Search results

Hi Stitcher-I doubt people would venture out these days with that amount of snow around.The country doesn't seem able to cope with just an inch or two of snow these days.

There's an clip from the British Pathe newsreel website of a visit to the G.E.C. works in Witton in 1956 from Georgi Malenkov the Soviet Commissar for Power Stations,that might be of interest. https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=40275

I can remember the winter 1962/3.There was a lot of snow and ice that seemed to hang around for ages.The snow drifted so deep in places it would be over the tops of my wellies!And I suffered quite a bit from chilblains.It was so cold I would scrape the ice on the inside of my bedroom window. I...

Thanks for posting the pictures,Bernard.The painting is by the greatest of railway painters-Terence Cuneo.I haven't spotted 'the mouse' yet!

Thanks for the link.There are some very interesting clips worth watching

There was rail access into the BSA factory at one time. British Railways (Western Region) "Sectional Appendix to the Working Timetables.....Birmingham Traffic District" (October 1960) gives instructions for the working of: "Small Heath and Sparkbrook-Daimler and B.S.A. Company's Sidings" These...

The River Rea wound its way past the old Nechells Power Station before joining the River Tame. The Rea went under the Birmingham & Warwick Junction Canal (as it still does) then under what was then Watson Road and then past the site of the wooden cooling towers of the older power station,though...

Great paintings cookie.I can almost feel the cold in the winter picture!

There is quite a lot of information about the Sutton railway disaster in the book 'Cross Country Connections' by John Bassett.

I can just about remember my first day at Mapledene Infants in Sheldon in 1955.I think I went along fairly quietly-without too much fuss,and the weather was rather dull.I can remember seeing the faces of pupils at the windows as I walked to the school entrance with my mother.She had been telling...

Re: Muntion Factories during the Great War A very interesting thread indeed.When I was a trainee at Nechells Power Station in the 1960's,some of the older hands there made mention of a temporary power station that had been built at Nechells during WW1,to help supply electricity to the...

There was the coalman who would come round with his lorry loaded up with bags of coal for people's houses.He'd usually put the coal in the coal place.He would have collected the coal from the merchants.Sometimes the coal merchants could be found in railway goods yards. Round where I live in...

Hi Archierod, The B station did have Parsons steam turbines and generators.The main ones were each rated at 50MW.Each set also had a 'house' generator of about 2.5 MW. Attached is a photo taken inside the turbine hall at Nechells B with Number 1 Set nearest. It did look a bit grim and gloomy...

Thanks for the replies. OldMowhawk-yes Ratcliffe Power Station looks very different than those at Nechells once did.I spent a few months there in 1972 at the CEGB Scientific Services labs. Archierod-the power stations did look a bit grim from a distance,but they were quite impressive close...

Fascinating videos and website! It's interesting to see these paintings,having been watching the series "School of Saatchi" on BBC2,I think I prefer the Rembrandt!

I love the Ealing Films comedy "The Titfield Thunderbolt" and also one of the lesser known Powell and Pressburger films "Gone to Earth" set in and around Much Wenlock in Shropshire.

Not quite old enough to remember the 40's,but in the 50's there would be tangerines,nuts,chocolates in the form of coins wrapped in gold or silver foil and maybe a little toy.And if really lucky there might be a train set downstairs under the Christmas tree.Happy days!

I've been carrying out a bit of research into the history of Nechells Power Stations (I used to work there in the late 60's/early 70's) and found this set of photos online,showing the railway operations there. https://industrialrailwaysofthemidlands.fotopic.net/c1710886.html Some of the photos...

I think it was 'kicked the bucket' for someone who'd died. Another expression was 'carry the can' that was for someone who was going to take the blame for something that had gone wrong.

You're right Reg,it used to come out "Orright mate" When I was an apprentice many years ago,I would sometimes be greeted with "Owm ya gooin' on son"