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A Certain Train Of Thought

A

Astonian

gone but not forgotten
Hi spotters
Did you know ,the locomotive in the millennium point Gallery,
The city of Birmingham, made its last trip under steam on may 19 1966
From crewe to Lawley street, then by road to the old science museum in her twenty five years of service she travelled 1,650,000 miles
The equivvalent of 66 times around the world
Also may i had whilst on the railways subject,
One of the largest bridges ever errect at the time was at Aston station
On 25 march1906 when a 300_ton structure was placed in postion injust
Fifteen and half minutes,
Today it would take Longer just to Lay out the traffic cones
And distribute the health and safty briefing
Astonian,,,,
 
Astonian said:
Hi spotters
Did you know ,the locomotive in the millennium point Gallery,
The city of Birmingham, made its last trip under steam on may 19 1966
From crewe to Lawley street, then by road to the old science museum in her twenty five years of service she travelled 1,650,000 miles
The equivvalent of 66 times around the world
Also may i had whilst on the railways subject,
One of the largest bridges ever errect at the time was at Aston station
On 25 march1906 when a 300_ton structure was placed in postion injust
Fifteen and half minutes,
Today it would take Longer just to Lay out the traffic cones
And distribute the health and safty briefing
Astonian,,,,
Click to expand...
I just don`t get this fascination with steam trains. They`re dirty, smelly, & if you stick your head out of the window you get a lump of soot in your eye. Diesel trains aren`t much better. Bring back the horse & cart, a much greener way of travelling, & the by-products are good for your garden :-} I have my tongue in cheek at this time of writing, so no hate mail please.
 
A couple of observations Smudger.
1. On modern trains most do not have windows that open and on steam specials you are told not to lean out of windows for safety rather than sooty reasons. ;)
2. Horses, traps and carts lovely, but I suspect few here have room to stable and a paddock for them.. Local councils might have objections as well. No hate mail from here but try using horses on busy roads, especially in suburban or city areas and I am sure you would get many comments, most of which could not be recorded on here. :D
3. Try your luck volunteering on a heritage railway - loads to choose from in the UK and never too far away from civilization; you could get the 'steam bug'. :eek:
 
Radiorails said:
A couple of observations Smudger.
1. On modern trains most do not have windows that open and on steam specials you are told not to lean out of windows for safety rather than sooty reasons. ;)
2. Horses, traps and carts lovely, but I suspect few here have room to stable and a paddock for them.. Local councils might have objections as well. No hate mail from here but try using horses on busy roads, especially in suburban or city areas and I am sure you would get many comments, most of which could not be recorded on here. :D
3. Try your luck volunteering on a heritage railway - loads to choose from in the UK and never too far away from civilization; you could get the 'steam bug'. :eek:
Click to expand...
Alan, here in my part of Durham it`s not unusual to see pony & traps on the road, almost as big a nuisance as caravans & tractors (i bet i`m making lots of new friends on forum ) I once had a holiday in a caravan, & i can still smell the chemical toilet or maybe it`s the dog! The last time i was on a (steam) train was a "special treat" from the g/kids. I think it was Goatland to Pickering. That`s when i got soot in my eye. I saw Bill Oddie but luckily he was travelling the opposite direction. Just kidding, i like Bill, he`s a bird fancier like me!
 
Bill Oddie was born a Lancastrian but found his love of ornithology as a youngster in West Birmingham. So I guess he passes muster here. ;)
 
Smudger said:
Alan, here in my part of Durham it`s not unusual to see pony & traps on the road, almost as big a nuisance as caravans & tractors (i bet i`m making lots of new friends on forum ) I once had a holiday in a caravan, & i can still smell the chemical toilet or maybe it`s the dog! The last time i was on a (steam) train was a "special treat" from the g/kids. I think it was Goatland to Pickering. That`s when i got soot in my eye. I saw Bill Oddie but luckily he was travelling the opposite direction. Just kidding, i like Bill, he`s a bird fancier like me!
Click to expand...
We lived in Durham for ten years in the seventies/eighties, Ushaw moor and South crescent, north end. We really enjoyed our time there bringing up our children but were warned that colds and infections would be the norm until we all became acclimatised, boy was the Doctor right. Our weekly trips out to Crook and Hamerstly Forrest were a treat for the whole family, unfortunately my children never experienced the delights of Cheswick Green where they spent their formative years. We have a small private railway here in Helston which runs on part of the original branch line that closed during the Beeching era, at the moment only opens twice a week but is being expanded quite nicely.
 
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nickcc101 said:
We lived in Durham for ten years in the seventies/eighties, Ushaw moor and South crescent, north end. We really enjoyed our time there bringing up our children but were warned that colds and infections would be the norm until we all became acclimatised, boy was the Doctor right. Our weekly trips out to Crook and Hamerstly Forrest were a treat for the whole family, unfortunately my children never experienced the delights of Cheswick Green where they spent their formative years.
Click to expand...
nickcc101,
When you reply to a post such as this (about trains) it`s best to slip something in about trains, otherwise you`ll be found guilty of going off topic, taken out at dawn & shot, or at least made to buy a round at the next Christmas meet up. Mines a single malt, Cheers.
 
Smudger said:
nickcc101,
When you reply to a post such as this (about trains) it`s best to slip something in about trains, otherwise you`ll be found guilty of going off topic, taken out at dawn & shot, or at least made to buy a round at the next Christmas meet up. Mines a single malt, Cheers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up, added a bit about our local railway. Problem is that I only read your post and didn't see that it was a railways thread, still sorted now even though nothing to do with Birmingham :(
 
Don't know if this has been on the forum - I'm not getting much at present, but there is entry (1 of 5) for the Birmingham Big Art Foundation, to put ' a piece of art' outside the new HST Curzon St Station, right by City of Birmingham, It is a full size replica of City of Birmingham, but on it's side all wrecked and mangled.
The City of Glasgow 46242, sister engine to ours looked exactly like this 'work of art' when it was involved in an horrific train crash at Harrow where 112 people died.
The 'Artist' claims ignorance of the event, which will cost £2 million!
 
Not sure where this is going! I thought the idea of a wrecked engine as art repulsive, especially as the brother of a friend was one of the 112 victims. But if the engine represents our city and hearing about the constant wrecking of the actual city on this forum then perhaps it is not inappropriate!
 
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I agree with Devonjim it is repulsive and has no connection whatsoever with Birmingham. I hope it gets very little support.
If there is to be a commemoration of the Harrow disaster, I am am not totally convinced that a wrecked railway locomotive is the best way to portray the event, then it should be where the disaster occurred and certainly not in someone else's backyard. If the artist claims ignorance of the event - assuming that to be true - then he should most ertainly reconsider his project.
 
I mentioned this to Parker who happened to be reading a copy of 'Steam Railway' at the time. He said he had seen a model of the 'artwork' at Millenium Point and it was appalling. He showed me a photo in the magazine - it must be even worse full size.
 
Just read this post on the Locomotive City of Birmingham 46235. I remember seeing
this engine in the 60's at the old science museum, I believe in order but without tender? I wonder if there is any possibility of bringing this loco back to life fully working! It seems to me such a pity that this iconic piece of Birmingham history must languish as a museum piece for the rest of its life. Other loco's have risen from the dead to become fully working on our heritage railways. I am sure those engineers at the Tyseley Locomotive Works would be up to this challenge?

Perhaps someone could start the ball rolling - I wonder.

Mike.
 
It would be a bit hard to get it out of Thinktank. They would have to remove a wall, and also remove the Science Garden (which are both in the way). Unless there is another way to remove it?
 
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