souvenirs of the big day. What a brilliant object!

The last passenger service ran on the Hull to Hornsea line on the 19th October 1964, with the last goods train following on the 3rd May 1965.

Photo Archive: Coventry Railway Station, c.2007.

Tags

architecture, concrete, Coventry, Listed buildings, Public Transport, railway station, railways, W R Headley

The Bridge.

I’ve learnt a lot this evening researching this archive entry. It turns out that Coventry Railway Station has been a Grade II listed building since 1995 [so that’s why nobody has tried to “improve” it dramatically since 1962] and that it was designed by architect W. R. Headley, who had a hand in designing Oxford Road Station in Manchester, Euston Station in London and a very brutal signal box outside Birmingham’s New Street, but I liked it before I knew all that. It must have been its “spatial qualities and detailing” [quoting from the listed buildings description] that caught my eye.

The booking hall has a “reinforced concrete frame”.

“Outstanding architecturally, particularly for its spatial qualities and detailing”.