Heavily overcast noonish at 1 pm and pretty much in shade.

The measured EV was 10,5 roughly so the exposure was calculated to 18 min at f/8 using the reliable Tessar 180 mm for this half plate test of a new batch of 4 sheets to take to Italy this coming Sunday.

By the end of the exposure the light deteriorated further and was EV 9,5

To compensate for loss of light during exposure I chose to use a stronger developer, 1 % instead of the usual 0,8% Gallic Acid. The image started to appear fast just 10 min after adding the accelerator (acetonitrate) .

Canson Marker Layout paper for Pelegry variation of calotype.

June 16, 2019

  

The diecast drought here in my part of the U.K. continues even as the school holidays are in full swing and tales of various MBX batches including H appearing in Poundland and Poundworld stores only makes things more frustrating as none of mine so far stock any! Even new batches of Hot Wheels are impossible to find at the squillions of local stockists who normally do with Poundland of all places now neck and neck with everyone else! To console myself I've done a bit of Tomica shopping on Ebay and bagged myself one of their latest castings in the form of this gorgeous Abarth badged 124 Spider. The market for low cost roadsters now seems to be declining in the face of SUV's and Crossovers but thanks to a tie up with Mazda Fiat recently introduced their gorgeous 124 Spider and its seen here Abarth performance version. Being a Tomica you get a beautifully cast little model which in their usual style is extremely well presented and nicely detailed and even features a very easy to remove hardtop which makes it look even sexier. With a nice array of Eurocentric castings its a real shame models like this don't appear in U.K. stockists, indeed the last time I saw Tomica sold as singles here was at Toymaster back in the early 1990's! Mint and boxed.

I have got most of the new batch of the enviro's only posted this one as they are all in the same livery.

Another of that newer batch of DB186's for international traffic.

Just as I predicted, my zany girlfriend Leslie Anne got a new batch of Peeps as soon as they arrived at the grocery store.

The new batch of Otokar/Kent C BUS 834 - BUS 861 have arrived and most if not all have now entered service.

At least two are branded for the airport services, but unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photograph of them on this trip.

One of the new batch of vehicles now working from Rusholme Depot after service in Glasgow operating Commonwealth Games Shuttles.

One of the new batch of Alexander-Dennis Enviro400 EVs for route 36 is 2206 (SK74 AYG), pictured in Station Parade, Harrogate.

Apart of the new batch of 2025 Yutong U11DD's ordered for Explore Dundee.

 

SG25JJK is on loan to Mcgills West Scotland trial out of Inchinnan Depot on the X23 to see how the battery life lasts on the express routes.

Surely due for replacement now that the new batch of Enviros (261-275) has arrived, PVL 170 still soldiers on...

 

A new batch of old style ADL Enviro 200's have taken over route 164 for a new contract. SE276 is seen here in Wimbledon and this bus entered service on 2nd January.

 

The route's previous allocation of Optare Esteem bodied E200's has moved over to Camberwell to displace the ELS class from route 42.

A shot taken during a snowshoe hike in Muskoka Canada. In a few weeks, the maple sap will start running to provide a new batch of Maple Syrup - The most Canadian of delicacies.

Seen running round its train at Peterborough's Nene Valley station is British Rail Class 50, 50008 'Thunderer'.

 

Perhaps one of the most legendary diesels to hit the UK rails, the Class 50's became a staple of the British Rail diesel fleet, and became the mainstay of many important routes well into the 1990's.

 

The origins of the Class 50 lie in an invitation from the British Transport Commission (BTC) to manufacturers to produce a design for a Diesel locomotive with a gross power output of at least 2500hp. In order to produce a prototype quickly, English Electric based their design on that for their Deltic locomotives which were then in production. Other parts related to another current design, the Class 37s were also used. The result was DP2, a 2700hp Diesel-electric locomotive weighing 107 tons and with a top speed of 100mph. The prototype was delivered to British Rail in May 1962

 

The prototype was deemed successful and negotiations took place with English Electric for a production batch of 50 locomotives for use on the Eastern Region. English Electric intended to build the new batch as similar to DP2 as possible but the British Railways Board (successor to the BTC) had produced a standard locomotive cab with a flat front and headcode box and also had specific requirements relating to the engine room and other equipment. English Electric produced several alternative front-end designs including one with a wrap-around windscreen but the standard front-end design was eventually adopted for the class.

 

The complete production run of 50 locomotives was built in just over a year and numbered from D400 to D449. D400 entered service in October 1967 and deliveries were completed with D449 in November 1968. Unusually, the ownership of the locomotives remained with the manufacturer and they were operated by British Rail on a 10-year lease which included certain stipulations relating to availability.

 

The class was built for working passenger services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) north of Crewe, to Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. Services south of Crewe would generally be worked by an electric locomotive, with the Class 50s taking over for the journeys that continued north. Initially trains were hauled by a single locomotive, but from May 1970 they were paired on most Anglo-Scottish services north of Crewe, allowing greatly accelerated timings to be applied (including a six-hour schedule for the "Royal Scot" London Euston-Glasgow Central and v.v. service). Once the electric service was introduced as far as Preston, this double-heading by Cl.50s transferred there, although poor availability often resulted in single-heading with consequent delays. The ability to operate using multiple working had been part of the locomotive's initial design brief, but only two of the class had the facility from new, but with the introduction of the regular double headed duties, this facility was fitted to the whole class.

 

By 1974 the northern WCML was electrified, and the Class 50 fleet was displaced by new Class 87 electrics. The fleet was transferred to the Western Region, working mainline passenger services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line to destinations such as Oxford, Bristol Temple Meads, Plymouth and Penzance. It was not unusual for locomotives to work services on other routes, such as the Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads corridor. The introduction of the Class 50s on these routes enabled the last remaining, non-standard, diesel hydraulic "Westerns" to be withdrawn.

 

In the late-1970s, following a period where the policy of locomotive naming had been abandoned, BR were persuaded to name the class 50s after Royal Navy Vessels with notable records in the First and Second World Wars. As a result, the first locomotive naming occurred in January 1978, when 50035 was named Ark Royal by the captain and crew of then current aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The rest of the fleet was named during the course of the next few years.

 

From 1977, British Rail introduced the Class 253 High Speed Trains onto the Great Western Main Line which began the displacement of the Class 50 fleet onto other routes, such as services to Birmingham New Street from London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads. The class also found work on the West of England Main Line from London Waterloo to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth. However, due in part to the over-complexity of the design, the class was plagued with reliability problems. As a result, the decision was taken in the late 1970s to refurbish the entire fleet.

 

To deal with increasing reliability problems, the Class 50 fleet was refurbished at Doncaster Works between 1979 and 1984. Doncaster had taken responsibility for the fleet after BR completed the purchase of the locomotives from English Electric. The work involved simplifying the complex electronics and removing redundant features such as slow speed control and rheostatic braking. In addition, the air intake fan arrangement was modified, because the original setup often prevented fresh air from entering the engine room and stale, oil mist-filled air from escaping, leading to many main generator failures. This was in part due to the moisture in the air in the UK: dust and other particles would lodge in the filter system and become 'gummed up' with moisture, preventing circulation which in turn also hampered the intended engine compartment pressure levels which then meant 'filtered' air could not be evacuated by the intended means. The filtration system was fundamentally sound and widely used in other countries; the problems arose because relative humidity had not been taken into account at the design stage. This modification eliminated the characteristic "sucking" noise which had earned the "Hoover" nickname.

 

Externally, the locomotives all received high-intensity headlights, which changed the appearance of the front end. Starting with 50006, the first six locomotives were outshopped in the standard BR Blue livery. However, in 1980, 50023 Howe became the first to be outshopped in a revised livery with wrap around yellow cabs, large bodyside numerals and BR logo, in a livery that became known as BR Blue Large Logo. The final loco to be refurbished was 50014 which was released to traffic in the latter half of 1983.

 

Following refurbishment, the fleet was concentrated at two depots; Laira in Plymouth, and Old Oak Common in west London. The class were again used for Western Region services on the GWML out of Paddington, and on the West of England Main Line from Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter.

 

In 1984, 50007 Hercules was repainted into lined Brunswick green livery and renamed Sir Edward Elgar, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway (GWR). Four Class 47 locomotives were similarly treated, and a Class 117 diesel multiple unit (DMU) was repainted in chocolate and cream livery. As a result, 50007 quickly became a favourite with rail enthusiasts. Another locomotive repainted in a special livery was 50019 Ramillies, which was repainted in a variation of BR Blue by staff at Plymouth Laira depot.

 

In 1986 the West of England Main Line came under the control of the Network SouthEast (NSE) sector, which saw the introduction of their bright blue, red and white livery. The first locomotive in this livery was again 50023 Howe. The NSE livery had two versions; the original had upswept red and white stripes and the ends, with a white cab surround; the revised livery introduced in 1988 had the red and white stripes continue to the body ends, with a blue cab surround. In the revised livery the blue became a darker shade.

 

Towards the end of the 1980s, the fleet could be found mostly on the West of England route, as well as fast services from Paddington to Oxford. Some locomotives were also transferred to the civil engineers department to work maintenance and engineering trains. Around this time, the first locomotives were withdrawn, starting with 50011 Centurion in early 1987. This locomotive's nameplates were later transferred to 50040, which was previously named Leviathan. A further two locomotives, 50006 Neptune and 50014 Warspite were withdrawn in 1987, followed by a further five locomotives in 1988 (50010/13/22/38/47).

 

In 1987, consideration was given to using the class on freight trains. To this end, 50049 "Defiance" was renumbered to 50149, equipped with modified Class 37, lower-geared bogies and outshopped in the new trainload grey livery with Railfreight General decals. It was based at Plymouth Laira depot, and tested on local china clay trains in Cornwall as well as heavy stone trains to London from Devon quarries. The project was, however, not an outstanding success, and by 1989, the locomotive had returned to its original identity. Ironically, the electronic anti-wheelslip equipment (with which, the entire class had originally been built) which would have been key to the success of this experiment had been removed during the refurbishment process.

 

At the start of the 1990s, the reliability of the fleet became a problem again. By this time, the class was solely used on the West of England route, having been replaced on the Oxford route by Class 47/7 locomotives. Arguably, the Class 50s were not suitable for the stop-start service pattern of Waterloo-Exeter services, nor to the extended single-line sections of this route, where a single locomotive failure could cause chaos. Therefore, the decision was taken to retire the fleet, temporarily replacing them with Class 47 locomotives, which were in turn replaced by new Diesel Multiple Units. From 1992, the Oxford route was worked by Class 165 and Class 166 units, whilst Class 159 units were introduced onto the West of England route in 1993.

 

By 1992, just eight locomotives remained in service, these being 50007/008/015/029/030/033/046/050. Several of these locomotives were specially repainted to commemorate the run-down of the fleet. The first-built locomotive, 50050 Fearless was renumbered D400 and painted in its original BR Blue livery. Two other locomotives, 50008 Thunderer and 50015 Valiant were also repainted, the former in a variation of BR Blue (the same as 50019 had previously carried), and the latter in "Dutch" civil-engineers grey/yellow livery. Of the final eight locomotives, three were retained until 1994 for use on special railtours, these being 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, 50033 Glorious and 50050 Fearless. 50007 was returned to working order using parts from 50046, which surrendered its recently overhauled power unit and bogies. By this time, 50050 had been repainted into Large Logo livery and 50007 also received a repaint into GWR green as the 1985 paint was wearing very thin. The final railtours operated in March 1994, during one of which 50033 was delivered for preservation at the National Railway Museum. The final railtour operated with 50007 and 50050 from London Waterloo to Penzance and returning to London Paddington. Both locomotives were later preserved.

 

Class 50 locomotives proved popular with rail enthusiasts, with eighteen locomotives saved for preservation and several subsequently registered for use on the mainline.

A yard full of yellow sits at my feet,

little tree feathers that cover the street,

They fly and scatter as the the winds blow them round,

and under my feet make a soft crunchy sound.

I gather them up and rake in a pile,

when I jump in the middle they bring out my smile.

I could rake them all up and take them away but then I would miss the suprise of each day,

as new patterns are made when new batches fall down,

new painting, new colors are drawn on the ground.

They come from this tree that grows higher each year,

floating down gently like God's yellow tears.

One day they were red buds unfolding to green, they gave me the cool shade from a sun hot and mean.

As autumn turned cooler they changed once again, from green now to yellow,

my bright little friends.

Twas a great tree of gold for one glorious week, till the winter rains came now they sit at my feet.

From yellow to brown they start their

decay and turn back into earch as

I shall one day.

It leaves me not sad for I know nature's plan,

the great circle of life for each leaf, tree and man.

 

c 2009 J Hammond

Click the link for more bliss filled photos and music. youtu.be/NqlvPk5Ze0Q

 

Help Save Lives - Wear a Mask & Donate Blood. Blessings.

 

PS: ask your music streaming service to play music by

JOHN WILLIAM HAMMOND (all 3 words) you will ENJOY!

A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Inner Asia. The structure consists of a flexible angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent as a roof. The roof structure is sometimes self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Yurts take between 30 minutes and 3 hours to set up or take down, and are generally used by between five and 15 people. Nomadic farming with yurts as housing has been the primary life style in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia, for thousands of years.

 

Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden or concrete platform; they may use modern materials such as metal framing, plastics, plexiglass dome, or radiant insulation.

 

Etymology and translations

Old Turkic yurt "tent, dwelling, abode, range" may have been derived from the Old Turkic word ur - verb with the suffix +Ut. In modern Turkish and Uzbek, the word "yurt" is used as the synonym of "homeland" or a "dormitory", while in modern Azerbaijani, "yurd" mainly signifies "homeland" or "motherland". In Russian, the structure is called "yurta" (юрта), whence the word came into English.

 

Translations

alaçıq/alaçık/alasıq – in use in Azerbaijani, Turkish and Bashkir languages.

гэр (transliterated: ger, [ˈɡɛr]) – in Mongolian simply means "cover, shell and home".

тирмә (transliterated: tirmä) is the Bashkir term for yurt.

киіз үй (transliterated: kiız üi, [kɪjɪz ʏj]) – the Kazakh word, and means "felt house".

боз үй (transliterated: boz üy, [bɔz yj]) – the Kyrgyz term meaning "grey house", because of the color of the felt.

ak öý ([ɑq œj], "white house") and gara öý ([ʁɑˈɾɑ œj], "black house") – in the Turkmen language, which term is used depends on its luxury and elegance.

qara u'y (IPA: [qɑrɑ́ ʉj]) and otaw ([uʊtɑ́w]) – in Karakalpak the first term means "black house", while the second means "a newborn family" and is used only to name a young family's yurt.

In Hungarian yurt is called "jurta". Besides the more scientific modern-era word "jurta", Hungarians in everyday life still use "sátor" for all tent-like dwellings, which could be the original word Hungarians used for yurts in historic times.

In Bulgarian yurt is called "юрта" (yurta).

"Kherga"/"Jirga" – Afghans call them.

"Khema" (خیمه /ख़ेमा) in Hindustani is the word for a yurt or a tent-like dwelling in India and Pakistan, from the Arabic: خَيْمَة

In Persian yurt is called چادر (châdor)

In Tajik the names are "yurt", "khona-i siyoh", "khayma" (юрт, хонаи сиёҳ, хайма).

өг (ög, Tuvan pronunciation: [œɣ]) is the Tuvan word for yurt.

кереге (kerege, /keɾeɣe/) is the Southern Altai word for a yurt made from felt.

A Yaranga is a tent-like traditional mobile home of some nomadic Northern indigenous peoples of Russia, such as Chukchi and Siberian Yupik.

 

History

Yurts have been a distinctive feature of life in Central Asia for at least two and a half thousand years. The first written description of a yurt used as a dwelling was recorded by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He described yurt-like tents as the dwelling place of the Scythians, a horse riding-nomadic nation who lived in the northern Black Sea and Central Asian region from around 600 BC to AD 300.

 

Yurts beyond Central Asia

As popularity grew, it extended beyond Central Asia. In the 13th century, during the height of the Mongol Empire, yurts were introduced to parts of Europe and the Middle East. Marco Polo's writings even mentioned the use of yurts in the court of Kublai Khan. In more recent history, yurts have gained attention in the West for their unique aesthetics and practicality.

 

Construction

Traditional yurts consist of an expanding wooden circular frame carrying a felt cover. The felt is made from the wool of the flocks of sheep that accompany the pastoralists. The timber to make the external structure is not to be found on the treeless steppes, and must be obtained by trade in the valleys below.

 

The frame consists of one or more expanding lattice wall-sections, a door frame, bent roof poles, and a crown. The Mongolian ger has one or more columns to support the crown and straight roof poles. The (self-supporting) wood frame is covered with pieces of felt. Depending on availability, felt is additionally covered with canvas and/or sun covers. The frame is held together with one or more ropes or ribbons. The structure is kept under compression by the weight of the covers, sometimes supplemented by a heavy weight hung from the center of the roof. They vary in size and relative weight. They provide a large amount of insulation and protection from the outside cold of winters, and they are easily changed to keep the yurts cool for summertime.

 

A yurt is designed to be dismantled and the parts are carried compactly on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site. Complete construction takes around 2 hours

 

Insulation and decoration, symbolism

The traditional insulation and decoration within a yurt primarily consists of pattern-based woollen felted rugs. These patterns are generally not according to taste, but are derived from sacred ornaments with certain symbolism. Symbols representing strength are, for instance, the temdeg or khas (swastika), the four powerful beasts (lion, tiger, garuda – a kind of avian, and dragon), as well as stylized representations of the four elements (fire, water, earth, and air), considered to be the fundamental, unchanging elements of the cosmos. Such patterns are commonly used in the home with the belief that they will bring strength and offer protection.

 

Repeating geometric patterns are also widely used, like the continuous hammer or walking pattern (alkhan khee). Commonly used as a border decoration, it represents unending strength and constant movement. Another common pattern is the ulzii, a symbol of long life and happiness. The khamar ugalz (nose pattern) and ever ugalz (horn pattern) are derived from the shape of the animal's nose and horns, and are the oldest traditional patterns. All patterns can be found among not only the yurts themselves, but also on embroidery, furniture, books, clothing, doors, and other objects.

 

In Kyrgyz felted rug manufacturing the most common patterns are the Ala kiyiz and Shyrdak. Ornaments are visualising good wishes or blessings of the makers to a daughter who gets married, to children, or grandchildren.

 

The shangyrak or wooden crown of the yurt (Mongolian: тооно, [tɔːn]; Kazakh: шаңырақ, romanized: Shañıraq [ɕɑɴəɾɑ́q]; Kyrgyz: түндүк [tyndýk]; Turkmen: tüýnük) is itself emblematic in many Central Asian cultures. In old Kazakh communities, the yurt itself would often be repaired and rebuilt, but the shangyrak would remain intact, passed from father to son upon the father's death. A family's length of heritage could be measured by the accumulation of stains on the shangyrak from decades of smoke passing through it. A stylized version of the crown is in the center of the coat of arms of Kazakhstan, and forms the main image on the flag of Kyrgyzstan.

 

Today a yurt is seen as a national symbol among many Central Asian groups, and as such, yurts may be used as cafés (especially those specializing in traditional food), museums (especially those relating to national culture), and souvenir shops. In celebration of the city of Mary's year as Cultural Capital of the Turkic World, the government of Turkmenistan constructed a yurt-shaped structure, called Ak Öýi (White Building) and described as "The World's Largest Yurt", of concrete, granite, aluminum, and glass. Established on November 27, 2015, the structure is 35 meters high and 70 meters in diameter. According to the Turkmenistan state news agency, "A white yurt is a symbol of an age-old, distinctive historical-cultural legacy, a sign of preservation of our roots and origins." This three-story structure includes a café, offices, and VIP apartments ,as well as a large auditorium with 3,000 seats.

 

Buddhism in Mongolia

The design of the Mongolian ger developed from its ancient simple forms to actively integrate with Buddhist culture. The crown—toono adopted the shape of Dharmachakra. The earlier style of toono, nowadays more readily found in Central Asian yurts, is called in Mongolia "sarkhinag toono," while the toono representing Buddhist dharmachakra is called "khorlo" (Tibetan འཀོར་ལོ།) toono. Also the shapes, colors, and ornaments of the wooden elements—toono, pillars, and poles of the Mongolian yurt—are in accord with the artistic style found in Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia. Such yurts are called "uyangiin ger", literally meaning "home of lyrics" or "home of melodies".

 

Westernization

Enthusiasts in other countries have adapted the visual idea of the yurt, a round, semi-permanent tent. Although those structures may be copied to some extent from the originals found in Central Asia, they often have some different features in their design to adapt them to different climate and uses.

 

In Canada and the United States, yurts are often made using hi-tech materials. They can be highly engineered and built for extreme weather conditions. In addition, erecting one can take days and it may not be intended to be frequently moved. Such North American yurts are better thought of as yurt derivations, as they are no longer round felt homes that are easy to mount, dismount, and transport. North American yurts and yurt derivations were pioneered by William Coperthwaite in the 1960s, after he was inspired to build them by a National Geographic article about Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's visit to Mongolia.

 

In 1978, American company Pacific Yurts became the first to manufacture yurts using architectural fabrics and structural engineering, paving the way for yurts to become popular attractions at ski resorts and campgrounds. Yurts are also popular in Northern Canada. In 1993, Oregon became the first state to incorporate yurts into its Parks Department as year-round camping facilities. Since then, at least 17 other US States have introduced yurt camping into their own parks departments.

 

In Europe, a closer approximation to the Mongolian and Central Asian yurt is in production in several countries. These tents use local hardwood, and often are made for a wetter climate with steeper roof profiles and waterproof canvas. In essence they are yurts, but some lack the felt cover and ornate features across the exterior that is present in traditional yurt. There are UK-made yurts that feature a metal frame in use in at least two glamping sites in Somerset and Dorset.

 

The palloza is a traditional building found in the Serra dos Ancares in Galicia (NW Spain). Pallozas have stone walls and a conical roof made of stalks of rye.

 

Different groups and individuals use yurts for a variety of purposes, from full-time housing to school rooms. In some provincial parks in Canada, and state parks in several US states, permanent yurts are available for camping.

 

Since the late 1920s the German youth and Scouting movements have adapted a variant of the yurt and the Sami Lavvu (Kohte), calling them Schwarzzelt (black tent), a term mainly used for tents from North Africa.

 

Ergaki Nature Park (Russian: Природный парк Ергаки, also referred to as Irgaki) is located in located in the Ergaki mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia. The park was established in 2005 and it is referred to as the "Russian Yosemite".

 

Background

On April 4, 2005, Ergaki Nature Park was established as a protected area of Siberia. The purpose of the nature park designation was to protect and preserve the area and resources while also developing tourism. The Western Sayan Mountains are in the park and they were thought to be an area which would attract recreational tourism. The park covers an area of over 217,000 ha (540,000 acres).

 

History

The park is in the in Krasnoyarsk Krai and it is a popular tourist area. It is known for its recreational uses and there is a hiking trail which is 35 km (22 mi) long. The trail was started in 2005 and it takes tourists through the park passing glacial lakes, mountains, canyons and rivers with waterfall features. It is recommended that hikers allow themselves three to five days to complete the trail. The trail ends at Lake Raduzhnoe, which is below a natural feature and attraction known as the Hanging Stone. One quarter of the park is off limits to visitors so that the areas are not disturbed. Threats to the park include tourism, poaching, and logging. The park is monitored by the Natural Park Protection Service.

 

Features

The park also has a rock ridge known as 'Sleeping Sayan". The ridge appears to be a silhouette of a man lying on his back. Authorities say that the park was visited by 120 thousand tourists per year. Many of the peaks have been given names, like Mirror, Bird, Star, Dragon's Tooth and Cone.

 

The highest point found in the park is found in the Aradansky mountain range: it is 2,466 m (8,091 ft). The second highest is found in the middle of the Ergaki mountains (Zvezdny peak) 2,265 m (7,431 ft). Also within the park is a natural feature called the Hanging Stone. It is large stone which seems to teeter on the cliff face perched high above Lake Raduzhnoyeke.

 

Flora

There park has hundreds of different mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi. The park is estimated to have 1,500 different species of vascular plants. There are more than fifty species of the Asteraceae flowering plants. There are Ergakov mushrooms which have not been the subject of studies.

 

Siberia is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its various predecessor states since the centuries-long conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in the late 16th century and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over 13.1 million square kilometres (5,100,000 sq mi), but home to roughly a quarter of Russia's population. Novosibirsk and Omsk are the largest cities in the area.

 

Because Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. It is further defined as stretching from the territories within the Arctic Circle in the north to the northern borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China in the south, although the hills of north-central Kazakhstan are also commonly included. The Russian government divides the region into three federal districts (groupings of Russian federal subjects), of which only the central one is officially referred to as "Siberian"; the other two are the Ural and Far Eastern federal districts, named for the Ural and Russian Far East regions that correspond respectively to the western and eastern thirds of Siberia in the broader sense.

 

Siberia is known for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 °C (−13 °F). Although it is geographically in Asia, Russian sovereignty and colonization since the 16th century have rendered the region culturally and ethnically European. Over 85% of its population are of European descent, chiefly Russian (comprising the Siberian sub-ethnic group), and Eastern Slavic cultural influences predominate throughout the region.[7] Nevertheless, there exist sizable ethnic minorities of Asian lineage, including various Turkic communities—many of which, such as the Yakuts, Tuvans, Altai, and Khakas, are Indigenous—along with the Mongolic Buryats, ethnic Koreans, and smaller groups of Samoyedic and Tungusic peoples (several of whom are classified as Indigenous small-numbered peoples by the Russian government), among many others.

 

The early history of Siberia was greatly influenced by the sophisticated nomadic civilizations of the Scythians (Pazyryk) on the west of the Ural Mountains and Xiongnu (Noin-Ula) on the east of the Urals, both flourishing before the common era. The steppes of Siberia were occupied by a succession of nomadic peoples, including the Khitan people,[citation needed] various Turkic peoples, and the Mongol Empire. In the Late Middle Ages, Tibetan Buddhism spread into the areas south of Lake Baikal.

 

During the Russian Empire, Siberia was chiefly developed as an agricultural province. The government also used it as a place of exile, sending Avvakum, Dostoevsky, and the Decemberists, among others, to work camps in the region. During the 19th century, the Trans-Siberian Railway was constructed, supporting industrialization. This was also aided by discovery and exploitation of vast reserves of Siberian mineral resources.

 

Prehistory and antiquity

According to the field of genetic genealogy, people first resided in Siberia by 45,000 BCE and spread out east and west to populate Europe and the Americas, including the prehistoric Jomon people of Japan, who are the ancestors of the modern Ainu.

 

According to Vasily Radlov, among the Paleo-Siberian inhabitants of Central Siberia were the Yeniseians, who spoke a language different from the later Uralic and Turkic people. The Kets are considered the last remainder of this early migration. Migrants are estimated to have crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America more than 20,000 years ago.

 

The shores of all Siberian lakes, which filled the depressions during the Lacustrine period, abound in remains dating from the Neolithic age. Countless kurgans (tumuli), furnaces, and other archaeological artifacts bear witness to a dense population. Some of the earliest artifacts found in Central Asia derive from Siberia.

 

The Yeniseians were followed by the Uralic Samoyeds, who came from the northern Ural region. Some descendant cultures, such as the Selkup, remain in the Sayan region. Iron was unknown to them, but they excelled in bronze, silver, and gold work. Their bronze ornaments and implements, often polished, evince considerable artistic taste. They developed and managed irrigation to support their agriculture in wide areas of the fertile tracts.

 

Indo-Iranian influences in southwestern Siberia can be dated to the 2300–1000 BCE Andronovo culture. Between the 7th and 3rd centuries BCE, the Indo-Iranian Scythians flourished in the Altai region (Pazyryk culture). They were a major influence on all later steppe empires.

 

As early as the first millennium BCE, trade was underway over the Silk Road. Silk goods were imported and traded in Siberia.

 

The establishment of the Xiongnu empire in the 3rd century BCE started a series of population movements. Many people were probably driven to the northern borders of the great Central Siberian Plateau. Turkic people such as the Yenisei Kirghiz had already been present in the Sayan region. Various Turkic tribes such as the Khaka and Uyghur migrated northwestwards from their former seats and subdued the Ugric people.

 

These new invaders likewise left numerous traces of their stay, and two different periods may be easily distinguished from their remains. They were acquainted with iron, and learned from their subjects the art of bronze casting, which they used for decorative purposes only. They refined the artistry of this work. Their pottery is more artistic and of a higher quality than that of the Bronze Age. Their ornaments are included among the collections at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

 

Middle Ages

The Mongols had long maintained relations with the people of the Siberian forest (taiga). They called them oin irged ("people of the forest"). Many of them, such as the Barga and Uriankhai, were little different from the Mongols. While the tribes around Lake Baikal were Mongol-speaking, those to the west spoke Turkic, Samoyedic, or Yeniseian languages.

 

By 1206, Genghis Khan had united all Mongol and Turkic tribes on the Mongolian Plateau and southern Siberia. In 1207 his eldest son Jochi subjugated the Siberian forest people, the Uriankhai, the Oirats, Barga, Khakas, Buryats, Tuvans, Khori-Tumed, and Kyrgyz. He then organized the Siberians into three tumens. Genghis Khan gave the Telengit and Tolos along the Irtysh River to an old companion, Qorchi. While the Barga, Tumed, Buriats, Khori, Keshmiti, and Bashkirs were organized in separate thousands, the Telengit, Tolos, Oirats and Yenisei Kirghiz were numbered as tumens. Genghis created a settlement of ethnic Han craftsmen and farmers at Kem-kemchik after the first phase of the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty. The Great Khans favored gyrfalcons, furs, women and Kyrgyz horses for tribute.

 

Western Siberia came under the Golden Horde.[9] The descendants of Orda Khan, the eldest son of Jochi, directly ruled the area. In the swamps of western Siberia, dog sled Yam stations were set up to facilitate collection of tribute.

 

In 1270, Kublai Khan sent an ethnic Han official, with a new batch of settlers, to serve as the judge of the Kyrgyz and Tuvan basin areas (益蘭州 and 謙州). Ögedei's grandson Kaidu occupied portions of Central Siberia from 1275 on. The Yuan dynasty army under Kublai's Kipchak general Tutugh reoccupied the Kyrgyz lands in 1293. From then on the Yuan dynasty controlled large portions of Central and Eastern Siberia.

 

The Yenisei area had a community of weavers of ethnic Han origin. Samarkand and Outer Mongolia both had artisans of Han origin.

 

Novgorod and Muscovy

As early as the 11th century the Novgorodians had occasionally penetrated into Siberia.[4] In the 14th century the Novgorodians explored the Kara Sea and the West Siberian river Ob (1364). After the fall of the Novgorod Republic its communications between Northern Russia and Siberia were inherited by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. On May 9, 1483, the Moscow troops of Princes Feodor Kurbski-Cherny and Ivan Saltyk-Travin moved to West Siberia. The troops moved on the rivers Tavda, Tura, Irtysh, up to the River Ob. In 1499 Muscovites and Novgorodians skied to West Siberia, up to the river Ob, and conquered some local tribes.

 

Khanate of Sibir

With the breakup of the Golden Horde late in the 15th century, the Khanate of Sibir was founded with its center at Tyumen. The non-Borjigin Taybughid dynasty vied for rule with the descendants of Shiban, a son of Jochi.

 

In the beginning of the 16th century Tatar fugitives from Turkestan subdued the loosely associated tribes inhabiting the lowlands to the east of the Ural Mountains. Agriculturists, tanners, merchants, and mullahs (Muslim clerics) were brought from Turkestan, and small principalities sprang up on the Irtysh and the Ob. These were united by Khan Yadegar Mokhammad of Kazan. Conflicts with the Russians, who were then colonising the Urals, brought him into collision with Muscovy. Khan Yadegar's envoys came to Moscow in 1555 and consented to a yearly tribute of a thousand sables.

 

Yermak and the Cossacks

In the mid-16th century, the Tsardom of Russia conquered the Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, thus annexing the entire Volga Region and making the way to the Ural Mountains open. The colonisation of the new easternmost lands of Russia and further onslaught eastward was led by the rich merchants Stroganovs. Tsar Ivan IV granted large estates near the Urals as well as tax privileges to Anikey Stroganov, who organized large scale migration to these lands. Stroganovs developed farming, hunting, saltworks, fishing, and ore mining on the Urals and established trade with Siberian tribes.

 

In the 1570s, the entrepreneur Semyon Stroganov and other sons of Anikey Stroganov enlisted many cossacks for protection of the Ural settlements against attacks by the Tatars of the Siberian Khanate, led by Khan Kuchum. Stroganov suggested to their chief Yermak, hired in 1577, to conquer the Khanate of Sibir, promising to help him with supplies of food and arms.

 

In 1581, Yermak began his voyage into the depths of Siberia with a band of 1,636 men, following the Tagil and Tura Rivers. The following year they were on the Tobol, and 500 men successfully laid siege to Qashliq, the residence of Khan Kuchum, near what is now Tobolsk. After a few victories over the khan's army, Yermak's people defeated the main forces of Kuchum on Irtysh River after a 3-day battle of Chuvash Cape in 1582. The remains of the khan's army retreated to the steppes, abandoning his domains to Yermak, who, according to tradition, by presenting Siberia to tsar Ivan IV achieved his own restoration to favour.

 

Kuchum was still strong and suddenly attacked Yermak in 1585 in the dead of night, killing most of his people. Yermak was wounded and tried to swim across the Wagay River (Irtysh's tributary), but drowned under the weight of his own chain mail. Yermak's Cossacks had to withdraw from Siberia completely, but every year new bands of hunters and adventurers, supported by Moscow, poured into the country. Thanks to Yermak's having explored all the main river routes in West Siberia, Russians successfully reclaimed all of Yermak's conquests just several years later.

 

Russian exploration and settlement

Siberian river routes were of primary importance in the process of Russian exploration and conquest of Siberia.

In the early 17th century, the eastward movement of Russian people was slowed by the internal problems in the country during the Time of Troubles. However, very soon the exploration and colonization of the huge territories of Siberia was resumed, led mostly by Cossacks hunting for valuable furs and ivory. While Cossacks came from the Southern Urals, another wave of Russian people came by the Arctic Ocean. These were Pomors from the Russian North, who had already been making fur trade with Mangazeya in the north of the Western Siberia for quite a long time. In 1607 the settlement of Turukhansk was founded on the northern Yenisey River, near the mouth of the Lower Tunguska, and in 1619 Yeniseysky ostrog was founded on the mid-Yenisey at the mouth of the Upper Tunguska.

 

In 1620, a group of fur hunters led by the semi-legendary Demid Pyanda started out from Turukhansk on what would become a very protracted journey. According to folk tales related a century after the fact, in the three and a half years from 1620 to 1624 Pyanda allegedly traversed the total of 4,950 miles (7,970 km) of hitherto unknown large Siberian rivers. He explored some 1,430 miles (2,300 km) of the Lower Tunguska (Nizhnyaya Tunguska in Russian) and, having reached the upper part of the Tunguska, he came upon the great Siberian river Lena and explored some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of its length. By doing this, he may have become the first Russian to reach Yakutia and meet Yakuts. He returned up the Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and by land reached Angara. In this way, Pyanda may have become the first Russian to meet Buryats. He built new boats and explored some 870 miles (1,400 km) of the Angara, finally reaching Yeniseysk and discovering that the Angara (a Buryat name) and Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska, as initially known by the Russian people) were one and the same river.

 

In 1627, Pyotr Beketov was appointed Yenisey voevoda in Siberia. He successfully carried out the voyage to collect taxes from Zabaykalye Buryats, becoming the first Russian to enter Buryatia. There he founded the first Russian settlement, Rybinsky ostrog. Beketov was sent to the Lena River in 1631, where in 1632 he founded Yakutsk and sent his Cossacks to explore the Aldan and further down the Lena, to found new fortresses, and to collect taxes.

 

Yakutsk soon turned into a major base for further Russian expeditions eastward, southward and northward. Maksim Perfilyev, who earlier had been one of the founders of Yeniseysk, founded Bratsky ostrog in 1631, and in 1638 he became the first Russian to enter Transbaikalia. In 1639 a group led by Ivan Moskvitin became the first Russian to reach the Pacific Ocean and to discover the Sea of Okhotsk, having built a winter camp on its shore at the Ulya River mouth. The Cossacks learned from the locals about the proximity of the Amur River. In 1640 they apparently sailed south, explored the south-eastern shores of the Okhotsk Sea, maybe even reaching the mouth of the Amur River and discovering the Shantar Islands on their return voyage. Based on Moskvitin's account, Kurbat Ivanov draw the first Russian map of the Far East in 1642. He led a group of Cossacks himself in 1643 to the south of the Baikal Mountains and discovered Lake Baikal, visiting its Olkhon Island. Subsequently, Ivanov made the first chart and description of Baikal.

 

In 1643, Vasily Poyarkov crossed the Stanovoy Range and reached the upper Zeya River in the country of the Daurs, who were paying tribute to Manchu Chinese. After wintering, in 1644 Poyarkov pushed down the Zeya and became the first Russian to reach the Amur River. He sailed down the Amur and finally discovered the mouth of that great river from land. Since his Cossacks provoked the enmity of the locals behind, Poyarkov chose a different way back. They built boats and in 1645 sailed along the Sea of Okhotsk coast to the Ulya River and spent the next winter in the huts that had been built by Ivan Moskvitin six years earlier. In 1646 they returned to Yakutsk.

 

In 1644, Mikhail Stadukhin discovered the Kolyma River and founded Srednekolymsk. A merchant named Fedot Alekseyev Popov organized a further expedition eastward, and Dezhnyov became a captain of one of the kochi. In 1648 they sailed from Srednekolymsk down to the Arctic and after some time they rounded Cape Dezhnyov, thus becoming the first explorers to pass through Bering Strait and to discover Chukotka and the Bering Sea. All their kochi and most of their men (including Popov) were lost in storms and clashes with the natives. A small group led by Dezhnyov reached the mouth of the Anadyr River and sailed up it in 1649, having built new boats out of the wreckage. They founded Anadyrsk and were stranded there, until Stadukhin found them, coming from Kolyma by land. Later Stadukhin set off to the south in 1651 and discovered Penzhin Bay on the northern side of the Okhotsk Sea. He also may have explored the western shores of Kamchatka as early as the 1650s.

 

In 1649–50, Yerofey Khabarov became the second Russian to explore the Amur River. Through the Olyokma, Tungur and Shilka Rivers he reached the Amur (Dauria), returned to Yakutsk and then went back to the Amur with a larger force in 1650–53. This time he was met with armed resistance. He built winter quarters at Albazin, then sailed down the Amur and found Achansk, which preceded the present-day Khabarovsk, defeating or evading large armies of Daurian Manchu Chinese and Koreans on his way. He charted the Amur in his Draft of the Amur river.

 

In 1659–65, Kurbat Ivanov was the next head of Anadyrsky ostrog after Semyon Dezhnyov. In 1660, he sailed from Anadyr Bay to Cape Dezhnyov. Atop his earlier pioneering charts, he is credited with creation of the early map of Chukotka and Bering Strait, which was the first to show on paper (very schematically) the yet undiscovered Wrangel Island, both Diomede Islands and Alaska.

 

So, by the mid-17th century, the Russian people had established the borders of their country close to the modern ones, and explored almost the whole of Siberia, except eastern Kamchatka and some regions north of the Arctic Circle. The conquest of Kamchatka would be completed later, in the early 18th century by Vladimir Atlasov, while the discovery of the Arctic coastline and Alaska would be nearly completed by the Great Northern Expedition in 1733–1743. The expedition allowed cartographers to create a map of most of the northern coastline of Russia, thanks to the results brought by a series of voyages led by Fyodor Minin, Dmitry Ovtsyn, Vasili Pronchishchev, Semyon Chelyuskin, Dmitry Laptev and Khariton Laptev. At the same time, some of the members of the newly founded Russian Academy of Sciences traveled extensively through Siberia, forming the so-called Academic Squad of the Expedition. They were Johann Georg Gmelin, Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt and others, who became the first scientific explorers of Siberia.

 

Russian people and Siberian natives

The main treasure to attract Cossacks to Siberia was the fur of sables, foxes, and ermines. Explorers brought back many furs from their expeditions. Local people, submitting to the Russian Empire, received defense from the southern nomads. In exchange they were obliged to pay yasak (tribute) in the form of furs. There was a set of yasachnaya roads, used to transport yasak to Moscow.

 

A number of peoples showed open resistance to Russian people. Others submitted and even requested to be subordinated, though sometimes they later refused to pay yasak, or not admitted to the Russian authority.

 

There is evidence of collaboration and assimilation of Russian people with the local peoples in Siberia. Though the more Russian people advanced to the East, the less developed the local people were, and the more resistance they offered. In 1607–1610, the Tungus fought strenuously for their independence, but were subdued around 1623. The Buryats also offered some opposition, but were swiftly pacified. The most resistance was offered by the Koryak (on the Kamchatka Peninsula) and Chukchi (on the Chukchi Peninsula), the latter still being at the Stone Age level of development. Resistance by local people may have been the result of forced unfair terms, that recorders would have benefitted from omitting.

 

The Manchu resistance, however, obliged the Russian Cossacks to quit Albazin, and by the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) Russia abandoned her advance into the basin of the river, instead concentrating on the colonisation of the vast expanses of Siberia and trading with China via the Siberian trakt. In 1852, a Russian military expedition under Nikolay Muravyov explored the Amur, and by 1857 a chain of Russian Cossacks and peasants were settled along the whole course of the river. The accomplished fact was recognised by China in 1860 by the Treaty of Aigun.

 

The scientific exploration of Siberia, commenced in the period of 1720 to 1742 by Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt, Johann Georg Gmelin, and Louis de l'Isle de la Croyère, was followed up by Gerhard Friedrich Müller, Johann Eberhard Fischer, and Johann Gottlieb Georgi. Peter Simon Pallas, with several Russian students, laid the first foundation of a thorough exploration of the topography, fauna, flora, and inhabitants of the country. The journeys of Christopher Hansteen and Georg Adolf Erman were the most important step in the exploration of the territory. Alexander von Humboldt, Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, and Gustav Rose also paid short visits to Siberia, which gave a new impulse to the accumulation of scientific knowledge; while Carl Ritter elaborated in his Asien (1832–1859) the foundations of a sound knowledge of the structure of Siberia. Aleksandr Fyodorovich Middendorf's journey (1843–1845) to north-eastern Siberia — contemporaneous with Matthias Castrén's journeys for the special study of the Ural-Altaic languages — directed attention to the far north and awakened interest in the Amur, the basin of which soon became the scene of the expeditions of Akhte and Schwarz (1852), and later on of the Siberian expedition, advanced knowledge of East Siberia.

 

The Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society was founded at the same time in Irkutsk, and afterwards became a permanent centre for the exploration of Siberia; while the opening of the Amur and Sakhalin attracted Richard Maack, Schmidt, Glehn, Gustav Radde, and Leopold von Schrenck, who created works on the flora, fauna, and inhabitants of Siberia.

 

Russian settlement

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Russian people that migrated into Siberia were hunters, and those who had escaped from Central Russia: fugitive peasants in search for life free of serfdom, fugitive convicts, and Old Believers. The new settlements of Russian people and the existing local peoples required defence from nomads, for which forts were founded. This way forts of Tomsk and Berdsk were founded.

 

In the beginning of the 18th century, the threat of the nomads' attacks weakened; thus the region became more and more populated; normal civic life was established in the cities.

 

In the 18th century in Siberia, a new administrative guberniya was formed with Irkutsk, then in the 19th century the territory was several times re-divided with creation of new guberniyas: Tomsk (with center in Tomsk) and Yenisei (Yeniseysk, later Krasnoyarsk).

 

In 1730, the first large industrial project — the metallurgical production found by Demidov family — gave birth to the city of Barnaul. Later, the enterprise organized social institutions like library, club, theatre. Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, who stayed in Barnaul in 1856–1857, wrote: "The richness of mining engineers of Barnaul expressed not merely in their households and clothes, but more in their educational level, knowledge of science and literature. Barnaul was undoubtedly the most cultured place in Siberia, and I've called it Siberian Athenes, leaving Sparta for Omsk".

 

The same events took place in other cities; public libraries, museums of local lore, colleges, theatres were being built, although the first university in Siberia was opened as late as 1880 in Tomsk.

 

Siberian peasants more than those in European Russia relied on their own force and abilities. They had to fight against the harder climate without outside help. Absence of serfdom and landlords also contributed to their independent character. Unlike peasants in European Russia, Siberians had no problems with land availability; the low population density gave them the ability to intensively cultivate a plot for several years in a row, then to leave it fallow for a long time and cultivate other plots. Siberian peasants had an abundance of food, while Central Russian peasantry had to moderate their families' appetites. Leonid Blummer noted that the culture of alcohol consumption differed significantly; Siberian peasants drank frequently but moderately: "For a Siberian vodka isn't a wonder, unlike for a Russian peasant, which, having reached it after all this time, is ready to drink a sea." The houses, according to travellers' notes, were unlike the typical Russian izbas: the houses were big, often two-floored, the ceilings were high, the walls were covered with boards and painted with oil-paint.

 

Russian Empire

The Siberia Governorate was established in 1708 as part of the administrative reforms of Peter I. In 1719, the governorate was divided into three provinces, Vyatka, Solikamsk and Tobolsk. In 1762, it was renamed to Tsardom of Siberia (Сибирское царство). In 1782, under the impression of Pugachev's Rebellion, the Siberian kingdom was divided into three separate viceregencies (наместничество), centered at Tobolsk, Irkutsk and Kolyvan. These viceregencies were downgraded to the status of governorate in 1796 (Tobolsk Governorate, Irkutsk Governorate, Vyatka Governorate). Tomsk Governorate was split off Tobolsk governorate in 1804. Yakutsk Oblast was split off Irkutsk Governorate in 1805. In 1822, the subdivision of Siberia was reformed again. It was divided into two governorates general, West Siberia and East Siberia. West Siberia comprised the Tobolsk and Tomsk governorates, and East Siberia comprised Irkutsk Governorate, and the newly formed Yeniseysk Governorate.

 

Decembrists and other exiles

Siberia was deemed a good place to exile for political reasons, as it was far from any foreign country. A St. Petersburg citizen would not wish to escape in the vast Siberian countryside as the peasants and criminals did. Even the larger cities such as Irkutsk, Omsk, and Krasnoyarsk, lacked that intensive social life and luxurious high life of the capital.

 

About eighty people involved in the Decembrist revolt were sentenced to obligatory work in Siberia and perpetual settlement here. Eleven wives followed them and settled near the labour camps. In their memoirs, they noted benevolence and prosperity of rural Siberians and severe treatment by the soldiers and officers.

 

"Travelling through Siberia, I was wondered and fascinated at every step by the cordiality and hospitality I met everywhere. I was fascinated by the richness and the abundance, with which the people live until today (1861), but that time there was even more expanse in everything. The hospitality was especially developed in Siberia. Everywhere we were received like being in friendly countries, everywhere we were fed well, and when I asked how much I owed them, they didn't want to take anything, saying "Put a candle to the God"."

"...Siberia is an extremely rich country, the land is unusually fruitful, and little work is needed to get a plentiful harvest."

Polina Annenkova, Notes of a Decembrist's Wife

 

A number of Decembrists died of diseases, some suffered psychological shock and even went out of their mind.

 

After completing the term of obligatory work, they were sentenced to settle in specific small towns and villages. There, some started doing business, which was well permitted. Only several years later, in the 1840s, they were allowed to move to big cities or to settle anywhere in Siberia. Only in 1856, 31 years after the revolt, Alexander II pardoned and restituted the Decembrists in honour of his coronation.

 

Living in the cities of Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk, the Decembrists contributed extensively to the social life and culture. In Irkutsk, their houses are now museums. In many places, memorial plaques with their names have been installed.

 

Yet, there were exceptions: Vladimir Raevskiy was arrested for participation in Decembrists' circles in 1822, and in 1828 was exiled to Olonki village near Irkutsk. There he married and had nine children, traded with bread, and founded a school for children and adults to teach arithmetics and grammar. Being pardoned by Alexander II, he visited his native town, but returned to Olonki.

 

Despite the wishes of the central authorities, the exiled revolutioners unlikely felt outcast in Siberia. Quite the contrary, Siberians having lived all the time on their own, "didn't feel tenderness" to the authorities. In many cases, the exiled were cordially received and got paid positions.

 

Fyodor Dostoevsky was exiled to katorga near Omsk and to military service in Semipalatinsk. In the service he also had to make trips for Barnaul and Kuznetsk, where he married.

 

Anton Chekhov was not exiled, but in 1890 made a trip on his own to Sakhalin through Siberia and visited a katorga there. In his trip, he visited Tomsk, speaking disapprovingly about it, then Krasnoyarsk, which he called "the most beautiful Siberian city". He noted that despite being more a place of criminal rather than political exile, the moral atmosphere was much better: he did not face any case of theft. Blummer suggested to prepare a gun, but his attendant replied: What for?! We are not in Italy, you know. Chekhov observed that besides of the evident prosperity, there was an urgent demand for cultural development.

 

Many Poles were also exiled to Siberia (see Sybirak). In 1866 they incited rebellion in Siberia.

 

Trans-Siberian Railway

The development of Siberia was hampered by poor transportation links within the region as well as between Siberia and the rest of the country. Aside from the Sibirsky trakt, good roads suitable for wheeled transport were few and far apart. For about five months of the year, rivers were the main means of transportation; during the cold half of the year, cargo and passengers travelled by horse-drawn sleds over the winter roads, many of which were the same rivers, now ice-covered.

 

The first steamboat on the Ob, Nikita Myasnikov's Osnova, was launched in 1844; but the early starts were difficult, and it was not until 1857 that steamboat shipping started developing in the Ob system in the serious way. Steamboats started operating on the Yenisei in 1863, on the Lena and Amur in the 1870s.

 

While the comparably flat Western Siberia was at least fairly well served by the gigantic Ob–Irtysh–Tobol–Chulym river system, the mighty rivers of Eastern Siberia – Yenisei, Upper Angara (Angara below Bratsk was not easily navigable because of the rapids), Lena — were mostly navigable only in the north–south direction. An attempt to somewhat remedy the situation by building the Ob–Yenisei Canal were not particularly successful. Only a railroad could be a real solution to the region's transportation problems.

 

The first projects of railroads in Siberia emerged since the creation of the Moscow–St. Petersburg railroad. One of the first was Irkutsk–Chita project, intended to connect the former to the Amur river and, consequently, to the Pacific Ocean.

 

Prior to 1880 the central government seldom responded to such projects, due to weakness of Siberian enterprises, fear of Siberian territories' integration with the Pacific region rather than with Russia, and thus falling under the influence of the United States and Great Britain. The heavy and clumsy bureaucracy and the fear of financial risks also contributed to the inaction: the financial system always underestimated the effects of the railway, assuming that it would take only the existing traffic.

 

Mainly the fear of losing Siberia convinced Alexander II in 1880 to make a decision to build the railway. Construction started in 1891.

 

Trans-Siberian Railroad gave a great boost to Siberian agriculture, allowing for increased exports to Central Russia and European countries. It pushed not only the territories closest to the railway, but also those connected with meridional rivers, such as the Ob (Altai) and the Yenisei (Minusinsk and Abakan regions).

 

Siberian agriculture exported a lot of cheap grain to the West. The agriculture in Central Russia was still under pressure of serfdom, formally abandoned in 1861. Another profitable industry is the fur trade, which contributed greatly to the national revenue on top of covering administrative costs in Siberia.

 

Thus, to defend it and to prevent possible social destabilization, in 1896 (when the eastern and western parts of the Trans-Siberian did not close up yet), the government introduced Chelyabinsk tariff break (Челябинский тарифный перелом)—a tariff barrier for grain in Chelyabinsk, and a similar barrier in Manchuria. This measure changed the form of cereal product export: mills emerged in Altai, Novosibirsk, and Tomsk; many farms switched to butter production. From 1896 to 1913 Siberia on average exported 30.6 million poods (~500,000 tonnes) of cereal products (grain, flour) annually.

 

Stolypin's resettlement programme

One early significant settlement campaign was carried out under Nicholas II by Prime Minister Stolypin in 1906–1911.

 

The rural areas of Central Russia were overcrowded, while the East was still lightly populated despite having fertile lands. On May 10, 1906, by the decree of the Tsar, agriculturalists were granted the right to transfer, without any restrictions, to the Asian territories of Russia, and to obtain cheap or free land. A large advertising campaign was conducted: six million copies of brochures and banners entitled What the resettlement gives to peasants, and How the peasants in Siberia live were printed and distributed in rural areas. Special propaganda trains were sent throughout the countryside, and transport trains were provided for the migrants. The State gave loans to the settlers for farm construction.

 

Not all the settlers decided to stay; 17.8% migrated back. All in all, more than three million people officially resettled to Siberia, and 750,000 came as foot-messengers. From 1897 to 1914 Siberian population increased 73%, and the area of land under cultivation doubled.

 

Tunguska event

The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at around 7:14 a.m.[34] (0:14 UT, 7:02 a.m. local solar time[35]) on June 30, 1908 (June 17 in the Julian calendar, in use locally at the time).

 

The cause of the explosion is controversial, and still much disputed to this day. Although the cause of the explosion is the subject of debate, it is commonly believed to have been caused by a meteor air burst: the atmospheric explosion of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3.1–6.2 miles) above the Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.

 

Although the Tunguska event is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth's recent history, impacts of similar size in remote ocean areas would have gone unnoticed before the advent of global satellite monitoring in the 1960s and 1970s. Because the event occurred in a remote area, there was little damage to human life or property, and it was in fact some years until it was properly investigated.

 

The first recorded expedition arrived at the scene more than a decade after the event. In 1921, the Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik, visiting the Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin as part of a survey for the Soviet Academy of Sciences, deduced from local accounts that the explosion had been caused by a giant meteorite impact. He persuaded the Soviet government to fund an expedition to the Tunguska region, based on the prospect of meteoric iron that could be salvaged to aid Soviet industry.

 

Kulik's party reached the site in 1927. To their surprise, no crater was to be found. There was instead a region of scorched trees about 50 kilometres (31 mi) across. A few near ground zero were still strangely standing upright, their branches and bark stripped off. Those farther away had been knocked down in a direction away from the center.

 

Russian Civil War

By the time of the revolution Siberia was an agricultural region of Russia, with weak entrepreneur and industrial classes. The intelligentsia had vague political ideas. Only 13% of the region's population lived in the cities and possessed some political knowledge. The lack of strong social differences and scarcity of urban population and intellectuals led to the uniting of formally different political parties under ideas of regionalism.

 

The anti-Bolshevik forces failed to offer a united resistance. While Kolchak fought against the Bolsheviks intending to eliminate them in the capital of the Empire, the local Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks tried to sign a peace treaty with the Bolsheviks, on terms of independence. Foreign allies, though being able to make a decisive effort, preferred to stay neutral, although Kolchak himself rejected the offer of help from Japan.

 

After a series of defeats in Central Russia, Kolchak's forces retreated to Siberia. Amid resistance of Socialist-Revolutionaries and waning support from the allies, the Whites had to evacuate from Omsk to Irkutsk, and finally Kolchak resigned under pressure of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who soon submitted to the Bolsheviks.

 

Soviet era

1920s and 1930s

By the 1920s the agriculture in Siberia was in decline. With the large number of immigrants, land was used very intensively, which led to exhaustion of the land and frequent bad harvests. Agriculture wasn't destroyed by the civil war, but the disorganization of the exports destroyed the food industry and reduced the peasants' incomes. Furthermore, prodrazvyorstka and then the natural food tax contributed to growing discontent. In 1920–1924 there was a number of anti-communistic riots in rural areas, with up to 40,000 people involved. Both old Whites (Cossacks) and old "Reds" partisans, who earlier fought against Kolchak, the marginals, who were the major force of the Communists, took part in the riots. According to a survey of 1927 in Irkutsk Oblast, the peasants openly said they would participate in anti-Soviet rebellion and hoped for foreign help.[45] In 1929, one such anti-Soviet rebellion took place in Buryatia, the rebellion was put down will the deaths of 35,000 Buryats. It should also be noticed that the KVZhD builders and workers were declared enemies of the people by a special order of the Soviet authorities.

 

The youth, that had socialized in the age of war, was highly militarized, and the Soviet government pushed the further military propaganda by Komsomol. There are many documented evidences of "red banditism", especially in the countryside, such as desecration of churches and Christian graves, and even murders of priests and believers. Also in many cases a Komsomol activist or an authority representative, speaking with a person opposed to the Soviets, got angry and killed him/her and anybody else. The Party faintly counteracted this.

 

In the 1930s, the Party started the collectivization, which automatically put the "kulak" label on the well-off families living in Siberia for a long time. Naturally, raskulachivanie applied to everyone who protested. From the Central Russia many families were exiled to low-populated, forest or swampy areas of Siberia, but those who lived here, had either to escape anywhere, or to be exiled in the Northern regions (such as Evenk and Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrugs and the northern parts of Tomsk Oblast). Collectivization destroyed the traditional and most effective stratum of the peasants in Siberia and the natural ways of development, and its consequences are still persisting.

 

In the cities, during the New Economic Policy and later, the new authorities, driven by the romantic socialistic ideas made attempts to build new socialistic cities, according to the fashionable constructivism movement, but after all have left only numbers of square houses. For example, the Novosibirsk theatre was initially designed in pure constructivistic style. It was an ambitious project of exiled architects. In the mid-1930s with introduction of new classicism, it was significantly redesigned.

 

After the Trans-Siberian was built, Omsk soon became the largest Siberian city, but in 1930s Soviets favoured Novosibirsk. In the 1930s the first heavy industrialization took place in the Kuznetsk Basin (coal mining and ferrous metallurgy) and at Norilsk (nickel and rare-earth metals). The Northern Sea Route saw industrial application. At the same time, with growing number of prisoners, Gulag established a large network of labour camps in Siberia.

 

World War II

In 1941, many enterprises and people were evacuated into Siberian cities by the railroads. In urgent need of ammunition and military equipment, they started working almost immediately after their materials and equipment were unloaded.

 

Most of the evacuated enterprises remained at their new sites after the war. They increased industrial production in Siberia to a great extent, and became constitutive for many cities, like Rubtsovsk. The easternmost city to receive them was Ulan-Ude, since Chita was considered dangerously close to China and Japan.

 

On August 28, 1941, the Supreme Soviet stated an order "About the Resettlement of the Germans of Volga region", by which many of them were deported into different rural areas of Kazakhstan and Siberia.

 

By the end of war, thousands of captive soldiers and officers of German and Japanese armies were sentenced to several years of work in labour camps in all the regions of Siberia. These camps were directed by a different administration than Gulag. Although Soviet camps hadn't the purpose to lead prisoners to death, the death rate was significant, especially in winters. The range of works differed from vegetable farming to construction of the Baikal Amur Mainline.

 

Industrial expansion

In the second half of the 20th century, the exploration of mineral and hydroenergetic resources continued. Many of these projects were planned, but were delayed due to wars and the ever-changing opinions of Soviet politicians.

 

The most famous project is the Baikal Amur Mainline. It was planned simultaneously with Trans-Siberian, but the construction began just before World War II, was put on hold during the war and restarted after. After Joseph Stalin's death, it was again suspended for years to be continued under Leonid Brezhnev.

 

A cascade of hydroelectric powerplants was built in the 1960s–1970s on the Angara River, a project similar to Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States. The powerplants allowed creation and support of large production facilities, such as the aluminium plant in Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, rare-earth mining in Angara basin, and those associated with the timber industry. The price of electricity in Angara basin is the lowest in Russia. But the Angara cascade is not fully finished yet: the Boguchany power plant waits to be finished, and a series of enterprises are planned to be set up.

 

The downside of this development is ecological damage due to low standards of production and excessive sizes of dams (the bigger projects were favoured by industrial authorities and received more funding), the increased humidity sharpened the already hard climate. Another powerplant project on Katun River in Altai mountains in the 1980s, which was widely protested publicly, was cancelled.

 

There are a number of military-oriented centers like the NPO Vektor and closed cities like Seversk. By the end of the 1980s a large portion of the industrial production of Omsk and Novosibirsk (up to 40%) was composed of military and aviation output. The collapse of state-funded military orders began an economic crisis.

 

The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences unites a lot of research institutes in the biggest cities, the biggest being the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Akademgorodok (a scientific town) near Novosibirsk. Other scientific towns or just districts composed by research institutes, also named "Akademgorodok", are in the cities of Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. These sites are the centers of the newly developed IT industry, especially in that of Novosibirsk, nicknamed "Silicon Taiga", and in Tomsk.

 

A number of Siberian-based companies extended their businesses of various consumer products to meta-regional and an All-Russian level. Various Siberian artists and industries, have created communities that are not centralized in Moscow anymore, like the Idea (annual low-budged ads festival), Golden Capital (annual prize in architecture).

 

Recent history

Until completion of the Chita–Khabarovsk highway, the Transbaikalia was a dead end for automobile transport. While this recently constructed through road will at first benefit mostly the transit travel to and from the Pacific provinces, it will also boost settlement and industrial expansion in the sparsely populated regions of Zabaykalsky Krai and Amur Oblast.

 

Expansion of transportation networks will continue to define the directions of Siberian regional development. The next project to be carried out is the completion of the railroad branch to Yakutsk. Another large project, proposed already in the 19th century as a northern option for the Transsiberian railroad, is the Northern-Siberian Railroad between Nizhnevartovsk, Belyi Yar, Lesosibirsk and Ust-Ilimsk. The Russian Railroads instead suggest an ambitious project of a railway to Magadan, Chukchi Peninsula and then the supposed Bering Strait Tunnel to Alaska.

 

While the Russians continue to migrate from the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts to Western Russia, the Siberian cities attract labour (legal or illegal) from the Central Asian republics and from China. While the natives are aware of the situation, in Western Russia myths about thousands and millions of Chinese living in the Transbaikalia and the Far East are widespread.

A new batch of 4 Speeder Bikes. Hope you'll like them ;-)

I just love these traditional Halloween colours!! You know....if I would put on a cape and hat...this is pretty much what I look like in the morning before my coffee!! I had so much fun with the black stickles!!I coloured in this cute owl with my Derwent pencils. I used one of the Caardvarks sketches for their challenge. It's all about multi tasking!! ;)

I'm working on a new batch of buttons in these colours.....I just need to buy some black fimo....I'm sensing a giveaway soon..

tfl!

versamark Dazzle, Adirondack Pitch Black, cuttlebug swiss dots folder, nest. circle die, fimo buttons, string and ribbon, stickles in black, glitter pen, pop dots

Photo that Les shared with me in 2016 of one of his gorgeous new batch of hybrids. He published details of its similar sibling P. 'Pluto' in an article, discussed with me in draft, for Passiflora Online Journal: "Is Passiflora ‘Buzios’ a natural hybrid?"

 

www.passionflow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/POJ-2016...

 

[ P. ×violacea (♀) × P. ‘Buzios’ (♂) ]

An image I found down near the St. Johns Bridge. I have recently been using my original Holga 120S a lot more. I had been mainly photographing with my 120N because the S had several recurring camera scratches, but I think I got those figured out.

 

It has been interesting to watch the rise of the Holga. I have been using one long enough to remember when they were the quirky plastic camera for $25 that only a few people knew about. Each one had a different light leak, you had to stuff in wadded up cardboard to get them to spool tightly, and you just never knew exactly what was going to come out.

 

Then the Holga caught on, or rather someone had the brilliant idea to universalize it for the mass market. Now you see Holgas in fancy boxes sell for as much as $100. The cameras have been "refined" so they rarely leak light anymore. Foam has been added to make sure they spool tightly and a new negative mask makes sure each frame is a nice neat square, just like the other 11 on that roll. The Holga is still quirky, comparatively speaking (with modern SLRs anyway) and I do enjoy using my 120N, especially with its addition of a bulb switch and tripod socket. True, my 120S was retrofitted with a bulb switch too but never did manage to get a tripod socket that really worked.

 

Change happens. I try not to think of it as better or worse, but just different. The new batches of Holgas are definitely different than my old 120S. So I enjoy using them differently.

 

Anyway, I posted this just to let some newer Holga users know that if they like their Holgas, they might go out on Ebay and try and track down an original 120S. They are a lots of fun too. I just like the concept of a camera that is unique to itself, as the 120S cameras were.

Auckland bound heading out of Wellington, the Volvo B11R of 12 November 2014 which operated the inaugural Auckland to Wellington service on 21 November 2014.

ManaBus.com No. 2 operated the inaugural Wellington-Auckland service the same day.

Photo: Keith Bennett.

 

TRIPPERS WIN IN LONG-HAUL BUS WARS

NZ Herald, Friday, October 31, 2014

Budget travellers will soon have three major long-distance bus operators to choose from, offering fares from as little as $1 each way between Auckland and Wellington.

Scottish business magnate Sir Brian Souter yesterday announced plans to start day and night services between the two cities from November 21 [2014], and to other North Island centres in December, using five locally assembled double-decker buses with 79 seats each.

The other centres to be serviced by ManaBus will be Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangarei and Rotorua.

Sir Brian hopes to extend his network further into provincial New Zealand later, especially to areas such as Gisborne whose residents complain about excessive airfares.

Each bus has a toilet, allowing fewer stops which will cut journey times between Auckland and Wellington to just under 10 hours - at least an hour less than other bus operators - and free Wi-Fi and power connections to every seat.

ManaBus is not alone in offering $1 deals, Naked Bus and InterCity also offer the cut price fares.

But Sir Brian, who pioneered 1 fares with his MegaBus venture in Britain, says his larger buses will allow him to supply more low-cost seats than his competitors.

"There will be a larger number at lower price ranges - people may get seats for $5, $8 or $12," he said.

He was coy about indicating his upper price range, saying that would depend entirely on demand.

Naked Bus says its fares between Auckland and Wellington for a new sleeper service it will introduce in December, for which each of 40 seats in designated overnight buses will be convertible into a bed, will range from $1 to $55.

Although the lowest Naked Bus fare the Herald could find for the route yesterday on the company's website was $17.99c for late January, founder Hamish Nuttall said a new batch of $1 fares for February to March would be posted next week.

The next $1 fare the Herald could find for InterCity was for a return night trip from Wellington on February 10.

But executive John Thorburn said lower fares were just one of a number of considerations, others being the breadth of a bus operator's network and its level of service.

Another was baggage, for which his company offered a "very generous" free allowance of two 25kg checked bags as well as a 5kg carry-on item.

ManaBus offers just one 15kg checked bag and a carry-on item.

A Naked Bus offer of one free checked bag up to 20kg will end on November 24, when a $5 fee will be introduced, which Mr Nuttall says will allow him to reduce fares.

Sir Brian operates almost 12,000 buses and trains through various business interests across Britain, Europe and the United States.

He owned Auckland's main bus fleet for about 16 years until 2005 under his Stagecoach brand, then returned a few years later to buy the Howick and Eastern operation and Fullers ferries.

Mr Nuttall said Naked Bus intended introducing toilets to its fleets, and would reduce travelling time on some services in December.

He and Mr Thorburn of InterCity welcomed the new competition as giving a higher profile to bus travel in a very car-oriented society.

 

The curtain comes down...

 

MANABUS AND NAKEDBUS TO END SERVICES

Author Damien Venuto, NZ Herald, Publish Date Thursday, 21 June 2018

Budget coach services ManaBus and Naked Bus have confirmed that they will cease operations in July.

The companies are part of InMotion Group, which also operates Fullers, 360 Discovery, Roam Experiences and Waiheke Bus Company.

A spokeswoman for Mana said that the decision to end the budget bus operations was in order to focus more exclusively on the company's Ferry services.

"Fullers Group is consolidating its business to focus on its ferry operation and on servicing Auckland's popular Hauraki Gulf, which has considerable potential due to rising visitor numbers," the spokeswoman said.

The spokesperson said the ManaBus and Naked Bus fleets had been sold to Ritchies Transport Holdings as part of the decision to exit the space.

"As of 15 July, ManaBus.com and nakedbus.com bus services will cease operation and tickets will no longer be available to purchase," the spokeswoman said.

Customers who bought tickets in advance have already been offered full refunds via email.

The spokesperson is yet to confirm how many staff worked for the pair of bus companies or if any jobs are on the line.

"Fullers is working closely with its staff, partners and customers throughout this process to support them through this transition," she said.

ManaBus was first launched as a budget travel option in 2014 by Scottish transport entrepreneur Brian Souter, adding to a portfolio that included Auckland urban bus companies Howick and Eastern Buses, the Wellington-based bus service Mana Coach Services and Waiheke Bus Company, as well as the Auckland Fullers Group ferries and the 360 Discovery cruises.

In May 2015, Souter's company acquired rival Naked Bus in a bid to expand the company's footprint across the South Island.

At the time of the acquisition of NakedBus, Manabus said the combined entities across the entire portfolio transported more than 13 million customers a year and employed 670 people.

It's unclear how many of those staff members fell under the Naked Bus and Manabus subsidiaries.

 

Operator - Manabus.com Ltd - NZ - InMotion Group Ltd

Fleet Number - 3

Registration - HTL289

Chassis Type - Volvo B11R

Chassis No. - YV3T2T121EA168225

Body Manufacturer - Kiwi Bus Builders

Body Date - 2014

Status - Withdrawn

Seating Codes - HC79D

Notes - Transferred to Waiheke Bus Company - Waiheke Island - InMotion Group.

Livery - ManaBus

NZ 1st rego - 12 November 2014

 

Operator - Fullers Group Ltd (Waiheke Bus Company) - Waiheke Island - Souter Holdings Ltd

Fleet Number - 302

Registration - HTL289

Chassis Type - Volvo B11R

Chassis No. - YV3T2T121EA168225

Body Manufacturer - Kiwi Bus Builders

Body Date - 2014

Seating Codes - HC79D

Notes - ex (3) HTL289, Manabus - InMotion Group.

Livery - Waiheke Explorer

Businfo details on ManaBus Volvo B11R No. 3:

www.businfo.nz/index.php?R=6197&OP=1

 

Original liveried 'Clacton' 309. On its way from Ilford to Wolverton. Strange to think that the Euston-Birmingham-Wolverhampton services nearly ended up with a new batch of these units. Although it should be in Blue/Grey by now I really liked these units in the lined maroon. I would rate these as the best EMU of their time, praise indeed from a Midlander!

Finally after a few guest appearances on the X6, First Bradford's new batch of Wright Streetdecks finally entered service for real on 24 July 2016. Quite why it took so long for these to enter service is unknown as there has been no real launch for these new buses. I can only speculate they wanted to leave a short gap between the removal of blue Hyperlink branded Wright Streetcars from the 72 before introducing blue buses onto the X6 which has a lot of common, albeit limited stop, sections

 

24 July 2016 was the date the X6 was reduced to serve Bradford to Leeds only but with a frequency increase to every ten minutes. This was part of a package of changes which saw the 72 reduced to every ten minutes between the two cities and the X63 between Bradford and Huddersfield increased to every 10 minutes to make up for the loss of the X6 through to Huddersfield.

 

Here we see 35236 on Bradford Road having just left the Stanningley Bypass at Dawsons Corner while heading for Bradford

 

I know a few folk dislike this dark blue based express livery which First uses in a number of area's but the gold areas and the style of route branding looks fantastic on these buses IMHO and even better in real life.

Something not Straight Here!

 

Finally, a new batch of pictures! It's taken a bit longer, as I started to realise how much history I have been wandering past living here and thought it would be better to recount some of it with the photos taken around Winchester (Thanks for the idea Lady Silke!) and some of the research took a bit longer than I expected! I have probably put a few too many in this batch, I just realised I got the last couple slightly out of order as well but it will have to stay like that now

  

I will be putting the ones with a proper historical description into a seperate album entitled 'Historic' Winchester, I know it is not everyones 'Thing' but I hope the rest of you enjoy it!

 

A big Thank You to all those lovely people out there in Flickr Land who have commented on the previous photos, those comments are much appreciated! Thanks also to Grace for taking the photos at Lyndhurst.

4139 is seen arriving into Birmingham with a service 51 from Walsall, Y733TOH was new to Walsall depot in April 2001 branded for service 529, however when a new batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro 400's arrived, 4139 was moved to Birmingham Central in April 2012. Since then it has moved back to Walsall garage in 2014 and then onwards to Wolverhampton in 2015. Since this photo was taken, it has been repainted.

From one of the new batches of sugar skull softies. : )

I said in my posting of Match that I'd start making more digital figures, so here they are. I will still be making physical figures, but I think that digital figures might be the best way to go for a while, as I can crank them out faster, especially because they can be done from anywhere with Wi-Fi, essentially. As I said before, I am using Mecabricks to build these new figures. It's free and fully online (id est: No software), and also works for many models, not just minifigs. Any questions, about my figs, Mecabricks, etcetera, just let me know in the comments, and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as I can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This new batch is made up of six (6) DC villains, three (3) DC heroes, two (2) Marvel heroes, sadly zero (0) Marvel villains, one (1) Scooby-Doo villain, and one (1) Indiana Jones villain, for a grand total of thirteen (13) new uploads.

 

Most importantly, thanks everyone, for bringing me to 200 followers! Enjoy my work, and, please comment if you favorite! :)

New batch!

SK06 AHL is a Scania N94UD OmniCity new to Lothian in August 2006 as their 998. Originally in the Airlink fleet livery it was displaced from Airlink duties in 2010 when a new batch of Volvo B9TL's arrived. It is seen here in Princes St, Edinburgh working service 33 to Gorebridge.

This bus was part of the brand new batch of Enviro 400s delivered to Arriva Yorkshire just over a month ago. Seen in Leeds City Bus Station. 01/04/15

my new batch of charms for december

2014 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3.0 CDI 519

 

Answering a call in Red Lion Street, Norwich City Centre.

 

Being a bit of an anorak, I still don't know why the battenburg livery has been applied so high up on the newer batch of Sprinters. The older EEAS units never had it and, to my knowledge, neither do any other NHS ambulances.

I get the feeling there may be some issues with the new batch of SE's for route G1 - this LDP has survived and LDP's 267 and 269 have re-appeared in the last few days after being withdrawn for months and are operating on the route.

 

Route G1 really is a back roads route - it takes up to 85 minutes to complete it's South London journey diving into a few side roads and dead ends along the way.

One of the brand new 737s from the new batch, in storage after delivery last month.

A new batch of Halloween pics from 2016.

Taken with my new 80D & still getting used to the new camera. (more on the 80Dto come)

 

If you like my work click the "Follow" button on Flickr.

 

Check out my Blog rumimume.blogspot.ca/

 

I'm also on Google+ plus.google.com/106313488075670991016/posts

 

You can get my "Pic-of-The-day" in your twitter feed by following @rumimumesf on twitter

I didn't develop this roll. It came back from the processor with way too much grain and contrast that I toned down in some of these in iPhoto. The processor said he has been having some issues with the new batch of Adox Rodinal he uses. I don't remember if I shot this roll at ISO 320 and forgot to tell him.

Lothian's buses average an age of between 5 and 6 years and our oldest vehicles, the short-wheel based Dennis Tridents, are about to be retired from normal public service as a new batch of Volvo B5LH Hybrid Gemini 3's arrive in July 2015.

 

At fourteen years old Trident number 619 (SN51 AYM) looks just too good to be part of the fleet group 599/600 and 608 to 627 about to be removed. Drivers agree they still have plenty of thrash and appeal left - far more so than the shabby low 7xx B7's which are not only looking tatty but beginning to wheeze in the fan area rather too loudly!

 

Many of the baby tridents can still be seen (though only for a little while longer) mostly on Service 14 and number 619 is photographed on Ferry Road near to Granton Road.

  

The white crescent shows up better Large On Black.

These were all over the La Bagh area today. I don't think I have seen any in Northern Illinois this year until now.

New batch of Fomapan film - fotostack of 2 images.

Pictured at the same time as the bus seen in the previous photograph, this shows the next vehicle in fleet numerical sequence. (WARNING: the following material has a high anorak coefficient). As will be seen, no. 3526 started a new batch of registration numbers. I think this was the first time a change of registration mark had occurred within a batch of Bristol Omnibus Co. vehicles. It was the first time a Company vehicle had carried a "one" registration since LAE 1, a Leyland PD1 new in 1948.

When the photograph was taken on Saturday 6th September 1980 the bus was newly delivered and had not yet entered service. Yours truly had moved it out of a line of brand-new vehicles into a more photographable position after Central Repair Works staff had gone home on Saturday afternoon. These vehicles didn't enjoy great longevity. I think they were still around when I left the Company in 1990, but soon afterwards they seemed to disappear.

Seen undergoing maintenance inside the Swanwick depot is British Rail Class 20, 20007.

 

The Class 20 is perhaps one of the oldest diesel locomotives that still sees revenue earning work on the UK network. A simple design, but one that came to symbolise the transition from steam to diesel traction during the late 1950's and early 60's, with these flexible and versatile locomotives finding their way into all walks of life.

 

The roots of the Class 20 can largely be owed to many of the early diesel locomotive designs of the 1950's. As part of the Rail Modernisation Plan of 1955, an entire slew of diesel alternatives were constructed to try and replace the now very tired fleet of steam locomotives that were the backbone of the UK railway network.

 

The Class 20 was among the most basic designs of this period, weighing 73 tonnes, producing 1,000hp from its English Electric 8 SVT engine, and with a top speed of a reasonable 75 mph. The general principles of the locomotive were done to allow it to work anywhere steam engines were able to, ranging from small backwater branch lines to heavy mainline work. The general purpose of these engines was primarily for freight, and thus, unlike locomotives which were designed to operate passenger trains, the locomotives were not fitted with train-heating, be it through Electric Train Heating (ETH), or steam heating boilers like on the Class 40.

 

When the initial batch of locomotives were unveiled in 1957, these were built with flat front headcode discs, similar to that of the steam locomotives they were replacing. The disc system was replaced in 1960 by physical headcodes displayed inside boxes, and thus locomotives built after D8127 (the 127th locomotive) were fitted with square headcode boxes at either end. Perhaps the most interesting design note of the 20 is the fact that it only has a cab at one end, similar to the American GP7 and GP9. This caused early issues due to lack of visibility when operating nose first, though, in essence, it has no difference to the view a driver of a steam engine would experience with the boiler obscuring the view. The usual configuration of Class 20's in operation was to have them work in pairs, with cabs positioned at opposite ends for ease of use.

 

Class 20's first made an appearance in London, being based at Devons Road depot, and put to use on transfer freights across the capital. As production of these engines continued, they were allocated much further afield, starting with the Highlands of Scotland, where they operated on the tightly curved branches to the Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness, Wick and Thurso, as well as on the mainlines via Hawick, Ardrossan and Dumfries.

 

Almost immediately, the class gained a reputation for sturdy reliability and ease of use, due largely to the fact that the engines were impressively basic in their design. Other early diesels were either far too complex for regular use, or were so poorly built they were unreliable, but the Class 20's easily proved their worth, and very soon the likes of early freight steam engines were relegated to the scrapyard in the wake of the 20's arrival.

 

Such was the success of these engines, the initial order for 128 locomotives was doubled, and after the initial production run ended in 1962, engine building was restarted in 1964, with the first of the new batch being delivered in 1966. Locomotives were regularly put on coal trains, with some engines retrofitted to make them compatible with the new electronically controlled Merry-Go-Round system (MGR), complete with new hopper wagons to replace mineral wagons that dated back to the early 20th century. Production of Class 20's would eventually end in 1968, with 228 engines delivered, making it among the most numerous class of locomotive to operate in the UK.

 

The Class 20's did find their way onto passenger services, but not frequently. The first use of 20's on passenger trains was to haul empty carriage stock out of Norwich station, but eventually a small batch were fitted with steam heating pipes to work with Class 37's on passenger trains in the Scottish Highlands. Other than that, Class 20 haulage is a rarity, usually reserved for railtours and, in the past, relief trains in the summer to seaside resorts such as Skegness and Great Yarmouth.

 

Class 20's worked solidly from the 1960's well into the 1990's, and their fleet remained strong with British Rail until the advent of locomotives such as the Class 60 in 1991. With the appearance of the 60's, many Class 20's were pensioned off their coal workings, but could still find a home hauling engineers trains. A small fleet of Class 20's even found their way into the Channel Tunnel, working alongside SNCF shunters as part of the track-laying process when the tunnel was being built in the early 1990's.

 

By the end of the 1990's however, Class 20's were continuing to fall in numbers. Scrapyards up and down the country were strewn with rusting husks, the fleet gradually being withdrawn as the 40 year old design began to look its age.

 

However, this wasn't the end for the 20's, and, even today, these versatile engines continue to earn their keep for a variety of operators. Perhaps the most notable operator of the Class 20 following privatisation in 1994 is Direct Rail Services or DRS, formerly a division of British Nuclear Fuels. Class 20's were, and still are, employed on working nuclear flask trains across the UK, with locomotives in their fleet modified with up-to-date light clusters. Today, DRS operates 8 of these locomotives, though their intention is to replace them with the arrival of the new Class 68's and 88's.

 

Aside from DRS, Class 20's were employed in the construction of High Speed One in the early 2000's, while another set of locomotives were put to work delivering brand new London Underground S-Stock from the Bombardier factory at Derby Litchurch Lane to Neasden in London. The Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC) also employs a set of 20's for occasional lease when required.

 

The Class 20's have also made some very distinctive runs. Between September 17th and September 25th, 1999, Class 20's numbers 20901, 902 and 903 hauled the Kosovo Train for Life from Kensington Olympia station in west London to Pristina station Kosovo via Prague, hauling with them 800 tonnes of aid for the population of the besieged region. Another Class 20, 20188, a preserved locomotive on the Nene Valley Railway, was dressed up to look like a Soviet armoured train for the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye, though its appearance was somewhat brief and it smashed into a rather fake looking tank outside Wansford station.

 

Today, 22 locomotives have been preserved across the country, including class premier D8000, which is owned by the National Railway Museum at York.

 

Overall, the Class 20's have proven themselves time and again to be a sturdy and reliable set of locomotives that brought about the end of steam traction on majority of freight workings across the UK. While their numbers now dwindle after 60 years of operation, the locomotives are still the pride of many operators, be they the humble preserved railway, or the busy mainline operator.

I received a new batch of custom My Little Pony by TiellaNicole recently. From left to right: A filly version of Princess Cadence, G3=>G4 Applejack, G1=>G4 Hip-hop and a G4 Starlite ie. the pony from Rainbow Brite

Amsterdam, J.M. Coenenstraat

 

In de herfst van 1986 reed deze gelede tram weer even in tweedelige vorm. De middenbak werd op dat moment in de Centrale Werkplaats verbouwd met een lagevloer-instap. Daarmee heeft nummer 886 nog enige jaren rondgereden als proef, ten behoeve van de te bestellen trams voor o.a. de Amstelveenlijn

 

In 1986, this Amsterdam tram car lost its centre section for a few months. This middle part was to be rebuilt with an experimental low floor entrance, as a test before a new batch of trams with a low floor section was ordered

from fotolog:

we got a late start the next day since we were up until well after 5am at the pimp n ho bar. we went out to get some food and then wandered around for hours. somehow we ended up on infanta, a major street that is awash with thrift stores. as we were walking along with our bottle of habana club i saw a few paper cuban flags hanging about on random columns. i thought it would be cool to take a few home so i convinced eric to try and reach the flags to tear them down from where they were barely hanging on. some people at a panaderia a few feet away saw us and lent us a chair to stand on.

 

next thing we knew we were walking around to the back entrance so that we could hang out with them inside. there were about 8 workers or so and they were working a 10 hour shift in which they had to bake 14,720 rolls of bread. we were shown the oven, the leavening room, the huge mixer and the bins in which the bread was rising. they were on a cycle - they mixed the bread and then would take a break while it rose. as soon as it was ready they would start rolling up the dough and filling up the trays. as soon as they were done the baker would start putting it all in the oven and they`d mix a new batch.

 

eric and i started helping. by this i mean we put oil on our hands and started rolling bread. mario was talking it up with the delivery guy most of the night and he kept sending one of the guys to some market around the corner to buy cigarettes and more ron. the breadmakers all had cigarettes hanging out of their mouths while they were making the bread! ash in the bread, bread falling on the floor... it made no difference.

 

turns out the bread was mostly for the peoples ration. depending on how many people live in your household the ration card holder would be able to come down to their local panaderia and buy as much bread as allowed on the ration card for a discounted price of 20 centavos each. once the amount of bread purchased went over the amount on the ration card the bread went up to 1 peso each. (100 centavos = 1 peso & 26 pesos = 1 usd)

 

we stuck around for hours. i got a husband and we salsa danced while the bread was rising. i think he had a kid already and was very surprised to hear that i didn`t already have a child. as we left the delivery guy was trying to hook us up with somebody to exchange dollars for pesos with. he was very drunk and being very cautious at the same time. it was a little freaky. after walking for a bit he finally turned back to the panaderia. we lit a few cigars and continued to explore.

With the new batch of 64 plate Citaros due to enter service soon, I thought I'd catch up with one of the originals whilst I could!!

 

3009 is pictured about to pull away from the Charles Avenue stop on Derby Road with a Y36 to Chilwell via Beeston and Bramcote Avenue.

The coating of resin and sand appears to be fairly even - here at least