Tag Archives: railway

Sugar cane railways – 1

In 2010, Maxine and I we fortunate enough to spend two fantastic weeks Queensland, in the general area of Cairns. We used the conventional Australian check-list, from “I-Spy Australia”. Shark (small friendly 6 ft one) – tick! Snake (harmless 4 … Continue reading

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Physical Graffiti (with apologies to Led Zepplin)

From the BBC News website, 18 March 2014: Dubai: Metro system to be turned into art gallery The Dubai metro system is going to turn into an art gallery on the orders of the emirate’s ruler, it’s been reported. Sheikh … Continue reading

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Round the Underground on an Engine – Fred T. Jane

I have hi-jacked this fascinating article from the Basilica Fields blog.  I think I am OK to reproduce it in full, as Adrian writes: “During the 1890s, The English illustrated Magazine published a series of illustrated articles by Fred T. … Continue reading

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Ilfracombe 1972

A family holiday on Exmoor in 1972 led my father and I to the abandoned ex-LSWR, ex-SR station at Ilfracombe.  An interesting two platform station at the end of the double tracked branch from Barnstaple, the station had heavy traffic … Continue reading

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West Highland Railway, 1975

A long day down in the UK West Country yesterday, looking at computer models of flooding in the Somerset Levels.  So I’ll post some more of my old holiday snaps!  I hope to post another traction design article in a … Continue reading

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Black Swans? Dispatches from the front line of climate change.

It seems there are three things not to talk about in polite company – politics, religion and climate change. I can’t be that polite, as only politics is off limits…. However, this article gives a good history of the Dawlish … Continue reading

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Somerset levels, February 2014

The damage to Dawlish is a bit of a side show to the ongoing flooding of the Somerset Levels.  I did learn last week that ‘Somerset’ is a derivation of ‘Summer Land’ – in days gone by people only lived … Continue reading

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Dawlish flooding

The latest gales and high tides have wrecked the iconic ex-Great Western Railway line along Dawlish Warren and the seafront of Dawlish town.  It’s a far cry from the usual picture of GWR Kings and Castles on a sunny summer’s … Continue reading

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Severn Valley Railway, 1971

A few more snaps from the Bartlett archives.  These were taken on a school railway society trip, I recall.  Again this was the early days of preservation.  A lot of my film was taken up with the carcass of 70000 … Continue reading

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The (very little) night mail

Fascinating article from the BBC on the Post Office Railway (otherwise known as mail rail).  This driverless narrow-gauge line carried mail for over six miles from sorting office to sorting office under the streets of London from 1927 to 2003. That fount of all knowledge … Continue reading

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