Come with me to Cardiff - 1954

[Danemouth]

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-come-with-me-to-cardiff-1954-online?fbclid

 

Nice opening sequence with 7026 Tenby Castle leaving Paddington

 

Dave

[railroadbill]

Just spotted this, apart from the castle and stations with the ever popular hats and raincoats being worn, the docks were interesting with paddle steamer and steam tugs, plus the "clean modern" coal mine.  The end with the great Richard Dimbleby flying off in a DH Dove of Cambrian Airways was another good bit.  Both new and old are long gone.

Thanks for posting about this, it was an interesting bit of history.

[Philou]

Unfortunately as I'm outside the UK I can't watch this item - which is annoying especially as it concerns my home town. I also flew out of Pengam airport in a Dove in about 1953/54 to Paris - all alone too! I seem to recall being sat in wicker seats (Lloyd Loom type) - but perhaps not. My only real recollection of the flight was the return journey and flying low over the docks and looking down into the funnels of the ships moored at the quayside - where are those ships today?

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Stationmaster]

It's a lovely film with some interesting stuff in and it's an awful long time since I travelled with my parents on a BR circular tour excursion ticket which involved a steamer trip from Cardiff to Weston.

 

And soem of it was very much my patch when working in South Wales - the 'modern' colliery is Nantgarw  although in my time teh coke ovens were far more important than any coal coming out of the ground there.  and castell Cch was readily viewed from one of our signal boxes. (my office was too low down to see over the trees next to the river (Taff) - but even all that was 50 years ago.  And there was a pub up on Caerphilly moi]untain where a singer/comedian called Max Boyce sometines performed in the days before he became famous.  The pu grew to its own sort of fame infamy some years later for certain goings on in some old railway vans round the back. that made g headlines in 'The News of The World'.

[Danemouth]

How about Cardiff Trolleybusses?

 

Dave

 

 

 

[Danemouth]

or even Cardiff Trams

 

Dave

 

[Gopher]

6 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

How about Cardiff Trolleybusses?

 

Dave

 

 

 

Ah this take me back.  As a kid I was always fascinated  watching the conductor use the long poles to disconnect and connect the current collectors from the wires.   My father in law tells a story of  one trip on the last trolley of the night when the crew were keen to get back to the depot on Newport Road.   He jokes it probably broke the land speed record.

 

Cardiff was a very different place then.   

[Philou]

Ah ..... the trams! They went the year after I was born and the trolleybuses twenty years later. They were my favourite form of traction and I still have my last day ticket on the last trip. I'm really sorry they got rid of the trollies - and now what with going back towards electric traction ......................

 

The two stills from the YouTube videos show the trollies having departed the terminus outside what the South Wales Echo/Western Mail HQ and having entered Westgate Street and passing what was the main Post Office building. Routes 10A/B to Ely used that route almost exclusively, except if other routes were on divert.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip