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Thanks for the further information Chris. It's good to have corroboration of some details. I don't think the Davis(s) you mentioned would have been any relation of mine, as my father was the first of our family to work there and he joined at the age of 14 in 1928. Most of my family worked at...

I'm curious as to whether there are any members who have any historical details about these businesses. I understand Elliotts were taken over by ICI which then hived the metals business off into IMI. My interest comes from the fact that my father Lionel Davis began work at the age of 14 as an...

Probably diverging from the main thrust of this thread, but I wanted to mention that my father Lionel Davis was employed by ICI (Metals Div'n) later IMI and subsequently worked at IMI Summerfield near Kidderminster. Just wondered if there were any others who followed a similar career path?

Yes, indeed she was! She was a leading light in the North Worcestershire Golf Club and I finished up owning her golf clubs after her death. Sadly I wasn't as good at golf as she was.

This is fascinating, because my great aunt (Ida Davis) was involved with this hospital over many years. She was an almoner there in the first half of the 20th century and had a long involvement with its work. She was quite a character and was one of the first women in Birmingham to own her own...

Very interesting to see there is material about Parker Hale on here. My great aunt had a very good friend whose name was Ella Hale. She was of the family and I met her in 1971 at my gt aunt's funeral. A very pleasant lady and I seemed to get on with her very well, even though I was 50 years her...

Could it possibly be that the "custodians" of our rail network have slimmed down the network to such an extent that there is no slack (spare capacity/sidings/loops) anywhere to permit dealing with problems. The train in front has broken down and we can't get past! Durrh! I rest my case, because...

No, I think we have to be realistic about the preservation movement and we should be grateful that there are so many people in the movement who are prepared to put in the time and effort to ensure that locos and stock are as well maintained as they are. I suspect the standards of safety applied...

It is good that City of Birmingham has been preserved as part of the National Collection, but I have to ask whether it's current guardians are serving it well. It is still in the paint job that it got when it was sent for its final "resting place" at the then Science Museum in Newhall Street. I...

That advertising slogan takes us back a while!

It was a fact that passed me by that often, during the weekends, the main line traffic on the west coast main line was diverted via the Grand Junction route and passed through the suburbs of Birmingham via Stechford & Willenhall and back on to the WCML at Stafford. If only I had known how close...

Very good to see these images of the roof gardens at Lewis's. I had vague memories of being taken there when I was little in the early 50s, but memories are often unreliable.

You want accuracy from newspaper reporters!?

Fascinating photos! The first is of a Webb compound 2-8-0 in full LNWR lined livery taken in pregrouping (before 1923) days, confirmed by the dress style of the ladies, and I suspect prior to the first world war, whereas the second is taken, I'm guessing, about twenty years later. The loco is a...

Such a joy watching trains passing by at speed. When I was little, circa 1950, on the back of my parents' tandem on Sunday afternoon jaunts, we came through Wootton Wawen quite often and I could never manage to pronounce the name properly!

You're right, this is an 0-4-4 tank, but it's an Isle of Wight loco, a London & South Western O2. The 0-4-4 I had in mind was an LMS loco, one of only 10 built in 1932 and numbered in the 41900-9 series. Unfortunately the number on the loco in New St is too blurred to read.

It's great to get first hand accounts of these trades (and tools) that have long since disappeared. I'm also fascinated by the New St photo; what looks at first sight to be one of the ubiquitous Jinties shunting stock is apparently something different. Although not entirely clear, it SEEMS to...

I hope this thread produces some good reminiscences. As a 5 year old I had many a happy Sunday afternoon at Bentley Heath watching the traffic in and out of Snow Hill GWR. Trains used to come through there at a rate and often the driver was hanging on the whistle. It was the most exciting thing...

Naah! He was an LBSCR E2.

What a lovely old boy Wilbert Awdry was. Benign and kindly, he always had an optimistically benevolent view of the world. But what was so perceptive was the way he characterised the different personalities of the engines he envisaged. Gordon was always so bumptiously proud and bossy, Thomas was...