I often come across some interesting things in my working and personal life, and I'll attempt to record them here.
(Well, not the Duke…)
I Took a trip to Bardon quarry, in Leicestershire, and snapped this, because it was there, and I liked it!
A Rolls-Royce powered locomotive.
It’s 50 years old and still working for a living
More info below, blatantly stolen from t’interweb for any anoraks out there.
On the outskirts of a small village just outside Uppingham, in the county of Rutland, lies a cracking bit of history, – the village waggon wash.
In days of old before tarmac roads, everything would have been transported locally by horse drawn wagons and carts.
What you see here is basically a forerunner to the modern day car wash, but before the advent of a mains water supply, natural water courses would have been used.
The wash could also be used in the hot weather to soak and swell the wooden cartwheels to prevent the iron rims from detatching.
This waggon wash has been lovingly restored for all to enjoy.
But, don’t blink as you drive past… – or you’ll miss it!
This is what I found Tucked away in a secret location in the East Midlands the other day.
It’s the rolling stock that has been built by Bombardier Transportation in Derby, for the 73 mile long Crossrail project currently under construction.
The stock here will be used on a large section of Crossrail called ‘The Elizabeth Line’.
Due to open in December 2018, The Elizabeth Line has been named in honour of HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
The amount of stock stored here stretches for around a quarter of a mile, – and that probably isn’t all of it…
I only managed to get close long enough to sneak a few photos.
More information can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail
I briefly stopped off in a little village called Cold Overton the other day.
In the corner of a field on the outskirts of the village, is an abandoned Royal Observer Corps underground monitoring post.
Some 1,500 of these posts were constructed all over the UK during the cold war, and manned by volunteers. They are all now either abandoned or demolished, the last ones to close were in 1991.
The post is basically a single room containing desks, blast monitoring equipment, bunks and a seperate WC, Power would have been provided by batteries, that could be charged by a generator above ground.
I’ve visited a few of these posts on my travels, but haven’t been to the Cold Overton post for around 12 years, on my last visit I took many photographs inside, but on this visit I wasn’t able to enter the bunker due to me working at the time and not suitably clothed for grubbing around in the dirt.
There’s more information about ROC posts on the Wiki for your perusal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observer_Corps_Monitoring_Post
I took a couple of exterior pics without getting too muddy.
I recently visited a customer who collects American cars.
Amongst his collection he has this beauty, a 1966 Chevrolet fire truck originally from the town of Lorraine, in Jefferson County, USA.
It’s in as-new condition, with only 1,200 miles on the clock.
– They obviously don’t have many fires in Lorraine…
Click on an image to enlarge.
Well, this blog has been short on entries lately, for which I apologise, it’s mainly due to the cold dank winter, and the lack of photo opportunities with decent light.
Anyroad to add to that, I can’t upload pics from my phone at the moment, dunno why…
I can still upload pics from the laptop though, like this nice winter scene of me getting stuck somewhere in Yorkcestershire.
Bear with me until I get this phone upload issue sorted, if I can’t, I’ll have to transfer pics to the laptop from the phone instead, which quite frankly is a pain in the bum.
Bye for now.
Now I know it’s 2017 going on 2018, but surely this sort of thing can’t be legal???
“A pair of comfy size 9 slippers and a happy ending? – No problem sir!”
This is Leicester, not Amsterdam…
Don’t ever be afraid of the Daleks, they’re really quite friendly, and will do anything for a few drops of WD40…
I have a tough job, – but I guess somebody has to do it!
Now where’s that heated seat switch? 🙂
I recently took a trip far oop North to the village of Nenthead, to hook up with some friends, both old and new.
The plan was to explore some of the lead mines that are prolific in the area, and stay in a lovely little bunkhouse on the site of the old mines. http://www.millcottagebunkhouse.co.uk/
Lead and silver has been mined in this area for the last 200 years, but nowadays only hardy souls venture deep under the Pennines, following the footsteps of the miners of old.
More info here: http://www.nentheadmines.com/
After many hours clambering about in the dark, wet underworld spread over two days, and quality time spent in some local hostelries, sampling local foods and beers, whilst talking mostly bollocks, the weekend was over too soon… 😦
Truly, a weekend to remember.
Click on an image to enlarge it.
My days in words and pictures. 