Black Country Blues

[trisonic]

Surely it would have to be done on a steel guitar...

 

Lap Steel you mean? or Dobro type?

 

You really do not want to hear me play slide..............I do have a Lap Steel however a prototype Pettingill "Cruiser" which is shaped like a rear wing of a '57 Chevy.

 

Best, Pete.

[SNCF stephen]

The Rhodia plant may be of interest. It was rail served until the last decade with rakes of Chrlorine wagons sitting in their sidings. I believe that most of the infrastructure is still in tact and is visible from around the Langley Railway station area.

 

Of course one of the big land marks around there is the Langley Maltings which is currently disused and has been arsoned on a number of occasions. I would suggest that if you want pictures of this fantastic structure that you should get them while you can.

 

The Ocker Hill oil fired power station was rail served and linked from near Tipton Station (WCML) to the South Staffs line near Wednesbury. The power station has now been demolished and is replaced with a sub station. However the hill top area is full of "old style" industrial activity that has not changed in years (saying that, the Council is currently building their Waste Transfer Station on the site of the former scrap yard that used to deal with locomotives and tanks).

[2ManySpams]

Presumably the industrial branch serves Garroi's Black Country Pastoi Works?..... should we send up any samples?!

 

If Oxford Diecast or some such do a Mark 1 Cortina, and if someone was to send you one, would you have it sunken in your canal scene?

 

Go on then lad

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Black Country Blues - hmm, a 30 minutes slow blues noodle on a Strat?

 

Best, Pete.

 

Tell you what, I'll join in with the piano if you want

[Mark Forrest]

Yo mean this place;-

Love the canal bridge with the pipe set into the wing walls. Pipes crossing either railways or canals seems to be quite a common sight.

[trisonic]

You hum it son, I'll play it....

 

Best, Pete.

[Stubby47]

The Black Country Blues

---------------------------------

Woke up this morning, pitch black outside.

Walked down to the 'stop, got my ticket to ride.

Sat on the top deck, watching the views,

Humming along to those Black Country Blues.

 

Get to the pie works, filed through the gate.

Clocked on on time, no point being late.

Even this early, the tea urn has queues,

Standing in line to the Black Country Blues.

 

Start work at six, making the dough.

The canal runs outside, all peaceful and slow.

The dawn light catches the delicate hues,

As the waters pass by to the Black Country Blues.

 

Through the dense air, muffled by smoke,

The sounds of the locos shunting the coke.

The clang of the couplings, the squeals of the shoes,

Playing the notes of the Black Country Blues.

 

There's a match on today, so specials to bake.

Brewers vee Baggies, pride is at stake !

Half time's a pint, but which pie to choose ?

The crowd chants along to the Black Country Blues.

 

Nestled among the factories & mills

A little stone church that can't pay the bills.

The vicar is tired, all those empty pews.

The bells ringing out those Black Country Blues.

 

But from the smoke and the fog and the fumes

A brief ray of light to shatter the gloom

There's something afoot, Have you heard the news ?

They're making a model Of the Black Country Blues !

Edited May 25, 2012 by Stubby47

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Amazing - this has to be done!

Funnily enough, I'm listening to a BB King & Mark Knopfler song now - pure bliss.

[The Stationmaster]

That double diamond on the left will be interesting to operate...

A Double Diamond works wonders,

works wonders,

A Double Diamond works wonders So run one today

(with apologies to Ind Cope - and they weren't even in the Black Country!) And I would think at least one of those diamonds is going to be a slip and they might both be slips I suspect.

[Silverend]

Can anybody think of a location in the BC where a canal and railway ran side-by-side and pass under a road bridge (or bridges)?

 

May I suggest the Smethwick Summit canal which runs along side the railway and at Galton Bridge both pass under a road bridge as well as another railway line.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/4HSP

 

To the north west,under the M5,the railway crosses over one canal which in turn crosses over the other canal which is a fantastic arrangement of bridges.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/VeJz

 

Even further to the north west there's the complete opposite to what you asked for but I'll show you anyway where the railway and canal pass over the road at Dudley Port and Park Lane East,the second being very atmospheric as they are much smaller bridges.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/Wffa

 

http://goo.gl/maps/GOC5

 

If nothing else I hope you enjoy looking at them.

[cary hill]

I thought it had already been pointed out earlier up in the thread at post #56 that the "diamonds" are in fact supposed to be the industrial track passing over the mainline on an invisible overbridge, although it is quite difficult to spot this post in amongst the Wheeltapping pie,beer and music detritus already beginning to clog up this thread.

 

I'll be feeling much better tomorrow.

Edited May 25, 2012 by cary hill

[oldrocker]

Hi Mark,

 

I have a few books which may help although I'm sure you've probably already got access to them. If not yowm welcum to a borra.

 

History of the Pensnett Railway by W.K.V.Gale - ISBN0 900404 28 0

 

Through Birmingham Snow Hill which, despite the title has some BC piccies in it. - Michael Hale ISBN 9501951 1 1

 

Black Country Railways by Ned Williams ISBN 0 7509 0934 X

 

Lost Railways of Birmingham and the West Midlands by Terry Moors ISBN 978 1 84674 109 8

 

Stourbridge to Wolverhampton Middleton Press ISBN 978 1 906008 16 1

 

Lost Lines of Birmingham and the Black Country Nigel Welbourn ISBN 0 7110 2844 3

 

Railways of the Black Country Vol 1 The Byways Ned Williams ISBN 0 9500533 8 4

 

and Vol 2 The Main Lines ISBN 0 9500533 9 2

 

British Railway Pictorial Black Country Paul Collins ISBN 0 7110 2969 5

 

and OWW Part 2 Bob Pixton ISBN 1 870754 60 3

 

Phew !

[0O00]

Bostin' idea! Looking forward to keeping tabs on this.

[33040]

The canal runs parallel to and then goes under the railway in Wolverhampton just north of the (High Level) station, roughly between the Wednesfield and Cannock Roads.

 

There are a couple of locks on this section, and I can recall sitting on the lock gates with a bag of chips watching the class 50 hauled ECS off the last Paddington - Wolverhampton (either the 1727 or the 1740 from Paddington, I can’t recall which) in 1987 or 1988. The area was surprisingly peaceful for being so close the ring road!

 

Near the High Level station there was a British Waterways building, and the track-bed of the GWR (Low Level) station was to the east of the High Level station.

 

The railway and canal also run parallel on the stretch between Tipton and Dudley Port.

[petethemole]

Prompted by this thread and by "Canal Walks" this week I spent part of Thursday evening on Bing Maps bird's eye view following the route we took through Brum and the BC by boat a few years ago. We stopped for a break by Wolves HL station, though I didn't realise it at the time! the IW buildings were still there, we used the loos. A bit to the north the viaduct and girder bridge with another disused bridge that all cross the canal together are an impressive sight/site.

 

I showed what I was looking at to my son (12) who was 4 at the time and asked if he remembered anything. Yes he said, Variety pack cereals. Hmm.

 

Pete

[Silverend]

As a young teen in 70's Black Country I remember Davenports delivering beer to the house once a week for my dad.

Us kids got pop off Alpine,they also delivered to the door by lorry,mmm...Dandelion and Burdock,can you still get it?

Milk floats were a very common sight as well often in short convoys as they made their way either to or from the Dairies.

 

It seemed that every town had a MacFisheries fishmonger as well.Ironmongers too.

Where have all the mongers gone?

 

Not forgetting real Rag & Bone men with a horse and cart giving goldfish for whatever items you gave them and dad sending me out with a shovel to pick up the manure for the roses.

[Silverend]

If you take a look at an old map when the area was full of industry,coal mines,clay pits,furnaces,brick works,glass works etc you see paths,tramways and railways all over the place which have long gone from memory but you can still see many of them in the landscape.

Some are still in use as paths or roads,sometimes leading to places for what seems like no reason,while others can only be seen by their impact on the shape of buildings which leaves you puzzled as to why they are that shape.

 

The New Inn on Quarry Bank High Street for instance has a lovely curved brick wall at it's rear following an old path that used to lead from workers cottages to a clay pit now long gone.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/Annw

 

At the old Harris & Pearson Firebrick and Retort works just off Brettall Lane in Brierley Hill there are several buildings with their end walls cut off at strange angles from when they had their own sidings,tramways and travelling crane.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/wDaI

 

This church in Lye is almost an acute triangle all because of a footpath.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/urBG

 

Last but not least are these factories that still follow the shape of a long gone railway creating very strange shapes to the buildings.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/LtiY

 

I would love to see some signs of long gone paths or railways on your layout for people to ponder over.

[The Stationmaster]

As a young teen in 70's Black Country I remember Davenports delivering beer to the house once a week for my dad.

 

 

Years ago when I was a mere lad there used to be a large advert in a shop window in Harwell (near Didcot - miles from the Black Country) which was clearly visible to any motorist heading west and which read 'Davenports, beer at home'. I always wondered if that meant they delivered like the Corona man - but all the way to Harwell???

[Mike]

All this talk about food/culture. What about Ma Pardoes, Chawl and Brawn and I thought Balti named after the pot it is cooked in was from Northern Pakistan and popular primarily in Birmingham in the Balti belt area of Sparkbrook, Sparkhill and Moseley not the Black Country.

Born in Stourbridge in 1941, lived in Wordsley and Kingswinford with two sons also born in Wordsley, I like to think of myself as a black country lad.

Cradley and Lye home to nail and chain making, the glass works of Brierley Hill and Wordsley and the collieries of Baggeridge, steel at Round Oak etc. Draw a circle of about 5miles in diameter from the centre of Dudley and that's the Black Country.

Mike

[Mark Forrest]

Thanks for all the bridge suggestions - I'll follow them up on Google Maps to see if any give us the look we are after before going for a drive around with the camera.

 

Oldrocker - thanks very much for the list of books; Old Gringo is working on a biblography of the books we've used so far, looks like a few more on your list that we'll have to check!

 

Silverend - I particularly like the idea of an old industrial tramway, maybe leading towards the canal, will have to see what we can fit in!

[PaternosterRow]

I grew up in Perry Barr and on the Saturday shopping trip by train, depending on Mom's whim, we'd either end up in Brum via New Street or Walsall market (Perry Barr is one of the oldest operational stations in the world by the way). We'd pick up certain words from black country kids and bring them home to Brum - 'Bostin 'a' it?' is still one of my favorite phrases. So our dialect was in the middle somehow - always a lick of the Black Country about our North Brummie accents. It still amazes me though how other people from around the UK equate our accent with stupidity. Nick names I personally hate are 'Rubber Dummie' and 'Yam-Yam' - do the people who use these terms actually realize that the Industrial Revolution was born in our neck of the woods? My wife and I now live in Southern Ireland and the people here don't even recognize our accent - in fact, some even think we are from Liverpool/posh!!!

 

Mike

[PaternosterRow]

How about Perry Barr North and South Junction - spectacular views of the trains through Perry Hall Park railings on the way to school in the mornings or from the embankment just before Tame Bridge and the River Tame itself - that used to flood out our houses down by the Dog Track next to Perry Barr station before the flood prevention scheme went in. Happy days.

[bike2steam]

Draw a circle of about 5miles in diameter from the centre of Dudley and that's the Black Country.

Mike

 

So that takes in most of the area, but the northern most area has never been clearly define, so by what you say that doesn't include the likes of Short Heath, New Invention (covering most of the past national lock industry), Bloxwich, Walsall Wood, and Aldridge ( a good part of the local mining industry) ? Admittedly I never regarded Essington, Wyrley, Pelsall,and Brownhill's as part of it, but some may consider me wrong (??).

[Coombe Barton]

Quote "To traditionalists the Black Country is the area where the 30ft coal seam comes to the surface - so West Bromwich, Oldbury, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Bilston, Dudley, Tipton, Wednesfield and parts of Halesowen, Wednesbury and Walsall but not Wolverhampton, Stourbridge and Smethwick or what used to be known as Warley." - from http://www.bbc.co.uk...d/what_is.shtml

Edited May 27, 2012 by Coombe Barton

[bike2steam]

How about Perry Barr North and South Junction - spectacular views of the trains through Perry Hall Park railings on the way to school in the mornings or from the embankment just before Tame Bridge and the River Tame itself - that used to flood out our houses down by the Dog Track next to Perry Barr station before the flood prevention scheme went in. Happy days.

 

River Tame, isn't that the stream that passes Bescot ? My memory of it was of a stream that flowed (1950's/60's), sorry - bubbled, and frothed, with every polutant known to man.

Edited May 27, 2012 by bike2steam