Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 01-Sep-15.

 

A little bit of 'glare' along the top of the 'cheat-line'. The tail on the right is Wardair's B727 CF-FUN.

 

Eagle Airways was renamed Cunard Eagle Airways in Mar-60 after a 60% investment by the Cunard Steamship Company.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Cunard Eagle Airways in Feb-62. It was originally due to be registered G-ARWD but that wasn't taken up and instead it was registered to Cunard Eagle Airways Bermuda as VR-BBW.

 

In Sep-62 after much double dealing, Cunard formed a new company with BOAC. The aircraft was re-registered G-ARWD and was transferred to BOAC Cunard. The Cunard part didn't last and in Oct-66 the aircraft became part of BOAC's mainline fleet.

 

It was leased to BEA Airtours in Jan-73 and in Apr-74 it was renamed British Airtours. In Apr-79 the aircraft was wet leased to Air Mauritius for 2 years, returning to British Airtours in Apr-81.

 

The following month it was returned to British Airways and sold to Boeing in part exchange for new Boeing 747's. It was stored at Kingman, AZ, USA, in May-81 and subsequently broken up there in 1986.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 11-Nov-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 01-Apr-24.

 

Named: "Usti Nad Labem" (name is above the shield aft of the forward door).

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1876B, this aircraft was delivered to CSA Czech Airlines as OK-CGH in Mar-97. It was sold to Mauritania Airlines as 5T-CLA in Jan-11.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Nouakchott, Mauritania in Jan-16, It was registered to CSDS Aircraft Sales & Leasing Ltd (date unknown but possibly Jan-18) and remained stored at Nouakchott.

 

It's still shown as 'stored' in most databases but hasn't flown for 8 years, It's now 27 years old and I'd say it's probably permanently retired. Updated 02-Apr-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 06-Apr-25.

 

English titles, left side

 

History approximate. This aircraft was delivered to Aeroflot as RA-42421 in 1993. It was transferred to Kuban Airlines (date unknown) and sold to Izhavia in early 2014.

 

It was noted in service with Izhavia in May-18 but by Jul-18 it was operating for Turuhan Avia. It was registered to UT Air in Jul-19 and appears to have been permanently retired at Surgut, Russia in Jun-20.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 14-Apr-25.

 

Fleet No: "604".

 

An early build Boeing 767, first flown in Apr-84 with the Boeing test registration N6046P, this aircraft was delivered to El Al Israel Airlines as 4X-EAD in Jun-84.

 

After 27 years in service the aircraft was permanently retired at Tel Aviv, Israel in Oct-11. It was broken up there in Nov-13.

Replacing a photo from 17-Aug-14 with a better version 26-Jun-16.

 

'Istanbul' logojet transferred to SunExpress Germany.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Oct-14.

Sized for Mobile Frame Zero: Intercept Orbit, a Lego based tabletop tactical game. Based on the Salamis Kai Class from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

 

The Salamis Kai is a modified version of the lackluster but dependable Salamis class, and as such is also a frigate sized at 12 studs long. In order to bring the Salamis class into the modern era of frame focused combat, the Kai's forward bow has been modified to fit a hangar bay with a vertical lift elevator and topside launch catapult, necessitating the removal of one of the main guns. In order to increase the weight of the attacks the Kai could throw in medium range anti ship bombardments, the secondary bridges were replaced with duel main gun mounts, effectively increasing the total number of barrels to 9. Between the additional weapons and the widening of the bow for the hangar which also necessitated the removal of the missile pods, the Kai's role in combat is more definitely defined to medium range where it might better support the frames it launches. Finally, boosters were added to the engine to improve its overall speed.

 

The Kai represents a focused effort to improve the Salamis overall, but doesn't quite replace the original's role in the navy. Instead, the Kai is mostly likely to be seen serving as the lead vessel in a small task force comprised of several additional normal Salamis class ships operating in areas deemed less important or dangerous enough to warrant a true capital ship. Alternatively a ship or two of the Kai class may be attached to an existing task force to supplement the frame squads available for duty.

  

Replacing and earlier digital photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 27-Dec-24.

 

Named: "City of Karachi".

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6018N, this aircraft was delivered to Cathay Pacific Airways as VR-HOL in Feb-87. It was re-registered B-HOL in Jul-97 when Hong Kong became an autonomous region of China.

 

The aircraft was sold to PIA Pakistan International Airlines as AP-BFX in May-99. It was withdrawn from use and stored at Sialkot, Pakistan in Feb-08. The aircraft was later moved to Karachi, Pakistan and broken up there in Feb/Mar-11. Updated 11-Aug-21

Here is Arriva Buses Wales DAF DB250 East Lancs Lowlander Y704 XJF 4189 is seen at Bangor bus station as it's about to replace Wrightbus VDL SB200 Pulsar CX14 BYM 3174 to do the route 5 to Llandudno to collect more passangers. 28/01/17

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a slightly better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 08-Dec-25 (not the best photo in the world and taken through a double glazed window).

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDP, this aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to Bahrain Air as A9C-BAV in Ap-09.

 

It was returned to ILFC in early May-12 (Bahrain Air ceased operations in Feb-13 citing 'political unrest in the Gulf area').

 

The aircraft was leased to Garuda Indonesia Airlines as PK-GLG in mid May-12 and immediately transferred to Garuda Citilink. Garuda Citilink was renamed Citilink Indonesia at the end of Jul-12.

 

In Mar-20 it was withdrawn from service due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and was stored until it returned to service in Sep-24. Current, updated 08-Dec-25.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 21-Aug-25.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N35161, this aircraft was delivered to Hapag-Lloyd Airlines as D-AHFD in Apr-98. It was sold to 48th Leasing Co DEFAG on delivery and leased back to Hapag-Lloyd.

 

It was fitted with blended winglets in Jul-01. Hapag-Lloyd was renamed Hapagfly,com in Nov-05 and renamed TUIfly,com in Nov-06. The aircraft was wet-leased to CanJet Airlines (Canada) between Nov-07/May-08.

 

It was returned to the lessor in May-10 and leased to Tajmyr Air Company (Russia) as VQ-BDZ, operating as Nordstar Airlines, later the same month. It was returned to the lessor in Feb-19 and stored at Sharjah, UAE. The aircraft was leased to flySafir (South Africa) as ZS-FGB in Sep-19.

 

FlySafir returned the aircraft to the lessor in Mar-24 and it was parked at Liege, Belgium. It was sold to ASL Aviation Holdings as OE-LSZ in early Apr-24 and leased to ASL Airlines - France as F-HIXD a week later. Current, updated 20-Aug-25.

Built between 1917 and 1923, this Classical Revival-style train station was designed by Charles Sumner Frost to replace an earlier Union Station, built in 1881 and burned in 1915. The large stone-clad building features a facade with large Tuscan columns, massive windows at the portico that stretch two stories high, ionic pilasters on the side wings, a simple cornice with dentils, and brick cladding on the rear. Inside, the building features many beautifully detailed grand spaces, including a spacious grand hall in the front, a concourse with a brick ceiling made up of multiple vaults, and a vaulted waiting room over the train platforms in the rear. The building fell into decline after World War II, hastened with the end of passenger service in 1971. The building was utilized by the US Postal Service, with the upper floors of the building being converted into condos in the early 2000s. Between 2009 and 2012, the building was renovated under the direction of Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson Architects and Engineers, with intercity passenger train service being restored in 2014. The building is a contributing structure in the Lowertown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 07-Nov-17.

 

Fleet No: '493'.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Delta Air lines as N493DA in May-75. It served with Delta for 25 years and was permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in Jan-00. It was broken up at Victorville around 2003.

Still a WIP.. but most of the job is done!

Replacing the usual A350-900!

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 20-Nov-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 05-Apr-23.

 

Martinair only kept their A320's for just over 4 years.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDE, this aircraft was delivered to SALE Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise and leased to Martinair as PH-MPE in Mar-03 and returned to the lessor in Nov-07.

 

It was leased to Etihad Airways as A6-EIB in Dec-07. The aircraft was sub-leased to Air Seychelles as S7-SIL in Jul-15 and returned to Etihad in Aug-19 when it was stored at Abu Dhabi. It was moved to Hyderabad, India in Dec-19 for continued storage and returned to the lessor in Aug-20.

 

It was leased to SmartLynx Airlines - Malta as 9H-SLB two weeks later and, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was stored at Malta on delivery. The aircraft was ferried to St. Athan, Wales, UK in Sep-20.

 

It never entered service and was permanently retired at St. Athan, Wales, UK. It was broken up there in Mar-23.

Botanical gardens, Georgetown, Malaysia

Ok, this one stays. I replace these photos if I do not like the PP. I am trying to show the birds with accurate colors.

LeicesterSquare

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 20-Jan-25.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Piedmont Airlines, USA as N791N in Mar-82. It was re-registered N244US in Oct-88 prior to being merged into US Air in Aug-89.

 

US Air was renamed US Airways in Feb-97 and the aircraft was transferred to US Airways MetroJet in May-99. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Mojave, CA, USA in Dec-01.

 

The aircraft was sold to the Alameda Corporation in Mar-02 and sold to AVIACSA, Mexico as XA-TVN. AVIACSA ceased operations on 06-Jul-09. It was stored at Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, a joint civil/military airfield the same month and was eventually permanently retired. Updated 20-Jan-25.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 16-Dec-15 (DeNoise AI 24-Sep-22)

 

Taken on a very dark, wet & murky November day on what used to be the 'South Bay' at Manchester.

 

This aircraft was originally built for MEA Middle East Airlines but the order was cancelled before completion. It was registered to the deHavilland Aircraft Company as G-AROV in Aug-61 and stored at Hatfield, UK.

 

It was delivered to Aerolineas Argentinas as LV-PTS in Apr-62 and was re-registered LV-AIB the following month. It was sold to Dan-Air Services in Oct-71 becoming G-AROV once again.

 

Dan-Air operated it for 6 years until it was retired at Lasham, UK, in Nov-77. It was broken up there in Nov-78.

91130 “Lord Mayor of Newcastle” Seen departing platform 6 at York Station working the 1Y84

York - London Kings Cross

 

Once a very common sight on the East Coast Main Line from London Kings Cross to Glasgow Central

Sadly these fine machines were replaced by the Azuma’s

Once a fleet of 31 sadly there is only 12 in service with LNER

Locos in Service - 101, 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 114, 119, 124, 127, 130

Which run no further than York or Leeds, but just recently has made it as far north as Newcastle !

Locos Scrapped - 102, 103, 104, 108, 112, 113, 115, 116, 118, 121, 122, 125, 126, 128, 129, 132.

Locos stored are - 117, 120,

Locos Preserved- 91131 is at Museum of Scottish Railways at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway.

Two units lead BNSF Train U LINLIN6 09Z running east towards Nebraska City with 4 cars on a round trip from Lincoln as they pass the station sign at Syracuse and tiptoe up to a highway crossing that was being protected by flagmen as the planks were replaced. One of the interesting things about this line are the green whistle boards and milepost signs that look more like highway signs than railroad signs.

 

This is a track geometry test train being operated by BNSF Railway for reinstatement of through-trains on the Nebraska City Branch. The test train operated at 10 MPH for the duration of the trip. The line between Lincoln and Nebraska City was built as a CB&Q branch, later BN, BNSF, and in latter years was used to serve the Omaha Public Power District Nebraska City Generating Station.

 

The KYLE Railroad also made an attempt at operating this line in the early 2000’s serving local customers until BNSF resumed service after only a couple years. BNSF had the coal contract for OPPD, but Union Pacific won it in 2002, and they routed trains from their Falls City Sub., which passes through Nebraska City. After that, through trains didn’t traverse the entire line until a half dozen or so coal trains were rerouted in 2007 from Lincoln.

 

Since 2007, a through train hadn’t crossed the entire line until today. While the west end had been used occasionally by BNSF and OPPD to store cars, a large Frontier Co-Op Elevator loop track opened in April 2017 at Syracuse loading unit grain trains, served by UP from the east. At the moment, the only other customer on the line is the AGP Elevator in Lincoln, served by BNSF.

 

The interesting part is that the line itself was sold to OPPD. Union Pacific was the Primary Operating Railroad and called the line the UP Arbor Sub. and dispatched it via TWC. BNSF Railway refers to their portion on the west end from Lincoln the BNSF Nebraska City Industrial Spur. BNSF recently won the coal contract from UP, which begins in 2021. Dozens of bridges were replaced, repaired, or strengthened, crossing protection was installed, enhanced, or put back in service, track was surfaced, and trees were trimmed. Special agents and Heartland Division officials escorted or the train through towns that hadn’t seen a train over a decade.

 

As it turned out, one of UP’s last hurrahs was as bringing a coal train into the power plant just hours before the arrival of the test train, which was supposed to run through the loop track and return to Lincoln. They wound up having to recrew the train and run the engines around the consist to take it back west that night. To make matters even more interesting, that very UP coal train experienced a locomotive fire as the train came into Nebraska City. It was an interesting day, to say the least.

 

As of December 18, 2020, BNSF Railway again became the POR for the entire line, and is beginning the process of requalifying crews with short trains on the line for the coal contract start date of January 1, 2021.

 

Locomotives: BNSF 8590, BNSF 7753

 

12-9-20

Syracuse, NE

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 14-Oct-19.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWKT in Jun-04, this aircraft was originally an A330-203 but was modified to A330-202 standard before delivery. It was delivered to GECAS General Electric Capital Aircraft Services and leased to Qatar Airways as A7-AFM in Sep-04.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Sep-16 and returned to Airbus A330-203 standard. It was re-registered D-AXGF in Oct-16 and leased to Sun Express Airlines Germany for operation on behalf of Eurowings. The aircraft was temporarily stored at Frankfurt, Germany in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

Sun Express Germany was closed down by joint owners Lufthansa & Turkish Airlines in late Jun-20 and the aircraft was moved to Dusseldorf for further storage. It was transferred to Lufthansa Technik in Jul-20 and moved back to Frankfurt for storage.

 

In Jul-21 it was transferred to Eurowings Discover and operates long-haul leisure services on previous Lufthansa routes to the Caribbean, Central America and East Africa, as well as some long-haul services for Lufthansa (such as Frankfurt / Atlanta and Frankfurt to destinations in Canada). Current, updated 07-Dec-22.

....at Camberwell Green.

Kmart Discount Store located at 2501 Red Wheat Dr. in Clinton,OK. As of December 27th 2018 this is the last Kmart operating in the State of Oklahoma. The store was well stocked in the clothing departments although other areas were lacking most notably the electronics department which had a mix of TVs and mattresses on display next to each other. The garden center had a few bags of dirt and a display of seed packs but no live plants available. The grocery department had the basic essentials (cereal, soda, crackers) but prices were not competitive with a nearby grocery store. There were six registers at the front end of the store but only one was open at noon with three people in line and no other employee looking very inclined to open a second register. This store opened in 1991 replacing a smaller location a few blocks away. The smaller store is currently occupied by an Atwood's Ranch and Home Store.

I replaced the vintage limbs. From some newer figure. I don't know what it was from even ....It had a black guys head . And shoulder armor, that I removed....

This Cylon was OK for customizing since he has almost no chrome ! As we all know is a problem with this figure anyway !

I managed to get him apart without damaging anything ..It would be nice to be able to rechrome the pieces again. With some home kit or something... I haven't seen a home kit though ....

1975 Mack CF/Baker Aerialscope Delivered to Tulsa, Oklahoma as Ladder 11

1992: After a wreck, replaced with a Simon-Duplex cab, aerial rebuilt by Baker Aerialscope, and body rebuilt by Saulsbury

Served numerous departments after Tulsa

2021: Refurbished by Seagrave and Interstate Truck Equipment (ITE)

2022: Sold to New Market Virginia Fire Department

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Nov-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 25-Nov-23 (unfortunately there is some yellowing of the negative).

 

Named: "City of Karachi".

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6018N, this aircraft was delivered to Cathay Pacific Airways as VR-HOL in Feb-87. It was re-registered B-HOL in Jul-97 when Hong Kong became an autonomous region of China.

 

The aircraft was sold to PIA Pakistan International Airlines as AP-BFX in May-99. It was withdrawn from use and stored at Sialkot, Pakistan in Feb-08. The aircraft was later moved to Karachi, Pakistan and broken up there in Feb/Mar-11.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 10-Feb-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 17-Jun-23. A bit blurred!

 

With additional 'On Charter to C.A.A.C' (Central African Airlines Corporation) stickers.

 

This was parked outside the British Eagle hangars at London-Heathrow being serviced with British Eagle equipment. As the rest of the BOAC DC-7C fleet had been disposed of by spring 1964, I think Eagle had a maintenance contract for the remaining 2 freighters which were in service until spring 1965. As the stickers say, it was being 'Operated for C.A.A.C.' (Central African Airways Corporation).

 

This aircraft was delivered new to BOAC in Apr-57 and was in passenger service for just three and a half years before it was converted into a freighter with 2 main-deck cargo doors by the Douglas Aircraft Company at their Santa Monica, CA, plant in Dec-60.

 

It continued in service with BOAC Cargo until it was sold to Universal Trading Corp (USA) in May-65. It was transferred to FB Ayer & Associates the same month as N16465. It was leased to Airlift International in Jan-66, returning to FB Ayer in Sep-66.

 

The following month it was leased to International Aerodyne and sub-leased back to Airlift International. It was returned to FB Ayer in Sep-67. In Feb-68 it was leased to Air Caribbean Transport as 6Y-JFK and returned to FB Ayer in Apr-70, again as N16465 and was stored at Tucson, AZ, USA.

 

It was sold to Onyx Aviation in Mar-78 and sold again in Nov-78 to ComTran Inc and sold again to La mancha Aire Inc in Dec-81. Finally, it was sold to Paterson Aircraft Corp in Sep-83. It was later stored again at Miami and broken up there in Dec-92.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 26-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

Named: "City of Ziarat", later "City of Hydrabad" (neither name shown with this livery).

 

First flown in Mar-91 with the Airbus test registration F-WWCH, this aircraft was delivered to PIA Pakistan International Airlines as AP-BDZ in Jun-91.

 

It spent it whole operational life with PIA and was permanently retired at Karachi, Pakistan in May-14. Updated 26-Feb-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 13-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1787B, this aircraft was delivered to Itochu Airlease and leased to Sterling European Airways as OY-SEH in Jan-99.

 

It was sub-leased to Transavia Holland between Apr/Sep-99 and to Air Berlin from Apr/Jun-01. The aircraft was sub-leased to Israir (Israel) between Jul/Sep-01. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-07 and was due to be leased to Transavia Holland as PH-HSW.

 

Instead, it was leased to Transavia France as F-GZHV in May-07 and was fitted with blended winglets before it entered service.

 

The aircraft was temporarily stored at Nantes, France in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and returned to service in Jul-20. It was stored at Perpignan, France in Sep-22 (it's nearly 24 years old so I'm not sure if it's permanently retired).

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 08-Jan-25.

 

With additional '1000th Boeing 747' titles.

 

This aircraft, the 1,000th Boeing 747 (Line No:1000) was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SMU in Oct-93. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Singapore in Dec-10.

 

The aircraft was sold to Wilmington Trust Company as N417AC in Mar-11 and converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door at Tel Aviv, Israel in Dec-11.

 

It was leased to Southern Air as N400SA in Jan-12. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Dec-14 and permanently retired at St. Athan, Wales, UK. It was broken up at St. Athan in Dec-15.

 

Note: The registration 9V-SMU was later used on a Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-941.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 10-Sep-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

Named: "Byron Bay".

 

This aircraft was delivered to QANTAS Airways as VH-OGU in Aug-98. It was leased to Australian Airlines between late May and early Jul-99. The aircraft was retired by QANTAS in Dec-14 and was stored at Alice Springs, NT, Australia in Jan-15.

 

The aircraft was ferried to Victorville, CA, USA in Oct-15 and sold to ShunFeng Airlines (SF Airlines Cargo, China) as N207CR a few days later. It was transferred to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest, as Trustee, the same day.

 

It remained stored at Victorville until Jan-16 when it was ferried to Singapore-Paya Lebar for cargo conversion. It was converted to freighter configuration with a main-deck cargo door in Jun-16 and transferred back to SF Airlines Cargo as B-6996. Current, updated Mar-21.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 11-May-16, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 20-Mar-25 (it was a very 'yellowed' negative!).

 

The charter division of SABENA Belgian World Airlines.

 

Delivered new to Air France as F-GHGK in Mar-94 this aircraft was only in service for less than two years before being sold to a leasing company and stored in Dec-95.

 

In Jun-96 it was leased to Sobelair as OO-STF. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-01 and leased to Asiana Airlines in May-01 as HL7200. Returning to the lessor in Jan-06 it was immediately sold to RAM Royal Air Maroc as CN-ROG.

 

RAM sold it to Cargo Aircraft Management as N365CM in Feb-12 when it was stored at Jacksonville-Cecil Field, FL, USA. The aircraft was ferried to Tel Aviv, Israel around May-13 and converted to freight configuration with a main deck cargo door.

 

The conversion was completed in Jul-13 and the aircraft was leased to ABX Air in Aug-13. It appears to have been returned to Cargo Aircraft Management around Feb-14 and was noted stored at Wilmington, Ohio in Mar-14, still in basic Royal Air Maroc livery.

 

It remained stored until it was eventually leased to Cargojet Airways, Canada, in Mar-15 as C-GVIJ. Cargojet bought it in Oct-18. It was wet-leased to DHL Aviation in Apr-22 and operates in full DHL livery. Current, updated 20-Mar-26.

 

Replace the image and done some adjustment to it.

I have used a circular cutter to make 180 degree cuts in 0.040 inch styrene sheet for a couple of tunnel portals that I will install on my N scale model railroad. The cutter is made by Olfa, and I purchased it at a local art supply store rather than a hobby shop that sells train stuff. Art supply stores sell lots of tools, paints, craft items, and materials useful to a model railroader. The circular cutter has a strong, sharp compass point that is mounted on a sturdy head which has an adjustment screw. By loosening the screw, a horizontal beam can slide in or out a variable distance from the center point and then be locked down at the desired distance. The replaceable cutting blade (held into place by another screw) is mounted on the horizontal beam.

 

Nobody makes an N scale tunnel portal the size and shape that I want, so I had to cut my own. The tunnel opening has a radius of 8 ½ scale feet from the track center line, so that is what I set on my circular cutter. The straight vertical dimension for each side is 20 scale feet above the top on the rails plus another 3 feet for the height of the rails, crossties, and roadbed. Both of the vertical sides have to be exactly tangent to the semicircle above, so determining where to position my straight edge for the first side was the trickiest part of the whole project. From that line, I used a steel drafting triangle (also purchased from the art supply store) to place the cutting point and center compass point. I swung a 180 degree arc to locate the position of the other vertical side. My N scale ruler (shown here) is 10 scale feet wide, so my first vertical cut was 10 scale feet from the edge of the styrene sheet. After the circular cut and both vertical cuts were completely through the plastic, I could easily remove the excess from each side.

 

Figuring the geometry of where to position my circular cutter and the straight edge to guide my razor blade required a lot of thought before doing any of the actual cutting. Once I began cutting, I had to be careful to keep my blades in the right places, but the cutting itself was very repetitive and time consuming. Each tunnel portal required an hour or two of MANY short, little cuts before I broke through the plastic sheet. Then there was sanding to smooth it out and trimming the overall piece to fit the future mountain that I haven’t built yet. This photo shows the positioning of the circular cutter, but I took the photo after the job was done (and my nails repainted). For all this cutting, I used my Dupli-Cutter to hold my work in place. The Dupli-Cutter has clamps that can be positioned in several places, an adjustable slide sheet held down by the clamps, and a frame whose jaws can be opened up to hold various thicknesses of plastic for making precise, square cuts.

 

Replacing an earlier photo from May-17 with a better version.

 

Named "Jet2 Lanzarote".

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1786B, this aircraft was delivered to The Dart Group LLC and leased to Jet2.com as G-JZHZ at the end of Apr-17. Current (May-17).

The Brickell Avenue Bridge is a bascule bridge in Downtown Miami, Florida, that carries U.S. Route 1 (US 1; Brickell Avenue) over the Miami River.

 

The original Brickell Avenue Bridge was built in 1929 and replaced in 1995. The Brickell Avenue Bridge was widened by one additional northbound lane in 2006 to reduce the traffic bottleneck through downtown. Before this, there were three southbound but only two northbound lanes. Currently, there are three lanes in each direction as well as a pedestrian walkway on both sides. Still, the bridge causes frequent traffic delays on the busy Brickell Avenue when it opens. According to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the bridge opened 4,990 times in 2010.

 

The statue is a 53-foot bronze monument commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation and created by Cuban Master Sculptor Manuel Carbonell in 1995. The "Pillar of History" consists of a 36-foot high carved bas-relief column that graphically narrates the lives of the Tequesta Indians, Miami's first inhabitants, and features 158 figures. At the top stands a 17-foot bronze sculpture, "Tequesta Family" portraying a Tequesta Indian warrior aiming an arrow to the sky, looking for space in eternity, with his wife and child by his side, while the son covers his face in expectation of their extinction.

 

Carbonell also created four bas reliefs, measuring 4-feet by 8-feet, which were installed in niches on the bridge's supporting piers. Each relief honors Miami's early founders and pioneers - William and Mary Brickell, Henry Flagler, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Julia Tuttle.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickell_Avenue_Bridge

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 24-Apr-24. Slightly blurred. Photo was taken from the 7th floor of the control tower block. Sadly I couldn't move the building to the right, that's why there is a lighting gantry covering part of the nose!

 

First flown in 1991, this aircraft was delivered to Volga Dnepr Airlines as CCCP-82045 in Apr-92. It was re-registered RA-82045 in Jan-93 after the break up of the old Soviet Union.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Leipzig, Germany, in Jan-19. It was noted still stored at Leipzig at the end of Oct-21 with only one engine.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 01-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI)

 

HMY Airways was later renamed Harmony Airways.

 

Fleet No: "801".

 

This aircraft was delivered to EL Al Israel Airlines as 4X-EBL in Nov-87. It was sold to Boeing Capital in May-00 and leased back to El Al. It was returned to Boeing Capital as N789BA in Jan-01 and stored at Marana, AZ, USA.

 

The aircraft was leased to HMY Airways as C-GMYC in Nov-02. HMY Airways was renamed Harmony Airways in May-04. The airline ceased operations in Apr-07 and the aircraft was returned to the Boeing Aircraft Holding Company in Jun-07.

 

It was stored at Greenwood, MS, USA. By now it was 20 years old and was permanently retired. The aircraft was last noted still at Greenwood in Nov-08 in basic Harmony livery with many parts missing, it was broken up at Greenwood in 2009. Updated 01-Jan-21.

Östra Karaby Church stands on a hill high above the surrounding landscape, 91.47 metres above sea-level. In good weather 45 churches can be seen from here!

 

Östra Karaby Church was built in the 12th century, and replaced an older church made of wood. It has stepped gables and is made of granite that is rough-cast in white. The porch was built in 1917, when the church was renovated. A new roof was laid in 1904. The windows were put in at the end of the 19th century.

 

The crucifix, which is damaged, was probably made in the late 15th century.

 

On the northern wall, between the chancel and nave, is an imprint of a big hand, which, according to legend, cannot be washed out or painted over.

 

To the north-east of the church stands a belfry made of oak. It was completed in 1713. In fact, Östra Karaby Church is one of very few medieval churches in the province of Skåne that has a belfry. The only bell is inscribed with two quotations from the Bible: “From sunrise to sunset let the Lord´s name be praised" and “Glory to God in the Highest".

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better(?) version 13-Dec-20. Sadly, many of my negatives have deteriorated in storage over time (damp garages and lofts really don't do them much good). Oddly, some shots on the same film are OK, this one was a mess when I scanned it... I think slightly purple all over is better than the mostly yellow it was before

 

I think this has to be the best of the Canadian Airlines liveries!

 

Fleet No: "708". Left side.

 

First flown in Mar-79 with the Boeing test registration N1262E, this aircraft was delivered to CP Air as C-GCPM in May-79. CP Air was renamed Canadian Pacific Airlines (again!) in Jan-86.

 

In Apr-87 the Pacific Western Airlines holding company bought Canadian Pacific Airlines and merged the two of them to form Canadian Airlines International. In Apr-01 an ailing CAI was merged into Air Canada.

 

The aircraft was sold to a lessor in Apr-02 and leased back to Air Canada. In Mar-03 the B737-200 aircraft were transferred to Zip Air Inc (another attempt by Air Canada to form a 'low cost' subsidiary). It didn't do too well and the aircraft were returned to Air Canada in Apr-04.

 

This one was returned to the lessor a few days later, re-registered N942PG and stored at Tucson, AZ, USA. It was leased to Aero Condor (Peru) as OB-1832-P in Mar-06. It was returned to the the lessor as N716SH and stored (at Lima, Peru I think) in Jan-09. It was 30 years old was permanently retired. The registration was cancelled in Jul-09.

Publicity image for the new Superior 500 which replaced the Superior 400 model. The Superior 500 had a more streamlined body developed under the principles of Paul Jaráy (Vienna, 1889-1974) and the technical supervision of Josef Ganz (Budapest, 1898-1967).

At the end of 1933, a small delivery van variant was also introduced until 1938. After that year, Standard founder Wilhelm Gutbrod (near Stuttgart, 1890-1948) sold the small van under his own name as Gutbrod Merkur HV 504. The body was very similar to that of the Simca 5 Fourgonnette.

Note the use of tubular chrome seats. It was a new invention in the early 1920s.

 

Some background info:

In the 1930s there was an increasing need for a real people's car in the German-speaking region. A car affordable for the masses, the so called 'Volkswagen'.

One of the leading engineers at that time was Josef Ganz. After he had worked for Adler, BMW, Daimler-Benz and Röhr, he developed his own minicar in 1931, the 'Maikäfer'.

In Standard Fahrzeugbau he found a manufacturer and in 1932 the Standard Superior 400 was launched (officially presented at the IAMA, the Berlin international motor show, Febr. 1933).

This cheap car was based on the 'Maikäfer' principles: tubular chassis, rear engine, independent wheel suspension and with a streamlined body.

 

Journalist Paul Schilperoord wrote a very interesting book about the history of the development of the VW Beetle in the 1930s. In this book he describes the life and works of Josef Ganz who's technical ideas were taken over by Ferdinand Porsche. The book reads like a very exciting story.

See: Paul Schilperoord, Het ware verhaal van de Kever: hoe Hitler het ontwerp van een Joods genie confisqueerde, Veen Magazines, 2009.

In 2019 a documentary was made about Josef Ganz and his life story: Ganz, How I lost my Beetle (2019), by Suzanne Raes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNuS4GwU7CU

 

494 cc 2 cylinder 2-stroke rear engine.

490 kg.

Production Standard Superior 500: Nov. 1933-May 1935.

 

Image source: Paul Schilperoord, Het ware verhaal van de Kever: hoe Hitler het ontwerp van een Joods genie confisqueerde, Veen Magazines, 2009.

Location: Frankfurt.

Date: prob. Nov. 1933.

Original photographer/artist, place and exact date unknown.

 

Halfweg, Febr. 11, 2023.

 

© 2009/2023 Schilperoord/Sander Toonen, Halfweg | All Rights Reserved

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 28-May-25.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Asiana Airlines as HL8254 in Jul-12. Current, updated 28-May-25.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 09-Oct-15.

 

Fleet No: "967".

 

This aircraft was delivered to Caribair Puerto Rico as N967PR in Mar-68. Caribair was merged into Eastern Air Lines in May-73 and it continued to operate for Eastern until they ceased trading in Jan-91 when the aircraft was stored at Mojave, CA, USA.

 

It was sold by the liquidators to AVENSA, Venezuela, in Aug-91 as YV-82C. It was leased to LAV Linea Aerea Venezolana for a year between Aug-93 and Aug-94 and continued in service with AVENSA until, at the age of 31 it was retired and stored at Caracas, Venezuela, in Dec-99.

 

It was last noted still stored at Caracas in Feb-09 in derelict condition and has, presumably, since been broken up.

Middenweg 22/10/2020 17h27

The always busy Middenweg with at 12G tram on service on line 19. For how long?

The latest news (*November 2020) is that this type of tram is being phased out faster than sheduled earlier. When the new type 15G will be introduced for service the bi-directional series (901-920) will be replaced by the new 15G trams, later on other lines and the 12G lines 19 and 24 will have Combinos (and perhaps 15G as well). Test runs of 15G are still in progress as we speak (*November 2020).

The 839 on the photo was delivered to Amsterdam on 19/03/1991 and first seen on the streets with passengers on 11/04/1991 on line 24. Part of the series 12G (trapkar or hangbuik) with fleet numbers 817-841, built by BN in Brugge.

 

More information about line 19:

Opened: 22/07/2018

Route: Diemen - Middenweg - Sarphatistraat - Weteringschans - Leidseplein - de Clercqstraat - Admiraal de Ruijterweg - Sloterdijk

Length: 15,4 km

Depot: Remise Havenstraat

Equipment: Standard BN 12G trams (817 - 841)

[ 04 / 2020 ]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamish_Museum

 

Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.

 

The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of industrial revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.

 

The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums. It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.

 

History

Genesis

In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum, inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.

 

Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of a surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too.

 

In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for the purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall, having been vacated by the National Coal Board, as a suitable location.

 

Establishment and expansion

In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members, the museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall.

 

The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979.

 

In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Anne, Princess Royal, in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge.

 

With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from the south was introduced in 1986.

 

At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993.[8] Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage, followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of the museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001.

 

In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works. Additions to display areas came in the form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished.

 

Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011)[28] band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in the Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015.

 

Remaking Beamish

A major development, named 'Remaking Beamish', was approved by Durham County Council in April 2016, with £10.7m having been raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £3.3m from other sources.

 

As of September 2022, new exhibits as part of this project have included a quilter's cottage, a welfare hall, 1950s terrace, recreation park, bus depot, and 1950s farm (all discussed in the relevant sections of this article). The coming years will see replicas of aged miners' homes from South Shields, a cinema from Ryhope, and social housing will feature a block of four relocated Airey houses, prefabricated concrete homes originally designed by Sir Edwin Airey, which previously stood in Kibblesworth. Then-recently vacated and due for demolition, they were instead offered to the museum by The Gateshead Housing Company and accepted in 2012.

 

Museum site

The approximately 350-acre (1.4 km2) current site, once belonging to the Eden and Shafto families, is a basin-shaped steep-sided valley with woodland areas, a river, some level ground and a south-facing aspect.

 

Visitors enter the site through an entrance arch formed by a steam hammer, across a former opencast mining site and through a converted stable block (from Greencroft, near Lanchester, County Durham).

 

Visitors can navigate the site via assorted marked footpaths, including adjacent (or near to) the entire tramway oval. According to the museum, it takes 20 minutes to walk at a relaxed pace from the entrance to the town. The tramway oval serves as both an exhibit and as a free means of transport around the site for visitors, with stops at the entrance (south), Home Farm (west), Pockerley (east) and the Town (north). Visitors can also use the museum's buses as a free form of transport between various parts of the museum. Although visitors can also ride on the Town railway and Pockerley Waggonway, these do not form part of the site's transport system (as they start and finish from the same platforms).

 

Governance

Beamish was the first English museum to be financed and administered by a consortium of county councils (Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear) The museum is now operated as a registered charity, but continues to receive support from local authorities - Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Council. The supporting Friends of Beamish organisation was established in 1968. Frank Atkinson retired as director in 1987. The museum has been 96% self-funding for some years (mainly from admission charges).

 

Sections of the museum

1913

The town area, officially opened in 1985, depicts chiefly Victorian buildings in an evolved urban setting of 1913.

 

Tramway

The Beamish Tramway is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, with four passing loops. The line makes a circuit of the museum site forming an important element of the visitor transportation system.

 

The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973, with the whole circle in operation by 1993.[8] It represents the era of electric powered trams, which were being introduced to meet the needs of growing towns and cities across the North East from the late 1890s, replacing earlier horse drawn systems.

 

Bakery

Presented as Joseph Herron, Baker & Confectioner, the bakery was opened in 2013 and features working ovens which produce food for sale to visitors. A two-storey curved building, only the ground floor is used as the exhibit. A bakery has been included to represent the new businesses which sprang up to cater for the growing middle classes - the ovens being of the modern electric type which were growing in use. The building was sourced from Anfield Plain (which had a bakery trading as Joseph Herron), and was moved to Beamish in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The frontage features a stained glass from a baker's shop in South Shields. It also uses fittings from Stockton-on-Tees.

 

Motor garage

Presented as Beamish Motor & Cycle Works, the motor garage opened in 1994. Reflecting the custom nature of the early motor trade, where only one in 232 people owned a car in 1913, the shop features a showroom to the front (not accessible to visitors), with a garage area to the rear, accessed via the adjacent archway. The works is a replica of a typical garage of the era. Much of the museum's car, motorcycle and bicycle collection, both working and static, is stored in the garage. The frontage has two storeys, but the upper floor is only a small mezzanine and is not used as part of the display.

 

Department Store

Presented as the Annfield Plain Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd, (but more commonly referred to as the Anfield Plain Co-op Store) this department store opened in 1984, and was relocated to Beamish from Annfield Plain in County Durham. The Annfield Plain co-operative society was originally established in 1870, with the museum store stocking various products from the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), established 1863. A two-storey building, the ground floor comprises the three departments - grocery, drapery and hardware; the upper floor is taken up by the tea rooms (accessed from Redman Park via a ramp to the rear). Most of the items are for display only, but a small amount of goods are sold to visitors. The store features an operational cash carrier system, of the Lamson Cash Ball design - common in many large stores of the era, but especially essential to Co-ops, where customer's dividends had to be logged.

 

Ravensworth Terrace

Ravensworth Terrace is a row of terraced houses, presented as the premises and living areas of various professionals. Representing the expanding housing stock of the era, it was relocated from its original site on Bensham Bank, having been built for professionals and tradesmen between 1830 and 1845. Original former residents included painter John Wilson Carmichael and Gateshead mayor Alexander Gillies. Originally featuring 25 homes, the terrace was to be demolished when the museum saved it in the 1970s, reconstructing six of them on the Town site between 1980 and 1985. They are two storey buildings, with most featuring display rooms on both floors - originally the houses would have also housed a servant in the attic. The front gardens are presented in a mix of the formal style, and the natural style that was becoming increasingly popular.

 

No. 2 is presented as the home of Miss Florence Smith, a music teacher, with old fashioned mid-Victorian furnishings as if inherited from her parents. No. 3 & 4 is presented as the practice and home respectively (with a knocked through door) of dentist J. Jones - the exterior nameplate having come from the surgery of Mr. J. Jones in Hartlepool. Representing the state of dental health at the time, it features both a check-up room and surgery for extraction, and a technicians room for creating dentures - a common practice at the time being the giving to daughters a set on their 21st birthday, to save any future husband the cost at a later date. His home is presented as more modern than No.2, furnished in the Edwardian style the modern day utilities of an enamelled bathroom with flushing toilet, a controllable heat kitchen range and gas cooker. No. 5 is presented as a solicitor's office, based on that of Robert Spence Watson, a Quaker from Newcastle. Reflecting the trade of the era, downstairs is laid out as the partner's or principal office, and the general or clerk's office in the rear. Included is a set of books sourced from ER Hanby Holmes, who practised in Barnard Castle.

 

Pub

Presented as The Sun Inn, the pub opened in the town in 1985. It had originally stood in Bondgate in Bishop Auckland, and was donated to the museum by its final owners, the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. Originally a "one-up one down" cottage, the earliest ownership has been traced to James Thompson, on 21 January 1806. Known as The Tiger Inn until the 1850s, from 1857 to 1899 under the ownership of the Leng family, it flourished under the patronage of miners from Newton Cap and other collieries. Latterly run by Elsie Edes, it came under brewery ownership in the 20th Century when bought by S&N antecedent, James Deuchar Ltd. The pub is fully operational, and features both a front and back bar, the two stories above not being part of the exhibit. The interior decoration features the stuffed racing greyhound Jake's Bonny Mary, which won nine trophies before being put on display in The Gerry in White le Head near Tantobie.

 

Town stables

Reflecting the reliance on horses for a variety of transport needs in the era, the town features a centrally located stables, situated behind the sweet shop, with its courtyard being accessed from the archway next to the pub. It is presented as a typical jobmaster's yard, with stables and a tack room in the building on its north side. A small, brick built open air, carriage shed is sited on the back of the printworks building. On the east side of the courtyard is a much larger metal shed (utilising iron roof trusses from Fleetwood), arranged mainly as carriage storage, but with a blacksmith's shop in the corner. The building on the west side of the yard is not part of any display. The interior fittings for the harness room came from Callaly Caste. Many of the horses and horse-drawn vehicles used by the museum are housed in the stables and sheds.

 

Printer, stationer and newspaper branch office

Presented as the Beamish Branch Office of the Northern Daily Mail and the Sunderland Daily Echo, the two storey replica building was built in the mid-1980s and represents the trade practices of the era. Downstairs, on the right, is the branch office, where newspapers would be sold directly and distributed to local newsagents and street vendors, and where orders for advertising copy would be taken. Supplementing it is a stationer's shop on the left hand side, with both display items and a small number of gift items on public sale. Upstairs is a jobbing printers workshop, which would not produce the newspapers, but would instead print leaflets, posters and office stationery. Split into a composing area and a print shop, the shop itself has a number of presses - a Columbian built in 1837 by Clymer and Dixon, an Albion dating back to 1863, an Arab Platen of c. 1900, and a Wharfedale flat bed press, built by Dawson & Son in around 1870. Much of the machinery was sourced from the print works of Jack Ascough's of Barnard Castle. Many of the posters seen around the museum are printed in the works, with the operation of the machinery being part of the display.

 

Sweet shop

Presented as Jubilee Confectioners, the two storey sweet shop opened in 1994 and is meant to represent the typical family run shops of the era, with living quarters above the shop (the second storey not being part of the display). To the front of the ground floor is a shop, where traditional sweets and chocolate (which was still relatively expensive at the time) are sold to visitors, while in the rear of the ground floor is a manufacturing area where visitors can view the techniques of the time (accessed via the arched walkway on the side of the building). The sweet rollers were sourced from a variety of shops and factories.

 

Bank

Presented as a branch of Barclays Bank (Barclay & Company Ltd) using period currency, the bank opened in 1999. It represents the trend of the era when regional banks were being acquired and merged into national banks such as Barclays, formed in 1896. Built to a three-storey design typical of the era, and featuring bricks in the upper storeys sourced from Park House, Gateshead, the Swedish imperial red shade used on the ground floor frontage is intended to represent stability and security. On the ground floor are windows for bank tellers, plus the bank manager's office. Included in a basement level are two vaults. The upper two storeys are not part of the display. It features components sourced from Southport and Gateshead

 

Masonic Hall

The Masonic Hall opened in 2006, and features the frontage from a former masonic hall sited in Park Terrace, Sunderland. Reflecting the popularity of the masons in North East England, as well as the main hall, which takes up the full height of the structure, in a small two story arrangement to the front of the hall is also a Robing Room and the Tyler's Room on the ground floor, and a Museum Room upstairs, featuring display cabinets of masonic regalia donated from various lodges. Upstairs is also a class room, with large stained glass window.

 

Chemist and photographer

Presented as W Smith's Chemist and JR & D Edis Photographers, a two-storey building housing both a chemist and photographers shops under one roof opened on 7 May 2016 and represents the growing popularity of photography in the era, with shops often growing out of or alongside chemists, who had the necessary supplies for developing photographs. The chemist features a dispensary, and equipment from various shops including John Walker, inventor of the friction match. The photographers features a studio, where visitors can dress in period costume and have a photograph taken. The corner building is based on a real building on Elvet Bridge in Durham City, opposite the Durham Marriot Hotel (the Royal County), although the second storey is not part of the display. The chemist also sells aerated water (an early form of carbonated soft drinks) to visitors, sold in marble-stopper sealed Codd bottles (although made to a modern design to prevent the safety issue that saw the original bottles banned). Aerated waters grew in popularity in the era, due to the need for a safe alternative to water, and the temperance movement - being sold in chemists due to the perception they were healthy in the same way mineral waters were.

 

Costing around £600,000 and begun on 18 August 2014, the building's brickwork and timber was built by the museum's own staff and apprentices, using Georgian bricks salvaged from demolition works to widen the A1. Unlike previous buildings built on the site, the museum had to replicate rather than relocate this one due to the fact that fewer buildings are being demolished compared to the 1970s, and in any case it was deemed unlikely one could be found to fit the curved shape of the plot. The studio is named after a real business run by John Reed Edis and his daughter Daisy. Mr Edis, originally at 27 Sherburn Road, Durham, in 1895, then 52 Saddler Street from 1897. The museum collection features several photographs, signs and equipment from the Edis studio. The name for the chemist is a reference to the business run by William Smith, who relocated to Silver Street, near the original building, in 1902. According to records, the original Edis company had been supplied by chemicals from the original (and still extant) Smith business.

 

Redman Park

Redman Park is a small lawned space with flower borders, opposite Ravensworth Terrace. Its centrepiece is a Victorian bandstand sourced from Saltwell Park, where it stood on an island in the middle of a lake. It represents the recognised need of the time for areas where people could relax away from the growing industrial landscape.

 

Other

Included in the Town are drinking fountains and other period examples of street furniture. In between the bank and the sweet shop is a combined tram and bus waiting room and public convenience.

 

Unbuilt

When construction of the Town began, the projected town plan incorporated a market square and buildings including a gas works, fire station, ice cream parlour (originally the Central Cafe at Consett), a cast iron bus station from Durham City, school, public baths and a fish and chip shop.

 

Railway station

East of the Town is the Railway Station, depicting a typical small passenger and goods facility operated by the main railway company in the region at the time, the North Eastern Railway (NER). A short running line extends west in a cutting around the north side of the Town itself, with trains visible from the windows of the stables. It runs for a distance of 1⁄4 mile - the line used to connect to the colliery sidings until 1993 when it was lifted between the town and the colliery so that the tram line could be extended. During 2009 the running line was relaid so that passenger rides could recommence from the station during 2010.

 

Rowley station

Representing passenger services is Rowley Station, a station building on a single platform, opened in 1976, having been relocated to the museum from the village of Rowley near Consett, just a few miles from Beamish.

 

The original Rowley railway station was opened in 1845 (as Cold Rowley, renamed Rowley in 1868) by the NER antecedent, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, consisting of just a platform. Under NER ownership, as a result of increasing use, in 1873 the station building was added. As demand declined, passenger service was withdrawn in 1939, followed by the goods service in 1966. Trains continued to use the line for another three years before it closed, the track being lifted in 1970. Although in a state of disrepair, the museum acquired the building, dismantling it in 1972, being officially unveiled in its new location by railway campaigner and poet, Sir John Betjeman.

 

The station building is presented as an Edwardian station, lit by oil lamp, having never been connected to gas or electricity supplies in its lifetime. It features both an open waiting area and a visitor accessible waiting room (western half), and a booking and ticket office (eastern half), with the latter only visible from a small viewing entrance. Adorning the waiting room is a large tiled NER route map.

 

Signal box

The signal box dates from 1896, and was relocated from Carr House East near Consett. It features assorted signalling equipment, basic furnishings for the signaller, and a lever frame, controlling the stations numerous points, interlocks and semaphore signals. The frame is not an operational part of the railway, the points being hand operated using track side levers. Visitors can only view the interior from a small area inside the door.

 

Goods shed

The goods shed is originally from Alnwick. The goods area represents how general cargo would have been moved on the railway, and for onward transport. The goods shed features a covered platform where road vehicles (wagons and carriages) can be loaded with the items unloaded from railway vans. The shed sits on a triangular platform serving two sidings, with a platform mounted hand-crane, which would have been used for transhipment activity (transfer of goods from one wagon to another, only being stored for a short time on the platform, if at all).

 

Coal yard

The coal yard represents how coal would have been distributed from incoming trains to local merchants - it features a coal drop which unloads railway wagons into road going wagons below. At the road entrance to the yard is a weighbridge (with office) and coal merchant's office - both being appropriately furnished with display items, but only viewable from outside.

 

The coal drop was sourced from West Boldon, and would have been a common sight on smaller stations. The weighbridge came from Glanton, while the coal office is from Hexham.

 

Bridges and level crossing

The station is equipped with two footbridges, a wrought iron example to the east having come from Howden-le-Wear, and a cast iron example to the west sourced from Dunston. Next to the western bridge, a roadway from the coal yard is presented as crossing the tracks via a gated level crossing (although in reality the road goes nowhere on the north side).

 

Waggon and Iron Works

Dominating the station is the large building externally presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works, estd 1857. In reality this is the Regional Museums Store (see below), although attached to the north side of the store are two covered sidings (not accessible to visitors), used to service and store the locomotives and stock used on the railway.

 

Other

A corrugated iron hut adjacent to the 'iron works' is presented as belonging to the local council, and houses associated road vehicles, wagons and other items.

 

Fairground

Adjacent to the station is an events field and fairground with a set of Frederick Savage built steam powered Gallopers dating from 1893.

 

Colliery

Presented as Beamish Colliery (owned by James Joicey & Co., and managed by William Severs), the colliery represents the coal mining industry which dominated the North East for generations - the museum site is in the former Durham coalfield, where 165,246 men and boys worked in 304 mines in 1913. By the time period represented by Beamish's 1900s era, the industry was booming - production in the Great Northern Coalfield had peaked in 1913, and miners were relatively well paid (double that of agriculture, the next largest employer), but the work was dangerous. Children could be employed from age 12 (the school leaving age), but could not go underground until 14.

 

Deep mine

Reconstructed pitworks buildings showing winding gear

Dominating the colliery site are the above ground structures of a deep (i.e. vertical shaft) mine - the brick built Winding Engine House, and the red painted wooden Heapstead. These were relocated to the museum (which never had its own vertical shaft), the winding house coming from Beamish Chophill Colliery, and the Heapstead from Ravensworth Park Mine in Gateshead. The winding engine and its enclosing house are both listed.

 

The winding engine was the source of power for hauling miners, equipment and coal up and down the shaft in a cage, the top of the shaft being in the adjacent heapstead, which encloses the frame holding the wheel around which the hoist cable travels. Inside the Heapstead, tubs of coal from the shaft were weighed on a weighbridge, then tipped onto jigging screens, which sifted the solid lumps from small particles and dust - these were then sent along the picking belt, where pickers, often women, elderly or disabled people or young boys (i.e. workers incapable of mining), would separate out unwanted stone, wood and rubbish. Finally, the coal was tipped onto waiting railway wagons below, while the unwanted waste sent to the adjacent heap by an external conveyor.

 

Chophill Colliery was closed by the National Coal Board in 1962, but the winding engine and tower were left in place. When the site was later leased, Beamish founder Frank Atkinson intervened to have both spot listed to prevent their demolition. After a protracted and difficult process to gain the necessary permissions to move a listed structure, the tower and engine were eventually relocated to the museum, work being completed in 1976. The winding engine itself is the only surviving example of the type which was once common, and was still in use at Chophill upon its closure. It was built in 1855 by J&G Joicey of Newcastle, to an 1800 design by Phineas Crowther.

 

Inside the winding engine house, supplementing the winding engine is a smaller jack engine, housed in the rear. These were used to lift heavy equipment, and in deep mines, act as a relief winding engine.

 

Outdoors, next to the Heapstead, is a sinking engine, mounted on red bricks. Brought to the museum from Silksworth Colliery in 1971, it was built by Burlington's of Sunderland in 1868 and is the sole surviving example of its kind. Sinking engines were used for the construction of shafts, after which the winding engine would become the source of hoist power. It is believed the Silksworth engine was retained because it was powerful enough to serve as a backup winding engine, and could be used to lift heavy equipment (i.e. the same role as the jack engine inside the winding house).

 

Drift mine

The Mahogany Drift Mine is original to Beamish, having opened in 1855 and after closing, was brought back into use in 1921 to transport coal from Beamish Park Drift to Beamish Cophill Colliery. It opened as a museum display in 1979. Included in the display is the winding engine and a short section of trackway used to transport tubs of coal to the surface, and a mine office. Visitor access into the mine shaft is by guided tour.

 

Lamp cabin

The Lamp Cabin opened in 2009, and is a recreation of a typical design used in collieries to house safety lamps, a necessary piece of equipment for miners although were not required in the Mahogany Drift Mine, due to it being gas-free. The building is split into two main rooms; in one half, the lamp cabin interior is recreated, with a collection of lamps on shelves, and the system of safety tokens used to track which miners were underground. Included in the display is a 1927 Hailwood and Ackroyd lamp-cleaning machine sourced from Morrison Busty Colliery in Annfield Plain. In the second room is an educational display, i.e., not a period interior.

 

Colliery railways

The colliery features both a standard gauge railway, representing how coal was transported to its onward destination, and narrow-gauge typically used by Edwardian collieries for internal purposes. The standard gauge railway is laid out to serve the deep mine - wagons being loaded by dropping coal from the heapstead - and runs out of the yard to sidings laid out along the northern-edge of the Pit Village.

 

The standard gauge railway has two engine sheds in the colliery yard, the smaller brick, wood and metal structure being an operational building; the larger brick-built structure is presented as Beamish Engine Works, a reconstruction of an engine shed formerly at Beamish 2nd Pit. Used for locomotive and stock storage, it is a long, single track shed featuring a servicing pit for part of its length. Visitors can walk along the full length in a segregated corridor. A third engine shed in brick (lower half) and corrugated iron has been constructed at the southern end of the yard, on the other side of the heapstead to the other two sheds, and is used for both narrow and standard gauge vehicles (on one road), although it is not connected to either system - instead being fed by low-loaders and used for long-term storage only.

 

The narrow gauge railway is serviced by a corrugate iron engine shed, and is being expanded to eventually encompass several sidings.

 

There are a number of industrial steam locomotives (including rare examples by Stephen Lewin from Seaham and Black, Hawthorn & Co) and many chaldron wagons, the region's traditional type of colliery railway rolling stock, which became a symbol of Beamish Museum. The locomotive Coffee Pot No 1 is often in steam during the summer.

 

Other

On the south eastern corner of the colliery site is the Power House, brought to the museum from Houghton Colliery. These were used to store explosives.

 

Pit Village

Alongside the colliery is the pit village, representing life in the mining communities that grew alongside coal production sites in the North East, many having come into existence solely because of the industry, such as Seaham Harbour, West Hartlepool, Esh Winning and Bedlington.

 

Miner's Cottages

The row of six miner's cottages in Francis Street represent the tied-housing provided by colliery owners to mine workers. Relocated to the museum in 1976, they were originally built in the 1860s in Hetton-le-Hole by Hetton Coal Company. They feature the common layout of a single-storey with a kitchen to the rear, the main room of the house, and parlour to the front, rarely used (although it was common for both rooms to be used for sleeping, with disguised folding "dess" beds common), and with children sleeping in attic spaces upstairs. In front are long gardens, used for food production, with associated sheds. An outdoor toilet and coal bunker were in the rear yards, and beyond the cobbled back lane to their rear are assorted sheds used for cultivation, repairs and hobbies. Chalkboard slates attached to the rear wall were used by the occupier to tell the mine's "knocker up" when they wished to be woken for their next shift.

 

No.2 is presented as a Methodist family's home, featuring good quality "Pitman's mahogany" furniture; No.3 is presented as occupied by a second generation well off Irish Catholic immigrant family featuring many items of value (so they could be readily sold off in times of need) and an early 1890s range; No.3 is presented as more impoverished than the others with just a simple convector style Newcastle oven, being inhabited by a miner's widow allowed to remain as her son is also a miner, and supplementing her income doing laundry and making/mending for other families. All the cottages feature examples of the folk art objects typical of mining communities. Also included in the row is an office for the miner's paymaster.[11] In the rear alleyway of the cottages is a communal bread oven, which were commonplace until miner's cottages gradually obtained their own kitchen ranges. They were used to bake traditional breads such as the Stottie, as well as sweet items, such as tea cakes. With no extant examples, the museum's oven had to be created from photographs and oral history.

 

School

The school opened in 1992, and represents the typical board school in the educational system of the era (the stone built single storey structure being inscribed with the foundation date of 1891, Beamish School Board), by which time attendance at a state approved school was compulsory, but the leaving age was 12, and lessons featured learning by rote and corporal punishment. The building originally stood in East Stanley, having been set up by the local school board, and would have numbered around 150 pupils. Having been donated by Durham County Council, the museum now has a special relationship with the primary school that replaced it. With separate entrances and cloakrooms for boys and girls at either end, the main building is split into three class rooms (all accessible to visitors), connected by a corridor along the rear. To the rear is a red brick bike shed, and in the playground visitors can play traditional games of the era.

 

Chapel

Pit Hill Chapel opened in 1990, and represents the Wesleyan Methodist tradition which was growing in North East England, with the chapels used for both religious worship and as community venues, which continue in its role in the museum display. Opened in the 1850s, it originally stood not far from its present site, having been built in what would eventually become Beamish village, near the museum entrance. A stained glass window of The Light of The World by William Holman Hunt came from a chapel in Bedlington. A two handled Love Feast Mug dates from 1868, and came from a chapel in Shildon Colliery. On the eastern wall, above the elevated altar area, is an angled plain white surface used for magic lantern shows, generated using a replica of the double-lensed acetylene gas powered lanterns of the period, mounted in the aisle of the main seating area. Off the western end of the hall is the vestry, featuring a small library and communion sets from Trimdon Colliery and Catchgate.

 

Fish bar

Presented as Davey's Fried Fish & Chip Potato Restaurant, the fish and chip shop opened in 2011, and represents the typical style of shop found in the era as they were becoming rapidly popular in the region - the brick built Victorian style fryery would most often have previously been used for another trade, and the attached corrugated iron hut serves as a saloon with tables and benches, where customers would eat and socialise. Featuring coal fired ranges using beef-dripping, the shop is named in honour of the last coal fired shop in Tyneside, in Winlaton Mill, and which closed in 2007. Latterly run by brothers Brian and Ramsay Davy, it had been established by their grandfather in 1937. The serving counter and one of the shop's three fryers, a 1934 Nuttal, came from the original Davy shop. The other two fryers are a 1920s Mabbott used near Chester until the 1960s, and a GW Atkinson New Castle Range, donated from a shop in Prudhoe in 1973. The latter is one of only two known late Victorian examples to survive. The decorative wall tiles in the fryery came to the museum in 1979 from Cowes Fish and Game Shop in Berwick upon Tweed. The shop also features both an early electric and hand-powered potato rumblers (cleaners), and a gas powered chip chopper built around 1900. Built behind the chapel, the fryery is arranged so the counter faces the rear, stretching the full length of the building. Outside is a brick built row of outdoor toilets. Supplementing the fish bar is the restored Berriman's mobile chip van, used in Spennymoor until the early 1970s.

 

Band hall

The Hetton Silver Band Hall opened in 2013, and features displays reflecting the role colliery bands played in mining life. Built in 1912, it was relocated from its original location in South Market Street, Hetton-le-Hole, where it was used by the Hetton Silver Band, founded in 1887. They built the hall using prize money from a music competition, and the band decided to donate the hall to the museum after they merged with Broughtons Brass Band of South Hetton (to form the Durham Miners' Association Brass Band). It is believed to be the only purpose built band hall in the region. The structure consists of the main hall, plus a small kitchen to the rear; as part of the museum it is still used for performances.

 

Pit pony stables

The Pit Pony Stables were built in 2013/14, and house the museum's pit ponies. They replace a wooden stable a few metres away in the field opposite the school (the wooden structure remaining). It represents the sort of stables that were used in drift mines (ponies in deep mines living their whole lives underground), pit ponies having been in use in the north east as late as 1994, in Ellington Colliery. The structure is a recreation of an original building that stood at Rickless Drift Mine, between High Spen and Greenside; it was built using a yellow brick that was common across the Durham coalfield.

 

Other

Doubling as one of the museum's refreshment buildings, Sinker's Bait Cabin represents the temporary structures that would have served as living quarters, canteens and drying areas for sinkers, the itinerant workforce that would dig new vertical mine shafts.

 

Representing other traditional past-times, the village fields include a quoits pitch, with another refreshment hut alongside it, resembling a wooden clubhouse.

 

In one of the fields in the village stands the Cupola, a small round flat topped brick built tower; such structures were commonly placed on top of disused or ventilation shafts, also used as an emergency exit from the upper seams.

 

The Georgian North (1825)

A late Georgian landscape based around the original Pockerley farm represents the period of change in the region as transport links were improved and as agriculture changed as machinery and field management developed, and breeding stock was improved. It became part of the museum in 1990, having latterly been occupied by a tenant farmer, and was opened as an exhibit in 1995. The hill top position suggests the site was the location of an Iron Age fort - the first recorded mention of a dwelling is in the 1183 Buke of Boldon (the region's equivalent of the Domesday Book). The name Pockerley has Saxon origins - "Pock" or "Pokor" meaning "pimple of bag-like" hill, and "Ley" meaning woodland clearing.

 

The surrounding farmlands have been returned to a post-enclosure landscape with ridge and furrow topography, divided into smaller fields by traditional riven oak fencing. The land is worked and grazed by traditional methods and breeds.

 

Pockerley Old Hall

The estate of Pockerley Old Hall is presented as that of a well off tenant farmer, in a position to take advantage of the agricultural advances of the era. The hall itself consists of the Old House, which is adjoined (but not connected to) the New House, both south facing two storey sandstone built buildings, the Old House also having a small north–south aligned extension. Roof timbers in the sandstone built Old House have been dated to the 1440s, but the lower storey (the undercroft) may be from even earlier. The New House dates to the late 1700s, and replaced a medieval manor house to the east of the Old House as the main farm house - once replaced itself, the Old House is believed to have been let to the farm manager. Visitors can access all rooms in the New and Old House, except the north–south extension which is now a toilet block. Displays include traditional cooking, such as the drying of oatcakes over a wooden rack (flake) over the fireplace in the Old House.

 

Inside the New House the downstairs consists of a main kitchen and a secondary kitchen (scullery) with pantry. It also includes a living room, although as the main room of the house, most meals would have been eaten in the main kitchen, equipped with an early range, boiler and hot air oven. Upstairs is a main bedroom and a second bedroom for children; to the rear (i.e. the colder, north side), are bedrooms for a servant and the servant lad respectively. Above the kitchen (for transferred warmth) is a grain and fleece store, with attached bacon loft, a narrow space behind the wall where bacon or hams, usually salted first, would be hung to be smoked by the kitchen fire (entering through a small door in the chimney).

 

Presented as having sparse and more old fashioned furnishings, the Old House is presented as being occupied in the upper story only, consisting of a main room used as the kitchen, bedroom and for washing, with the only other rooms being an adjoining second bedroom and an overhanging toilet. The main bed is an oak box bed dating to 1712, obtained from Star House in Baldersdale in 1962. Originally a defensive house in its own right, the lower level of the Old House is an undercroft, or vaulted basement chamber, with 1.5 metre thick walls - in times of attack the original tenant family would have retreated here with their valuables, although in its later use as the farm managers house, it is now presented as a storage and work room, housing a large wooden cheese press.[68] More children would have slept in the attic of the Old House (not accessible as a display).

 

To the front of the hall is a terraced garden featuring an ornamental garden with herbs and flowers, a vegetable garden, and an orchard, all laid out and planted according to the designs of William Falla of Gateshead, who had the largest nursery in Britain from 1804 to 1830.

 

The buildings to the east of the hall, across a north–south track, are the original farmstead buildings dating from around 1800. These include stables and a cart shed arranged around a fold yard. The horses and carts on display are typical of North Eastern farms of the era, Fells or Dales ponies and Cleveland Bay horses, and two wheeled long carts for hilly terrain (as opposed to four wheel carts).

 

Pockerley Waggonway

The Pockerley Waggonway opened in 2001, and represents the year 1825, as the year the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened. Waggonways had appeared around 1600, and by the 1800s were common in mining areas - prior to 1800 they had been either horse or gravity powered, before the invention of steam engines (initially used as static winding engines), and later mobile steam locomotives.

 

Housing the locomotives and rolling stock is the Great Shed, which opened in 2001 and is based on Timothy Hackworth's erecting shop, Shildon railway works, and incorporating some material from Robert Stephenson and Company's Newcastle works. Visitors can walk around the locomotives in the shed, and when in steam, can take rides to the end of the track and back in the line's assorted rolling stock - situated next to the Great Shed is a single platform for passenger use. In the corner of the main shed is a corner office, presented as a locomotive designer's office (only visible to visitors through windows). Off the pedestrian entrance in the southern side is a room presented as the engine crew's break room. Atop the Great Shed is a weather vane depicting a waggonway train approaching a cow, a reference to a famous quote by George Stephenson when asked by parliament in 1825 what would happen in such an eventuality - "very awkward indeed - for the coo!".

 

At the far end of the waggonway is the (fictional) coal mine Pockerley Gin Pit, which the waggonway notionally exists to serve. The pit head features a horse powered wooden whim gin, which was the method used before steam engines for hauling men and material up and down mineshafts - coal was carried in corves (wicker baskets), while miners held onto the rope with their foot in an attached loop.

 

Wooden waggonway

Following creation of the Pockerley Waggonway, the museum went back a chapter in railway history to create a horse-worked wooden waggonway.

 

St Helen's Church

St Helen's Church represents a typical type of country church found in North Yorkshire, and was relocated from its original site in Eston, North Yorkshire. It is the oldest and most complex building moved to the museum. It opened in November 2015, but will not be consecrated as this would place restrictions on what could be done with the building under church law.

 

The church had existed on its original site since around 1100. As the congregation grew, it was replaced by two nearby churches, and latterly became a cemetery chapel. After closing in 1985, it fell into disrepair and by 1996 was burnt out and vandalised leading to the decision by the local authority in 1998 to demolish it. Working to a deadline of a threatened demolition within six months, the building was deconstructed and moved to Beamish, reconstruction being authorised in 2011, with the exterior build completed by 2012.

 

While the structure was found to contain some stones from the 1100 era, the building itself however dates from three distinct building phases - the chancel on the east end dates from around 1450, while the nave, which was built at the same time, was modernised in 1822 in the Churchwarden style, adding a vestry. The bell tower dates from the late 1600s - one of the two bells is a rare dated Tudor example. Gargoyles, originally hidden in the walls and believed to have been pranks by the original builders, have been made visible in the reconstruction.

 

Restored to its 1822 condition, the interior has been furnished with Georgian box pews sourced from a church in Somerset. Visitors can access all parts except the bell tower. The nave includes a small gallery level, at the tower end, while the chancel includes a church office.

 

Joe the Quilter's Cottage

The most recent addition to the area opened to the public in 2018 is a recreation of a heather-thatched cottage which features stones from the Georgian quilter Joseph Hedley's original home in Northumberland. It was uncovered during an archaeological dig by Beamish. His original cottage was demolished in 1872 and has been carefully recreated with the help of a drawing on a postcard. The exhibit tells the story of quilting and the growth of cottage industries in the early 1800s. Within there is often a volunteer or member of staff not only telling the story of how Joe was murdered in 1826, a crime that remains unsolved to this day, but also giving visitors the opportunity to learn more and even have a go at quilting.

 

Other

A pack pony track passes through the scene - pack horses having been the mode of transport for all manner of heavy goods where no waggonway exists, being also able to reach places where carriages and wagons could not access. Beside the waggonway is a gibbet.

 

Farm (1940s)

Presented as Home Farm, this represents the role of North East farms as part of the British Home Front during World War II, depicting life indoors, and outside on the land. Much of the farmstead is original, and opened as a museum display in 1983. The farm is laid out across a north–south public road; to the west is the farmhouse and most of the farm buildings, while on the east side are a pair of cottages, the British Kitchen, an outdoor toilet ("netty"), a bull field, duck pond and large shed.

 

The farm complex was rebuilt in the mid-19th century as a model farm incorporating a horse mill and a steam-powered threshing mill. It was not presented as a 1940s farm until early 2014.

 

The farmhouse is presented as having been modernised, following the installation of electric power and an Aga cooker in the scullery, although the main kitchen still has the typical coal-fired black range. Lino flooring allowed quicker cleaning times, while a radio set allowed the family to keep up to date with wartime news. An office next to the kitchen would have served both as the administration centre for the wartime farm, and as a local Home Guard office. Outside the farmhouse is an improvised Home Guard pillbox fashioned from half an egg-ended steam boiler, relocated from its original position near Durham.

 

The farm is equipped with three tractors which would have all seen service during the war: a Case, a Fordson N and a 1924 Fordson F. The farm also features horse-drawn traps, reflecting the effect wartime rationing of petrol would have had on car use. The farming equipment in the cart and machinery sheds reflects the transition of the time from horse-drawn to tractor-pulled implements, with some older equipment put back into use due to the war, as well as a large Foster thresher, vital for cereal crops, and built specifically for the war effort, sold at the Newcastle Show. Although the wartime focus was on crops, the farm also features breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry that would have been typical for the time. The farm also has a portable steam engine, not in use, but presented as having been left out for collection as part of a wartime scrap metal drive.

 

The cottages would have housed farm labourers, but are presented as having new uses for the war: Orchard Cottage housing a family of evacuees, and Garden Cottage serving as a billet for members of the Women's Land Army (Land Girls). Orchard Cottage is named for an orchard next to it, which also contains an Anderson shelter, reconstructed from partial pieces of ones recovered from around the region. Orchard Cottage, which has both front and back kitchens, is presented as having an up to date blue enameled kitchen range, with hot water supplied from a coke stove, as well as a modern accessible bathroom. Orchard Cottage is also used to stage recreations of wartime activities for schools, elderly groups and those living with dementia. Garden Cottage is sparsely furnished with a mix of items, reflecting the few possessions Land Girls were able to take with them, although unusually the cottage is depicted with a bathroom, and electricity (due to proximity to a colliery).

 

The British Kitchen is both a display and one of the museum's catering facilities; it represents an installation of one of the wartime British Restaurants, complete with propaganda posters and a suitably patriotic menu.

 

Town (1950s)

As part of the Remaking Beamish project, with significant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the museum is creating a 1950s town. Opened in July 2019, the Welfare Hall is an exact replica of the Leasingthorne Colliery Welfare Hall and Community Centre which was built in 1957 near Bishop Auckland. Visitors can 'take part in activities including dancing, crafts, Meccano, beetle drive, keep fit and amateur dramatics' while also taking a look at the National Health Service exhibition on display, recreating the environment of an NHS clinic. A recreation and play park, named Coronation Park was opened in May 2022 to coincide with the celebrations around the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

 

The museum's first 1950s terrace opened in February 2022. This included a fish and chip shop from Middleton St George, a cafe, a replica of Norman Cornish's home, and a hairdressers. Future developments opposite the existing 1950s terrace will see a recreation of The Grand Cinema, from Ryhope, in Sunderland, and toy and electricians shops. Also underdevelopment are a 1950s bowling green and pavilion, police houses and aged miner's cottages. Also under construction are semi-detached houses; for this exhibit, a competition was held to recreate a particular home at Beamish, which was won by a family from Sunderland.

 

As well as the town, a 1950s Northern bus depot has been opened on the western side of the museum – the purpose of this is to provide additional capacity for bus, trolleybus and tram storage once the planned trolleybus extension and the new area are completed, providing extra capacity and meeting the need for modified routing.

 

Spain's Field Farm

In March 2022, the museum opened Spain's Field Farm. It had stood for centuries at Eastgate in Weardale, and was moved to Beamish stone-by-stone. It is exhibited as it would have been in the 1950s.

 

1820s Expansion

In the area surrounding the current Pockerley Old Hall and Steam Wagon Way more development is on the way. The first of these was planned to be a Georgian Coaching Inn that would be the museum's first venture into overnight accommodation. However following the COVID-19 pandemic this was abandoned, in favour of self-catering accommodation in existing cottages.

 

There are also plans for 1820s industries including a blacksmith's forge and a pottery.

 

Museum stores

There are two stores on the museum site, used to house donated objects. In contrast to the traditional rotation practice used in museums where items are exchanged regularly between store and display, it is Beamish policy that most of their exhibits are to be in use and on display - those items that must be stored are to be used in the museum's future developments.

 

Open Store

Housed in the Regional Resource Centre, the Open Store is accessible to visitors. Objects are housed on racks along one wall, while the bulk of items are in a rolling archive, with one set of shelves opened, with perspex across their fronts to permit viewing without touching.

 

Regional Museums Store

The real purposes of the building presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works next to Rowley Station is as the Regional Museums Store, completed in 2002, which Beamish shares with Tyne and Wear Museums. This houses, amongst other things, a large marine diesel engine by William Doxford & Sons of Pallion, Sunderland (1977); and several boats including the Tyne wherry (a traditional local type of lighter) Elswick No. 2 (1930). The store is only open at selected times, and for special tours which can be arranged through the museum; however, a number of viewing windows have been provided for use at other times.

 

Transport collection

Main article: Beamish Museum transport collection

The museum contains much of transport interest, and the size of its site makes good internal transportation for visitors and staff purposes a necessity.

 

The collection contains a variety of historical vehicles for road, rail and tramways. In addition there are some modern working replicas to enhance the various scenes in the museum.

 

Agriculture

The museum's two farms help to preserve traditional northcountry and in some cases rare livestock breeds such as Durham Shorthorn Cattle; Clydesdale and Cleveland Bay working horses; Dales ponies; Teeswater sheep; Saddleback pigs; and poultry.

 

Regional heritage

Other large exhibits collected by the museum include a tracked steam shovel, and a coal drop from Seaham Harbour.

 

In 2001 a new-build Regional Resource Centre (accessible to visitors by appointment) opened on the site to provide accommodation for the museum's core collections of smaller items. These include over 300,000 historic photographs, printed books and ephemera, and oral history recordings. The object collections cover the museum's specialities. These include quilts; "clippy mats" (rag rugs); Trade union banners; floor cloth; advertising (including archives from United Biscuits and Rowntree's); locally made pottery; folk art; and occupational costume. Much of the collection is viewable online and the arts of quilting, rug making and cookery in the local traditions are demonstrated at the museum.

 

Filming location

The site has been used as the backdrop for many film and television productions, particularly Catherine Cookson dramas, produced by Tyne Tees Television, and the final episode and the feature film version of Downton Abbey. Some of the children's television series Supergran was shot here.

 

Visitor numbers

On its opening day the museum set a record by attracting a two-hour queue. Visitor numbers rose rapidly to around 450,000 p.a. during the first decade of opening to the public, with the millionth visitor arriving in 1978.

 

Awards

Museum of the Year1986

European Museum of the Year Award1987

Living Museum of the Year2002

Large Visitor Attraction of the YearNorth East England Tourism awards2014 & 2015

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year (bronze)VisitEngland awards2016

It was designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in 1997 as a museum with outstanding collections.

 

Critical responses

In responding to criticism that it trades on nostalgia the museum is unapologetic. A former director has written: "As individuals and communities we have a deep need and desire to understand ourselves in time."

 

According to the BBC writing in its 40th anniversary year, Beamish was a mould-breaking museum that became a great success due to its collection policy, and what sets it apart from other museums is the use of costumed people to impart knowledge to visitors, rather than labels or interpretive panels (although some such panels do exist on the site), which means it "engages the visitor with history in a unique way".

 

Legacy

Beamish was influential on the Black Country Living Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town and, in the view of museologist Kenneth Hudson, more widely in the museum community and is a significant educational resource locally. It can also demonstrate its benefit to the contemporary local economy.

 

The unselective collecting policy has created a lasting bond between museum and community.

“When the sun has set no candle can replace it” . Twin Peaks, San Francisco . #twinpeaks #sanfrancisco #california #westcoast #clickingmann #view #sunset #mountains #topoftheworld #landscape #photography #travel #travelphotography #photooftheday #holiday #lightroom #500px, via Instagram ift.tt/2BG4O4A

New Fenix 7S to replace my OG Fenix 3HR.