figworthy

Thanks Jim. Montreal could make sense, my mother was working there for a while, and I'm pretty sure that she went/returned on one of the Empresses. He was with Furness-Withy and also at one point with Manchester Liners. The timber may well have been from the Pacific Northwest. There are some (non-ship) pictures of that part of the world in amongst the set, and there are also a couple of transiting the Panama Canal. Adrian

Some from Dad's archives, sorry details are a bit thin. Empress of Scotland Thames at Greenwich Javenese Prince Stronghold Manchester Port Adrian

When I moved to the Manor House, there were several brambles that grew up the side of the garage, and carried on up the sloping roof. the bottom end of them was approaching the size of a sapling. Adrian

Great Dorset Steam Fair in 2016 Adrian

Strange name indeed, but it was the name of the local wapentake. When I were a lad, it was the name of the local weekly rag covering the area to the east of Leeds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyrack Adrian

Of possible interest to a certain pachyderm of this parish, spotted on a magazine cover. "Where there is cake, there is hope" "There is always cake" Adrian

Wow. Adrian

Mind bleach required. That thing makes a Thompson pacific look "right" Adrian

I remember reading an article many years ago (I think in the Yorkshire Post) about its use on the Worsborough Bank, and that mentioned that it was compressing the guards vans on the trains that it was banking. Between that, its appetite for coal, and the lack of ventilation in the tunnels (tales of the footplate crews sitting on the cab floor), it wasn't popular with the crews. Adrian

Or perforated paniers.

Sorry, but it was the first thing I did notice. Adrian

Now that picture has a certain something about it. Very nice. Adrian

Until I realised that the right hand side was bare baseboard, I thought that was the real thing. Adrian

I glanced out of the window at 20:30 this evening, and spotted a hedge hog snuffling his or her way up the garden. Unusual to get a daylight sighting. Adrian

Why did they want it on DC ?

Thanks for the explanation. I was interpreting this as a "was" rather than a "might have been". Not that there is anything wrong with exploring what could have happened. Adrian

I spent quite a bit of time pottering up and down the navigation there in the mid 70s. Upstream of the confluence with the river Colne (slightly upstream of the bridges), the water quality was much better. The problem seemed to be the output from the various chemical and textile works in the Huddersfield area. Adrian

I saw that, but my question (perhaps not well phrased) was how they got from Dewsbury to the Rotherham area (where they had the choice of Old Road or Sheffield). As I understand it, the Crigglestone route saw very little passenger traffic. And looking at an atlas, how did the Midland route north of Dewsbury, did they have running rights ? Adrian

What route would these services have taken south of Dewsbury ? Adrian

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jp9n "We take a journey back in time to recreate the golden age of steam, travelling on the Flying Scotsman from Manchester to Carlisle. We have privileged access to the footplate of this iconic engine which weighs 100 tonnes and is nearly 100 years old. We hear coal being shovelled from the tender into the crackling fire, and the driver operating the train as it speeds along the track at up to 60 miles an hour. The train stops for water and we hear the chatter of the crew. We take a take an almost cinematic journey inside the moving train from carriage to carriage with snatches of the voices of passengers as we go. And we follow a waitress as she collects plates from diners on the train and takes them to the galley kitchen where fine food is prepared. We end our journey in Carlisle where our driver signs off before handing over to another driver for the return journey." Adrian

Channel 5 Thursday 28th May 19:00 "New series. Documentary following life at Bressingham Steam Museum on Norfolk" Adrian

With permission of parishioners a point of information It isn't barge ware, they were used on narrow boats rather than barges. And you wouldn't have found a bargee in Brum, the canals were too narrow for barges. Adrian

Thanks. Adrian

Very nice. However a pedant would point out that they are narrow boats, nor barges. Adrian

I have a feeling that it was in connection with the events in the first couple of paragraphs of this : http://www.ls14trust.org/seacroft-town-centre.html But that doesn't mean the overnight stop wasn't a one off. What is the Ron Rocket book ? Google isn't being my friend this evening. Adrian