This week's Saturday Timewatch history slot is filled with a short-lived aviation oddity that I had never heard of until visiting the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport, Houston.

At first I thought that maybe Braniff had Concorde on order but at some stage had pulled out of the deal. No! Braniff did actually fly Concorde, as can be seen from the timetable shown below. However the story is a strange one and I have to admit does change a bit depending which source you read. However the bare bones are consistent. British Airways and Air France crews flew across the Atlantic to Washington Dulles DC. From there Braniff crews took over for subsonic flights to and from Dallas Fort Worth, TX.....no supersonic flights were allowed over North American land.

Details are less certain but the following seem likely to have been true.

I read somewhere, but can't find it again now, that lawyers literally transferred ownership to Braniff for each flight and then back again. What seems more likely is that a legal lease existed and quite definitely all-American documentation was placed in the cockpit for the DFW flights whilst the European papers got stored on board (the forward loo is mentioned!) and vice versa.

40 years ago, in order to operate a domestic US segment, planes had to be temporarily registered in the US. Photographs confirm that upon landing from Europe the aircraft's G or F was covered over with tape, and an “N” followed by either “-81” or “—94” replaced the first two letters of the European registration. The last two registration letters were left in place. As a result, G-BOAC would become N-81AC, while F-BVFD would become N-94FD. A total of nine Concordes eventually wound up in the interchange program running for Braniff. However, none were repainted in Braniff colours as illustrated in the model above.

Initially fares for the Braniff leg were $15 higher than their usual first-class fares on their B727. However, sales were poor and they dropped to parity. Sales remained sparse and the service only lasted just over one year, January 1979 - May 1980.

A nice find today was this chunk of ammonite. The Charmouth ammonites are usually dated to around 190 - 200 million years old.

City of Wells (34092) departs Swanage Station during this long weekend's Strictly Bullied 11 event. In all the heritage line has managed to get eight Bulleid Pacifics together in steam for the first time since 1967. City of Wells, built in 1949 is one of them.

Saturday Timewatch features an old photo of the railway station and Front St, Palestine, Texas. I don't know the exact date of this and am tempted to say around the turn of the 19th to 20th century. However, on the far side of the street, directly above the nearest point of the rail carriages, are those two cars parked up?? If so, the date moves forward to around a century ago.

The unexpected is what American road trips are all about. This required a u-turn.

At a height of 19 1/2 feet and weighing 500 lbs, Howard Huge was made sometime in the 1960s by International Fibreglass of Lawndale, CA. Although Roadside Giants were a common sight along US highways 50 years ago, all the original molds were destroyed so only approximately 185 remain.

Howard was stored in Maine for over 30 years. The Fat Ass Ranch and Brewery, near Fredericksburg, won a nationwide auction in 2017 and Howard arrived on site in December 2018.

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Regular viewers might remember that on the Isle of Portland, "ope" refers to an opening down to the sea. One of the lesser known examples is Longstone Ope. Long since abandoned, the site of the old Longstone Quarry still has a derrick that used to load stone blocks down onto a waiting vessel for onward transport.

A derrick can be seen at a distance in the old photo below.

The blocks of stone will be originals that were never shipped. However, I am not sure whether my more recent photo below (2015) shows the same derrick that has somehow survived or a more modern replica.

(Note : I have added the photos to the flickr map but for some reason they are not currently showing)

Regulars will know that I'm more of a wine than beer drinker. However, this one not only tickled my taste buds but also curiosity as to the origin of the name and label. I quote from the Brewery Roman website :

"The noose-wearers :

Gentse Strop owes its name to the proud people of Ghent who are nicknamed “stroppendragers” or noose-wearers. In 1540, the people of Ghent refused to pay an additional war tax, with the result that Emperor Charles V had the ringleaders parade through Ghent with a noose around their necks, as a sign that they deserved to go to the gallows. Still today, the noose continues to symbolise proud resistance against any form of tyranny and misplaced authority."

With emphasis on the huge size of the building, Mrs Kim gives scale to the Tithe Barn in Bradford-on-Avon. Dating from around 1340, it stored the 'tithes' i.e. agricultural grain etc which was a tax in kind to the landlord which in this case was originally the church. I believe that, remarkably, the roof trusses are the originals.

Tarr Steps crosses the River Barle in Exmoor. It is constructed of large flat slabs of stone which are supported on stone piers. The date of this bridge is unknown. Some people claim Tarr Steps goes back to the Bronze Age though the official listing suggests a Medieval origin.

As a nipper in the mid 20th century, unlike quite a few around this neck of the flickr woods, I never did go bunking engine sheds or locomotive works. Perversely, living just about as far as you can get from the sea in England, I was simply far more interested in ships!

For those out of Britain, 'shed bashing' was undertaken by rail enthusiasts who either officially or unofficially visited the numerous engine sheds to see what was in there. Happy days!

This is the scene inside one of the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway sheds. There was no interpretation board or anyone around to ask so I don't know the identity of the steam locomotive being rebuilt in this photo.

Crowdfunded by the people of Sturminster Newton, Geoffrey the Bull (named by Oliver Currie aged 7) commemorates the town's livestock market that closed on 30th June 1997 ending a 700 year old existence in this small rural market town.

Look what has found the light of day from the vaults! It is my first ever passport dating from July 1967.

Rather than a full passport lasting 10 years, this was known as a British Visitors Passport, was printed on lightweight card and was valid for just one year. Inside it gives my full name, date of birth, place of birth, height, colour of eyes, distinguishing marks and home address. There is my photo and my signature.

For foreign exchange purposes, it shows the National Provincial Bank issued me with £45. If I remember correctly, that was £5 less than the maximum £50 set by the government for an individual travelling abroad.

There is just a single stamp in the passport, dated 5th August 1967, at the port of Ostend, Belgium.

(Note : Even though it is more than 50 years later, for security reasons I have blanked out certain details, just to be on the safe side)

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One of the old advertising signs displayed at Swanage Railway Station. I certainly remember the massive Fort Dunlop factory adjacent to the M6 in Birmingham!

United's A320 N475UA "Friend Ship" retro livery dates from the airline's 85th anniversary in 2011. A contender for Rob's netflicks album, Kim managed a phone photo arriving at Houston George Bush Intercontinental. My Lumix simply wouldn't catch focus through some sort of terminal security glass.

Meanwhile, back at London Heathrow, I've now seen British Airways A319 G-EUPJ on several occasions and still only have a photo of the front end of the aircraft that features as a BEA (British European Airways) retro livery. The photo was taken whilst taxiing out from Terminal 2. It was a choice between a nose-on shot or this angle with the aircraft partly obscured by another BA plane on hold whilst waiting ATC permission to proceed.

(Thanks again to Kim for the diptych. I've geotagged as LHR)

Following on from yesterday's puzzle flic.kr/p/2pSUazX this set shows the LLCR in operation. Opening in 1890, it is the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world. The top station is 500' above the lower sea level station.

In this photo, the two cars have just set off from their respective stations.

This is the company's website that has lots of information and also a video www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/

The history is here www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/about-the-railway/history/

This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to the age of the dinosaurs and shows the tracks of at least one plant-eatring Sauropod exposed by operations at Keates Quarry, Purbeck in 1997. There are around 100 prints, dating back c145 million years. The closest modern analogy is that of a herd of elephants gathering to drink at a water hole.

This week's Saturday Flashback features Warrington Transporter Bridge (aka Bank Quay or Crosfield Transporter Bridge). This is what WikiWhoKnowsAlmostEverything has to say :

"The Warrington Transporter Bridge across the River Mersey is a structural steel transporter bridge with a span of 200 feet. It is 30 feet wide and 76 feet above high water level, with an overall length of 339 feet. It was built in 1915 and although it has been out of use since about 1964, it is still standing. It was designed by William Henry Hunter and built by William Arrol.

It was originally one of two such bridges across the Mersey at Warrington, the other having been erected in 1905 slightly to the north of the existing bridge, and described in The Engineer in 1908. A third transporter bridge over the Mersey was the Widnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge built in 1905 and dismantled in 1961.

The bridge is privately owned and was built to connect the two parts of the large chemical and soap works of Joseph Crosfield and Sons. It was originally used to carry rail vehicles up to 18 tons in weight, and was converted for road vehicles in 1940. In 1953 it was modified to carry loads of up to 30 tons.

The bridge is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building and because of its poor condition it is on their Buildings at Risk Register. The bridge is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument"

Thanks to tarboat www.flickr.com/photos/93173492@N00/8490008464/in/photostream for another good day out. Amazingly, as I only live 10 miles away, I had never heard of let alone visited this remarkable structure. Perhaps that is due to the access being on a legal public right of way that actually runs straight through an active chemical works, where access in practice is heavily discouraged. "Your presence on site is being monitored by security" said a loudspeaker voice as we passed through a gate. No, we didn't get arrested!

Sutton Mill, Sutton Poyntz.

As mentioned in previous posts, so long as a water source existed, almost every village in Dorset (and elsewhere) used to have a water mill for grinding grain. Sutton Poyntz was no exception having three along the grandly named River Jordan that is little more than a stream. What is now the village duck pond originated as the 'reservoir' for the mill to provide a sufficient and regular flow of water.

Originally built around 1820, it is now a Grade 11 Listed Building that was converted to residential use in the 1980s after being derelict for some years.

This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to 1879 and a list of items coming into or out of the small harbour at Lyme Regis. You'll have to look on large size to see the fascinating detail and how much was charged on each item. The sign hangs on one of the Cobb buildings.

Built at Doncaster in1888. Saw both GNR and LNER passenger service.

BR departmental No ‘DE940281E’.

Withdrawn 1966 and preserved by the Vintage Carriage Trust.

Seen in the workshop area of the VCT operated Museum of Rail Travel.

Ingrow Station, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

06-08-2015

The following details are from the VCT website:-

This coach was built in Doncaster by the Great Northern Railway. Its interior would have been quite comfortable, compared with other Third Class carriages of the same period. The four compartments had buttoned, upholstered seats (not yet restored), lit by gas, and the Guard's compartment had "ducketts" by which means he could view down the length of the train.

The London & North Eastern Railway, which absorbed both the GNR and the NER in 1923, kept old carriages like this in service for most of their existence, with this vehicle becoming a Civil Engineer's Department Stores Van at some time before 1942. Having suffered damage to one of the Guard's doors, it was sent to York in 1966 for repair, but was then condemned. Members of the Vintage Carriages Trust then purchased the coach and it was delivered to Keighley on 25 May 1966, having travelled from York to Bradford as part of a parcels train on the previous day.

The Trust has brought it back to its original external condition as far as research presently allows, but what is immediately striking is the varnished teak exterior panelling, for which products of the Doncaster Works were famous. Further detailed investigation has revealed the original running number, 589. This appears on the back of a number of components - including on the back of the door ventilator cover

The acquisition of GNR 2856 has provided accurate information regarding the colour of the Guard's Brake compartment roof lining and the size and spacing of the timber slats on the floor of the brake compartment. These have now been modified accordingly. Full restoration (including of the interior) is planned for this carriage, with research and costing now in hand.

Filming credits for this carriage:

Testament of Youth (2014 version); North and South; He Knew He Was Right; Sons and Lovers; The Way We Live Now; Possession; Timewatch; The Woman In White; Jude; The Secret Agent (1995 cinema version); Tomorrow's World; The Feast of July; The Secret Agent (1992 BBCTV version); I've Been here Before; Trains from the Arc; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Final Problem ; A Testament of Youth; Raffles: The First Step; Country Matters - The Black Dog ; The Railway Children (1970 EMI version); The Railway Children (1968 BBCTV version).

This week's Saturday Timewatch features the first of what will be several posts concerning the history of Castletown, Portland, Dorset. The small town is immediately adjacent to Portland Harbour. Remarkably still intact, this is the Public Bar window of The Jolly Sailor. According to the Encyclopaedia of Portland History, the original pub was established on this site in 1775 with the existing, now derelict building dating to the mid to late 19th century. It closed earlier this century and has remained unwanted and uinloved ever since.

Kitty and Rebecca, aka Two Crooked Ladies, made these traditional rural Corn Dollies for an exhibition in the window of Sherborne Museum. A very ancient craft, the dolly symbolically carried the Corn Spirit through winter after which it was committed back to the earth at the first ploughing of spring.

The first airplane built and flown in Texas, 1912. This is the original that has been preserved and restored, now displayed at Midland Airport, Texas.

www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pliska-john-valentine

Tonight's red-eye flight back to Britain will be on something a little larger, a United Boeing 777.

I'll be absent from flickr for a couple of days. Cheers!

John Constable is best known for his landscape paintings around Dedham Vale, Suffolk. Less well known are a series of paintings from October and November 1816 when he and his bride took a 6 week honeymoon in Osmington, Dorset. Several of those paintings are featuring here during November, with comparison photos taken 200 years later.

This was rather more difficult than last week's Constable painting to compare with the modern day. The agriculture has changed in the foreground. Likewise, a large Pontin's holiday camp was built after World War 2 and is now the private land of PGL, a children's activity holiday centre that is just visible in the post below to the right of the photo. The comparison isn't helped by totally different cloudscapes.

Nevertheless, John Constable clearly did his painting somewhere quite close to the spot where I took the recent photo shown below of Weymouth Bay and the Isle of Portland.

Taken whilst walking from Ninebarrow Down.

Regular readers will know that I'm not a great fan of the diesel railbus, having commuted on them for far too many years. However, I'll readily admit that it was interesting to come across this German Class 798 unit now operating on the Dutch heritage line ZLSM, close to the German border. Apparently they were affectionately known in Germany as "Nebenbahnretter" which translates as "branch line saviours". Built more than half a century ago they were relatively cheap to manufacture and operate, hence rail lines were retained that might not otherwise have been profitable. They lasted in German scheduled service well into the 1990's.

I'm not entirely sure but think this is 798-09. If not, it is 798-04. In this photo it is leaving Simpleveld Junction towards Vetschau.

Foxfield Station is located on the Cumbrian Coast Line. Although the station dates from 1848, the still operational Foxfield signal box was opened somewhat later in 1879. It controls old school semaphore signals, one of which can just be seen between the signal box and the old water tower.

Oh dear. Whilst Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak mentioned this line for an upgrade and used the dreaded phrase "Energy Coast Line".

There are around 600 ancient burial mounds aka 'tumuli' aka 'barrows' along the 17 mile / 27 km South Dorset Ridgeway. They mostly date from the Bronze Age, especially the early Bronze Age some 5000 years ago. This one also has a nicely preserved ring ditch around the main burial site.

Can you see three more? Look carefully and they are to the middle right of the photo. There is also a linear earthwork running diagonally across the photo from the bottom left corner. I'm not sure but it could be a much more recent grubbed-out hedgerow.

(Sketch artist unknown)

The date is January 12 / 13 1899. Maritime distress signals were sighted having been fired from the schooner Forrest Hall, disabled and dragging her anchor in near-hurricane conditions that caused significant damage across southern England.

With nor'westerlies blowing the Watchet lifeboat had no chance of reaching the vessel. So the call went out to Lynmouth, further down the coast. However, with mountainous waves crashing onto shore, the lifeboat Louisa would be smashed to pieces before even leaving harbour. The decision was made to launch from Porlock, a mere dozen or so miles away but a distance made almost impossible by some of the steepest gradients in Britain. For example, anyone who knows the area, is likely to have driven Porlock Hill that rises to over 1000' with a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%).

Horse were found. Hitched to the lifeboat, the expedition set off in pouring rain with only lantern lights to guide them. Even by the top of the first major hill out of Lynmouth, a wheel came off the carriage and had to be repaired. Progress became easier over the moors, at least in part due to an advance party demolishing gateposts and walls to provide clearance. Going down Porlock Hill, the Louisa had to be braked hard all the way down.

After ten hours hard labour, the lifeboat was launched from Porlock Weir. 24 hours after leaving Lynmouth, Forrest Hall and 15 crew were saved by the lifeboat helping with two tugs that had also reached the scene to tow the vessel to a safe anchorage near Barry, South Wales.

The phrase "We'll launch from Porlock" has gone down in lifeboat history. The RNLI remains a charity that is always so worthwhile to support.

This third look at Swanage Railway's recent Strictly Bullied 11 event features City of Wells (34092) running tender first up the bank from the River Frome to Norden Jct. On an earlier post, Richard wondered about the lack of evidence that dirty old coal was being burned. There ya' go Richard!

In the distance is the mighty Hambledon Hillfort taken from Shillingstone heritage railway station on the defunct Somerset & Dorset Railway. The hill is not as well known as Maiden Castle but is just as impressive and you can be assured it is one heck of a lot harder to climb to the top than the main tourist hillfort close to Dorchester. I can just imagine defending forces chanting "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough" !

Note : Not being anything like an expert on the subject, I have gone with the traditional view of this and other hillforts being from the Iron Age. I am aware that other theories are gaining ground that they were even more ancient trading centres and that the ditches and ramparts were more to do with water management than defence.

The fossil record shows that American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) has been around for at least 8 million years. Some suggest much longer as the family of alligators seems to have evolved quite slowly. The fossil record shows many quite similar species going back at least 100 million years.

They are reasonably common in Texas. This individual was photographed at Sheldon Lake State Park, some 17 miles east of downtown Houston.

Kenney, TX, has never had a large population. I've seen a figure of just 200 at the start of this century. With the towns of Brenham to the north and Bellville not far to the south, it is perhaps not too surprising that another classic old country store has bit the dust.

Note the two horse hitching posts out front. There were 6 in total giving an indication of the clientele.

(I don't know about the rest of the world but flickr has been out of action all day in Texas. Someone must have chucked another lump of coal in the boiler as it is just getting going again!)

Window hanging in the rain. Just like old times!

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Corfe Castle.

This week's Saturday Flashback goes back to Amsterdam circa 1725. I've always liked old maps and certainly from this one you can fairly easily pick out the structure of the old city as it still is today. One major change is that the course of the Amstel River was changed and it no longer flows down what is shown as Dam Rak to approximately where Centraal Station is today. Also note the ring of windmills around the outer ring of the city. This map is on show at The Hidden Church.

"All rise. The court is now in session. The Honourable Billy Bragg is presiding"

The very courtroom in which the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried and convicted in 1834 for their actions as members of a trade union was the most unusual venue I've ever been in for a concert. Billy Bragg's "A Short History of Protest Songs" was a fund-raising benefit show for Dorchester's Shire Hall.

We were seated in the public gallery. The dock is the small area between us and the judge's bench. Defendants were brought up to the dock from the cells below. The jury will have sat to the right.

I've always found photos that show the same place from very different eras of interest. The main photo here was taken in the small town of Potes, Spain. I do not have an accurate date but would guess the 1920s or 1930s. It could easily have been taken in the Forties or Fifties. I recall a friend of mine telling his tale of cycling back to the UK from Gibraltar after World War 2 and hardly encountering a tarmac road the whole way across Spain. Even today, this northern part of Spain remains something of a welcome backwater compared to the rest of Europe.

The photo below shows the same location in 2014!

Having recently converted two WW2 bunkers into holiday homes, the landowner at Ringstead now milks tourists rather than cows.

One of the homes used to be the Standby Generator Bunker. It was part of RAF Ringstead, a component of the Chain Home radar, a coastal early warning system that stretched from Cornwall in the west to Norfolk in the east. In 1941, the station was put into service, finally shutting down in 1956. The Bunker's Grade-II listing was taken into consideration during the renovation, and the original concrete walls and other elements have been kept. If you look carefully you can see the grass covered 'crescent' shape of the bunker to both the left and right of the concrete structure. Look inside here!

www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/DorsetSomerset-Spring-Bot...

In England, i've seen a 'reverse' Archimedes screw operate a community power plant. There, water is diverted from a river, through the screw mechanism and that generates electricity. However, the apparatus in this photo, two of three screws forming the J.U. Smitgemaal pumping station in the Netherlands, performs what is thought to be the original historic concept of taking water from lower to higher levels.

In this instance, water is taken up from the low-lying Albasserwaard polders, discharged into the River Lek and hence to the North Sea. Opened in 1972, the station has a capacity of 1.500 cubic litres per minute...which is a lot! It replaced the work of eight traditional windmills.

As always with fossils, I stress that we are very much amateurs on the subject and welcome alternative identification suggestions .

Found by Kim on Charmouth beach, we had no clue as to what this was. So, as you do, we asked a man who clearly knew a lot more than we did. We can only take his word but straight away he said it is in chert rock so therefore from the Cretaceous period, approximately 145 to 66 million years ago and was a sponge.

Even on large size it is hard to see numerous tiny pits. However, they can be clearly seen through a hand lens. The diameter of the central ring is c10mm / around half and inch. The coin is a British 5p piece.

We think the central 'depression' might be where the water used to flow out through what is known as the osculum.

...literally.

Another in the currently topical series concerning the final curtain for the Weymouth Tramway that ran from the current mainline Weymouth Station to Weymouth Quay station. In this photo you can clearly seen where the tracks have been cut and removed behind the barriers.

On Feb 20th this year, it was announced that funding of £1.1 million had been granted by the Department of Transport, with a balance of £0.4 million to be provided by Dorset Council and Network Rail so that the full removal of the tracks could be carried out.

As you can see, work began almost immediately, removing up to 50m of track next to the old station platform on the harbourside, Apparently, this initial work will help determine how best to complete the rest of the line.

Weymouth tramway first opened in 1865 to link the railway station with Channel Island ferries. It was last used in 1999. A petition by Weymouth Quay Heritage Campaign to save and preserve the line gained almost 4,000 signatures. Naturally, that was totally ignored.

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The 17th century Bridge House was built over Stock Beck in Ambleside. Rumour has it that it was sited there to avoid any Land Tax though I really don't know whether that is true or not. It has had a number of commercial uses as well as being a dwelling house for a family of eight people. It is now owned by the National Trust.

Many towns across America are now by-passed by an Interstate road. That is the case in Columbus, TX, although it still has the signs of the motel strip that existed along what is now the Old 90 route.

As far as I can make out, the Baker Motel managed to survive until quite recently, possibly closing in 2016? Nowadays, all the accommodation is about a mile away where there is a junction on the I-10.