[Early Risers.]

I've just looked at an e mail from a bank I use.  They are going to change my credit card from a Visa Gold to a Visa card as they no longer issue Gold cards.  That means they will change the account number so anything that keeps my details will have to have them reentered.  At least the direct debit I use to pay it each month will be redone by the bank to take account of the new number.  However I will check that actually happens.  Also the credit limit, interest rate, PIN number etc is unchanged.  So why change it?  I can't see any savings for them.

 

Apparently it is to give an "even better customer experience".

 

David

[Early Risers.]

I spent much of the morning scanning more family photos, all taken by Mum and Dad.  I've realised they took family photos like Dad took railway photos - lots of them.  Quite a few are people they knew about 70 years ago, I've no idea who they are so haven't bothered scanning them - I can recognise alll the relatives who were alive then so those photos have been scanned.

 

While lunch cooked I went in the garden and cut down the rest of the giant heather, it has almost filled the wheelie bin again.  The rest of the tidying up will have to wait until I am able to kneel down more easily - and get up again!  It already looks better and I can see other plants more easily, I can do things to the pond too and in due course put new plants in it.

 

After lunch I went to look at the roadworks where the level crossing is being rebuilt, to get there I had to negotiate the water company's traffic lights and the holes made by the company putting in new fibre optic broadband cabling.  That even made parking dificult as their vans were where I park when I go to the crossing to take photos.  At the crossing not much was happening but I took a few photos and went a different way to my next destination, the beach.  I had forgotten that road is full of speed humps.  The beach was bitterly cold so I didn't stay long, came home and did more scanning.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

A trip down the road for me to Morpeth, the newest photo is only about 30 years old.

 

 

Morpeth USP5000 March 81 C5304

 

 

Morpeth ex garin wagons for Alcan traffic Nov 83 C6307

 

 

Morpeth 37015 up coal to Blyth and Tyne 18th April 85 C6819  This view is now obscured by trees.

 

 

Morpeth 56133 shunting 9th April 86 C7454

 

 

Morpeth LMS Class 5 44767 Santa Special 18th Dec 94  C19895  Coming into Morpeth from the Blyth and Tyne so it can return to Newcastle on the ECML.

 

David

[Early Risers.]

Jamie, I hope Beth's operation and recovery go well.

 

I woke this morning to the sound of rain, fortunately it was only another passing shower.

 

As I was eating my breakfast I saw a jackdaw fly very fast across the garden through the rose arch - no mean feat as it is very close to the greenhouse.  There was a female sparrow hawk in hot pursuit, she ended up crashing to the ground under the arch.  Then she sorted herself out and flew to the top of the arch and spent a few minutes getting her feathers sorted out and looking round.

 

Suddenly she took off and headed very quickly away, as she went the jackdaw was chasing her.  I wonder what happened next?

 

Apart from that the garden bin has been emptied so I can now cut down the rest of the heather.  The next job is to scan more old photos, today's seem to be mainly photos of me up to the age of about 7 or so.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

The Ffestiniog Railway for this morning.

 

 

Tan y Bwlch Earl of Merioneth 22nd Aug 70 C243

 

 

Tan y Bwlch Hunslet Linda Dduallt to Porthmadog Aug 72 J3034

 

 

Tan y Grisiau Hibberd Upnor Castle  6th Aug 79 C4680

 

 

Tan y Grisiau Hunslet Blanche Porthmadog to Tan y Grisiau 6th Aug 79 C4693

 

 

Tan y Grisiau Hunslet Blanche Porthmadog to Tan y Grisiau 6th Aug 79 C4694

 

David

[Early Risers.]

Another day is quietly passing.  I've spent most of it scanning the family photos - as it happens the albums I am doing first becasue they were in front of others were mainly taken by Dad and Mum from about 1947 onwards, like the black and white railway photos I put in my thread here.  I recognise most of the relatives and one or two of the family friends.  However there are a lot of photos of me about 2-5 years old on holidays.  A number of other children appear in them, like me they gradually go from about 2 years old up to 6 or so.  I wonder who they are?  I suspect people we met each year on holiday, the photos show me in Scarborough, Brighton and at Sandilands on the Lincolnshire coast - which was just about destroyed in the 1953 floods.  Some may be of a family who had a food business in Nottingham.  I've just looked at a print, it has "Parr" written on the back so perhaps that is the family name.  I am enjoying looking at them but I don't think anyone else will want them.

 

I had a trip into town to take two bags of books to a charity shop, while I was there I called at the pharmacy and came home via the Quayside but there were no ships to see so I had a walk in the park instead where I met a couple I haven't seen for some time.  He has dementia but today must have been a good one as he recognised me.

 

It's been sunny at times with a few light showers but cold in the wind, it feels like late March.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Back to railways now to visit the Stray at Harrogate in 1965 and 1966.  The photos were taken with Dad's half frame camera so some are not quite as good as usual in terms of detail.

 

 

Harrogate Class 104 Bradford to Harogate  July 65 J211

 

 

Harrogate Class 101 Darlington to Leeds Aug 65 J274

 

 

Harrogate B1 61319 Harrogate to Kings X Feb 66 J444

 

 

Harrogate Class 46 D171 up White Rose April 66 J472

 

 

Harrogate LMS Class 5 45061 Harrogate to Kings X July 66 J569

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

I'm scanning old family photos at the moment, this one might be of interest for those who have rivers or harbours on their layout.

 

Pride of the Yare on River Trent at Nottingham circa 1950.  Jscan23Apr

 

David

[Early Risers.]

The Met Office says it will be dry so it is raining - hopefully only a shower coming in on the cold NNE wind from the North Sea.  I am tempted to stay indoors today.

 

The groceries have come, and a batch of e mails deleted, some actually got read.

 

Next job is to scan some more of the family photos - it looks like the next batch are the weddings of an Uncle and an Aunt.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Another batch from Switzerland, this time taken at Rapperswil where the line from Zürich crosses the Südostbahn line from Arth Goldau to the north east of the country.

 

 

Rapperswil Südostbahn ABe4/4 14 Pfaffikon to Rapperswil 31st July 88 C9812

 

 

Rapperswil RABDe12/12 1118 31st July 88 C9816

 

 

Rapperswil Südostbahn Re4/4iii 42 Konstanz Rigi Express  31st July 88 C9824

 

 

Rapperswil RABDe8/16 Zurich to Rapperswil 31st July 88 C9826

 

 

Rapperswil Südostbahn BDe4/4 85 Rapperswil to Einsiedeln 1st Aug 88 C09965

 

David

[Early Risers.]

I didn't have anything worth saying this morning.  It's been a dull damp drizzly day.  Lousie came and cleaned this morning instead of Leonie, the house is looking good again.

 

After my efforts in the garden in the last few days I felt very achy and sore so decided to have a quiet day.  The main achievement has been to get the Epson scanner out for the first time in ages, check it worked and then put scanning software on a laptop so I can still use my PC at the same time.  The software just manages to work, the Epson scanner dates back to 2009 so it is slightly surprising.  It scans a little better than my Canon printer/scanner.

 

Fortunately as I am only scanning old family photos and documents I can use it set to auto.  After a few hiccups I got started on Volume 1 of the albums.  It has taken all day to do half of it, there are many more albums to do.  Some photos were easy to sort out - Mum, Dad, me, grandparents etc.  Others, like great grandparents are taking a lot of thought to identify.  I've also found one of my school reports from primary school, various 19th century birth certificates, letters sent to Mum and Dad when I was born and so on.  I even found my identity card - they must still have been issued in 1949 when I was born, it was valid until 1965.  My address had been correctly updated and stamped by the relvant authority in 1951 when we moved but not afterwards.

 

A few of the original items will be kept as "treasures", the majority will be binned, especially letters to Mum and Dad from people I've never heard of.  When I finish the job copies will be sent to those relatives (cousins) who have asked for them - they are the ones doing family trees.   I already have both sides of my family tree back to around the mid 19th century (and parts earlier), including a number of Australian relatives.  In theory there are also Dutch and French ancestors but no one has managed to sort that out fully yet.  The French ones probably came to England at the time of the French Revolution, the Dutch connection is more problematic, one ancestor was apparently born on a Dutch ship.

 

This evening will be some tea and later an old Vera to see if I can identify the places.  Tomorrow may be spent much as today but it will depend a bit on the weather.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Near Nottingham now, at Sneinton junction, just east of Nottingham Midland and Radcliffe on Trent on the line to Grantham.

 

Sneinton Junction Class 120 Crewe to Lincoln June 78 C3893

 

 

Sneinton Junction 25211 westbound freight June 78 C3894

 

 

Sneinton Junction Class 114 Nottingham to Grantham and Class 25 shunting June 78 C3895

 

 

Radcliffe on Trent Class 120 Nottingham to Skegness June 75 J4383

 

 

Radcliffe on Trent Class 47 Parkeston Quay to Manchester Feb78 J5920 47011

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Some more photos on the London Tilbury and Southend at Laindon in the 1970s. 

 

 

 Laindon Class 302 302306 Fenchurch St to Shoeburyness May 76 J5173

 

 

Laindon Class 302 down July 77 J5721

 

 

Laindon Class 302 302247 Shoeburyness to Fenchurch St Jan 78 C3652

 

 

Laindon 12th March 78 C3715

 

 

Laindon Class 302 238 down April 78 J5999

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

54 minutes ago, 11B said:

 

Nice photos David, but you seem to have a typo, it's Gummers Howe!

 

Kind regards

 

Ian

 

 

Thanks, I've corrected it.

 

I've no idea how I got it wrong, in Dad's notes it is correct.  It is probably just clumsy fingers.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

If you lived in Nottingham as I did as a child then Skegness is where you went to for days out by the sea or often for holidays.

 

I always wondered if this is because it was the easiest seaside to get to by train.

 

David

[Early Risers.]

A fairly normal Sunday starting with the usual e mails and phone calls followed by church.  I came home, had coffee and cooked lunch.  I haven't cooked a proper Sunday lunch with a cooked dessert for ages so it was something of a shock to see how much there was to eat compared to "ready meals".  The extra though was mainly more vegetables and a larger helping of cooked plums for afters.  I managed to eat it all and then decided there was nothing urgent so had a rest ending up by falling asleep.

 

Later I went outside and cut down some of the heather which is to be removed, it was a lot easier than I had thought but my muscles haven't seen much use recently, the first time most of them had been used much was in the greenhouse yesterday.  About half of the heathers have gone now.  According to my neighbours the rats have come back, probably because several of them are feeding the birds, unlike me.  I thought I saw one yesterday, removing the heather will mean they have one less place to hide.  I think one the neighbours is going to ring the pest control people at the council tomorrow.

 

I had just come in and made a cup of tea when I saw and heard 2 fire engines and a fire car go along to the far end of the road in a hurry.  They quickly got a hose out and in through the front door of one of the houses and men with breathing gear went in.  After a couple of minutes they came out again, there was no smoke but a distinct burnt smell when I went outside.  The hose was left for some time with men in their ordinary clothes going in and out.  They were there for about an hour and have just left.  Doubtless I will hear more in due course.

 

Hopefully the normal peace and quiet of a Sunday will now resume.  I looked at the offerings on TV this evening, fortunately I have a book I want to read.  If I get bored I'll find something to steam.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

5 photos of Class 20s on trains to Skegness taken at Bottesford on the Nottingham - Grantham - Skegness line.

 

 

Bottesford 20081 and ano Derby to Skegness July 81 C5467

 

 

Bottesford 2 Class 20 to Skegness Aug 82 C5855

 

 

Bottesford 20180 and ano to Skegness Aug 82 C5858

 

 

Bottesford 20188 and ano Derby to Skegness June 83 C6059

 

 

Bottesford 20172 and ano Leicester to Skegness Aug 83 C6155

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Photos of electric locos this morning along the WCML.

 

 

Elmhurst 84004 down freight Jan 76 J5036

 

 

Elmhurst Class 86 up Jan 76 J5037

 

 

Hincaster Junction 87033 up June 76 J5263

 

 

Hincaster Junction 86207 down June 76 J5264

 

 

Sandon Trent and Mersey canal Class 86 down  June 76 J5331

 

David

[Early Risers.]

Pages 12965 and 12966 are identical, this seems to be coming more common.  It's no wonder ERs loads so slowly, how does the server know which page to load when there are two the same?

 

I spent the first part of the morning moving the plants into the greenhouse and various other things from the greenhouse back into the garage onto the shelves where the plants spent their winter.  There are more plants than I had thought, only one died over the winter.  By the time I had finished I felt somewhat sore so decided to stop and leave other garden jobs for another day.

 

The rest of the morning passed pleasantly looking at new photos and a few hundred from 2010.  I was struck by how run down a lot of places look in 2023/2024 compared to 2010.  Some of the National Trust gardens are a shadow of their former selves with gaps where plants used to be and others in poor condition with an air of decrepitude starting to appear.  I suspect part of it is the idea that things should be untidy to let nature take its course.  I do wish they would think of all plants and animals not just the ones currently in favour.  For example "no mow May" is fine in theory but bad news for animals that prefer short grass - e.g.blackbirds and others who feed on worms and like short grass or bare soil.   Even the local gulls do not visit the long grass but go to lawns  to look for their food. The same is noticeable in some preserved railways and other visitor attractions, a general look of "visitors will come anyway even if it all looks a bit rundown".  I also sometimes get the feeling that the only really welcome visitors are younger people with small children, but perhaps I am being unfair.

 

After lunch I decided there were a couple of things I need so went into town.  On the way I called at the Lifeboat Station and bought some new mugs to replace some very old ones.  Then I did the rest of my shopping, as usual I was able to park just about outside the shop I went to.

 

As I still ache I then decided that sitting quietly with today's paper was a good idea, that plus TV/book will continue this evening.

 

I was planning on going to the monthly meeting of a group about small things that run on strips of nickel silver tomorrow but am still unable to sit comfortably on village hall type chairs, it makes my scar hurt so I will wait until at least May.  There is also the small problem of getting in and out of town with so many roadworks right now.  The traffic maps constantly show stationary traffic on the only two roads going inland, the level crossing on a road leading to one of those roads is now closed for the rest of the month to build a footbridge, while the other road is closed at night on and off and and has temporary lights the rest of the time.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Peascliffe Tunnel on the ECML north of Grantham, 1970, 1977 and 1983.

 

 

Peascliffe Tunnel Class 40 up car train Dec 70 C435

 

 

Peascliffe Tunnel Class 47 down ex pass April 77 C3278

 

 

Peascliffe Tunnel Class 254 43079 Kings X to Leeds, going away July 83 C6114

 

 

Peascliffe Tunnel 31209 up bullion July 83 C6115

 

 

Peascliffe Tunnel Class 31 up empty cartics July 83 C 6116

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

9 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

In J923 was the track to the right of the line originally another line? It looks very much like it.

Jonathan

 

I'm not sure exactly where Dad took the photo except that it seems to be on the edge of the town, it might be the trackbed of the line to St Combs from Fraserburgh.

 

David

[Early Risers.]

Today started cool at 2°C but it is now warming up in the sunshine though cloud is expected later.  It might reach 7°C by late morning and then stay at that.

 

All being well the greenhouse floor will be given another good sweep to remove the now dryish soil then the plants can go back in.  

 

I also intend to look at yet more old photos with my coffee. There isn't much else on the agenda.

 

David

[Dave F's photos - ongoing - more added each day]

Places in Scotland beginning with F and G this morning.  Mainly without trains, just bits of railway.

 

 

Fraserburgh Aug 74 J3922

 

 

Fraserburgh Aug 74 J3923

 

 

Gareloch bridge over A814 line to submarine base July 74 J3859

 

 

Garelochead taken from train hauled by 37259 and 37121 WBHS  Fort William to Newcastle 11th May 85 C6902

 

 

Garelochead NBR July 74 J3860

 

 

David

[Early Risers.]

The Amazon van came just after I pressed "Submit Reply" on my previous post.  For once it was a real Amazon van not a plain white one.  The new Echo is now set up and working, having carefully made a note of my internet password it decided it didn't need it.

 

It has a lot better sound quality than the old one, which is now in my bedroom and is working properly.  Polybear's advice to switch it off and on again has worked.

 

I have to admit that most of the time I use Google nests but it is sometimes useful to have Alexas handy.

 

Tea included some "wonky" raspberries from Aldi - they were all the right shape and delicious.

 

My gut complained quite violently yesterday evening, I eventually worked out it was the bread containing sunflower seeds which came as a substitute with my groceries.  I think the bacteria in my gut like to decide what I can eat, they seem to think they own my gut not me.  To be honest most of the food issues I have stem from two rather long causes of antibiotics for dental problems well over ten years ago, since then I have changed my dentist and have had fewer tooth issues.  Obviously the antibiotics affected my gut bacteria which have never recovered.

 

David

[Early Risers.]

A fairly busy day for once.  It started with a quick trip to some shops after breakfast,  Aldi had things I actually needed, then Homebase had some plants I thought would be nice.  After that I had a walk along the estuary in the glorious morning sunshine even though the wind was cool.  It was about half tide so not much mud to be seen and all the birds were on a patch of shingle where there was once a jetty, back in the days of waggonways.  Lastly there was a visit to Lidl, amongst other things I found a power bank at half price which will replace a much older one which no longer holds its charge very well.

 

Then it was time for coffee and sorting out more photos.

 

After lunch I tidied part of the garden and had a close look at the lavender plants which do not look too happy.  They have not liked the very wet weather and the winds off the sea.  If the bits not showing signs of growth don't do something soon they will be pruned very hard as a measure of last resort.  If that doesn't work they wil have to be replaced.

 

I am expecting an Amazon delivery shortly, doubtless it will come while I am eating my tea.  It is just a new Echo Dot to replace a very old one which seems to suffer from selective deafness.

 

April blossom by the estuary

 

 

Estuary at half tide

 

Site of old waggonway pier

 

David