Merseycider

Hello Billy. Birkenhead lad myself so always interested in everything Wirral-related. I'm no oracle but I recently bought 'Birkenhead Railways A Photographic History' by the Merseyside Railway History Group published by Lightmoor Press: ISBN: 9 781915 069030 (purchased from Strathwood). Not only is it a smashing run-through the many & various lines / stations / docks etc with stacks of pics (all b/w) I've not seen before, it has a Birkenhead Woodside 'chapter' with 29 photos / captions and in there is a photo of the very ticket office you're asking about. You're bang-on, it is the white structure and the photo is an end-on shot from, I think, the graving dock side. The caption reads 'A close-up of one end of the 'temporary' booking office which was actually used throughout the life of the station unlike the unused booking hall shown earlier'. The 'shown earlier' refers to 2 photos with the accompanying captions: Ist pic 'The decorative ecclesiastical style roof rafters in the original booking hall, beautifully carved but generally usneen and unadmired at a cost of just under £20,000 in 1878. The station was designed by Robert Johnson'. (pic credit: Stan Roberts collection). 2nd pic 'Another scene showing the intended main entrance and booking hall with stonework detail over the windows and at the base of the roof supports. The wooden dividers and small office reflect the actual use of the area for parcels, not passengers'. (pic credit Stan Roberts collection). There's also a photo looking into the station from the throat that I've not seen before and there are 3 photos taken in 1957/58 relating to the graving dock extension demolition work. Thanks to that Thatcher Govt I've been in exile for a long time now but if you happen to live in Edinburgh I'd be only too happy to let you borrow it. Well almost. It'd actually cost you a couple of pints of the finest cider available in any pub of your choosing. All the best. Jonesy

Fade to grey - Visage

Ha ha, nope. So much so I somehow managed to forget it despite the pain I felt for Jack Nicolls, Jolyon Palmer and Jennie Gow as they stoically tried to avoid both sleep and hysteria . OK, I enjoyed almost the entire season.

Thanks LNER and BR. Great explanation, appreciated.

Apologies for JV. I have watched so many 'Grand Prices' that I remember Max's dad racing. In those days they were called Grands Prix. If LHs tyres are an important factor then was he somehow not allowed to pit, change tyres and re-take the position at the front? That's not a wind-up, I genuinely don't understand how if it was OK for the second place driver to do that and re-gain his place then why would that not have applied to LH? Does anybody want to admit that all they actually cared about was winning, the rules stuff is just bluff & bluster because your tribe should have won. Like I said not one eyelid would have batted in the LH camp about the rules if LH has just stayed ahead for one lap. Same as footy, ooh ref that's a shocker when it's awarded against you, not a peep when you get a dodgy decision in your favour, just a wry shrug knowing that you got away with one. Difference, nobody talks about court cases over decisions made by officials on the footy pitch because ultimately it's entertainment, isn't it? I have been mightily entertained by F1 for THIS entire season. Frankly the last time anything came close inevitably involved Michael Schumacher (although Ralf was a bonus entertainment package, but ultimately disappointing like a coffee Revel), both of whom remind me of Max. Back to the point, F1 had become about as far from entertainment as you could get, track position at the front only ever changing via clever tyre and pit stop strategies, where's the racing? This season, now there's the racing. I was very impressed with how Lewis handled things immediately after the race, took it like a pro. Sets a good example.

Perhaps I'm the only person in the UK who actually witnessed the crash that led to the safety car. Surely the safety car wasn't a disputable rule interpretation, not a rhetorical question, fact. At that point LH was leading and when the race resumed all LH had to do was to stay ahead for ONE lap. Facts. But wait, oh no, JV not only legally but spectacularly overtook LH to take the win. I strongly suspect that not a single one of the discontented would have raised a whisper if LH had stayed in front to take the win. So just how would that have tightened up the awful regulations and decision making that everybody's now so expert in interpreting? After all these are the same regulations that nobody felt particularly bothered about when LH was winning. I smell bad loser only marginally diluted by an ocean of hypocrisy. Listening to all the noise one might as well argue that the crash was pre-determined to manipulate JV chances of winning. But in reality that's all it did, offer a chance not certainty, and the result was actually decided on the track. Just saying.

She Comes In Colours - Love

a bone Oh, she's no Mona Lisa No, she's no Playboy star But she'll send you to heaven Then explode you to Mars Oh, she's using

go breaking my heart I couldn't if I tried Honey if I get restless Baby you're not that kind Don't go breaking my heart You take the weight off of me Honey when you knock on my door

Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder

Great service as always. E-mailed on Friday asking for APT stuff to be split from a larger order, received a positive reply within minutes, better still the APT stuff arrived the following Monday morning. Exceptional.

cold November rain We've been through this such a long long time Just tryin' to kill the pain, ooh yeah Love is always coming, love is always going No one's really sure who's lettin' go today Walking away

Deadringer for love - Meatloaf

My bird of paradise Sweet bird of paradise Wish that I could fly I'd be beside you now But I can only sigh And watch you circle round

Don't laugh at me - Norman Wisdom

Things ain't working out down at the farm - Thin Lizzy

starry night the campfire light The coyote call And the howling winds wail So I'll ride out to the old sundown I am just a cowboy lonesome on the trail Lord I'm just thinkin' about..

Magic Bus - The Who

It'd appear the answer is yes, it was simply a straight re-numbering. There aren't that many pics to back it up but I can't see any obvious external differences. As far as I can gather the conversion from gas turbine was undertaken between January and October 1958. On release it it retained black / silver livery and was still carrying gas turbine number 18100 for a short while on test in the Styal area before being re-numbered to E1000. Every pic I've seen of E1000, about 6 and all undated, the body-side cycling lion emblem carried whilst gas turbine had been replaced with the ferret & dartboard. The earliest dated pic I can find of E2001 is May 1960 so didn't carry the E1000 number for very long. Jonesy

Hello Fredo. There's not much out there that I've been able to find but to back-up montyburns there are a couple of photos in Colin J Marsden’s ace book ‘100 Years of Electric Traction’ (pub 1985, OPC, ISBN 0-86093-325-3), one of which shows E2001 hauling an unfitted goods train from Mauldeth Road (Manchester - Crewe line) on 17 May 1960 passing East Didsbury. It's b/w and v.difficult to make out the consist, it looks mixed and includes mineral wagons but the rest are just too blurred, but again top'n'tailed by brake vans. The other photo is E2001at Wilmslow. Only 3 carriages are in view but the leading one looks like a Mk.1 BCK. On the basis that E2001 was used for staff training it would seem a fair bet to assume that any passenger rake as hauled by the AL classes on their introduction would be fair game? There's no date for that photo but on the adjacent line stands an AL1 on a press special from Longsight so on the basis that the first AL1, E3001 was handed over to BR on 27 Nov 59 at Sandbach & initially used for staff training initially it can't be long after that. The same photo is also in another of Colin J. Marsden's splendid books 'The AC Electrics' (pub 2007, OPC) and the author says 'Most training and testing was carried out between Mauldeth Road and Wilmslow using empty MK.1 or LMS designed passenger stock or unfitted freight vehicles'. Nothing much more to be gleaned from another really good book 'The Power of the AC Electrics' by Brian Morrison (pub 1988, OPC) except the delightful nugget that it retained it's original gas-turbine nickname 'Black Bess'. Jonesy

Apparently not just WCML. Although predominantly based in the northern section of the LMR, according to Colin J. Marsden’s ace book ‘100 Years of Electric Traction’ (pub 1985, OPC, ISBN 0-86093-325-3), they have been noted on several occasions in the London division, alas no further details provided. More interestingly he also adds that unit nos 016-023 went on loan to the Eastern Region. ‘When these sets were completed, the Eastern Region were short of units on the Liverpool St. to Shenfield / Southend route due to their stock receiving conversion to a.c. operation. To overcome the shortage, the LMR sets were loaned to Ilford’. Again no further info provided. I've yet to stumble across any pics, more homework. Jonesy

Fixed your obvious typo, thank me later Chortle. Since they're both the most handsome EMU design, LMS of course, and stand imperious above all pretenders, I'll agree to differ agree with you. Will somebody just make one. Jonesy

Left turn on a red light - Blackfoot

Soldier of Fortune - Thin Lizzy Sorry! 33C sneaked in before me there.