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From 1859, boys were trained to become Merchant Navy officers aboard a 'school ship' based in the River Mersey: the 'HMS Conway', a frigate donated by the Admiralty, which had been serving coastguard duties at Devonport. The scheme was an immediate success, requiring a larger vessel so, in 1861, the Admiralty loaned the 51-gun frigate 'HMS Winchester', which swapped names with the 'Conway'. By 1876 an even larger ship was required, so the 'HMS Nile', a 1839-built, 92-gun battleship which had served in the Baltic during the Crimean War and Western Atlantic during the American Civil War, became the third 'HMS Conway'.
Routinely moored off Rock Ferry for over 80 years, the 'Conway' was moved to Anglesey in 1941 to avoid wartime bombing of the Mersey docks, and didn't immediately return after the war, instead expanding into shore-based facilities at Plas Newydd from 1949.
Returning to Liverpool for a refit in 1953, the ship grounded in the Menai Strait, breaking her back, and was finally broken up after a catastrophic fire in 1956. From then until the closure of the school in 1974, 'HMS Conway' was a shore establishment, the "Stone Frigate" at Plas Newydd.
The 'Conway's two 5-tonne Admiralty pattern anchors were recovered in 1968, and stood beside the training school's parade ground until this one was donated to the Merseyside Maritime Museum in 1980. The other stands on Victoria Dock, Caernarfon, outside the former Maritime Museum.
Surprisingly, the plaque on the anchor doesn't mention that three vessels bore the name in succession; the implication is that the HMS Nile was launched in 1839 as the Conway.
Amongst other residential, retail and tourism-related developments (including the Tate Liverpool gallery of modern/contemporary art), the Merseyside Maritime Museum occupies part of Albert Dock, designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick and opened in 1846 as the world's first fireproof warehouse complex. Note the spiraling warehouse chute behind the anchor.
Also revolutionary in having been designed for the loading/unloading of sailing ships of up to 1,000 t directly from/to warehouses, the Albert Dock became favoured for valuable but bulky cargoes such as tea, ivory and sugar, for its inherent security; at one point, over 90% of Liverpool's imported Chinese silk passed through the Dock. Yet this very optimisation began a decline within only 20 years of opening, as trade shifted to larger steamships unable use the narrow dock entrances and needed more quayside than Albert Dock offered. Though continuing to contribute to the port's dock system, the Albert Dock's lack of prominence was such that 1940s war damage wasn't repaired and it fell into dereliction, until massive redevelopment work in the 1980s turned it into a leading tourist attraction at the heart of Liverpool's UNESCO-designated World Heritage 'Maritime Mercantile City', largely Grade I Listed.
In the background is the Piermaster's House, built in 1852 to accommodate the person responsible for the safety of vessels entering the dock from the tidal river. Behind that is the distinctive stepped tower of the Woodside air ventilation station of the Mersey Tunnel (the Queensway Tunnel, opened 1934), 1¼ km away in Birkenhead on the far side of the river.
Amtrak 160 the Pepsi Can scheme loco leads Amtrak train #6 the eastbound California Zephyr at La Grange, IL.
Obituary of another 60s Housing Scheme.
Kidbrooke Housing Scheme (later known as Ferrier Estate).
Architects: GLC Architects Department, 1967-72.
It saddens me to write the first chapter of this mostly visual obituary of a failed scheme now facing demolition. I feel honour bound to say some words to defend some very hardworking architects, with whom I had the honour to work with as a young student. These people, most of them no longer with us, were hard working, sincere and conscientious and gave their best to a scheme they seriously believed would house generations of happy and satisfied residents.
The subject of disastrous housing schemes of this period has been endlessly discussed and dissected by some very able writers and critics and I don’t feel this is right place to repeat various views which are already well known.
However, I would like to address a few words to Flickr viewers who often write vitriolic comments about this and similar estates, when they see some sad and depressing photographs of these decaying estates facing demolition and immediately start attacking ‘Planners and Architects’ for committing these atrocities against the human race.
Again, this is an understandable first reaction and with the benefit of the hindsight it is easy to say and admit that some very serious mistakes were made in the housing development of this period.
If you were living in the middle of ‘Jerusalem’ when it was being built and the new, spacious houses were being occupied by happy people delighted by these new estates, you would have found it difficult to believe that in not so distant a future such a sad outcome could have been remotely possible.
All I would like to say here is that there are a huge number of factors which influenced the outcome of these large housing schemes, a very dubious concept in its own right. The factors like political and social environment at the time of inception and occupation, financial controls with ‘sticks’ and ‘carrots’, the importance of choosing the appropriate residents, day to day management and maintenance, sufficient finances for maintaining and if necessary, eliminating the ‘failure’ as they become apparent and encouraging residents to actively take over the management of their own environments, were hardly understood by most of the bureaucracies involved in the whole process.
The examples exist of identical or near identical schemes where one has turned out to be a winner in most respects and the ‘identical twin’ had to be demolished because it was considered to be a complete failure and intensely hated by the occupants.
It would be nice to think that some understanding of these issues is available and grasped before ‘off the cuff’ insults are scattered at only one or two parties concerned.
The photographs I have shown above were taken during construction and early occupation period. The current state of this scheme is well illustrated by Flickr member ‘Waterford Man’. Please see his set on the following link for the current situation;
www.flickr.com/photos/waterford_man/sets/72157604073276791/
There is another very informative site covering the background of this scheme at this link:
www.jacobcarter.co.uk/Ferrier Estate Project 2.htm
Demolition started;
www.flickr.com/photos/waterford_man/3390406178/in/photost...
An illustration from the "Klaus Vogel and the Bad Lads" book by David Almond, published by Barrington Stoke, UK
www.behance.net/gallery/Klaus-Vogel-and-the-Bad-Lads/1573...
pencil, watercolors and photoshop
Art stuff. The palette is “Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours Sketcher's Pocket Box“. Brushes are “Rembrandt Pure Red Sable Royal Tallen's“
The first set of 45.5m long girders have been safely delivered to the M11 Junction 7A upgrade near Harlow, Essex. Utilising our double bogey trailers, each of the 78Te girders were loaded at Cleveland Bridge International and transported over 220 miles to site. The remaining girders are scheduled to be delivered in June 2021.
The M11 Junction 7A scheme will provide a new link road and widening of Gilden Way to improve access to Harlow’s road network and reduce congestion. The new junction will be complete and operational by 2022.
Nangkita and the Village Irrigation Scheme.
One of the most amazing episodes of SA history occurred with the setting up of communistic village irrigation schemes. Partly as a response to the great depression of the early 1890s and high unemployment the SA government made amendments to the Crown Lands Act in 1893 to allow communes to set up villages along the River Murray and elsewhere. Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand and Canada all had similar acts at that time. Eleven village communities were set up along the River Murray and one at Melrose in the Southern Flinders Ranges and one at Nangkita near Mt Compass on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The communes leased Crown Land from the government. The rules were fairly uniform across the villages and the control of the villages rested with the village Trustees, not the government. Single members paid around £40 to join a commune and couples around £60. They were allotted 5 acres of land or more to grow crops and produce fruit. No unmarried people could cohabit; no alcohol was allowed. Both these regulations were flouted. Jealousies and rivalries doomed most villages and all were hamstrung because they seldom could raise sufficient money to install a large enough pumps for irrigation or they found work cooperation difficult. The communes ran up huge debts for which the government was ultimately responsible! The most successful villages were along the River Murray where they moved away from a commune type settlement to individual perpetual leases and a form of village cooperative. Overall the program was a disaster and many communes disappeared quickly in the mid-1890s. In 1900 they held a Royal Commission into the scheme which proposed closing down the scheme. The 1902 Village Settlement Act repealed the 1893 legislation. Most villages closed down in 1903. By the end of 1894 across all the Village Settlement schemes there were 1,748 people living on the settlements in 389 houses with 5,602 acres cleared and with 2,623 acres planted in wheat. Within this one year works had been constructed to provide 305 irrigated acres with vines, citrus and stone fruit trees, 43 irrigated acres in potatoes and 27 irrigated acres in vegetables with 1,063 chains of irrigation channels built.
Nangkita was not one of the successful settlement villages. The land was allotted along the swampy but fertile river flats of Tookayerta Creek which flows down to Currency Creek and Lake Alexandrina. Although the Hundred of Nangkita had been declared in 1846 little surveying was undertaken in the Hundred until the 1890s because it was so swampy. Mt Compass district was surveyed in 1892. The settlement began in 1894 and one of the first structures was a stone chimney and wattle and daub walls for a Methodist Church. The state government rented this church for use as a weekday state school from the end of July 1895. The school opened in 1895 and the church began services in 1894. Today all that remains of this structure is the stone fireplace. There are few structures left from the entire village settlement scheme in South Australia except for a chimney flue at Pyap and an old school room at Kingston-on-Murray.
In February 1894 125 people signed up to form the village settlement including 25 men and their families from Port Adelaide. 1,600 acres of land was granted initially by the government with a further 500 acres promised in six months’ time. The first settlers arrived in March 1894 by train to Strathalbyn and then overland with horses, cattle, supplies and tents. Tobacco seeds were distributed at the end of April for planting but before this could occur the hard work of clearing reeds, ti-trees and wattles was required. The first roofed house was completed in late May. The settlers at Nangkita planted tobacco, potatoes and onions but they only managed to harvest the tobacco. They had greater success with the vines and fruit trees that they planted but a harvest was still years away for that. By March 1895 500 aces had been fenced, a new 7 acre crop of potatoes planted and almost an acre of onions and maize. A 60 acre crop of wheat was also planted in the winter 1895. But by November 1895 there were only 9 settlers families left of the original 25 families. The debts of those remaining was over £100 per person. The debt to the government was far exceeding any income of the settlement despite the hard work of the settlers. By June 1896 the future of the village settlement was in doubt. To increase income the village settlement tried a crop of flax but by January 1897 the village settlement had collapsed and was over. It was abandoned but some stayed on leased farm blocks and the state school and Methodist church persisted. Gradually the district was settled by freeholders and leaseholders with some money of their own. The memorial cairn at the church site in Nangkita was erected in 1994 the centenary of the settlement. The school closed in 1931 but reopened in 1936 in the new Methodist Church built a mile or so down the road. The Nangkita school finally closed in 1963.
As a means to increase access to food, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department funded a Save The Children project that distributed assorted vegetable seeds including maize, tomato and mustard seeds to families as well as irrigation equipment.
As a result, Eluby’s family started growing crops in their nursery, in a nearby vegetable garden, and in an allocated space at a small scale irrigation scheme that sits adjacent to their home.
© Luzayo Nyirongo/Save The Children
Swanbrook Transport based at Staverton in Gloucestershire has had double deckers on their books for use on school contract work for many years. Former Cardiff City Transport WTG 333T an Alexander AL bodied Bristol VRT/SL3/6LXB new in October 1978 was ticking over in the yard on March 3rd 1999.
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the 3rd week of December, 2016.
On occasional check on works on-going close to the centre of Bray itself, in and around the Bridge.
This is a section of the flood protection scheme that I haven't covered in any great detail. Inconvenient for me to access, and others cover it much better.
Check out 'Turgidson'.
Looking upriver, towards the People's Park, standing on the 'Fran O'Toole Bridge' with the new boardwalk under construction.
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Bray gets a riverside boardwalk as part of the final element of the River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
The boardwalk - similar to the one along the River Liffey in Dublin city centre - will be incorporated into the wall beside the Fran O Toole Bridge.
It will connect Castle Street to the Peoples Park and will be a welcome added amenity for Bray.
The boardwalk forms part of the final large works package for the River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
This part of the scheme runs from the People's Park to the Railway Bridge on the Little Bray side of the river.
The works consist of curved sheet piled walls approaching the railway bridge which will be faced with masonry and the construction of footpaths in this area.
There will also be a stone faced sheet pile wall along the Lower Dargle Road from beside the Fran O'Toole Bridge to the Peoples Park.
The work is very timely as part of the existing inner wall alongside the Lower Dargle Road was severely undermined and collapsed during a storm which occurred just before Christmas.
When the project is completed, Bray will be protected from a one-in-one-hundred year storm, including all the floods of the sort that would have ravaged the town in the 20th century, and a one-in-200 year tidal event.
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These images shows the skeleton of the structure 'hanging' from the upgraded stone-clad wall, adjacent to Upper Dargle Road.
This part of the scheme runs from the People's Park to the Railway Bridge on the Little Bray side of the river.
On this particular day, the high water mark is actually caused by the high sea tide, pushing upriver from the Bray harbour estuary. This is not the result of waters running down-river from the nearby mountains. Hence the calm still appearance.
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A four-arch Bray Bridge was constructed in 1666, but this collapsed in 1741 and was replaced by a new bridge within the same year.
The 1741 bridge was replaced in 1856 by a new three-arch bridge designed by Mr Henry Brett.
The bridge was built by David Edge, and it bore his name.
The bridge was renamed on 5th July 2015 in honour of Bray resident Fran O'Toole, who was the lead singer with the Miami showband.
Three members of the showband were killed outside Newry in 1976, including Fran O'Toole.
The Railway Bridge downstream was built in 1853, a year prior to the opening of the railway between Dublin and Bray.
The railway company had to narrow the channel of the river and build a small shipping dock.
Between Bray Bridge and the Railway Bridge there was a wooden footbridge linking Ravenswell Road and the Seapoint Road, this bridge was built at the time of the railway coming to Bray.
It closed in 1870 and was removed shortly afterwards.
"The Little Book of Bray and Enniskerry" by Brian White.
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Remodel, Week 14
(cont.) …to post it at a later date, after the remodel had been completed and I could take y’all on a full stour around the place, but I must admit I wasn’t expecting it to become outdated so soon! Indeed, I’ve gone ahead and posted that pic today because as you can see here, the exterior of the store has (entirely unexpectedly, I might add) been repainted from that earth-tone brown to the Walmart corporation’s latest color scheme of choice, gray on gray. But as compared to those namesake Walmart stores that have been getting this sort of repaint treatment and can never quite seem to turn out right, I have to say, it turned out very nicely on this Sam’s Club!! Of course, the fact that there’s no weird blue color behind the logo(s) surely helps with that XD
Sam's Club // 465 Goodman Road E, Southaven, MS 38671
(c) 2017 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
This single seat F-16C, flown by USAF Colonel Timothy J. Madden, Commanding Officer of the 149th Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guard, wears a new paint scheme for the upcoming 70th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force later this year on Sept. 18.
The aircraft is painted to mimic the livery of a Republic P-47D Thunderbolt from 1944. Interestingly, this is well before the U.S. Air Force was started and U.S. combat aircraft flew under the Army Air Corps, then a part of the U.S. Army.
The 149th Fighter Wing holds a number of significant firsts in Air Force history including the first unit to perform midair refueling during a combat mission and the first Air National Guard unit to shoot down a MiG in combat. Both of these firsts happened during the Korean conflict.
As with the P-47D Thunderbolt from 1944 it is patterned after, not only does this F-16C wear the bright yellow markings but also the striking black and white “invasion stripes” painted on all allied aircraft in the days just prior to the D-Day invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. The black and white invasion stripes were a way for gunners both in the air and on the ground to avoid friendly fire incidents.
Source:
theaviationist.com/2017/06/28/f-16-special-paint-scheme-c...
We had a great time at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base for the Sentry Eagle 2017 open house sponsored by the Oregon Air National Guard's 173d Fighter Wing. My dear friend from college, Mark (not pictured), who I haven't seen in about 28 years was there with his unit and their F-16's from the 149th Fighter Wing out of San Antonio, Texas.
BTW, the temps were in the low 90's and probably much warmer on the tarmac.
Sentry Eagle is one of the Air National Guard's largest air-to-air combat exercises. We are so thankful for the brave men and women like Mark and his crew who serve our country. Thank you!
© 2017 Skip Plitt Photography, All Rights Reserved.
This photo may not be used in any form without permission from the photographer. None of my images are in the Creative Commons. If you wish to use one of my images please contact me at: skipplittphotography@gmail.com
Todos los derechos reservados. Esta foto no se puede utilizar en cualquier forma sin el permiso del fotógrafo.
SECRET SEVEN
I have no plan. It scares the shit out of me, honestly. I want to finish highschool, go to college, then i really don't know. I hate not knowing, but all I want is my camera by my side in the process.
BA arriving from London on a very dull Hong Kong day. Seen here in the interim scheme. She was later painted with the world tails scheme, she got the Polish, "Koguty Lowickie" tail.
Happy to say that those horrid Cigarette adverts are long gone now. They have been banned since 1999.
There is so much going on in this shrine, both in colour and texture. Even with the naked eye it made the vision swim, and messed with your depth perception.
New Haven Railroad fan trip excursion with ALCO FA-1 and FB-1 diesel electric locomotives being seen in yard at Maybrook, New York, 1951. The greater portion of these railfans are dressed very nicely, as they typically were back in the day! Steam locomotives were replace by these ALCO diesel electric freight road locomotives, with the last L-1 class 2-10-2 Santa Fe steam locomotive # 3246 being condemned in December 1950. The ALCO locomotives are wearing either the early Green and Orange with silver pin stripe paint scheme or the more universal green with yellow gold stripes paint scheme.
The name of the photographer that captured this image on film is unknown. This is a modified, enhanced and cropped photo scan that is from a B&W image that was on the Internet.
Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for the purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
© 2015 SCOTT A WOODWARD photography
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the third week of November 2016.
These are the critical stabilisation works at the Silverbridge site, adjacent to the N11 dual-carriageway:
Back in November 2014, we observed bank stabilisation works here involving excavation, repair and building of a support wall structure -- carried out by JONS Construction on behalf of the National Roads Authority.
We would occasionally catch sight of this work in the distance. Quite an impressive little piece of structural engineering.
Having built a retaining concave wall, backfilled for solidity, they were also drilling, fixing and sealing ground anchors to pin the entire structure together.
Now we see that further works are being undertaken.
Word has it that extra ‘stabilisation work’ has to be done to protect the integrity of the riverbank. At the section here we can see that there’s not much space between the edge of the rock face and the Armco at the side of the dual-carriageway.
Have yet to determine what precisely that will entail. Serious work to reinforce the side access ramp down to the river.
The N11 carriageway runs adjacent to this sunken side of the riverbank -- barely 2 (large) paces divide the two. Even with twin strips of Armco along the roadside, it's perilously close. Traffic speeds along this stretch (maximum speed 100 kmp). Only needs a touch from a heavy vehicle to cause secondary impact, which (worst possible scenario) could result in something going airborne.
Working in these confined spaces puts a premium of safety and communication.
The guys have hard-filled a working shelf on the riverbed, to allow machinery access to the rockface. Obviously some serious drilling is called for before a form of extra 'pinning' is put in place.
They have sunk a series of hollowed tubes/casings -- obviously to form the foundations of a more extensive structure.
And some investigative work around the transverse buttress of the access bridge, parallel to the heavy-duty pipeline carrying water down from the Vartry reservoir.
This was the day when they started to fill those sunken tubes/casings with liquid cement. At a (rough) guess -- I'd say the foundations are sunk to a depth of approx 4+m.
With such secure foundations in place, they would then look to construct a substantial bank of material, and/or retaining wall (similar to that in place further along the roadside bank).
As ever, the first attempt at a process brings it's own unique set of issues.
The tight confines of the riverbed obliges the use of a concrete pumping rig with long-boom capacity.
Would you call this a '4 section' unit'? Built on a 4-axle chassis, I'd suggest that it's reach is approx 40+m.
The remotely-controlled unit siphons and pumps liquid concrete into the sunken wells. Immediately the guys agitate the mixture to remove any air pockets. Final step is to lower in a pre-formed steel skeleton brace, intended to reinforce the foundation.
While we were there, the guys struggled to sink the steel frame into the sunken sleeve. I can't believe it was a problem with alignment -- other similar frames dropped neatly into their appointed sleeve.
Perhaps simply a case that the compressed liquid solution was just inflexible enough to receive the steel skeleton. We left.
Will find out later what the outcome was.
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the first week of August, 2016.
We're back to the Rehills/Slang section -- between La Vallee and Rivervale.
Late in the evening, after a very brief, very local shower, the sun shone brightly and cast the surroundings in a fresh lush hue.
Looking out the office window I noticed a rainbow that rose, arched and fell within 200 metres of the building. The elevated view allowed for a better background. Then I spotted it was actually a 'double rainbow'.
Never seen anything so vivid, so close and so tantalising.
It was all over within 10 mins as I rapidly grabbed some images through the plate glass windows, and then found/opened a small portlight window.
It brought smiles to those of us still working on late deliveries etc.
Only when I did a little research did I learn the fact that the colour bands are inverted between the top+lower rainbow arcs.
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DOUBLE RAINBOWS:
Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and are centred on the sun itself.
They are about 127° (violet) to 130° (red) wide.
Since this is more than 90°, they are seen on the same side of the sky as the primary rainbow, about 10° above it at apparent angles of 50–53°.
As a result of the "inside" of the secondary bow being "up" to the observer, the colours appear reversed compared to the primary bow.
The secondary rainbow is fainter than the primary because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one and because the rainbow itself is spread over a greater area of the sky.
Each rainbow reflects white light inside its coloured bands, but that is "down" for the primary and "up" for the secondary.
The dark area of unlit sky lying between the primary and secondary bows is called Alexander's band, after Alexander of Aphrodisias who first described it.
(Wikipedia)
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"If you were to go by viral video alone, you might be under the impression that double rainbows are not just uncommon, but the most extraordinary feat that nature has created.
And hey, that's cool — double rainbows are pretty sweet, and we have no reason to be cynical and mean to those who get animated about them. If seeing a rainbow sends a thrill down your spine (as it would to any decent person), than seeing two deserves twice the excitement.
Go for it! The world is full of rare and astonishing things!
Alas, a double rainbow is not one of them.
Listen, though, this doesn't mean that double rainbows aren't double cool, or double pretty or double awe-inspiring.
Sure they are.
But they're not actually rare — something you may yourself have suspected if you've seen a couple double rainbows in your lifetime.
Let's talk a little about how double rainbows show up in the sky, and why their formation isn't that unusual.
And lucky for you — that means a science lesson in refraction.
Before you roll your eyes in boredom, be assured that a refraction tutorial needn't be painful.
Rainbows "happen" when sun hits a raindrop.
The light bends (or refracts — see, not scary!) when it hits the drop, reflects off the back of the drop, and then bends again as it leaves the drop. In a process called dispersion, longer wavelengths (those we see as red) bend less than shorter (blue) ones [source: Mass].
That's why red is at the top of the rainbow in that longer, lazier arch, and blue is at the bottom in a shorter, tighter one.
A double rainbow occurs when the light is reflected twice in the drop. It means you can see two different reflections, coming from different angles [source: Plait].
This leads to something that is actually really cool — instead of seeing red at the top and blue at the bottom like a regular ho-hum rainbow, the secondary rainbow (which is higher and lighter in color than the primary) has the colors reversed [source: Margusity and Andrews].
During the late 1920s and into the 1930s, at a time of huge expansion of the London Underground system, a series of "letters" to varous grades of administrative staff explaining issues of policy were issued. Starting in 1927, these 'personal' letters from the 'Operating Manager' blossomed into quite sizeable publications, complete with extensive maps, drawings and plans - especially of the massive schemes connected with the London Passenger Transport Board's "New Works Programme, 1935 - 40. This, the largest ever single investment programme initiated by the newly unified "London Transport" included the Central line extensions both east and west, the Northern line extensions, the Bakerloo's Stanmore branch works as well as the replacement of the capital's tramway system by trolleybuses. Most of the schemes were seriously interupted by the outbreak of war in 1939 and whilst some were re-started in post-war years others, most notably the Northern line extensions and the tram/trolleybus switch-over were mostly abandoned.
Letter No. 23, dated 26 April 1938, is a detailed description of the North London Electrification Scheme that involved both new works in tune to connect the existing Highgate and Northern City branches to the existing mainline Alexandra Palace, High Barnet and Edgware branches of the LNER along with electrification of these steam operated branches. The works also saw an intended extension of the existing Edgware branch north to a new terminus at Bushey Heath along with a new depot at Aldenham. Although much work started, including the Bushey Heath extension and works to the Alexandra Palace via Finsbury Park branches, these were formally abandoned in the 1940s - partially due to parlous state of the UK's post-war economy as well as the new 'Green Belt' planning legislation that nailed any major new suburban developments north of Edgware. The link at low level of the tube north of Archway at Highgate and out to East Finchley did come into use and the whole branch to High Barnet was converted along with a stub of the Edgware branch to Mill Hill East. Although East Finchley station was reconstructed along "LT" lines no other major reconstructions took place and indeed the original GNR stations still mostly serve the Tube to this day. The depot at Aldenham was built and after wartime use as a factory it became, instead, London's second major bus overhaul works.
The opening page shows some of the NWP's schemes as well as the level of investment - £45,000,000 in 1938 was a staggering sum of money.
Some of the Tatra T3 and all of the T3R.PLF (which has a low floor section in the middle) feature a easily recognizable color scheme because of the are silver and dark red while all other T3s are painted beige and light red.
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the 3rd week of December, 2016.
Standing on the new riverside walkway alongside Seapoint Court, we see construction activity sited along the Ravenswell Road, temporarily closed due to on-going works.
Was back in Oct 2016, I'd noticed some work being carried on here on the 'new' walkway, adjacent to Seapoint Court, and had questioned the cost/efficiency of re-work being done at a later stage.
Well, as it turned out, a bit more work than just a new pathway.
They erected a stone-faced wall with railing to close off/separate one of the side-roads that are Seapoint Court, directly behind the sewage plant.
Can't have people walking from the walkway down into the suburban road, eh?
Mind you, I did surmise, back in the Summertime, about this enclave at the end of the new walkway becoming a mecca for certain 'elements'. Maybe representations were made, and influence exercised, at a local level to create this partition.
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the last full week of November 2016.
Still a reasonable level of traffic here with hard material being trucked out of the Slang/Rehills section of the river bank.
I believe the Council have contracted for the removal and transport of soil material from this site to a new (road) construction site down at Calary.
The previous 'mountains' and terraces are slowly but steadily shrinking.
On occasion, we have seen a line of 13 such trucks lined up first thing in the morning, ready to haul soil.
The Upper Dargle Road, while a minor one, is a busy little throughway, and is especially busy with the morning/evening rush hours.
Introducing such a level of heavy-duty trucks on to this road, where they need to drive in and out of the Slang/Rehills compound, only serves to further aggravate the traffic flows. The entrance to the site is close to a blind bend. Not good.
On a regular basis, we have seen (and felt) the effects of the trucks as they thunder by, particularly the unladen ones returning to pick up another load.
There is the 'speed limit' and then there is 'driving in a manner inappropriate to the road conditions'.
The heavy truck traffic also brings debris and soil on to the road.
The contractors struggle to keep the road washed and swept. And the slow progress of their road-sweeping vehicles, in turn, cause delay and frustration for other road users. Not good.
It's not a good experience, right now, for the residents along this stretch of road.
Four Colour Schemes as DXB 5448 + DXC 5402 + DC 4726 + DX 5483 at Dunedin Railway yards on 7 April 2010
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the first week of August, 2016.
At the temporary access bridge, directly opposite the Rivervale apartment buildings, and adjacent to the bend in the river where the 'Debris trap' is being constructed.
This little montage features the resident Heron.
Quiet focused creature, and oblivious of nearby workers. Quite camera-sky. Takes to the wing every time I hove into view.
Colour scheme: Bromeliad close up, pink with mauve to purple tips and a scatter of fresh yellow pollen here and there. Even more wonderful close up than at a distance.
[Bromeliad flower_CU_Syd_IMG_1357]
My last day in Fairbanks found GP40-2's 3006 and 3001 leading the Eielson Branch job out of the yard. Here's an edited version of the only shot that was anywhere near decent, seen approaching North Pole
yep. i am planning some serious capers and heists.
stay tuned..
wearing:
all thriftered, silk blouse, handy dandy belt, wool skirt, and dying but much loved boots (anyone know where i could find some replacements? they're the perfect boots and i can't seem to find anything as sturdy and bitchin' anywhere!)
River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the 3rd week of December 2016.
Previously I'd described the problems with large volumes of construction traffic and the volumes of hard material being trucked out of the Slang/Rehills section of the river bank.
For now, the trucks have vanished. There is now very little activity in the Slang/Rehills sector.
As a last final hurrah towards the problem, we spotted this gentleman hosing the accumulated debris off the path running along the Upper Dargle Road.
Finally . . . a proper, effective method of cleaning.
While all the heavy traffic was involved in trucking out the material, I'd suggested that a more effective method would have been to set up a sunken, drained pit just inside the entrance gate, have 2 guys there with high-pressure hoses, and rapidly hose down the trucks as they were about to leave the compound.
WTF do we, Joe Public, know?