Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

I was in bed at 2am on Saturday morning, & got up at 6am, to spend an hour sitting on the Lawns, watching & listening to the birds, then had my brekkie in the Wedgewood Room. Oh to be posh, & retired, I could happily live there.

And at 8am, I jumped in the car & headed south. blonde Bash Football was next.

[rex008]

I love the Swan in Harrogate. My wife's a total Agatha Christie nut, and we stayed in a magnificent suite there. 9 months later, son was born. We had a Beckham moment and called him Harry 

Bettys is fantastic. Superb service, and fantastic high tea.

And talking of railways and the NRM, we did a trip from there to Scarborough on the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago. Now that was a sight to behold.

Click to see full-size image.

[Wardonkey]

Tony.

If you get the opportunity you should experience the view of the Ribblehead Viaduct from the top of Ingleborough on a clear day.

The walk is not too demanding and the reward is breathtaking.

[tikay]

Tony.

If you get the opportunity you should experience the view of the Ribblehead Viaduct from the top of Ingleborough on a clear day.

The walk is not too demanding and the reward is breathtaking.

I will try!

The list is getting quite long. I had planned to have 1 or 2 days up there, but it's starting to look like 3 or 4 days minimum is needed, thanks to all the lovely suggestions in this thread. I want to do it in the next month, certainly before the end of June, but that decision is not entirely in my hands, committments being what they are.

[Colchester Kev]

Screw commitments, take a week off.

[tikay]

I love the Swan in Harrogate. My wife's a total Agatha Christie nut, and we stayed in a magnificent suite there. 9 months later, son was born. We had a Beckham moment and called him Harry 

Bettys is fantastic. Superb service, and fantastic high tea.

And talking of railways and the NRM, we did a trip from there to Scarborough on the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago. Now that was a sight to behold.

Click to see full-size image.

Great story, great picture!

Sounds like The Old Swan suited you two! You ought to take Harry back there one day. How old is he now?

That's a great pic, though the Loco is a bit iffy. LMS, see?

That looks like a powered turntable, electric maybe, but back in the day, they were manual, & had to be pushed round by manual labour. I helped "turn" hundreds of Locos at Old Oak Common Shed, where Dad was a fireman, then a Driver, as was Grandad Angell.

These days, turntables have no use, as Diesel, Diesel-Eletric, & Electric Locos are dual-directional.

I was told that manual turntables were actually mounted or "floated" on a sort of bed of mercury, to make them friction-less, enabling one or two men to physically push the turntable round. With the Loco weighing, I dunno, maybe 30 or 40 tons, & add 10 tons (note, tons not tonnes....) for the turntable, it's hard to imagine how we pushed them round - but we did. But I'm not sure I buy the mercury story.

[tikay]

This turntable was at Ranalagh Bridge just outside Paddington Station, & it was where the Main-Line Locos on the GWR were turned.

The 0-6-0 Light Pannier Tanks could operate in either direction. Railway Inspectorate Regulations forbade "wrong-way" Main-Line running though, hence the need for the Turntable at Ranalagh Bridge, without which they'd all have to trundle back to Old Oak Common to be turned.

This is a lovely period picture I think.

[Colchester Kev]

Is that you walking across it ?

[celtic]

when he was younger?

[tikay]

Is that you walking across it ?

For that, 3 more railway pics will follow.

[Colchester Kev]

Is that you walking across it ?

For that, 3 more railway pics will follow.

Sigh ... will i ever learn !

[celtic]

Is that you walking across it ?

For that, 3 more railway pics will follow.

Sigh ... will i ever learn !

wfp kev

[tikay]

Tonji - whom I met for the first time at bB6 - has whetted my appetite & aroused an interest in me for old photographs. I seem to stare at them for hours, because they convey so many messages from a different era, & things have changed so much.

Imagine this being allowed to happen today. This was taken in 1955, at the Bulmers factory in Hereford, & those are apples being shovelled off the wagons!.

[Colchester Kev]

Is that you walking across it ?

For that, 3 more railway pics will follow.

Sigh ... will i ever learn !

wfp kev

Im sorry ... but hey there is always a bright side ... if he is posting pics of trains, he wont post pics of kittens, birds and bloody hotels ... every cloud and all that

[tikay]

I won't be beaten Kev, you should know I'm stubborn.

Here's a cockatoo I've named Bongo.

I was somewhere today (it's a secret....) that had an aviary, full of cockatoos. There was a plaque outsde in memory of "Cocky the Cockatoo", so called because he used to squawk at passing people "see ya Cocky"! He died in the 1960's at the age of 114, if the plaque were to be believed. How would they know that?