The Night Mail

[Adam88]

45 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

A lot of the wartime Anderson shelters were used as garden sheds after the war. 

 

Some still are.

 

[AndyID]

46 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

A lot of the wartime Anderson shelters were used as garden sheds after the war. 

 

Their house was not ideal for that. It was on the bank of the River Irvine and the shelter usually had at least a foot of standing water in it 😀

 

That was compensated by the fact that when they put me to bed at 9:30 in the back upstairs bedroom I had a perfect view of Caley Jumbos rattling along the embankment silhouetted by the setting sun, with the Arran Hills beyond. The light shining through the wagon wheels with round holes was amazing.

[PhilJ W]

A lot of Anderson shelters were sunk into the ground and consequently often flooded.

[Happy Hippo]

And he's a little young for whisky and beer.

 

There'll be girlz soon!

[tetsudofan]

Needless to say my sheds are all train related, this is the big one built to fit in between the previously laid track:

 

 

Trains get their own entrance:

 

 

The sub-shed is at the other end of the garden where the trains get to enter from the front:

 

 

and finally somewhere to relax watching the trains:

 

 

known as Platform 3:

 

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, tetsudofan said:

Needless to say my sheds are all train related, this is the big one built to fit in between the previously laid track:

 

 ...snip...

Keith

What are those "boxes" on the right of the porch? They look like relatively large speakers to me.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

That was compensated by the fact that when they put me to bed at 9:30 in the back upstairs bedroom I had a perfect view of Caley Jumbos rattling along the embankment silhouetted by the setting sun, with the Arran Hills beyond. The light shining through the wagon wheels with round holes was amazing.

 

If only you'd had a video camera.....

 

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

What are those "boxes" on the right of the porch? They look like relatively large speakers to me.

 

.....with WiFi links to the choo choo sound units.....

The neighbour's would love you 🤣

[New Haven Neil]

9 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Like many during WW2 my mum's parents had a shelter although I'm not sure just how much use it would have been if the Luftwaffe had been successful. Their house was in Irvine and quite close to the Nobel facility that made all the nitroglycerin for the UK.

 

My father and his family survived this in the Anderson shelter, just off to the right - the house was totally obliterated.  Believed to be the biggest bomb that fell on Tyneside in WW2, in Cauldwell Villas/Page Avenue in South Shields.  Missed the shipyards!  That's Grandad in the dark coat and trilby on the edge of the crater.

 

[Winslow Boy]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

What are those "boxes" on the right of the porch? They look like relatively large speakers to me.

 

Nah there not speakers. There beer crates to put the empties in. Don't want them rolling about the floor do we. Might hit a train.

[SM42]

The novelty of an almost empty ( just the fridge, tumble dryer and a bucket left) garage at SM42 Towers is very confusing 

 

I've just been in there. 

 

The up and over door is open for the builders to access the stuff they stashed overnight and as I left I turned the light off as usual 

 

Problem is, the light wasn't on. 

 

I've just tried to turn off the daylight. 🤪 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

My father and his family survived this in the Anderson shelter, just off to the right - the house was totally obliterated.  Believed to be the biggest bomb that fell on Tyneside in WW2, in Cauldwell Villas/Page Avenue in South Shields.  Missed the shipyards!  That's Grandad in the dark coat and trilby on the edge of the crater.

 

My grandfather,(mother's father)  declined to put an Anderson shelter into their garden.

 

His experience in the trenches during WWI had convinced him that all they provided would be a nice tomb for any occupants.

 

Judging by the size of the hole shown above, I'd suggest that it was probably caused by a 2000Kg  parachute mine rather than the usual SC250 free fall bomb.

 

[New Haven Neil]

18 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My grandfather,(mother's father)  declined to put an Anderson shelter into their garden.

 

His experience in the trenches during WWI had convinced him that all they provided would be a nice tomb for any occupants.

 

Judging by the size of the hole shown above, I'd suggest that it was probably caused by a 2000Kg  parachute mine rather than the usual SC250 free fall bomb.

 

 

They were told to put the shelter hard under the house on the grounds the house could shelter them from the potential blast.  The houses had (have  - they were rebuilt) quite a long harden so grandad built it right down at the bottom away from the house.  Took a while to dig them out I was told, but it saved them.  Unlike what would have happened if it was next to the house.

[New Haven Neil]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My grandfather,(mother's father)  declined to put an Anderson shelter into their garden.

 

His experience in the trenches during WWI had convinced him that all they provided would be a nice tomb for any occupants.

 

Judging by the size of the hole shown above, I'd suggest that it was probably caused by a 2000Kg  parachute mine rather than the usual SC250 free fall bomb.

 

 

Close, HH....1000kg.

 

 

[rockershovel]

My grandparents and mother quickly abandoned the Anderson shelter in favour of one of those reinforced cages under the billiard table, plus "trust to luck". Grandfather was given to the opinion that Kruger hadn't got him and nor had the Kaiser, so this latest one probably wouldn't either. 

[tetsudofan]

10 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

What are those "boxes" on the right of the porch? They look like relatively large speakers to me.

 

To be  honest I was wondering what they were and then it clicked, they were Korean chests that I brought back with me when I returned to the UK in 1999 having lived in Asia since 1966.

 

They were awaiting for collection by a friend of mine who worked in the Pilgrims Hospice furniture shop and had found a buyer for them.

 

Keith

[Oldddudders]

25 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

 

To be  honest I was wondering what they were and then it clicked, they were Korean chests that I brought back with me when I returned to the UK in 1999 having lived in Asia since 1966.

 

They were awaiting for collection by a friend of mine who worked in the Pilgrims Hospice furniture shop and had found a buyer for them.

 

Keith

Always good to hear of stuff going to the charity sector. This weekend Sherry got rid of two very large bags full of nice-but-no-longer-needed clothes, split between two charity shops. Mind you, in the mares and foals shop Sherry spotted a nice Monsoon dress for £7.50, so we gave them a tenner. It fits perfectly. And the hospice shop was delighted when we took in a large art-nouveau print in a cheap frame. Next day it was in the window for £25! Lovely!

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

My grandparents and mother quickly abandoned the Anderson shelter in favour of one of those reinforced cages under the billiard table, plus "trust to luck". Grandfather was given to the opinion that Kruger hadn't got him and nor had the Kaiser, so this latest one probably wouldn't either. 

a Morrison Shelter.

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, SM42 said:

The novelty of an almost empty ( just the fridge, tumble dryer and a bucket left) garage at SM42 Towers is very confusing 

 

I've just been in there. 

 

The up and over door is open for the builders to access the stuff they stashed overnight and as I left I turned the light off as usual 

 

Problem is, the light wasn't on. 

 

I've just tried to turn off the daylight. 🤪 

 

Andy

Been there, done that, got the T shirt. This time of year my bathroom is flooded with sunlight for most of the day. Especially in the evening I have often found myself trying to switch off the sunlight.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

As far as I’m aware my great parents didn’t have a shelter, although their house in Liverpool was obliterated by a V2 (not the gresley one) along with the one next door. My grandfather who was about 5 had been evacked to North Wales in 1940 with his mother, and I’m not sure where my great grandfather was. He was a turbine engineer at Clarence Dock power station so he may been on the night shift. Either way nobody was hurt. 
 

 

Douglas

Edited May 17, 2022 by Florence Locomotive Works

[jamie92208]

It's time for a rant. There was a self respecting retired Gendarme, wandering unawares round the French version of B&Q aka Castorame, well before to watershed and I was faced with this.

 

Is mowhere safe from hippos.

Mind you a mere snip at that price.

Disgusted of Tonbridge Niort.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

a Morrison Shelter.

I didn’t know they were called that. Mum said their household (big family!) had a shelter under the table and the Anderson shelter in the garden.

Tony

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

As far as I’m aware my great parents didn’t have a shelter, although their house in Liverpool was obliterated by a V2 

 

 

Sorry to disappoint Douglas, but it's probably a family tale rather than fact. Complete demolition of houses was usually by the various air mines as mentioned earlier.  However, and more importantly, the maximum range of a V2 was 200 miles and the distance from London to Liverpool is 220 miles, so unless the dastardly hun had a secret launch site to the NW of London....

 

The known V2 targets (from Wikipedia):

 

 

About 3,172 V-2 rockets were fired at the following targets:

 

Belgium, 1,664:

Antwerp (1,610), Liège (27), Hasselt (13), Tournai (9), Mons (3), Diest (2)

 

United Kingdom, 1,402:

London (1,358), Norwich (43),[16]: 289  Ipswich (1)

 

France, 76:

Lille (25), Paris (22), Tourcoing (19), Arras (6), Cambrai (4)

 

Netherlands, 19:

Maastricht (19)

 

Germany, 11:

Remagen (11)

 

The British rarely read or hear about V-2 strikes outside of London, but they lie in second place when compared to Antwerp.

 

Interestingly, the Nazis were also prepared to use them as tactical weapons against targets at Remagen in their own country.

 

[J. S. Bach]

17 hours ago, Adam88 said:

 

Some still are.

 

That reminds me very much of a Quonset hut:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_hut

 

[Happy Hippo]

Whilst on the subject of large explosions, it was 79 years ago today, that Britain woke to the news that 617 Sqn RAF, had successfully bombed the Mohne and Eder dams in Germany using Barnes Wallis's 'bouncing bomb', which was another form of aerial mine.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Happy Hippo

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Is nowhere safe from hippos.

 

 

 

Big H has had his snout in the 100's & 1000's again....and quite possibly the Hunny Jar before that.....