billy_anorak59

46242 (I think it is anyway) got to Ledsham (Chester - Birkenhead line) on a Royal train in 1957. See: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-departure-of-her-majesty-the-queen-from-ledsham-station-1957-online Loco is shown at 8:28

Dog vs Cat: EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DIARY Day number 180 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVOURITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVOURITE! 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVOURITE! Day number 181 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVOURITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVOURITE! 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVOURITE! Day number 182 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVOURITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVOURITE! 1:30 pm - ooooooo. bath. bummer. 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVOURITE! ... EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DIARY DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favourite chair...must try this on their bed. DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan. DAY 768 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo." What sick minds could invent such a liquid. My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth. DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the foul odour of the glass tubes they call "beer.." More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time... --

Port Sunlight again - for completeness, here's one of the back:

I'd like to have a go at that myself Paul - any 'how-to's', tools and methods used? Where do you get the Foamex from? Looking good anyhow. Cheers

Another one south of the border - 08437 Leeds 12th August 1977 snatched from a moving train via instamatic - hence questionable quality!

I'll take a punt at Class 108 'Derby Lightweight' ?

FROM BRITISH NEWSPAPERS 1) Commenting on a complaint from a Mr Arthur Purdey about a large gas bill, a spokesman for North West Gas said, "We agree it was rather high for the time of year. It's possible Mr Purdey has been charged for the gas used up during the explosion that destroyed his house." (The Daily Telegraph) 2) Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van, because they cannot issue a description. It's a Special Branch vehicle and they don't want the public to know what it looks like. (The Guardian) 3) A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman commented, "This sort of thing is all too common". (The Times) 4) At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coastguard and asked him to estimate the wind speed. He replied he was sorry, but he didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just blown his Land Rover off the cliff. (Aberdeen Evening Express) 5) Mrs Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled. "He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out 'Heil Hitler.'" (Bournemouth Evening Echo)

Bromborough - my local station! Stood on the old loading dock many times. I hope you don't mind Dave, but here's a photo of mine - also from 1981 - looking back towards the box: Thanks for the post - great!

That'll be my Mum being very smart - she never throws anything away!! Luckily she filed it away as usual, and presented it to me about 40 years later.

My Dad and Grandad clubbed together to get me started – this is the actual receipt for my first ‘train set’ dated Dec 12th 1962 (…just in time for Christmas). I had just turned 3 years old. All 2-rail - some of the items listed on there are 1 x 4310 Goods Brake Van L.M.R 1 x 4676 Tank Wagon ‘ESSO’ 1 x 4655 16-ton Mineral Wagon (Grey) 1 x 4325 12-ton Ventilated Van 1 x 4084 Suburban Coach, Brake/2nd B.R. …and 2226 ‘City of London’ Loco and Tender L.M.R. I still have them all. Wasn’t I a very lucky little boy! ‘K’ Cycle & Hardware Stores’ (known locally as ‘Kynestons’) was a lovely place that had that paraffin/oil smell of all hardware shops and also stocked Airfix kits to entertain me. It is thus so important to me I’ve had to preserve the shop name on my layout (a WIP), even if it didn't actually look like this:

To save me redrawing, I've rotated the originally posted map so that it aligns (roughly) with a view orientated north - North is up and the River Mersey is top right, I hope it clarifies what direction I am looking! (If not, I'll have to think again...) Thanks too for the update re: the book Gordon! Looks like I'm going to have to replace my 1980s copy then. Cheers.

I can understand any difficulty in figuring out the route Peter - so much has changed since the proposal - the power station was demolished in the mid-late 70s and a lot of the land elsewhere is housing estate now. If I can clarify any questions you may have, please let me know. Thanks for the interest.

An update: After posting my original plea for information a (dim) lightbulb came on rather belatedly, and I carried out a search of the online Unilever archives (http://unilever-archives.com/Aboutcatalogue.aspx) – after all it was Lever Brothers proposing the line in the first place! After browsing for quite a while, I came across a record (GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/2/278) called ‘The Bromborough Lands’, and the description fitted: File (largely correspondence) relating to purchase of and building and work on land at Rake Lane, Eastham and in Bromborough. Includes Conveyance between Hooton Brick Works Limited and Lever Brothers Limited, and Agreement between The Mayor Alderman and Burgesses and Lever Brothers & Unilever Limited. Also includes related maps and drawings and supplementary folder labelled 'Miscellaneous Papers from Docket No. 2027A Bromborough Lands' containing draft Deed of Release between Hooton Brick Works Limited and Francis Joseph Kirby and large scale drawing of Bromborough-Hooton Railway (Eastham and surrounding area). September 1931-February 1954 The very helpful Unilever archive people delved into the record in question, and had good news and bad for me. They sent me a photograph of the map (very good), but because of the fragility of the rest of the documents, could not send them (bad). This correspondence has not been digitised yet either, so I would have to attend the archive in person which unfortunately is 200 miles away from me and only open on weekdays. However, if I can, I intend to make an appointment in the future. With respect to the Unilever copyright, I can’t post the photograph of the map here, but I can post my interpretation - with no objections from Unilever Archives. Therefore, I’ve recreated the route from the information received, and overlaid it on an aerial view of the area (which looks to date from about 1950-52). I’ve tried to plot the route out with some accuracy, and you can see that although close(-ish), the guesstimate in my original post was a bit off beam – the line would have meandered across the pylon route several times on its way to Hooton to achieve workable curvatures. There are still questions to be answered however: The map only showed the main/central part of the line, and I have had to assume the connections both at the Bromborough Power Station end, and at Hooton Station itself, and nothing has been found regarding the proposed exchange siding layout there. No detail is shown on the map regarding the crossing of either the A41 or ‘Eastham Rake’ (which incidentally would have been very close to where Eastham Rake station is today - so I’m assuming a skew overbridge here, to bring the line to the same height as the Birkenhead-Chester line). No gradient profiles are shown either, but maybe it is all answered in the yet unseen correspondence files. I’ll post the full aerial view here, but due to its size and shape, I don’t know how it will turn out once posted, so I’m also uploading split views which may be easier to see: one of the Power Station end, and the other of the Hooton Station end. I do hope it’s of some interest anyway - whether you are a local of the area or not. In Full: Sheet 1 - Bromborough to Eastham Sheet 2 - Eastham to Hooton

Thanks all who have replied here. I'm afraid the area isn't very 'local' to me any more - I'm now about 200 miles away. Thanks though. I haven't consulted my copy recently, but I don't recall anything mentioned in it as I'm sure it would have got my attention. Perhaps it has, and I just didn't make the connection. I'll dig the book out and have another read. Yep - sounds like the area! When I were a lad, all of that 'Retail Park' was wheat fields. In the 60's the smells that came from the industrial areas beyond (and Lever Brothers itself) were 'interesting', however. Lord only knows what ended up in the Mersey. the good news is that I think I've found something very useful in the archives - they say it will take about 21 days to respond, but by the description given in the online listing, this particular archive seems to hold all the answers. I'll get back here with any findings if it proves to be what I think it is.

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated, but, yes I did. The map I want is missing at 25" series... (but of course it is )

I posted this request on a local history forum a few years ago, but sadly got no replies or comments, so I’m trying here, as I know there are some here with specialist knowledge of the locality, and industrial railways in general. No real reason for the question, other than an inquisitive mind, and a big interest in an industrial railway that I remember well in the 1960s as working concern up as far as Stork Margarine works. I realise that the following is very geographically specific, and may wash over those with no local knowledge, but I’m hoping it may be of interest generally anyway. I grew up in Eastham, on Wirral, and although it looked odd, I never really thought about the electricity pylons that seemed to have their own ‘track’ through the housing in the area – it was just the way of things. These were large 132kV pylons, and I always thought that they were as they were because they had to be isolated from any housing, due to some safety reason or other. Not so today anyway – houses have been built underneath them all along the route! This map shows the pylon ‘track’ well (see the double dotted lines): Note the ‘Works’ top left where the pylon route starts; This is Bromborough CEGB Power Station (now demolished), and had its own railway which started at the triangle of lines at the left upper edge of this map. It is also where the Lever Brothers internal railway finished. This photograph shows what looks like a signal box or control cabin near the bridge to the scrubland at bottom right – did this control the Lever/CEGB limits? So what has this got to do with a proposed railway extension? Well, I stumbled across the likely answer for the pylon ‘tracks’ whilst reading the RCTS book on ‘The Birkenhead Railway’ (T.B.Maund 2001 - ISBN : 090 1115 878): …the completed pylon route being what is shown on the map, which was intended to be the route of a railway line which started at the location of the ‘control cabin’ photograph above! It all fits! I’ve taken a Google Earth view and overlaid what I think is the likely route of the extension (I’ve shown it in red; the Lever Bros railway, ‘as built’ is in green, and the Birkenhead-Chester line is shown in blue), but I’m in the dark beyond where my map finishes, so that bit is somewhat of a guess - it is based on the fact that the housing wasn’t there until the late 1960s/early70s, and the ‘kink’ in the route towards Hooton where the dotted lines leave the map – which gave me a bit of a clue. I forgot Eastham Rake station too... It certainly would have been an interesting addition to Wirral’s railway scene! Does anyone have the continuation maps at the scale of mine so I can see the rest of the pylon route, or indeed, does anyone have any more detail on the scheme proposal itself? How was the railway was supposed to cross the A41 – bridge - over or under? Hopefully not a level crossing! Even in the 1950s the A41 was extremely busy, and that point of crossing (known locally as ‘Scots Corner’) was a noted accident blackspot. How was the proposed progress to Hooton beyond the limits of my map 'officially' envisaged? Where was the line specifically planned to join the Birkenhead-Chester line at Hooton? ...And how? (I guess something similar to the exchange sidings at Port Sunlight) Questions, questions, but any pointers would be appreciated.

Hi Dean - yes, it's been a while! At the risk of taking the thread way off topic, a larger version of the picture is attached, as requested - Town Station in the distance: ...plus a view across Mollington St to the Blackpool St boxes from the Hinderton Road side - the boxes can be seen mid-Centre, between the two ash towers. Now, back to Hooton!

At that date - box(es) I guess. Yes it is - seen here from the other direction: That's a very unusual shot that you have posted BTW - pictures of Town are rare, but I've never seen one from that viewpoint. Cheers.

My boss has recently started using the phrase "from the get go" (...and I really don't care if it should be hyphenated or not), in otherwise normal conversations. Does anyone know how this can be stopped with minimal damage to: a) My work environment b) My boss c) My career d) My health (if I try to maintain outward calm) Any help would be appreciated.

LNERGE – I’m very glad the Offord photo was of interest – I can’t help regarding the pipe I’m afraid (although I’ve seen photographs showing it). Your thoughts regarding it supplying Huntingdon would see pretty plausible to me – perhaps it was easier to abstract the water from the very high river-affected water-table around Offord whilst having easy access to a mainline connected siding, rather than at Huntingdon Station, which is not half as close to the Ouse? Going back to the softening plant itself, the thought struck me that if you have enrolled to the ‘Britain From Above’ website (which enables ‘zoom’ function once logged in), there is another, and a pretty good aerial view at that, of the plant at Offord and Buckden. Of course, there’s a little bit of fuzziness, but once zoomed in, a row of at least 4 sludge tenders can be seen in front of the plant, and ‘L N E R’ can be made out on two of them (Photo is dated 1953). If you wanted to take a look, the BFA Reference number is EAW050899 – obviously, I don’t want to infringe copyright by posting any grabs (that I may or may not have) here, but hope it’s of further use. Link: https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW050899

FWIW: There was a softening plant at Offord and Buckden on the ECML - and I've seen pictures of sludge tenders here in a 'Bylines' a couple of years ago. No depot there either, but may match the Biggleswade version you're seeking?

There used to be a Ferodo bridge over the A41 outside Cammell Lairds Shipyard in Birkenhead: http://20thcenturyimages.com/products/344.html I recall it was used to store coaching stock for Birkenhead Woodside when I knew it. Long gone now though.

Some of mine - not brilliant, but it's the record that counts... 1859 and 1814 at Birkenhead Mollington Street - Feb 1973 47089 'Amazon' - Crewe Works Open Day 22nd Sept 1979 47090 'Vulcan' - Northwich Shed 1981 47232 crossing the canal at, I believe Ferrybridge Power Station c1984 - I was on a barge at the time, and didn't always know exactly where we where! 47365 Crewe Works c1977 - the last green 47 I saw 47365 Turned up at Warrington Arpley nearly 10 years later, now named as 'Diamond Jubilee' (1986-ish) looking very different... Finally, an unidentified 47 at Liverpool Lime Street in about 1989

My local closed east/west route morphed into a guided bus-way. Brilliant.

Have your prayers been answered Roger? It looks like Rue-d has come up with the goods! https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZPHEHLK2Y/0-76-cl-502-driver-trailer-coach-1?optionId=63751836 Hope this helps!