Ghosts in the Machine.

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 23/05/2023 at 09:21, melmerby said:

These are still in use in Birmingham, all 17 of them

Used to walk and ride past them regularly, we lived about half a mile away for 14 years.

[adb968008]

On 03/05/2023 at 13:03, petethemole said:

Comparing the two, the posture is almost identical but there is more sculptured detail in the shop fox design and the face and ears are different.  The loco, completed December 1935 and the shop front in 1936, so it's quite possible that the then boss, apparently a Mr Dixon, saw Silver Fox and thought 'We'll have some like that'.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co207323/silver-fox-locomotive-plaque-london-north-eastern-railway-plaque
 

 

 

 

(Both flickr urls, not mine).

clearly an inspiration but the tails are not the same, nor the ears.

The paws look a little better too.

 

But I would put a bet on it, that one was inspired from a photograph of the other.

Given the age (1868) and the use of a similar fox in advertising (see here pre ww1) my guess is LNER copied Fox Umbrellas…

https://www.alamy.com/old-vintage-edardian-fox-umbrella-advert-from-1912-before-the-dawn-of-advertising-standards-keeping-dry-metaphor-old-adverts-see-notes-image418588057.html

 

Nigel Gresley with a very nice uncreased umbrella, silver handle here…

https://twitter.com/adipullenLNER/status/1556520298597474304?s=20

 

 

Oldest picture Ive found of the Fox, or the Globe pub, next door, was early 1980’s… Fox looked the same, the globe looked like a dingy 1960s pub… theyve definitely gone retro since then.

 

(i’m not 100% convinced the fox the NRM has matches the photo taken on the loco body either, there seems to be differences in pitting marks around the legs and the thigh /belly area which dont match).

Edited June 26, 2023 by adb968008

[rodent279]

If I'm right, this is the former GWR station in Salisbury, seemingly still in use as part of the SWR traincare depot.

[melmerby]

Something a bit different.

The ghost of the former Great Central line crossing a field, even though it's all been graded and ploughed the outline is still visible from the air in 2007:

 

Same view in 2022, HS2 construction arrives:

 

Just north of the HS2 E-W rail meeting

 

 

 

[melmerby]

On 27/06/2023 at 19:16, rodent279 said:

If I'm right, this is the former GWR station in Salisbury, seemingly still in use as part of the SWR traincare depot.

It is and it's Brunellian. Grade 2 listed.

The first station at that location (1856) as the LSWR didn't arrive alongside until 3 years later.

[lanchester]

On 26/06/2023 at 13:22, adb968008 said:

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co207323/silver-fox-locomotive-plaque-london-north-eastern-railway-plaque
 

 

 

 

(Both flickr urls, not mine).

clearly an inspiration but the tails are not the same, nor the ears.

The paws look a little better too.

 

But I would put a bet on it, that one was inspired from a photograph of the other.

Given the age (1868) and the use of a similar fox in advertising (see here pre ww1) my guess is LNER copied Fox Umbrellas…

https://www.alamy.com/old-vintage-edardian-fox-umbrella-advert-from-1912-before-the-dawn-of-advertising-standards-keeping-dry-metaphor-old-adverts-see-notes-image418588057.html

 

Nigel Gresley with a very nice uncreased umbrella, silver handle here…

https://twitter.com/adipullenLNER/status/1556520298597474304?s=20

 

 

Oldest picture Ive found of the Fox, or the Globe pub, next door, was early 1980’s… Fox looked the same, the globe looked like a dingy 1960s pub… theyve definitely gone retro since then.

 

(i’m not 100% convinced the fox the NRM has matches the photo taken on the loco body either, there seems to be differences in pitting marks around the legs and the thigh /belly area which dont match).

There is an apparently identical, right facing, Silver Fox in the Kelham Island Industrial Museum in Sheffield (it's on a plaque with some sort of inscription, but unfortunately at a height which renders this illegible!). I suspect the steelworks may have been dishing them out at any suitable opportunity for a spot of publicity.

[adb968008]

At clapham junction..

 

 

Theres quite a few changes, and several now “ex” destinations…

 

milton keynes, bath, bristol….

Edited July 4, 2023 by adb968008

[rodent279]

On 02/07/2023 at 17:30, melmerby said:

Something a bit different.

The ghost of the former Great Central line crossing a field, even though it's all been graded and ploughed the outline is still visible from the air in 2007:

Maybe the geologists, botanists & natural history scientists on here will know-what is the cause of the change in colour of the ground, even though its been landscaped?

[Wickham Green too]

Crop marks are very common where the geology has been disturbed and drainage ( + vegetation ) altered.

[KeithMacdonald]

3 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Maybe the geologists, botanists & natural history scientists on here will know-what is the cause of the change in colour of the ground, even though its been landscaped?

 

Here's my guess, based on walking along some very similar ghost lines near our village.

 

When the line was closed and track removed, the track bed was landscaped but a lot of the gravel remained or bulldozed under. That drains better or faster than the surrounding soil. Less water retained, less plant growth.

 

Howzat?

[PhilJ W]

45 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Crop marks are very common where the geology has been disturbed and drainage ( + vegetation ) altered.

There was a line built by the ECR that ran from Great Shelford to Six Mile Bottom closed as long ago as 1851 yet traces of the line can be seen in Google Earth.

[russ p]

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

There was a line built by the ECR that ran from Great Shelford to Six Mile Bottom closed as long ago as 1851 yet traces of the line can be seen in Google Earth.

 

You can see it very clearly from A11 looks like a beaching closure line but predates it over 100 years

The Cleveland railway from Normanby to Guisborough closed in 1873 but its embankments are very visible next to the A171

[62613]

13 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Crop marks are very common where the geology has been disturbed and drainage ( + vegetation ) altered.

A very good way of spotting archeological remains, e.g. hut circles, post holes, etc., but not until ariel photography became common

[Reorte]

2 minutes ago, 62613 said:

A very good way of spotting archeological remains, e.g. hut circles, post holes, etc., but not until ariel photography became common

 

The really dry spell last year might've caused all sorts of problems but it was great for archaeologists, revealing all sorts.

[Wickham Green too]

Crop circles are a totally different matter ......................... either they've gone out of fashion or we've not had any visits from aliens of late. 👽

[rodent279]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

we've not had any visits from aliens of late.

I dunno about that, have you seen some of the crowds waiting to see Flying Costalot recently?

[Southernman46]

Ground that has been previously disturbed remains distinctive for a long time even without the vegetation differences, etc. I working with a group of Irish lads some years ago on HV cable renewals who could frequently locate a previously buried cable or route with a very shallow surface trench just by the state of the underlying material - enabling deeper excavation in the right place.

[adb968008]

On 05/07/2023 at 14:13, Wickham Green too said:

Crop circles are a totally different matter ......................... either they've gone out of fashion or we've not had any visits from aliens of late. 👽

Brexit, even Aliens now goto Europe instead.

 

😘

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

Brexit, even Aliens now goto Europe instead.

 

😘

Is that because they afraid of being deported to Rwanda?

[Wickham Green too]

Certain people are hoping so ...... I can't get any more specific without getting political !

[big jim]

The big warehouse at the end of small Heath yard is an old railway building, been a self store facility for a while now but the sign has been partly missing for ages, it’s not until this morning as I’m sat under it rather than driving past it that I noticed the ‘ghost sign’

 

GWR at the top with something else just below behind the fallen sign and ‘Moseley general ….. warehouse 

 

you can also see the old covered loading bay, can’t make out if the wall behind the van has been bricked up as to whether a line went into the building itself, it looks to be having work done at the minute, the new windows on the lower levels are in fact opaque plastic panels over the existing windows! 

 

EDIT: no it didn’t have a line in at the front but it did at the back

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbg2270.htm

 

It’s amazing how little the building has changed in the almost 100 years since it was built

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbg2267.htm

 

The yard has though, clicky pics part way down the page 
https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/bordesley.htm

Edited July 11, 2023 by big jim

[D6150]

Stopped off at Gleneagles today for the first time. It's quite a sizeable Station given what I suspect are fairly light passenger numbers, although I realise now that the size of the site has shrunk quite a bit since it opened in 1919. 

Generally the remaining buildings are in good condition, with period features retained. 

I was intrigued by the square-faced analogue station clocks doubling up the modern matrix displays. They seem very familiar, but I can't remember the last time I saw one elsewhere. I would guess they are a 1960s or 70s design, and a quick google suggests they have been there since the 1980's at least. 

 

Thanks 

Ken 

[melmerby]

On 11/07/2023 at 13:11, big jim said:

GWR at the top with something else just below behind the fallen sign and ‘Moseley general ….. warehouse 

I think you will find it is "Bordesley General & ..... Warehouse"

And the upper one is " .... & General Warehouse", although it looks as if it has been changed at some point.

[big jim]

14 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I think you will find it is "Bordesley General & ..... Warehouse"

And the upper one is " .... & General Warehouse", although it looks as if it has been changed at some point.

I meant to type Bordesley but after spending 2 whole days there I try and block it out of my memory! 

[melmerby]

I wonder whether the top one was "Bonded & General Warehouse"

There's not enough room for bonded on the bottom one, looks like just possibly 4 letters.