Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Found this site/page whilst researching some old Edinburgh stuff earlier thought you'd like.

I remember you posting somewhere about your stay in the Caledonian Hotel at the foot of Lothian Road and you mentioned that it was originally one of the big "railway hotels" and used to be served by it's own station.

These photos cover the old "Princess Street" station and the line running away from it that used to be behind the Caledonian Hotel but most people who know a wee bit about Edinburgh will now know as the Western Approach Road which runs behind the Foutnainpark Complex where the Gentings/Circus Casino is.

Am sure you will recognise the painted former entrance to the old station as you would've seen it on entering the hotel.

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Edinburgh+Princes+Street

Edit: The station basically stood where the huge Standard Life building now sits

Geo

Slight confusion there, Geo - almost certainly my fault - but it was not the Caledonian Hotel I stayed at (it's a Hilton now, I believe, I refuse to stay in Hilton's), it was The Balmoral, which effectively forms part of the UK's 2nd largest Railway Station, Edinburgh Waverley.

The only other Edinburgh Station I was previously aware of is Haymarket, which is a mile or two down the way in the direction of Maybury, & disctinctly unmemorable.

But.......what a great find that website is, those photos are excellent. Steam locos should be black or green, dirty & grimy, ditto the Stations, & Princes St Edinburgh ticked all those boxes. I visited Paddington Station last week for an hour or so, just for purposes of geekness, & it's all shiny, clean & bright. That's just so wrong. 30p for a pee, too. So thank you for the photos, I really enjoyed them.

How is the scandalous indecision & astronomic cost over-run of Edinburgh's new Tram System coming along? Is the Zoo packed out with visitors wanting to see the Pandas?

Not sure if you missed it or not, but I put some stuff up on my Diary about the wonderful Commando Memorial (north of Fort William ) after my holiday, fully expecting you to comment, but you never did. Hope I never put my foot in it......

[Geo the Sarge]

Found this site/page whilst researching some old Edinburgh stuff earlier thought you'd like.

I remember you posting somewhere about your stay in the Caledonian Hotel at the foot of Lothian Road and you mentioned that it was originally one of the big "railway hotels" and used to be served by it's own station.

These photos cover the old "Princess Street" station and the line running away from it that used to be behind the Caledonian Hotel but most people who know a wee bit about Edinburgh will now know as the Western Approach Road which runs behind the Foutnainpark Complex where the Gentings/Circus Casino is.

Am sure you will recognise the painted former entrance to the old station as you would've seen it on entering the hotel.

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Edinburgh+Princes+Street

Edit: The station basically stood where the huge Standard Life building now sits

Geo

Slight confusion there, Geo - almost certainly my fault - but it was not the Caledonian Hotel I stayed at (it's a Hilton now, I believe, I refuse to stay in Hilton's), it was The Balmoral, which effectively forms part of the UK's 2nd largest Railway Station, Edinburgh Waverley.

The only other Edinburgh Station I was previously aware of is Haymarket, which is a mile or two down the way in the direction of Maybury, & disctinctly unmemorable.

But.......what a great find that website is, those photos are excellent. Steam locos should be black or green, dirty & grimy, ditto the Stations, & Princes St Edinburgh ticked all those boxes. I visited Paddington Station last week for an hour or so, just for purposes of geekness, & it's all shiny, clean & bright. That's just so wrong. 30p for a pee, too. So thank you for the photos, I really enjoyed them.

How is the scandalous indecision & astronomic cost over-run of Edinburgh's new Tram System coming along? Is the Zoo packed out with visitors wanting to see the Pandas?

Not sure if you missed it or not, but I put some stuff up on my Diary about the wonderful Commando Memorial (north of Fort William ) after my holiday, fully expecting you to comment, but you never did. Hope I never put my foot in it......

My bad on the Caledonian, I remember you writing a couple of years ago regards being unable to get a meal to your room after a certain time or summat and the woeful price of a sandwich for some reason I had it in my head as being the Caley.

The trams debacle continues and is now fast becoming a replacement to Edinburghs other disgrace (ask Gatso about that as I explained it to him when he and his friend Jo visited the city at Hogmanay) About twenty times the projected cost and only running half the original route. I have yet to meet anyone that from the outset didn't think this was such a daft idea.

Haymarket has always been a small station as the City was once dominated by Waverley and Princess Street. There was also the Central Station at the foot of Leith Walk, now long gone and I've seen a couple of good sites for photos of that too. Will try and re-find and post up.

Edinburgh and the surrounding towns used to have a splendid rail Network which are predominantly all cycle paths now.

Seen the stuff regards the Commando Memorial but you done it enough justice without me having to comment, it is a place I have yet to visit but will.

The Pandas are drawing good crowds and obviously good revenue for the Zoo although the Penguins, who were previously the Zoos Royalty are not too impressed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16270214

Geo

[tikay]

Camel, Channing, with whom I discussed this at length on the phone a day or so ago, & my new place in London all conspired for this rambling tale.....

I now live about 4 miles by road (barely 2 miles as the crow flies, which is assumed to be generally straight for some reason), from Kempton Park, which I was sad to see now has floodlights for evening racing. Rather a shame that, it used to be a classy joint, not a provider of betting turnover for bookies. 

Anyway, as I passed the Main Entrance, I saw a coach passing by, with the lovely name "Golden Miller Coaches". Oh wow, that HAD to be investigated, because "Golden Miller" was arguably THE greatest steeplechaser of all time.

It appears that the Coach Company (now owned by Tellings, sadly) was originally owned by a chap called Fred Varney, who won the money to start the company by betting on Golden Miller!

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

So, what was the big deal about Golden Miller?

Well I have a bunch of books about The Great One at home, so excuse the scant detail, but he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup FIVE years on the bounce, & on one of those years, won the Grand National, too - not so many (any?) horses have won both those races in the same year.

To be fair, the National is just a handicap, & has no merit beyond it's spectacle, & betting interest, but it still takes some winning, especially as it is run so soon after Cheltenham Fessie. No horse was more ill-suited to Aintree, either.

Golden Miller, however, shares with (arguably) the greatest Flat racehorse of all time - Sceptre - the disinction of being at best, badly-trained, & more than that, was shuttled from trainer to trainer throughout his career.

Why so? Next Post, which is where we eventually reach the degen stuff everyone seems to so crave these days. (I blame - or is it credit? - Greeky for making it so fashionable).

Here's the great animal after which Golden Miller Coaches is named.....

[tikay]

Right, Golden Miller Coaches, named after the steeplechaser, who was owned by THE most extraordinary young lady - I give you Miss Dorothy Paget.

She was in her late twenties when the 'Miller was doing his thing, & she died quite young, at 55, in 1960.

She was the daughter of Lord Queenborough, but more importantly, was a cousin of the very famous American family, the Whitneys.

Jock Whitney was, quite recently, the American Ambassador to the UK, but racing fans should know him from the wonderful horses he owned, including dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner & racing legend Easter Hero. Later, he had staying horses with Cecil-Boyd Rochfort, who was Henry Cecil's stepfather.

Bear with me, I'll get there eventually.......

I have several books about Dorothy's life, but they are all at home in Derbyshire, so I need prompting by Wiki for now. To spare you wading through it, here are the Dorothy cliffs.....

Apparently, she is best known for the creation of the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery, where many Russian refugees are buried.

But it's her private life which so fascinated......

Her horses won a total of 1,532 races in both flat and hurdling. She was the British flat racing Champion Owner in 1943, the year her horse Straight Deal won the Epsom Derby. She was leading National Hunt owner in 1933-34, 1940-41 and 1951-52. She owned seven Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, Golden Miller five times, 1932-1936 inclusive, Roman Hackle in 1940 and Mont Tremblant in 1952. Her four Champion Hurdle winners were Insurance in 1932 and 1933, Solford in 1940 and Distel in 1946. Golden Miller also provided her with her solitary victory in the Grand National in 1934, still the only occasion any horse has won the two major prizes of British steeplechasing in the same season. [2]

She owned the Ballymacoll Stud in Ireland, famous for the birthplace of Arkle.

She was notorious for switching trainers, often several times per season. These included such as Frenchie Nicholson, Fulke Walwyn, Sir Gordon Richards, &, remarkably, Fred Darling. In total, she had 18 different trainers.

She threw a screaming hissy fit at Fulke Walwyn, after horses owned by her won 5 of 6 races on one card. She wanted to win all 6.....

She claimed that the mere sight of men made her physically sick.

She was described as looking "plain, bordering on ugly", & weighed some 20 stone.

She owned the famous 1920's Bentleys which graced & dominated Le Mans for several years.

She would usually wager £10,000 per race on her horses - said to be a third of a miill in today's money.

She slept all day, & would be awake all night.

All the bookies kept a staffer on duty all night, hoping Dorothy would want to bet with them.

She would place her bets 8 or 10 hours AFTER the race (no TV, internet or suchlike in the day) & the bookies trusted her not to know the result. (She never did, she was wholly honest, but imagine getting a bookie to do THAT today...).

She had a "personal staff", & she made them wear specific colour clothing, & she then called them by that colour - Blue, Red, Yellow, whatever.

She famously went racing wearing wellington boots, & from that, folklore has it, comes the expression - "got my betting boots on".

Anyone recognize the very famous trainer in one of these two photos?

[tikay]

Found this site/page whilst researching some old Edinburgh stuff earlier thought you'd like.

I remember you posting somewhere about your stay in the Caledonian Hotel at the foot of Lothian Road and you mentioned that it was originally one of the big "railway hotels" and used to be served by it's own station.

These photos cover the old "Princess Street" station and the line running away from it that used to be behind the Caledonian Hotel but most people who know a wee bit about Edinburgh will now know as the Western Approach Road which runs behind the Foutnainpark Complex where the Gentings/Circus Casino is.

Am sure you will recognise the painted former entrance to the old station as you would've seen it on entering the hotel.

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Edinburgh+Princes+Street

Edit: The station basically stood where the huge Standard Life building now sits

Geo

Slight confusion there, Geo - almost certainly my fault - but it was not the Caledonian Hotel I stayed at (it's a Hilton now, I believe, I refuse to stay in Hilton's), it was The Balmoral, which effectively forms part of the UK's 2nd largest Railway Station, Edinburgh Waverley.

The only other Edinburgh Station I was previously aware of is Haymarket, which is a mile or two down the way in the direction of Maybury, & disctinctly unmemorable.

But.......what a great find that website is, those photos are excellent. Steam locos should be black or green, dirty & grimy, ditto the Stations, & Princes St Edinburgh ticked all those boxes. I visited Paddington Station last week for an hour or so, just for purposes of geekness, & it's all shiny, clean & bright. That's just so wrong. 30p for a pee, too. So thank you for the photos, I really enjoyed them.

How is the scandalous indecision & astronomic cost over-run of Edinburgh's new Tram System coming along? Is the Zoo packed out with visitors wanting to see the Pandas?

Not sure if you missed it or not, but I put some stuff up on my Diary about the wonderful Commando Memorial (north of Fort William ) after my holiday, fully expecting you to comment, but you never did. Hope I never put my foot in it......

My bad on the Caledonian, I remember you writing a couple of years ago regards being unable to get a meal to your room after a certain time or summat and the woeful price of a sandwich for some reason I had it in my head as being the Caley.

The trams debacle continues and is now fast becoming a replacement to Edinburghs other disgrace (ask Gatso about that as I explained it to him when he and his friend Jo visited the city at Hogmanay) About twenty times the projected cost and only running half the original route. I have yet to meet anyone that from the outset didn't think this was such a daft idea.

Haymarket has always been a small station as the City was once dominated by Waverley and Princess Street. There was also the Central Station at the foot of Leith Walk, now long gone and I've seen a couple of good sites for photos of that too. Will try and re-find and post up.

Edinburgh and the surrounding towns used to have a splendid rail Network which are predominantly all cycle paths now.

Seen the stuff regards the Commando Memorial but you done it enough justice without me having to comment, it is a place I have yet to visit but will.

The Pandas are drawing good crowds and obviously good revenue for the Zoo although the Penguins, who were previously the Zoos Royalty are not too impressed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16270214

Geo

The new Parliament Building, Holyrood, presumably?

[Geo the Sarge]

Found this site/page whilst researching some old Edinburgh stuff earlier thought you'd like.

I remember you posting somewhere about your stay in the Caledonian Hotel at the foot of Lothian Road and you mentioned that it was originally one of the big "railway hotels" and used to be served by it's own station.

These photos cover the old "Princess Street" station and the line running away from it that used to be behind the Caledonian Hotel but most people who know a wee bit about Edinburgh will now know as the Western Approach Road which runs behind the Foutnainpark Complex where the Gentings/Circus Casino is.

Am sure you will recognise the painted former entrance to the old station as you would've seen it on entering the hotel.

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Edinburgh+Princes+Street

Edit: The station basically stood where the huge Standard Life building now sits

Geo

Slight confusion there, Geo - almost certainly my fault - but it was not the Caledonian Hotel I stayed at (it's a Hilton now, I believe, I refuse to stay in Hilton's), it was The Balmoral, which effectively forms part of the UK's 2nd largest Railway Station, Edinburgh Waverley.

The only other Edinburgh Station I was previously aware of is Haymarket, which is a mile or two down the way in the direction of Maybury, & disctinctly unmemorable.

But.......what a great find that website is, those photos are excellent. Steam locos should be black or green, dirty & grimy, ditto the Stations, & Princes St Edinburgh ticked all those boxes. I visited Paddington Station last week for an hour or so, just for purposes of geekness, & it's all shiny, clean & bright. That's just so wrong. 30p for a pee, too. So thank you for the photos, I really enjoyed them.

How is the scandalous indecision & astronomic cost over-run of Edinburgh's new Tram System coming along? Is the Zoo packed out with visitors wanting to see the Pandas?

Not sure if you missed it or not, but I put some stuff up on my Diary about the wonderful Commando Memorial (north of Fort William ) after my holiday, fully expecting you to comment, but you never did. Hope I never put my foot in it......

My bad on the Caledonian, I remember you writing a couple of years ago regards being unable to get a meal to your room after a certain time or summat and the woeful price of a sandwich for some reason I had it in my head as being the Caley.

The trams debacle continues and is now fast becoming a replacement to Edinburghs other disgrace (ask Gatso about that as I explained it to him when he and his friend Jo visited the city at Hogmanay) About twenty times the projected cost and only running half the original route. I have yet to meet anyone that from the outset didn't think this was such a daft idea.

Haymarket has always been a small station as the City was once dominated by Waverley and Princess Street. There was also the Central Station at the foot of Leith Walk, now long gone and I've seen a couple of good sites for photos of that too. Will try and re-find and post up.

Edinburgh and the surrounding towns used to have a splendid rail Network which are predominantly all cycle paths now.

Seen the stuff regards the Commando Memorial but you done it enough justice without me having to comment, it is a place I have yet to visit but will.

The Pandas are drawing good crowds and obviously good revenue for the Zoo although the Penguins, who were previously the Zoos Royalty are not too impressed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16270214

Geo

The new Parliament Building, Holyrood, presumably?

Good shout but not quite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_of_Scotland

Geo

[tikay]

This was "home" for Christmas......adverrtised as "near Loch Duish". Not wrong. This is my equivelant of a 360 degree panoramic view. Sorry, I blame the camera, obv.

Click to see full-size image.

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[gatso]

this is how edinburgh's shame looked on dec 30th when I visited it with geo

Click to see full-size image.

and I learned a thing about the balmoral hotel while I was up there. the big clock in its tower is traditionally set 2 minutes fast so that people don't miss their trains except on hogmanay because they don't want people celebrating early

[tikay]

Sorry, but I'll put my holiday snaps away once they are all up.......

Click to see full-size image.

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[tikay]

this is how edinburgh's shame looked on dec 30th when I visited it with geo

Click to see full-size image.

and I learned a thing about the balmoral hotel while I was up there. the big clock in its tower is traditionally set 2 minutes fast so that people don't miss their trains except on hogmanay because they don't want people celebrating early

Absolutely correct. The Balmoral also has a resident harpist. Don't get that in the Luton Days Inn.

[tikay]

This almost unique railway station has THE most wonderful name - Kyle of Lochalsh.

In the background (2nd photo) & if you have eyes like a hawk, you can just about see the beautiful Skye Bridge.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Chompy]

Kyle Of Lochalsh also the name of a horse, same as Mam Ratagan. Scotch areas of oostanding beauty obv popular with the horsey set.

Is the trainer Robert Cowell?

[tikay]

The train goes from Kyle of Lockalsh, right up to Wick, Thurso, & eventually, Inverness. What a wonderful ride that must be. I know this may seem a little geeky, but here's the train tiimetable. Look at those lovely place names.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Kyle Of Lochalsh also the name of a horse, same as Mam Ratagan. Scotch areas of oostanding beauty obv popular with the horsey set.

Is the trainer Robert Cowell?

Please!

Scottish, not Scotch. The latter is a drink.

Jeez, you so embarrass me, just as you did when you tuirned up for brekkie with LilDave & I  in The Venetian, wearing a Peterborough FC Shirt.