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Information on Walter st and surrounding streets - Aston

T

Tinybryn

New Member
Hi,
My dad has been telling me about his days as a boy. He was born in Lime Grove, and then moved to Walter St when Lime Grove was demolished.

The period we are looking at is 1945 - 1953ish, when he would have been young enough to play around the canals and railhead.

He frequently mentions Pickfords - off Walter St, and is particularly interested in maps or pictures of the railway & Pickfords around Walter St.

I have found lots of maps around Avenue Rd, with the sidings located there, and also Aston sheds - again he used to frequent these as a boy, but nothing in detail around Walter St and Pickfords.

As a teenager, he and his mate used to go out on deliveries with a driver called Jack, who worked for Pickfords, delivering groceries to businesses in the local area. His auntie owned the cafe on the point of Thimblemill lane and Long Acre, and his cousin (auntie's daughter) ran the hairdressers next door (his sister also worked in the hairdressers).

We will attempt to build an accurate railway model of the surrounding area if we can get enough information together - so anything may help.

Many thanks
 
Thanks Michael,
There seems to be quite a variance in detail levels depending on which maps you look at. The map that you have generously listed doesn't show any sidings detail north of Rocky Lane or Walter St, but in this scan that Peter Walker posted in another thread just starts to show the lines splitting for what presumably would have been the Pickfords railhead.

Thanks again.
 
My Dad lived on Walter street and played around the Pickfords warehouses the tales my Dad tells me and how he ended up working for them as a driver
 
hi there
if my memory serves me correctly in walter st after pickfords moved out
th BRS road serves took over there dopt and they had about fifteen loading bays
and the cafe and haiir dressers was down by long acre and later years they built a pub in walter st
and named it the rupert pub ; astonion ;;;
 
The only railway siding by Walter St that i can remember ran along side Rupert St all the way to Winsor St gas works it was hidden by a brick wall. Dek
 
hi guys
BRS ROAD SERVICES WAS A MAJOR PACEL DELIVERY FORCE IN WALTER ST
AND THEY WAS IN COMPETITION WITH THE RAILWAY PARCEL DELIVERYS
BRS LORRIES WAS GREAT BIG LORRIES WITH A ROPE DANGLING DOWN ON THE TAIL BOARD
FOR THE DRIVER TO PULL HIMSELF UP ON THE BACK OF THE WAGON
AND THE PARCEL SORTES GOT PASI TWENTY FIVE QUID FOR THE NIGHT SHIFT PER NIGHT
THE DAY HIFT GOT LESS THEN AS TIME MARCHED ON IN YEARS PARCEL LINE GOT INTRODUCED TO US
BEST WISHES ASTONION ;;
 
Dek,
I assume you mean the one that crossed Rocky Lane and finished at Pickfords / BRS in Walter Street.
 
Yes Dave that,s the one that bridge in your photo was removed must be 20 years ago or even longer. Dek
 
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