Replacing the 22

 

When eventually completed, the new tram extension will replace several Lothian Buses service. One of the routes impacted is the 22, on which 358 (SN11EBG) is seen here. The squiggle on the destination indicates a bus service that has to divert from it’s normal route due to roadworks.

 

The advert on the side of the bus may need reviewing in the current circumstances….:

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 24-Oct-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 30-May-23.

 

Caledonian Airways also leased out aircraft in the USA during the UK winter season. This one was leased to Ryan International Airlines and operated for US tour operator, Trans Global International.

 

This aircraft has a Loooong history...

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWIR in Dec-92, this aircraft was delivered to the Aviation Capital Group and leased to Dragonair (Hong Kong) as VR-HYO in Feb-93. It was re-registered B-HYO in Aug-97 when Hong Kong became an autonomous region of China.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Feb-98 and leased to Caledonian Airways as G-CVYD the following day. The aircraft was sub-leased to Ryan International Airways in Nov-98 and operated for US Tour Operator, Trans Global International. It returned to Caledonian Airways in Apr-99.

 

The winter lease was repeated when it was sub-leased to Ryan International between Dec-99/Apr-00 when it was operated for Apple Vacations. While the aircraft was with Ryan International in the USA, Caledonian Airways was merged into Flying Colours Airlines in Feb-00. Flying Colours was renamed 'jmc AIR' in Mar-00.

 

The lease to Ryan International was repeated between Dec-00/Apr-01 and Dec-01/Apr-02. In Mar-03 jmc AIR finally saw sense and renamed themselves Thomas Cook Airlines and the following month the aircraft was returned to the lessor.

 

In early Jul-03, the aircraft was allocated the US registration N393NY but it wasn't used and it was leased to Windjet (Italy) later that month as I-LINF. It was removed from service and stored at Chateauroux (France) in May-09 and was returned to the lessor in Jul-09 and re-registered EI-EEX.

 

It remained stored at Chateauroux until it was leased to Viking Hellas Airlines (Greece) as SX-SMT in Feb-10. Viking Hellas was renamed FlyHellas in Apr-11 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor as EI-EEX in Dec-11 and stored at Montreal-Mirabel.

 

It was leased to Aviatrans K (Ukraine) as UR-CKA in May-12 and immediately sub-leased to Khors Aviacompany. It returned to Aviatrans K in Aug-12 and was sub-leased to Zagros Air as UR-MUS a few days later and was transferred to Iran a few days after that.

 

In May-13 the aircraft was transferred to Atrak Air (Iran) as EP-TTA. The aircraft was transferred to Iran Airtour in Jul-18. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Tehran-THR at the end of Jun-20. Permanently retired. Updated 30-May-23.

 

Congratulations if you managed to read right through to the end!

Replaced with:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/nolarisingproject/2807497005/

 

NoLA Rising salutes Banksy: nolarising.blogspot.com

This nice looking Chevy Apache is part of the Task Force Series of trucks that replaced the Advanced Design trucks that ran from 1947 through 1954. This great example of the Task Force line and this truck appeared at the 2019 Heartland Car and Truck Show held in Paola Kansas.

 

The Task Force series Chevrolet trucks built from 1955-1959 have long been popular with collectors, hot rodders and light-truck enthusiasts. When introduced in 1955, these trucks blurred the lines between work truck and passenger car, with wraparound windshields, V-8 powerplants, 12-volt electrics, two-tone paint and a truckload of available chrome trim.

 

1955 Second Series or Stepside Series: First year for new body style. New "wrap-around" windshield—a truck industry first—and optional wrap-around rear window on Deluxe cabs. Power steering and power brakes became available for the first time on GM trucks. Electrical system upgraded to 12 volts. Beds are 6.5 ft (2.0 m) and 7.5 ft (2.3 m). Fenders have single headlights and one-piece emblem is mounted below horizontal line on fender. The more luxurious Cameo Carrier series introduced; GMC's version was called the "Suburban."

 

1956: Wider hood emblem. Two-piece fender emblems are mounted above horizontal fender line. Last year for eggcrate grille.

 

1957: Only year for more open grille. Hood is flatter with two spears on top, similar to the

 

1957 Bel Air. Fender emblems are still above fender line, but are now oval-shaped, as opposed to previous versions in script.

 

1958: First year for new Fleetside bed (called Wideside by GMC) in 6.5 ft (2.0 m) and 8 ft (2.4 m) lengths, significant redesign of front end. All light-duty trucks are now called "Apache", medium-duty trucks called "Viking", and heavy-duty trucks called "Spartan". Truck has four headlights instead of the previous two and features a shorter, wider grille running the width of the front end. Parking lights are now in the grille instead of being in the front of the fender and the hood is similar to 1955/1956 models, but with a flat "valley" in the middle. First year for factory-equipped air conditioning. For 1958, GM was promoting their fiftieth year of production, and introduced Anniversary models for each brand; Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Chevrolet.[5] The trucks also received similar attention to appearance, while staying essentially durable, with minimal adornment.

 

1959: Minimal changes from 1958, the most apparent was a larger and more ornate hood emblem and redesigned badging on the fenders. This was the last year that the NAPCO (Northwestern Auto Parts Company) "Powr-Pak" four-wheel drive conversion could be factory ordered.

 

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 12-Mar-17, and DeNoise AI 09-Nov-22.

 

All Nippon and JAL were the only airlines to order the shorter range version of the Boeing 747-400, the -400D (Domestic). The most obvious difference was that it didn't have winglets.

 

This aircraft was delivered to ANA All Nippon Airways as JA8960 in May-93. It was sold to a lessor a few days after delivery and eventually sold back to ANA in May-05.

 

The aircraft was in service for 21 years and was permanently retired at Tupelo, MS, USA in Mar-14. It was last noted still at Tupelo in Oct-14 and was subsequently broken up.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 01-May-16.

 

Air France by ProteuS AirlineS.

 

First flown with the Dornier test registration D-CDXK, this aircraft was ordered by Tahiti Conquest Airlines but the order was cancelled. It was delivered to Proteus Air System as F-GNPA in Mar-96 and operated for a joint company Air France/Air Inter Express.

 

The product was renamed Air France by ProteuS AirlineS in 1998 after Air Inter had been merged into Air France. The aircraft was returned to Proteus and the lessor in May-00.

 

The following month it was leased to Air Alps Aviation as D-CALP and operated as KLM Alps under a franchise agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. It was returned to Air Alps Aviation in Apr-01 and was re-registered in Austria in May-03 as OE-LKE.

 

The aircraft was operated by Air Alps Aviation until it was sold to AeroCardal (Chile) as CC-ACG in Aug-10. In Sep-14 it was sold to TEC Aircraft Leasing and leased to Private Wings Flugcharter as D-CITO. Current, updated 07-Aug-24.

APC vehicle with steering and replaceable modules

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 14-Dec-16, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 23-Mar-24.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWKL, this aircraft was delivered to Garuda Indonesia Airways as PK-GPG in Apr-97.

 

23 years later the aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Jakarta-CGK in Feb-20, probably because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, it never returned to service. Permanently retired. Updated 23-Mar-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Feb-24.

 

Air France by Jersey European.

 

First flown with the British Aerospace test registration G-5-071, this aircraft was delivered to CAAC Civil Aviation Administration of China as B-2706 in Feb-87. It was transferred to China Eastern Airlines in May-88.

 

It was sold back to BAe (Operations) Ltd as G-BVUY in Nov-94. It was leased to Carib Express as J8-VBB (J8 = St. Vincent & the Grenadines) in Feb-95. The aircraft returned to BAe (Operations) Ltd in Apr-96.

 

In Jun-96 it was transferred to British Aerospace Holdings Inc as N171TR for lease to TriStar Airlines (USA) but the lease wasn't taken up.

 

It was leased to Jersey European Airways as G-JEAT in Oct-96 and JEA bought it in Sep-97. It was one of several BAe 146's that were operated on behalf of Air France in full Air France livery.

 

JEA was renamed FlyBe Airlines in Jul-02 and the aircraft was permanently retired at Exeter, UK, in Aug-04. It was used as a Fire Service training aircraft before being broken up.

Go Ahead WY have had this Procters branded Volvo B7RLE on the Leeds - Wetherby X98/99 over the last few days, seen here in Oakwood, Leeds. There is a wonderful recess mounted post box here at the junction with North Lane to the right of the bus.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 16-May-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

"Berlin Bearbus" logojet

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVWI, this aircraft was delivered to US Airways as N727UW in Dec-99. It was sold to a lessor and leased back in Mar-03. The lease was rejected and it returned to the lessor while in 'Chapter 11' bankruptcy protection in Mar-05.

 

The aircraft was leased to Germanwings in the 'Berlin Bearbus' special livery as D-AKNO in Jun-05. It was repainted in standard livery in Jan-11.

 

At midnight on 28-Oct-17, the day Air Berlin ceased operations, Germanwings quietly changed from being an operating airline to being an ACMI Operator (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) when all it's aircraft were wet-leased to Eurowings.

 

The same flights continued to operate as before, but now with a Eurowing flight prefix. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Stuttgart, Germany in Mar-20 at the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

The following month, Apr-20, Lufthansa closed Germanwings down and all the aircraft leases (and crew) were transferred to Eurowings. In Sep-20 the aircraft was ferried to Kaunas, Lithuania for long-term storage. It returned to Dusseldorf in Apr-22 and the ferried to St. Athan, Wales, UK in May-22 where it was permanently retired. Updated 16-May-22.

164 XN40 will replace NF C40LF in the coming months

 

Route: B2 Anacostia Station

 

Division: Bladensburg (B)

 

Engine: Cummins Westport ISL G

Transmission: Allison B400R

 

Location: Mount Rainier Bus Terminal

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 19-Apr-24.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Aero Lloyd (Germany) as D-ALLF in Dec-87. It was sold to a lessor in Mar-95 and leased back to Aero Lloyd. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Frankfurt, Germany in Nov-01.

 

In Jan-02 the aircraft was returned to the lessor and ferried to Nimes-Garons, France for further storage. In May-02 it was leased to MD Airlines (Iceland) as TF-MDD.

 

It was wet-leased to Alisea Airlines (Italy) in Dec-02. In May-03 the aircraft was sold to GATX Third Aircraft Corporation as N491GX and leased direct to Alisea. It was returned to the lessor in Sep-03 and returned to storage at Nimes [Alisea ceased operations in Dec-03].

 

In Mar-05 the aircraft was leased to Dubrovnik Airlines (Croatia) as 9A-CDA. It was wet-leased to Kan Air (Afghanistan) in Nov-07 for a Haj Pilgrimage operation and returned to Dubrovnik Airlines in Dec-07.

 

It was wet-leased to AviaJet (Ireland) in Apr-06 and returned to Dubrovnik Airlines in Oct-06. It was wet-leased to MontAir (Bosnia/Herzegovina) in Mar-10. Return date unknown. Dubrovnik Airlines ceased operations on 23-Oct-11 and the aircraft was stored at Dubrovnik. It was 24 years old and was permanently retired.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 06-Mar-24.

 

Named: "St. Secundinus / Sechniall".

 

First flown with the ATR test registration F-WWEC, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS and leased to Stobart Air as EI-FMK in Dec-15. It operated mainly on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional.

 

It was returned to Stobart Air in Oct-19 and returned to the lessor the following month when it was stored at Dublin (Ireland). It was leased to VoePass Linhas Aereas (Passaredo Linhas Aereas) as PR-PDO in Jan-20.

 

The aircraft was returned to AerCap as OE-IHG in Sep-22 and stored at Dinard, France. It was leased to Emerald Airlines in Feb-23 and ferried to Exeter, UK in early Mar-23 for maintenance.

 

The aircraft was transferred to Emerald Airlines UK as G-CMMK in late Mar-23 and is operated on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional in full Aer Lingus livery. Current, updated 18-Aug-23.

replacing my road bicycle bottom bracket

This guy replaces the Commissar from the Ghost Legion Company, just because I like Chubs more than Commissars.

 

He sports dual Plasma Lances which give him 2Rh+d8. He also sports a comms antenna for 1Y and high-mobility legs for 1G (plus free Gd8 for no ranged weapons).

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 20-May-24.

 

Ryanair's only B737-200 with 'billboard' titles.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Orion Airways as G-BGTW in Feb-80. It was sold to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation in Mar-85 and immediately sold to Transavia Holland as PH-TVX.

 

The aircraft was leased to Lauda Air as OE-ILE in Dec-85 and returned to Transavia Holland as PH-TVX again in Mar-88. It was leased to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines between May-88 and Apr-94 and leased to KLM again between Nov-94/May-95.

 

It was sold to Ryanair as EI-CKS in Jun-95. Retired and stored at Prestwick, Scotland, UK in Oct-03, the aircraft was broken up there in Apr-05.

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

 

'Colum', Ireland World Tail livery.

 

This aircraft was leased to Cityflyer Express as G-BZAU in Jun-98 and operated on behalf of British Airways. It was renamed British Airways Citiexpress in Nov-02 while the operation for British Airways continued.

 

In Feb-06 the company was renamed BA Connect although not many aircraft carried those titles. It became BA Cityflyer again in Mar-07 while the operation for British Airways continued.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service in May-10 and returned to BAE Systems Asset Management. It was stored at Southend, UK.

 

In Aug-10 it was leased to National Jet Express (Australia) as VH-NJQ and operated on behalf of Cobham Aviation. It was permanently retired at Adelaide, South Australia in Jun-21. It was broken up there in Sep-22.

Replaced a wheel bearin, washed and polished it today, lovely weather, rude not to get a quick photo!

 

Canon 5DIII | 100L 2.8 IS

replaced my clutch liner

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 28-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

First flown in Feb-93 with the Airbus test registration F-WWCD, this aircraft was delivered to Balair / CTA (Switzerland) as HB-IPN in May-93. It was transferred to Swissair in Dec-95.

 

It was sold to a lessor in Nov-98 and leased back to Swissair. It was returned to the lessor in Aug-99 and sold to A.I. Financial Services (Airbus) as F-WIHP in Oct-99.

 

The aircraft was leased to Air Caledonie International as F-OIHP in Mar-00 and returned to AIFS in Jan-03 when it was stored at Marseilles, France. It was leased to CSA Czech Airlines as OK-YAC in Jun-03 and returned to the lessor as M-ABCX in Sep-10.

 

It was leased to United Airways (Bangladesh) as S2-AFF in Oct-10. They were an odd company, offered a poor service with a lot of delays and cancellations.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service at Dhaka, Bangladesh in Jun-15. United Airways ceased operations in Mar-16 and on the day they closed down all their aircraft were unserviceable! It was last noted still at Dhaka in Nov-16.

Chevrolet replaced the long-running C4 Corvette in 1997 with the new C5. As well as all-new, but recognisable styling, the C5 debuted a number of key innovations in its hydroformed inner structure.

 

All C5 Corvette's had power, the initial LS1 5.7L pushrod V8 producing 257 kW (345 hp), enough to push the Corvette to 282 km/h.

 

There were three body styles for the C5 generation Corvettes:

 

A) the Coupe (shown), which featured a removeable targa-top panel, and had an opening liftback luggage area,

 

B) the Hardtop, which was a notchback coupe-style, fixed roof panel, and

 

C) the convertible.

 

The Corvette plant is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and I was fortunate to have a Plant tour in 2001. Though the production rate is relatively low, the plant is clean and modern. The National Corvette Museum is located not far way. The area is in a beautiful part of the US, and close to the amazing Mammoth Cave.

 

The model here is shown in orange - not an available factory colour for the the C5 generation Corvette - though there have subsequently been many custom painted examples. I chose orange though, having recently built the somewhat underwhelming LEGO Technic Corvette in this colour.

 

Other C5 Corvette models are planned to follow.

 

As for most of the models built his November, the Chevrolet C5 Corvette is a major redesign of a previously created model. In LUGNuts there was a build challenge named 'Redo or Redemption' just for this type of build.

 

Not exactly proving its environmental efficiency, DB Schenker Class 66, 66115, kicks out some smoke as accelerates away from a brief stop at Peterborough while working the Middleton Towers to Arpley Sidings loaded stone train. On this particular day I passed this train three times, the first when it was waiting for my Class 170 to overtake it at Ely, the second here at Peterborough, and the third time at Leicester as it awaited my Class 170 to overtake it again!

 

One of Britain's, and indeed Europe's, most numerous diesel locomotives, the Class 66 has become the face of nearly every freight operating rail company on the UK network, a simple, utilitarian design with an enormous, powerful engine. But with it's popularity among rail companies came a price, as it is often listed as one of the most hated locomotives ever to hit the UK rails, largely because of the slew of older BR classic locomotives it replaced from the late 1990's onward.

 

But is it really deserving of such a bum rap?

 

By the mid-1990's it was apparent that a majority of the ex-British Rail locomotives were well beyond their bloom of youth. Aside from the Class 58's of 1983, the Class 60's of 1989, and the American built Class 59's of 1985, most locomotives in the service of freight companies were coming up to 30 or 40 years old, and reliability was a major issue. Years of under-investment in the BR freight sector Railfreight Distribution, had resulted in a fleet comprised of decrepit diesels such as the Class 37's and Class 47's, being worked into the ground to keep the company rolling. Although the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 was a catalyst to investments for freight trains working those particular trunk routes to the South East, with the construction of the Class 92's and the refurbishment of Wembley based Class 47's, the remainder of the freight operators, by this time led by shadow franchises Loadhaul, Transrail and Mainline, were left with a fleet that was slowly dying before their eyes. Class 47's, especially, needed a major overhaul every seven years, costing £400,000; yet had an average daily availability of less than 65% with only 16 days between major failures.

 

Enter Wisconsin Central, who, in 1996, bought the three franchises together with Railfreight Distribution and mail operator Rail Express Systems to create EWS, or English, Welsh & Scottish Railways. As part of the franchise commitment, the intention was to replace the ageing diesel fleet with a standard design that would reduce maintenance and operating costs substantially, with higher levels of reliability and efficiency. Looking at the fleet of diesels in general, it was noted that among the most reliable classes in the UK were the small fleet of 15 Class 59's, built by General Motors between 1985 and 1995 for private Aggregate operators such as Foster Yeoman and Hanson, as well as energy company National Power for the haulage of their coal trains between Collieries and Power Stations. These engines were, for the most part, substantially younger than the likes of the Class 20's, 31's, 37's and 47's, and more reliable than the early built Class 56's from Romania, which were infamous for their poor build quality.

 

Seeing their success, EWS placed an order in 1997 for 250 locomotives based on similar principles to that of the Class 59, often dubbed one of the biggest locomotive orders since the age of Steam. Locomotives were built at GM's factory in London, Ontario, and externally the bodyshell and design shared that with the Class 59. Internally though, the engines took many of GM's previous developments and updated the engine and traction motors to enable higher speeds. The new locomotive was fitted with the 20 year old design of the EMD 710 12-cylinder diesel engine, found originally in the GP60 freight locomotives of North America. However, some of GM's newer creations also made it into the mix, such as updated cab-control systems, the kind found in the Irish Railways Class 201 of 1994.

 

Originally designated Class 61, the first of these new locomotives arrived by boat at Immingham in June 1998, prior to proving tests at Derby. The locomotives then shipped at a rate of 11 per month into the UK via Newport Docks, until the order was completed in December 2001. After unloading, EWS engineers then simply took off the tarpaulin, unblocked the suspension, and finally as each was shipped with water and fuel, hooked up the batteries, before starting the engine and handing the locomotive into service. Almost immediately, other UK freight operators took interest in the Class, and operators such as Freightliner, GB Railfreight and Direct Rail Services also placed orders for the class.

 

Upon their introduction, reliability levels for EWS's operations improved substantially. Each locomotive is specified and guaranteed to 95% availability, aiming for a minimum of 180 days mean time between failures. It is designed to cover 1·6million km between major rebuilds, equivalent to 18 years' service, with each major rebuild costed at £200,000. But with their success came the sad reality that the much loved classes of yesteryear were going to be given the push, and this is where a majority of the Class 66's unpopularity comes from. It could have been understood the replacement of the 40 year old Class 20's, 31's, 37's and 47's, as it was quite clear they were past their prime, the same could equally be said for some of the earlier Class 56's of the late 1970's. However, the line was stepped across with the withdrawal of the Class 58's and Class 60's, as the desire of EWS to have a standardised fleet, resulted in the removal of locomotives that were nowhere near life-expired. The large-scale retirement of these extremely reliable and powerful locomotives that weren't even 20 years old was seen as a travesty, and whilst some Class 60's have seen a revival with other operators as of late, the Class 58's are all but extinct, whilst many Class 60's continue to languish in yards across the UK, mostly at Toton in the East Midlands.

 

Nevertheless, the class continued to grow over the years, and, upon the conclusion of Class 66 production in the UK in 2014, 446 of the class were eventually built. But we can't forget also that the class has seen major success across Europe as well, with dozens of engines in operation in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, and Poland, with certification pending in the Czech Republic and Italy.

 

Today, a majority of the class is still in service with a variety of operators. DB Schenker, the successor to EWS, continues to operate the largest fleet of 249 locomotives. Freightliner operates 141, DRS operates 19, GBRf operates 72 and Colas Rail operates 5. Not all of the locomotives however remain with us, as three have been written off.

 

The first was 66521 on the 28th February, 2001, where after hitting a Land Rover that had fallen down an embankment from the M62 motorway, a southbound GNER InterCity 225 set led by lightweight Class 82 DVT, 82221, derailed and ran straight into the path of the oncoming Class 66 which was working a northbound coal train. With an estimated closing speed of 142mph, the DVT was obliterated upon hitting the Class 66, and the freight locomotive was mangled and distorted as it was crushed between its loaded coal train behind and the passenger coaches in front. In the disaster, 10 people were killed, including 66521's driver Stephen Dunn, although his instructor Andrew Hill, who was also riding in the cab, was able to survive. The locomotive however was for the most part destroyed, and scrapped later that year.

 

The second was on the 4th January, 2010 involving 66048, which derailed at Carrbridge in snowy weather. Coming down the Highland Mainline with a loaded container train, it passed a signal at danger and was derailed at trap points, subsequently falling down an embankment into trees and injuring the two crew members.

 

The third was on the 28th June 2012, where GBRf 66734 derailed at Loch Treig whilst working Alcan Tanks. The inability of recovery crews to access the highly remote and dangerous location resulted in the engine being cut-up on site.

 

Additionally, many Class 66's have suffered low-speed collisions and derailments, either through faults in the track, driver error, or faults with the rolling stock.

 

However, despite the criticism, and often being dubbed as bland and utilitarian, the Class 66 is still a major part of the UK freight network, working behind the scenes without need of major attention so as to get the job done. Indeed it may find a home among rail enthusiasts, and perhaps one day it'll be dubbed a classic like the Class 37's and 47's it replaced, but at the moment it's the UK networks humble hero, plying its trade the best way it knows how.

In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle is a carved or formed grotesque[1]: 6–8  with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on a building to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize potential damage from rainstorms. A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. Gargoyles are usually elongated fantastical animals because their length determines how far water is directed from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.

 

The term gargoyle is most often applied to medieval work, but throughout all ages, some means of water diversion, when not conveyed in gutters, was adopted. In ancient Egyptian architecture, gargoyles showed little variation, typically in the form of a lion's head. Similar lion-mouthed water spouts were also seen on Greek temples, carved or modelled in the marble or terracotta cymatium of the cornice.[14] An excellent example of this are the 39 remaining lion-headed water spouts on the Temple of Zeus. Originally, it had 102 gargoyles or spouts, but due to the heavy weight (they were crafted from marble), many snapped off and had to be replaced.

 

Many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles and chimeras. According to French architect and author Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, himself one of the great producers of gargoyles in the 19th century,[18] the earliest known medieval gargoyles appear on Laon Cathedral (c. 1200–1220). One of the more famous examples is the gargoyles of Notre-Dame de Paris. Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, or combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous. Unusual animal mixtures, or chimeras, did not act as rainspouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve as ornamentation but are now popularly called gargoyles.

 

Both ornamented and unornamented waterspouts projecting from roofs at parapet level were a common device used to shed rainwater from buildings until the early 18th century. From that time, more and more buildings used drainpipes to carry the water from the guttering roof to the ground and only very few buildings using gargoyles were constructed. This was because some people found them frightening, and sometimes heavy ones fell off, causing damage. In 1724, the London Building Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain made the use of downpipes compulsory in all new construction.

 

Langley Moor is an old pit village in County Durham, England. It is located approximately 2 miles south-west of Durham City. Langley Moor is within the civil parish of Brandon and Byshottles which is itself within the City of Durham constituency, as of 2019 represented by Mary Foy MP.

 

The village consists of a large park, three pubs, three schools, a church and an industrial estate.

 

Holliday Park (previously Bents Park, known locally as Boyne Park after Lord Boyne) is located to the north of the village, and was renovated in 2016 with a new children's play area. [1] The park also provides access to the River Browney which runs through it. The park was donated to the public by local alderman and philanthropist Martin Forster Holliday (1848-1935), [2] who was the manager and agent for three North Brancepeth Coal Company collieries (Broompark, Boyne and Littleburn - the latter two being in the village) from 1884 until 1922.

 

The three pubs in the village are The Station, The New Cross (formerly The Langley Moor Hotel, as of 2022 currently closed) and The Lord Boyne Hotel. Historically, the village had two inns, the Littleburn Hotel, two more pubs, two cinemas, a working men's club (now residential flats), a post office, a bank and Salvation Army barracks.

 

The East Coast Main Line, one of Britain's arterial rail links, runs directly through the village over the high street.

 

Langley Moor is also home to two supermarkets, a Tesco Metro (formerly Safeway, Somerfield) and Lidl.

 

The village is located on the A690 approximately 2 miles south-west of Durham and approximately 15 miles south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

 

The Brandon - Bishop Auckland Railway Path is a rail trail stretching nine-miles of scenic woodland which follows the route of the former Durham to Bishop Auckland Line and runs through Langley Moor.

 

There are three schools in Langley Moor, two primary schools and one nursery school:

Langley Moor Nursery School

Langley Moor Primary School (formerly North Brancepeth Council Mixed, Langley Moor Junior Mixed and Infants' School)

St. Patrick's R.C. Primary School

 

The church, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, is located on the border with Meadowfield, which opened on 8th October 1911. The estimated cost of the church was £3,000 (which equals £376,523.30 as of May 2022).

 

Historically, Langley Moor had a methodist church, a Wesleyan church, a baptist church and a United Methodist church.

 

Littleburn Industrial Estate is home to Harrison & Harrison organ builders, who have been involved with organs in cathedrals and churches across the globe.

 

Boyne Colliery opened in approximately 1864 under the ownership of W. Mickle and James Snowball, coal was struck the following year. It was sold to the North Brancepeth Coal Company in the 1880s, under the management of John L. Morland from 1880 until 1884. That same year Martin F. Holliday became agent and manager of the colliery until it closed at some point after 1890.

 

Littleburn Colliery (also known as North Brancepeth Colliery)

Littleburn Colliery opened in approximately 1840, it had a handful of owners including North Brancepeth Coal Company, who bought the colliery in the 1880s. In 1925, at its peak, the pit employed 779 people. The colliery mined coal throughout its operational life. Martin F. Holliday became agent of the colliery in 1909 until his retirement in 1922. Littleburn Colliery closed in December 1950.

 

County Durham, officially simply Durham is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington, and the county town is the city of Durham.

 

The county has an area of 2,721 km2 (1,051 sq mi) and a population of 866,846. The latter is concentrated in the east; the south-east is part of the Teesside built-up area, which extends into North Yorkshire. After Darlington (92,363), the largest settlements are Hartlepool (88,855), Stockton-on-Tees (82,729), and Durham (48,069). For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas—County Durham, Darlington, and Hartlepool—and part of a fourth, Stockton-on-Tees. The county historically included the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluded the part of County Durham south of the River Tees.

 

The west of the county contains part of the North Pennines uplands, a national landscape. The hills are the source of the rivers Tees and Wear, which flow east and form the valleys of Teesdale and Weardale respectively. The east of the county is flatter, and contains by rolling hills through which the two rivers meander; the Tees forms the boundary with North Yorkshire in its lower reaches, and the Wear exits the county near Chester-le-Street in the north-east. The county's coast is a site of special scientific interest characterised by tall limestone and dolomite cliffs.

 

What is now County Durham was on the border of Roman Britain, and contains survivals of this era at sites such as Binchester Roman Fort. In the Anglo-Saxon period the region was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. In 995 the city of Durham was founded by monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. Durham Cathedral was rebuilt after the Norman Conquest, and together with Durham Castle is now a World Heritage Site. By the late Middle Ages the county was governed semi-independently by the bishops of Durham and was also a buffer zone between England and Scotland. County Durham became heavily industrialised in the nineteenth century, when many collieries opened on the Durham coalfield. The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, opened in 1825. Most collieries closed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but the county's coal mining heritage is remembered in the annual Durham Miners' Gala.

 

Remains of Prehistoric Durham include a number of Neolithic earthworks.

 

The Crawley Edge Cairns and Heathery Burn Cave are Bronze Age sites. Maiden Castle, Durham is an Iron Age site.

 

Brigantia, the land of the Brigantes, is said to have included what is now County Durham.

 

There are archaeological remains of Roman Durham. Dere Street and Cade's Road run through what is now County Durham. There were Roman forts at Concangis (Chester-le-Street), Lavatrae (Bowes), Longovicium (Lanchester), Piercebridge (Morbium), Vindomora (Ebchester) and Vinovium (Binchester). (The Roman fort at Arbeia (South Shields) is within the former boundaries of County Durham.) A Romanised farmstead has been excavated at Old Durham.

 

Remains of the Anglo-Saxon period include a number of sculpted stones and sundials, the Legs Cross, the Rey Cross and St Cuthbert's coffin.

 

Around AD 547, an Angle named Ida founded the kingdom of Bernicia after spotting the defensive potential of a large rock at Bamburgh, upon which many a fortification was thenceforth built. Ida was able to forge, hold and consolidate the kingdom; although the native British tried to take back their land, the Angles triumphed and the kingdom endured.

 

In AD 604, Ida's grandson Æthelfrith forcibly merged Bernicia (ruled from Bamburgh) and Deira (ruled from York, which was known as Eforwic at the time) to create the Kingdom of Northumbria. In time, the realm was expanded, primarily through warfare and conquest; at its height, the kingdom stretched from the River Humber (from which the kingdom drew its name) to the Forth. Eventually, factional fighting and the rejuvenated strength of neighbouring kingdoms, most notably Mercia, led to Northumbria's decline. The arrival of the Vikings hastened this decline, and the Scandinavian raiders eventually claimed the Deiran part of the kingdom in AD 867 (which became Jórvík). The land that would become County Durham now sat on the border with the Great Heathen Army, a border which today still (albeit with some adjustments over the years) forms the boundaries between Yorkshire and County Durham.

 

Despite their success south of the river Tees, the Vikings never fully conquered the Bernician part of Northumbria, despite the many raids they had carried out on the kingdom. However, Viking control over the Danelaw, the central belt of Anglo-Saxon territory, resulted in Northumbria becoming isolated from the rest of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Scots invasions in the north pushed the kingdom's northern boundary back to the River Tweed, and the kingdom found itself reduced to a dependent earldom, its boundaries very close to those of modern-day Northumberland and County Durham. The kingdom was annexed into England in AD 954.

 

In AD 995, St Cuthbert's community, who had been transporting Cuthbert's remains around, partly in an attempt to avoid them falling into the hands of Viking raiders, settled at Dunholm (Durham) on a site that was defensively favourable due to the horseshoe-like path of the River Wear. St Cuthbert's remains were placed in a shrine in the White Church, which was originally a wooden structure but was eventually fortified into a stone building.

 

Once the City of Durham had been founded, the Bishops of Durham gradually acquired the lands that would become County Durham. Bishop Aldhun began this process by procuring land in the Tees and Wear valleys, including Norton, Stockton, Escomb and Aucklandshire in 1018. In 1031, King Canute gave Staindrop to the Bishops. This territory continued to expand, and was eventually given the status of a liberty. Under the control of the Bishops of Durham, the land had various names: the "Liberty of Durham", "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land" "the lands of St Cuthbert between Tyne and Tees" or "the Liberty of Haliwerfolc" (holy Wear folk).

 

The bishops' special jurisdiction rested on claims that King Ecgfrith of Northumbria had granted a substantial territory to St Cuthbert on his election to the see of Lindisfarne in 684. In about 883 a cathedral housing the saint's remains was established at Chester-le-Street and Guthfrith, King of York granted the community of St Cuthbert the area between the Tyne and the Wear, before the community reached its final destination in 995, in Durham.

 

Following the Norman invasion, the administrative machinery of government extended only slowly into northern England. Northumberland's first recorded Sheriff was Gilebert from 1076 until 1080 and a 12th-century record records Durham regarded as within the shire. However the bishops disputed the authority of the sheriff of Northumberland and his officials, despite the second sheriff for example being the reputed slayer of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots. The crown regarded Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century.

 

Following the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror appointed Copsig as Earl of Northumbria, thereby bringing what would become County Durham under Copsig's control. Copsig was, just a few weeks later, killed in Newburn. Having already being previously offended by the appointment of a non-Northumbrian as Bishop of Durham in 1042, the people of the region became increasingly rebellious. In response, in January 1069, William despatched a large Norman army, under the command of Robert de Comines, to Durham City. The army, believed to consist of 700 cavalry (about one-third of the number of Norman knights who had participated in the Battle of Hastings), entered the city, whereupon they were attacked, and defeated, by a Northumbrian assault force. The Northumbrians wiped out the entire Norman army, including Comines, all except for one survivor, who was allowed to take the news of this defeat back.

 

Following the Norman slaughter at the hands of the Northumbrians, resistance to Norman rule spread throughout Northern England, including a similar uprising in York. William The Conqueror subsequently (and successfully) attempted to halt the northern rebellions by unleashing the notorious Harrying of the North (1069–1070). Because William's main focus during the harrying was on Yorkshire, County Durham was largely spared the Harrying.

 

Anglo-Norman Durham refers to the Anglo-Norman period, during which Durham Cathedral was built.

 

Matters regarding the bishopric of Durham came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of quo warranto held by the justices of Northumberland. The bishop's case went before parliament, where he stated that Durham lay outside the bounds of any English shire and that "from time immemorial it had been widely known that the sheriff of Northumberland was not sheriff of Durham nor entered within that liberty as sheriff. . . nor made there proclamations or attachments". The arguments appear to have prevailed, as by the fourteenth century Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct. In effect it was a private shire, with the bishop appointing his own sheriff. The area eventually became known as the "County Palatine of Durham".

 

Sadberge was a liberty, sometimes referred to as a county, within Northumberland. In 1189 it was purchased for the see but continued with a separate sheriff, coroner and court of pleas. In the 14th century Sadberge was included in Stockton ward and was itself divided into two wards. The division into the four wards of Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington and Stockton existed in the 13th century, each ward having its own coroner and a three-weekly court corresponding to the hundred court. The diocese was divided into the archdeaconries of Durham and Northumberland. The former is mentioned in 1072, and in 1291 included the deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Auckland, Lanchester and Darlington.

 

The term palatinus is applied to the bishop in 1293, and from the 13th century onwards the bishops frequently claimed the same rights in their lands as the king enjoyed in his kingdom.

 

The historic boundaries of County Durham included a main body covering the catchment of the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north. The county palatinate also had a number of liberties: the Bedlingtonshire, Islandshire and Norhamshire exclaves within Northumberland, and the Craikshire exclave within the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831 the county covered an area of 679,530 acres (2,750.0 km2) and had a population of 253,910. These exclaves were included as part of the county for parliamentary electoral purposes until 1832, and for judicial and local-government purposes until the coming into force of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county. The boundaries of the county proper remained in use for administrative and ceremonial purposes until the Local Government Act 1972.

 

Boldon Book (1183 or 1184) is a polyptichum for the Bishopric of Durham.

 

Until the 15th century, the most important administrative officer in the Palatinate was the steward. Other officers included the sheriff, the coroners, the Chamberlain and the chancellor. The palatine exchequer originated in the 12th century. The palatine assembly represented the whole county, and dealt chiefly with fiscal questions. The bishop's council, consisting of the clergy, the sheriff and the barons, regulated judicial affairs, and later produced the Chancery and the courts of Admiralty and Marshalsea.

 

The prior of Durham ranked first among the bishop's barons. He had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men. A UNESCO site describes the role of the Prince-Bishops in Durham, the "buffer state between England and Scotland":

 

From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England’s northern frontier.

 

A report states that the Bishops also had the authority to appoint judges and barons and to offer pardons.

 

There were ten palatinate barons in the 12th century, most importantly the Hyltons of Hylton Castle, the Bulmers of Brancepeth, the Conyers of Sockburne, the Hansards of Evenwood, and the Lumleys of Lumley Castle. The Nevilles owned large estates in the county. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby rebuilt Raby Castle, their principal seat, in 1377.

 

Edward I's quo warranto proceedings of 1293 showed twelve lords enjoying more or less extensive franchises under the bishop. The repeated efforts of the Crown to check the powers of the palatinate bishops culminated in 1536 in the Act of Resumption, which deprived the bishop of the power to pardon offences against the law or to appoint judicial officers. Moreover, indictments and legal processes were in future to run in the name of the king, and offences to be described as against the peace of the king, rather than that of the bishop. In 1596 restrictions were imposed on the powers of the chancery, and in 1646 the palatinate was formally abolished. It was revived, however, after the Restoration, and continued with much the same power until 5 July 1836, when the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 provided that the palatine jurisdiction should in future be vested in the Crown.

 

During the 15th-century Wars of the Roses, Henry VI passed through Durham. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion in 1642 Durham inclined to support the cause of Parliament, and in 1640 the high sheriff of the palatinate guaranteed to supply the Scottish army with provisions during their stay in the county. In 1642 the Earl of Newcastle formed the western counties into an association for the King's service, but in 1644 the palatinate was again overrun by a Scottish army, and after the Battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644) fell entirely into the hands of Parliament.

 

In 1614, a Bill was introduced in Parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of Barnard Castle. The bishop strongly opposed the proposal as an infringement of his palatinate rights, and the county was first summoned to return members to Parliament in 1654. After the Restoration of 1660 the county and city returned two members each. In the wake of the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland acquired representation. The bishops lost their secular powers in 1836. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

 

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 reformed the municipal boroughs of Durham, Stockton on Tees and Sunderland. In 1875, Jarrow was incorporated as a municipal borough, as was West Hartlepool in 1887. At a county level, the Local Government Act 1888 reorganised local government throughout England and Wales. Most of the county came under control of the newly formed Durham County Council in an area known as an administrative county. Not included were the county boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. However, for purposes other than local government, the administrative county of Durham and the county boroughs continued to form a single county to which the Crown appointed a Lord Lieutenant of Durham.

 

Over its existence, the administrative county lost territory, both to the existing county boroughs, and because two municipal boroughs became county boroughs: West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. The county boundary with the North Riding of Yorkshire was adjusted in 1967: that part of the town of Barnard Castle historically in Yorkshire was added to County Durham, while the administrative county ceded the portion of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in Durham to the North Riding. In 1968, following the recommendation of the Local Government Commission, Billingham was transferred to the County Borough of Teesside, in the North Riding. In 1971, the population of the county—including all associated county boroughs (an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi))—was 1,409,633, with a population outside the county boroughs of 814,396.

 

In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the administrative county and the county boroughs, reconstituting County Durham as a non-metropolitan county. The reconstituted County Durham lost territory to the north-east (around Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland) to Tyne and Wear and to the south-east (around Hartlepool) to Cleveland. At the same time it gained the former area of Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire. The area of the Lord Lieutenancy of Durham was also adjusted by the Act to coincide with the non-metropolitan county (which occupied 3,019 km2 (1,166 sq mi) in 1981).

 

In 1996, as part of 1990s UK local government reform by Lieutenancies Act 1997, Cleveland was abolished. Its districts were reconstituted as unitary authorities. Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (north Tees) were returned to the county for the purposes of Lord Lieutenancy. Darlington also became a third unitary authority of the county. The Royal Mail abandoned the use of postal counties altogether, permitted but not mandatory being at a writer wishes.

 

As part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England initiated by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the seven district councils within the County Council area were abolished. The County Council assumed their functions and became the fourth unitary authority. Changes came into effect on 1 April 2009.

 

On 15 April 2014, North East Combined Authority was established under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 with powers over economic development and regeneration. In November 2018, Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Borough Council, and Northumberland County Council left the authority. These later formed the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

 

In May 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick, Hart, Dalton Piercy and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to join the County Durham district.

 

In October 2021, County Durham was shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2025. In May 2022, it lost to Bradford.

 

Eighteenth century Durham saw the appearance of dissent in the county and the Durham Ox. The county did not assist the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. The Statue of Neptune in the City of Durham was erected in 1729.

 

A number of disasters happened in Nineteenth century Durham. The Felling mine disasters happened in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. The Philadelphia train accident happened in 1815. In 1854, there was a great fire in Gateshead. One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1882. The Victoria Hall disaster happened in 1883.

 

One of the West Stanley Pit disasters happened in 1909. The Darlington rail crash happened in 1928. The Battle of Stockton happened in 1933. The Browney rail crash happened in 1946.

 

The First Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1136. The Second Treaty of Durham was made at Durham in 1139.

 

The county regiment was the Durham Light Infantry, which replaced, in particular, the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and the Militia and Volunteers of County Durham.

 

RAF Greatham, RAF Middleton St George and RAF Usworth were located in County Durham.

 

David I, the King of Scotland, invaded the county in 1136, and ravaged much of the county 1138. In 17 October 1346, the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought at Neville's Cross, near the city of Durham. On 16 December 1914, during the First World War, there was a raid on Hartlepool by the Imperial German Navy.

 

Chroniclers connected with Durham include the Bede, Symeon of Durham, Geoffrey of Coldingham and Robert de Graystanes.

 

County Durham has long been associated with coal mining, from medieval times up to the late 20th century. The Durham Coalfield covered a large area of the county, from Bishop Auckland, to Consett, to the River Tyne and below the North Sea, thereby providing a significant expanse of territory from which this rich mineral resource could be extracted.

 

King Stephen possessed a mine in Durham, which he granted to Bishop Pudsey, and in the same century colliers are mentioned at Coundon, Bishopwearmouth and Sedgefield. Cockfield Fell was one of the earliest Landsale collieries in Durham. Edward III issued an order allowing coal dug at Newcastle to be taken across the Tyne, and Richard II granted to the inhabitants of Durham licence to export the produce of the mines, without paying dues to the corporation of Newcastle. The majority was transported from the Port of Sunderland complex, which was constructed in the 1850s.

 

Among other early industries, lead-mining was carried on in the western part of the county, and mustard was extensively cultivated. Gateshead had a considerable tanning trade and shipbuilding was undertaken at Jarrow, and at Sunderland, which became the largest shipbuilding town in the world – constructing a third of Britain's tonnage.[citation needed]

 

The county's modern-era economic history was facilitated significantly by the growth of the mining industry during the nineteenth century. At the industry's height, in the early 20th century, over 170,000 coal miners were employed, and they mined 58,700,000 tons of coal in 1913 alone. As a result, a large number of colliery villages were built throughout the county as the industrial revolution gathered pace.

 

The railway industry was also a major employer during the industrial revolution, with railways being built throughout the county, such as The Tanfield Railway, The Clarence Railway and The Stockton and Darlington Railway. The growth of this industry occurred alongside the coal industry, as the railways provided a fast, efficient means to move coal from the mines to the ports and provided the fuel for the locomotives. The great railway pioneers Timothy Hackworth, Edward Pease, George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson were all actively involved with developing the railways in tandem with County Durham's coal mining industry. Shildon and Darlington became thriving 'railway towns' and experienced significant growths in population and prosperity; before the railways, just over 100 people lived in Shildon but, by the 1890s, the town was home to around 8,000 people, with Shildon Shops employing almost 3000 people at its height.

 

However, by the 1930s, the coal mining industry began to diminish and, by the mid-twentieth century, the pits were closing at an increasing rate. In 1951, the Durham County Development Plan highlighted a number of colliery villages, such as Blackhouse, as 'Category D' settlements, in which future development would be prohibited, property would be acquired and demolished, and the population moved to new housing, such as that being built in Newton Aycliffe. Likewise, the railway industry also began to decline, and was significantly brought to a fraction of its former self by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Darlington Works closed in 1966 and Shildon Shops followed suit in 1984. The county's last deep mines, at Easington, Vane Tempest, Wearmouth and Westoe, closed in 1993.

 

Postal Rates from 1801 were charged depending on the distance from London. Durham was allocated the code 263 the approximate mileage from London. From about 1811, a datestamp appeared on letters showing the date the letter was posted. In 1844 a new system was introduced and Durham was allocated the code 267. This system was replaced in 1840 when the first postage stamps were introduced.

 

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911): "To the Anglo-Saxon period are to be referred portions of the churches of Monk Wearmouth (Sunderland), Jarrow, Escomb near Bishop Auckland, and numerous sculptured crosses, two of which are in situ at Aycliffe. . . . The Decorated and Perpendicular periods are very scantily represented, on account, as is supposed, of the incessant wars between England and Scotland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The principal monastic remains, besides those surrounding Durham cathedral, are those of its subordinate house or "cell," Finchale Priory, beautifully situated by the Wear. The most interesting castles are those of Durham, Raby, Brancepeth and Barnard. There are ruins of castelets or peel-towers at Dalden, Ludworth and Langley Dale. The hospitals of Sherburn, Greatham and Kepyer, founded by early bishops of Durham, retain but few ancient features."

 

The best remains of the Norman period include Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, and several parish churches, such as St Laurence Church in Pittington. The Early English period has left the eastern portion of the cathedral, the churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches.

 

'Durham Castle and Cathedral' is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Elsewhere in the County there is Auckland Castle.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 28-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

A very early Boeing 767-200 (line no:35), this aircraft first flew with the Boeing test registration N8289V. It was delivered to Ansett Airlines as VH-RMG in Aug-83. Ansett Airlines was renamed Ansett Australia in Jan-91.

 

In financial difficulties in Oct-01, Ansett grounded their Boeing 737 and 767 fleets (a limited operation was resumed in Nov-01 with around 5 A320's but operations ceased completely in Mar-02).

 

The aircraft was stored at Melbourne in Oct-01. It remained stored until it was sold to AeroTurbine Inc as N862AT in Feb-05.

 

After some maintenance it was ferried to Opa Locka, FL, USA in Mar-05 and permanently retired. The registration was cancelled in May-06 and the aircraft was broken up for spares.

Replacing an earlier 6"x4" scanned print with a better version 17-Nov-14, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 01-Jul-23.

 

I was unable to read off the serial on this C-141 but thanks to my friend James Hoyle, I now have the serial and date.

With Halton Transport having met its demise, various operators have filled the gaps. Arriva have replaced many service runs, including parts of servcies 14A, 61, 62 and 200, Warrington's Own Buses have taken on parts of service 62 and some college work, Stagecoach have taken on some schools work and Ashcroft Travel have taken on services 26/27.

 

Warrington's Own buses have drafted in additional vehicles from far and wide, including a trio of ex Transdev Lancashire Volvo B7RLE / Wright. 227 (BD12TEJ) is seen in Runcorn old town working a former Halton service 62.

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

 

Named: "City of Wangaratta".

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6018N, this aircraft was delivered to QANTAS Airways as VH-OGL in Nov-91. After 23 years service it operated the last ever QANTAS Boeing 767 revenue service between Melbourne & Sydney on 27-Dec-14.

 

The aircraft was ferried to Victorville, CA, USA in Jan-15 and stored. It was sold to the BCC Equipment Leasing Corporation (Boeing) as N326BC in Apr-15. It was ferried to Lake Charles, LA, USA in Jun-15 for maintenance, repaint and cabin re-config.

 

It was fitted with blended winglets in Nov-15 and, after some months delay, was leased to WestJet (Canada) as C-FWAD in Jan-16. The aircraft was returned to BCC Equipment Leasing in Sep-20 and sold to Amazon Services as N563AZ 10 days later.

 

In late Sep-20 the aircraft was ferried to Mexico City and stored until it was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door.

 

The conversion was completed in Apr-21 and Amazon Services leased it to CargoJet Airways (Canada) as C-GAZF in Jun-21. The aircraft is operated on behalf of Amazon Prime Air - Canada. It's now 30.5 years old. Updated 22-Apr-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 03-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

'jmc AIR' sometimes leased aircraft in the USA during the UK winter season. This was leased to Ryan International Airlines and operated for Apple Vacations. It's seen here about to depart Manchester for the USA.

 

Another long and complicated history... First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWBQ, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS and leased to Airworld (UK) as G-BXKC in Dec-97.

 

It was wet-leased on delivery, to Ryan International Airlines (USA) and operated on behalf of US Tour Company 'Apple Vacations'. It returned to Airworld in Apr-98.

 

Airworld was merged into Flying Colours Airlines in Nov-98 and the aircraft was again wet-leased to Ryan International on behalf of Apple Vacations in Dec-98 and returned to Flying Colours in Apr-99.

 

This aircraft was repainted in 'jmc AIR' livery in Oct-99 and then wet-leased to Ryan International in Dec-99, again operating for Apple Vacations. At the end of Mar-00, Flying Colours was merged with Caledonian Airways (Mk:2) for form 'jmc AIR' (see below) and the aircraft was returned to 'jmc' in Apr-00.

 

The operation was repeated between Dec-00/May-01, Nov-01/Apr-02 and Dec-02/Apr-03. 'jmc AIR' was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines in Mar-03. For the next four European Winter seasons (Dec-03/Apr-04, Dec-04/Apr-05, Dec-05/Apr-06 and Nov-06/Apr-07), the aircraft was wet-leased to Bredan Airways (doing business as USA 3000 Airlines).

 

It was returned to GECAS in Jan-08 and leased to Vladivostok Avia as VP-BFX a few days later, It was returned to GECAS in early 2014 and stored at Shannon, Ireland. In Apr-14 the aircraft was leased to Hamburg Airways. Hamburg Airways ceased operations in mid Dec-14 and the aircraft was returned to GECAS at the end of the month when it was again stored at Shannon.

 

It was sold to Sunrise Asset Management Inc and leased to Allegiant Air as N229NV in Apr-15. Current, updated 15-Dec-22.

 

Note: The 'JMC' in 'jmc AIR' is the initials of Thomas Cook's son John Mason Cook! Who knew!! Well, no one really! The name and the livery were an advertising man's dream, but an airline man's nightmare. The general public (and half the travel trade) had no idea what it meant, what it stood for and what it's history was. It wasn't the greatest success and three years later 'jmc AIR' was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 05-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

A purpose built freighter, this aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SFI in Nov-00. It was transferred to Singapore Airlines Cargo when the company was set up in Jul-01.

 

The aircraft was leased to Great Wall Airlines as B-2433 in Aug-08. Great Wall Airlines was merged into China Cargo Airlines in Jul-11. It continued in service.

 

The aircraft was returned to Singapore Airlines Cargo as 9V-SFI in Oct-15. The Cargo Division was reintegrated into Singapore Airlines mainline in Apr-18. Current, updated 06-Jan-23.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 04-Jan-20.

 

Now with 'billboard' titles

 

Named: "Prince Sebastian".

 

This aircraft was delivered to Luxair Luxembourg Airlines as LX-LGU in Oct-98. It was sold to Champion Air LLC (Dale Ernhardt Racing) as N500DE in Oct-07. Current, updated 10-Oct-24.

 

Note: The registration LX-LGU was previously used on a Luxair Boeing 707-344B between 1987/1993 and is currently on a Luxair B737-8C3/SW since 2012.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 17-Nov-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Jul-23.

 

Fleet No: '5BU'.

 

This aircraft was delivered to American Airlines as N684AA in Jul-91, it was sold to a lessor on delivery and leased back to American. It was fitted with blended winglets in Apr-08.

 

After 21 years with American, the aircraft was retired and stored at Roswell, NM, USA in Jan-12. It was returned to the lessor in Jan-13 and leased to Icelandair as TF-ISK the following month.

 

The aircraft was permanently retired at Reykjavik-Keflavik, Iceland in May-21 after 30 years in service. Updated 11-Jul-23.

replacing blades in a condenser fan

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 171, was a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war. The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower, protection, and mobility although its reliability in early times were less impressive.

The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (700 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armor, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.

 

The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the heavy Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this the overall design remain described by some as "overengineered". The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness.

 

Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer to a heavy tank weight and the same category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons), British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46 tons) heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.

 

The Panther was only used marginally outside of Germany, mostly captured or recovered vehicles, some even after the war. Japan already received in 1943 a specimen for evaluation. During March–April 1945, Bulgaria received 15 Panthers of various makes (D, A, and G variants) from captured and overhauled Soviet stocks; they only saw limited (training) service use. In May 1946, Romania received 13 Panther tanks from the USSR, too.

After the war, France was able to recover enough operable vehicles and components to equip its army and offer vehicles for sale. The French Army's 503e Régiment de Chars de Combat was equipped with a force of 50 Panthers from 1944 to 1947, in the 501st and 503rd Tank Regiments. These remained in service until they were replaced by French-built ARL 44 heavy tanks.

In 1946, Sweden sent a delegation to France to examine surviving specimens of German military vehicles. During their visit, the delegates found a few surviving Panthers and had one shipped to Sweden for further testing and evaluation, which continued until 1961.

 

However, this was not the Panther’s end of service. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled a surprisingly wide collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. This fleet consisted primarily of late production Panzer V, StuGIII and Jagdpanzer IVs, plus some Hummel SPAAGs and a handful Panthers. The tanks were procured from France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia, partly revamped before delivery.

 

All of the Panthers Syria came from Czechoslovakia. Immediately after Germany’s collapse in May 1945, the Soviet army established a staging area for surrendered German tanks at a former Wehrmacht barracks at Milovice, about 24 miles north of Prague, Czechoslovakia. By January 1946, a total of roughly 200 operational Panzer IVs and Panthers of varying versions were at this facility. Joining them was a huge cache of spare parts found at a former German tank repair depot in Teplice, along with ammunition collected from all over Czechoslovakia and the southern extremity of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. Throughout 1946, the Czechoslovak government’s clean-up of WWII battlefields recovered more than one hundred further tank wrecks, of which 80 were pieced back together to operational status and handed over to the Czechoslovakian Army,

 

In early 1948, the now-nationalized CKD Works began a limited upkeep of the tanks, many of which had not had depot-level overhauls since the war. A few were rebuilt with a Czechoslovak-designed steering system, but this effort was halted due to cost. These tanks remained operational in the Czechoslovak army until the end of 1954, when sufficient T-34s were available to phase them out.

 

A Syrian military delegation visited Prague from 8 April – 22 April 1955. An agreement was struck for the sale, amongst other items, of 45 Panzer IVs and 15 Panthers. Despite their obsolescence the Czechoslovaks were not about to just give the tanks away and demanded payment in a ‘hard’ western currency, namely British pounds. The cost was £4,500 each (£86,000 or $112,850 in 2016 money), far above what they were probably worth militarily, especially considering the limited amount of foreign currency reserves available to the Damascus government. The deal included refurbishment, a full ammunition loadout for each, and a limited number of spare parts. Nonetheless, the deal was closed, and the tanks’ delivery started in early November 1955.

 

The Syrians were by that time already having dire problems keeping their French-sourced panzers operational, and in 1958, a second contract was signed with CKD Works for 15 additional Panzer IVs and 10 more Panthers, these being in lesser condition or non-operational, for use as spare parts hulks. An additional 16 refurbished Maybach engines for both types were also included in this contract, as well as more ammunition.

 

The refurbished Panthers for Syria had their original 7.5 cm KwK 42 L70 replaced with the less powerful Rheinmetall 7.5 cm KwK 40 L48 gun – dictated by the fact that this gun was already installed in almost all other Syrian tanks of German origin and rounds for the KwK 42 L70 were not available anymore. and the Panther’s full ammo load was 87 rounds. The KwK 40 L48 fired a standard APCBC shell at 750 m/s and could penetrate 109 mm (4.3 in) hardened steel at 1.000 m range. This was enough to take out an M4 Sherman at this range from any angle under ideal circumstances. With an APCR shell the gun was even able to penetrate 130 mm (5.1 in) of hardened steel at the same distance.

 

Outwardly, the gun switch was only recognizable through the shorter barrel with a muzzle brake, the German WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. Additionally, there were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial with the main gun and a flexible one in a ball mount in the tank’s front glacis plate.

A few incomplete Panther hulls without turret were also outfitted with surplus Panzer IV turrets that carried the same weapon, but the exact share of them among the Syrian tanks is unknown – most probably less than five, and they were among the batch delivered in the course of the second contract from 1958.

 

As they had been lumped all together in Czechoslovak army service, the Syrians received a mixed bag of Panzer IV and Panther versions, many of them “half-breeds” or “Frankensteins”. Many had the bow machine gun removed, either already upon delivery or as a later field modification, and in some cases the machine gun in the turret was omitted as well.

An obvious modification of the refurbished Czech export Panthers for Syria was the installation of new, lighter road wheels. These were in fact adapted T-54 wheels from Czechoslovakian license production that had just started in 1957 - instead of revamping the Panthers’ original solid steel wheels, especially their rubberized tread surfaces, it was easier to replace them altogether, what also made spare parts logistics easier. The new wheels had almost the same diameter as the original German road wheels from WWII, and they were simply adapted to the Panther’s attachment points of the torsion bar suspension’s swing arms. Together with the lighter main gun and some other simplifications, the Syrian Panthers’ empty weight was reduced by more than 3 tonnes.

 

The Czechoslovaks furthermore delivered an adapter kit to mount a Soviet-made AA DShK 12.7mm machine gun to the commander cupola. This AA mount had originally been developed after WWII for the T-34 tank, and these kits were fitted to all initial tanks of the 1955 order. Enough were delivered that some could be installed on a few of the Spanish- / French-sourced tanks, too.

 

It doesn’t appear that the Czechoslovaks updated the radio fit on any of the ex-German tanks, and it’s unclear if the Syrians installed modern Soviet radios. The WWII German Fu 5 radio required a dedicated operator (who also manned the bow machine gun); if a more modern system was installed not requiring a dedicated operator, this crew position could be eliminated altogether, what favored the deletion of the bow machine gun on many ex-German Syrian tanks. However, due to their more spacious hull and turret, many Panthers were apparently outfitted with a second radio set and used as command tanks – visible through a second whip antenna on the hull.

 

A frequent domestic Panther upgrade were side skirts to suppress dust clouds while moving and to prevent dust ingestion into the engines and clogged dust filters. There was no standardized solution, though, and solutions ranged from simple makeshift rubber skirts bolted to the tanks’ flanks to wholesale transplants from other vehicles, primarily Soviet tanks. Some Panthers also had external auxiliary fuel tanks added to their rear, in the form of two 200 l barrels on metal racks of Soviet origin. These barrels were not directly connected with the Panther’s fuel system, though, but a pump-and-hose kit was available to re-fuel the internal tanks from this on-board source in the field. When empty or in an emergency - the barrels were placed on top of the engine bay and leaking fuel quite hazardous - the barrels/tanks could be jettisoned by the crew from the inside.

 

Inclusive of the cannibalization hulks, Syria received a total of roughly 80 former German tanks from Czechoslovakia. However, at no time were all simultaneously operational and by 1960, usually only two or three dozen were combat-ready.

Before the Six Day War, the Syrian army was surprisingly unorganized, considering the amount of money being pumped into it. There was no unit larger than a brigade, and the whole Syrian army had a sort of “hub & spokes” system originating in Damascus, with every individual formation answering directly to the GHQ rather than a chain of command. The Panthers, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs were in three independent tank battalions, grossly understrength, supporting the normal tank battalions of three infantry brigades (the 8th, 11th, and 19th) in the Golan Heights. The Jagdpanzer IVs were in a separate independent platoon attached to a tank battalion operating T-34s and SU-100s. How the Hummel SPGs were assigned is unknown.

 

The first active participation of ex-German tanks in Syrian service was the so-called “Water War”. This was not really a war but rather a series of skirmishes between Israel and Syria during the mid-1960s. With increasing frequency starting in 1964, Syria emplaced tanks on the western slope of the Golan Heights, almost directly on the border, to fire down on Israeli irrigation workers and farmers in the Galilee region. Surprisingly (considering the small number available) Syria chose the Panzer IV for this task. It had no feature making it better or worse than any other tank; most likely the Syrians felt they were the most expendable tanks in their inventory as Israeli counterfire was expected. The panzers were in defilade (dug in) and not easy to shoot back at; due to their altitude advantage.

 

In 1964, Syria announced plans to divert 35% of the Jordan River’s flow away from Israel, to deprive the country of drinking water. The Israelis responded that they would consider this an act of war and, true to their word, engaged the project’s workers with artillery and sniper fire. Things escalated quickly; in 1965, Israeli M4 Shermans on Israeli soil exchanged fire with the Syrian Panzer IVs above inconclusively. A United Nations peacekeeping team ordered both sides to disengage from the border for a set period of time to “cool off”, but the UN “Blue Berets” were detested and considered useless by both the Israelis and Syrians, and both sides used the lull to prepare their next move. When the cooling-off period ended, the Syrians moved Panzer IVs and now some Panthers, too, back into position. However, the IDF had now Centurion tanks waiting for them, with their fire arcs pre-planned out. The Cold War-era Centurion had heavy armor, a high-velocity 105mm gun, and modern British-made optics. It outclassed the WWII panzers in any imaginable way and almost immediately, two Syrian Panzer IVs and a Panther were destroyed. Others were abandoned by their crews and that was the end of the situation.

 

Syria’s participation in the Six Say War that soon followed in 1967 war was sloppy and ultimately disastrous. Israel initially intended the conflict to be limited to a preemptive strike against Egypt to forestall an imminent attack by that country, with the possibility of having to fight Syria and Jordan defensively if they responded to the operations against Egypt. The war against Egypt started on 5 June 1967. Because of the poor organization of the Syrian army, news passed down from Damascus on the fighting in the Sinai was scarce and usually outdated by the time it reached the brigade level. Many Syrian units (including the GHQ) were using civilian shortwave radios to monitor Radio Cairo which was spouting off outlandish claims of imaginary Egyptian victories, even as Israeli divisions were steamrolling towards the Suez Canal.

 

Syrian vehicles of German origin during the Six Day War were either painted overall in beige or in a dark olive drab green. Almost all had, instead of tactical number codes, the name of a Syrian soldier killed in a previous war painted on the turret in white. During the Six Day War, no national roundel was typically carried, even though the Syrian flag was sometimes painted to the turret flanks. However just as the conflict was starting, white circles were often painted onto the top sides of tanks as quick ID markings for aircraft, and some tanks had red recognition triangles added to the side areas: Syrian soldiers were notoriously trigger-happy, and the decreased camouflage effect was likely cancelled out by the reduced odds of being blasted by a comrade!

 

During the evening of 5 June, Syrian generals in Damascus urged the government to take advantage of the situation and mount an immediate invasion of Israel. Planning and preparation were literally limited to a few hours after midnight, and shortly after daybreak on 6 June, Syrian commanders woke up with orders to invade Israel. The three infantry brigades in the Golan, backed up by several independent battalions, were to spearhead the attack as the rest of the Syrian army mobilized.

There was no cohesion at all: Separate battalions began their advance whenever they happened to be ready to go, and brigades went forward, missing subunits that lagged behind. A platoon attempting a southern outflank maneuver tried to ford the Jordan River in the wrong spot and was washed away. According to a KGB report, at least one Syrian unit “exhibited cowardice” and ignored its orders altogether.

 

On 7 June, 24 hours into their attack, Syrian forces had only advanced 2 miles into Israel. On 8 June, the IDF pushed the Syrians back to the prewar border and that afternoon, Israeli units eliminated the last Egyptian forces in the Sinai and began a fast redeployment of units back into Israel. Now the Syrians were facing serious problems.

On 9 June, Israeli forces crossed into the Golan Heights. They came by the route the Syrians least expected, an arc hugging the Lebanese border. Now for the first time, Syria’s panzers (considered too slow and fragile for the attack) were encountered. The next day, 10 June 1967, was an absolute rout as the Syrians were being attacked from behind by IDF units arcing southwards from the initial advance, plus Israel’s second wave coming from the west. It was later estimated that Syria lost between 20-25% of its total military vehicle inventory in a 15-hour span on 10 June, including eight Panthers. A ceasefire was announced at midnight, ending Syria’s misadventure. Syria permanently lost the Golan Heights to Israel.

 

By best estimate, Syria had just five Panthers and twenty-five Panzer IVs fully operational on 6 June 1967, with maybe another ten or so tanks partially operational or at least functional enough to take into combat. Most – if not all – of the ex-French tanks were probably already out of service by 1967, conversely the entire ex-Spanish lot was in use, along with some of the ex-Czechoslovak vehicles. The conflict’s last kill was on 10 June 1967 when a Panzer IV was destroyed by an Israeli M50 Super Sherman (an M4 Sherman hull fitted with a new American engine, and a modified turret housing Israeli electronics and a high-velocity French-made 75mm gun firing HEAT rounds). Like the Centurion, the Super Sherman outclassed the Panzer IV, and the Panther only fared marginally better.

 

Between 1964-1973 the USSR rebuilt the entire Syrian military from the ground up, reorganizing it along Warsaw Pact lines and equipping it with gear strictly of Soviet origin. There was no place for ex-Wehrmacht tanks and in any case, Czechoslovakia had ended spares & ammo support for the Panzer IV and the Panthers, so the types had no future. The surviving tanks were scrapped in Syria, except for a single Panzer IV survivor sold to a collector in Jordan.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)

Weight: 50 tonnes (55.1 long tons; 45.5 short tons)

Length: 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) hull only

7.52 m (24 ft 7¾ in) overall with gun facing forward

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) hull only

3,70 m (12 ft 1¾ in) with retrofitted side skirts

Height: 2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)’

Ground clearance: 56 cm (22 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 liters (160 imp gal; 190 US gal),

some Syrian Panthers carried two additional external 200 l fuel drums

 

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.93 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi) on roads; 450 km (280 mi)with auxiliary fuel tanks

100 km (62 mi) cross-country

Power/weight: 14 PS (10.1 kW)/tonne (12.7 hp/ton)

 

Engine & transmission:

Maybach HL230 V-12 gasoline engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gearbox with 7 forward 1 reverse gear

 

Armament:

1× 7,5 cm KwK 40 (L/48) with 87 rounds

2× 7.92 mm MG 34 or 42, or similar machine guns;

one co-axial with the main gun, another in the front glacis plate

with a total of 5.100 rounds (not always mounted)

Provision for a 12.7 mm DShK or Breda anti-aircraft machine gun on the commander cupola

  

The kit and its assembly:

A rather exotic what-if model, even though it’s almost built OOB. Inspiration came when I stumbled upon the weird Syrian Panzer IVs that were operated against Israel during the Six Day War – vehicles you would not expect there, and after more than 20 years after WWII. But when I did some more research, I was surprised about the numbers and the variety of former German tanks that Syria had gathered from various European countries, and it made me wonder if the Panther could not have been among this shaggy fleet, too?

 

I had a surplus Dragon Panther Spähpanzer in The Stash™, to be correct a “PzBeobWg V Ausf. G”, an observation and artillery fire guidance conversion that actually existed in small numbers, and I decided to use it as basis for this odd project. The Dragon kit has some peculiarities, though: its hull is made from primed white metal and consists of an upper and lower half that are held together by small screws! An ambiguous design, because the parts do not fit as good as IP parts, so that the model has a slightly die-cast-ish aura. PSR is necessary at the seams, but due to the metal it’s not easy to do. Furthermore, you have to use superglue everywhere, just as on a resin kit. On the other side, surface details are finely molded and crisp, even though many bits have to be added manually. However, the molded metal pins that hold the wheels are very robust and relatively thin – a feature I exploited for a modified running gear (see below).

 

For the modified Panther in my mind I had to retrograde the turret back to a late standard turret with mantlet parts left over from a Hasegawa kit – they fitted perfectly! The PzBeobWg V only comes with a stubby gun barrel dummy. But I changed the armament, anyway, and implanted an aftermarket white metal and brass KwK 40 L48, the weapon carried by all Syrian Panzer IVs, the Jagdpanzer IVs as well as the StuG IIIs. This standardization would IMHO make sense, even if it meant a performance downgrade from the original, longer KwK 42 L70.

 

For a Syrian touch, inspired by installations on the Panzer IVs, I added a mount for a heavy DShK machine gun on the commander’s cupola, which is a resin aftermarket kit from Armory Models Group (a kit that consists of no less than five fiddly parts for just a tiny machine gun!).

To change and modernize the Panther’s look further, I gave it side skirts, leftover from a ModelCollect T-72 kit, which had to be modified only slightly to fit onto the molded side skirt consoles on the Panther’s metal hull. A further late addition were the fuel barrels from a Trumpeter T-54 kit that I stumbled upon when I looked for the skirts among my pile of tank donor parts. Even though they look like foreign matter on the Panther’s tail, their high position is plausible and similar to the original arrangement on many Soviet post-WWII tanks. The whip antennae on turret and hull were created with heated black sprue material.

 

As a modern feature and to change the Panther’s overall look even more, I replaced its original solid “dish” road wheels with T-54/55 “starfish” wheels, which were frequently retrofitted to T-34-85s during the Fifties. These very fine aftermarket resin parts (all real-world openings are actually open, and there’s only little flash!) came from OKB Grigorovich from Bulgaria. The selling point behind this idea is/was that the Panther and T-54/55 wheels have almost the same diameter: in real life it’s 860 vs. 830 mm, so that the difference in 1:72 is negligible. Beneficially, the aftermarket wheels came in two halves, and these were thin enough to replace the Panther’s interleaved wheels without major depth problems.

Adapting the parts to the totally different wheel arrangement was tricky, though, especially due to the Dragon kit’s one-piece white metal chassis that makes any mods difficult. My solution: I retained the inner solid wheels from the Panther (since they are hardly visible in the “3rd row”), plus four pairs of T-54/55 wheels for the outer, more rows of interleaved wheels. The “inner” T-54/55 wheel halves were turned around, received holes to fit onto the metal suspension pins and scratched hub covers. The “outside” halves were taken as is but received 2 mm spacer sleeves on their back sides (styrene tube) for proper depth and simply to improve their hold on the small and rounded metal pin tips. This stunt worked better than expected and looks really good, too!

  

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple, and I used pictures of real Syrian Panzer IVs as benchmark. I settled for the common green livery variant, and though simple and uniform, I tried to add some “excitement” to it and attempted to make old paint shine through. The hull’s lower surface areas were first primed with RAL 7008 (Khakigrau, a rather brownish tone), then the upper surfaces were sprayed with a lighter sand brown tone, both applied from rattle cans.

 

On top of that, a streaky mix of Revell 45 and 46 – a guesstimate for the typical Syrian greyish, rather pale olive drab tone - was thinly applied with a soft, flat brush, so that the brownish tones underneath would shine through occasionally. Once dry, the layered/weathered effect was further emphasized through careful vertical wet-sanding and rubbing on all surfaces with a soft cotton cloth.

The rubber side skirts were painted with an anthracite base and the dry-brushed with light grey and beige.

 

The model then received an overall washing with a highly thinned mix of grey and dark brown acrylic artist paint. The vinyl tracks (as well as the IP spare track links on the hull) were painted, too, with a mix of grey, red brown and iron, all acrylic paints, too, that do not interact chemically with the soft vinyl.

 

The decals/markings are minimal; the Arabian scribble on the turret (must be a name?), using the picture of a Syrian Panzer IV as benchmark, was painted in white by hand, as well as the white circle on the turret roof. The orange ID triangles are a nice contrast, even though I was not able to come up with real-life visual evidence for them. I just found a color picture of a burned T-34-85 wreck with them, suggesting that the color was a dull orange red and not florescent orange, as claimed in some sources. I also found illustrations of the triangles as part of 1:35 decal sets for contemporary Syrian T-34-85s from FC Model Trend and Star Models, where they appear light red. For the model, they were eventually cut out from decal sheet material (TL-Modellbau, in a shade called “Rotorange”, what appears to be a good compromise).

 

Dry-brushing with light grey and beige to further emphasize edges and details followed. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic vanish overall, and some additional very light extra dry-brushing with silver was done to simulate flaked paint. Dirt and rust residues were added here and there with watercolors. After final assembly, the lower areas of the model were furthermore powdered with mineral pigments to simulate dust.

  

The idea of a modernized WWII Panther: a simple idea that turned into a major conversion. With the resin DShK machine gun and T-54/55 wheel set the costs of this project escalated a little, but in hindsight I find that the different look and the mix of vintage German and modern Soviet elements provide this Panther with that odd touch that sets it apart from a simple paint/marking variation? I really like the outcome, and I think that the effort was worthwhile - this fictional Panther shoehorns well into its intended historical framework. :-D

 

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 07-Aug-21.

 

-Delft Blue Daybreak-, Netherlands World Tail livery. Operated by British Airways franchise partner Maersk Air UK.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Maersk Air (Denmark) as OY-APB in Apr-96. It was leased to Maersk Air UK as G-MSKE in Apr-99 and operated on behalf of British Airways under a franchise agreement. The aircraft was returned to Maersk Air (Denmark) as OY-APB in Dec-01.

 

Maersk Air was merged into Sterling European Airlines in Sep-05. Sterling European ceased operations at the end of Oct-08 and the aircraft was returned to Maersk Finance in Oct-08. It was initially stored at Copenhagen, Denmark and move to Chateauroux (France) for further storage in Dec-08.

 

It was sold to the Orix Atlas Corporation in late May-10 as F-HCOA and leased to Air Mediterranee (France) in early Jun-10. They ceased operations in Feb-16 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor and stored at Lourdes, France.

 

In Jun-18 it was sold to Kalitta Charters II LLC (USA) as N375CK and ferried to Oscoda, MI, USA where it was permanently retired and used for spares. Updated 07-Aug-21.

Replaced 18432 YN06LMJ On 19 To Rotherham Via Dinnington.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 25-Aug-20.

 

Photo taken from the Templeton Bridge.

 

Fleet No: "309". Green Jazz... (the aircraft was later repainted in 'Red Jazz' livery).

 

This aircraft was delivered to Air BC as C-FACT in Mar-91. Air BC was merged into Air Canada Regional in Nov-10. Air Canada Regional was renamed Air Canada Jazz in May-02. It was transferred to Jazz Air Ltd in Dec-04. Operations for Air Canada Jazz continued. Jazz Air Ltd became Jazz Aviation LP in Mar-11 and Air Canada Jazz became Air Canada Express in May-11, still operated by Jazz Aviation LP. Now 30 years old, the aircraft continues in service. Current, updated Mar-21

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 27-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

First flown in Apr-88 with the British Aerospace test registration G-5-103, this aircraft was due to be delivered to Presidential Airways (USA) as N412XV but the order was cancelled and it was re-registered with British Aerospace as G-OLCB in Jul-88.

 

The aircraft was leased to the Jet Acceptance Corporation (USA), still as G-OLCB, and sub-leased to American Airlines in Oct-88. It had been due to become N693AA but that wasn't taken up. It was returned to Jet Acceptance Corp in Apr-89 and leased to Loganair (UK) in May-89.

 

It returned to the lessor in Jan-92 and stored until Mar-92 when it was leased to Loganair again (short term) before being returned to British Aerospace in Apr-92. It was leased to Malmo Aviation (Sweden), still as G-OLCB, in May-92, returning to British Aerospace in Feb-93.

 

In Apr-93 the aircraft was leased to Jersey European Airways as G-JEAK. It was wet-leased to CityJet (Ireland) in Mar-00. While it was with CityJet, Jersey European was renamed British European Airways in Jun-00 and the aircraft was returned to them in Sep-00.

 

British European was renamed FlyBe Airlines in Jul-02. The aircraft continued in service until it was returned to British Aerospace in Apr-07 and stored. It was leased to Hemus Air (Bulgaria) as LZ-HBZ in Jun-07. It was wet-leased to Belle Air (Bulgaria) between Jul/Oct-08.

 

Hemus Air also wet-leased it to Taban Airlines (Iran) in Sep-07. By the time it returned, Hemus Air had become Bulgaria Air and it was returned to them in May-11. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored in Nov-11. It returned to service in Aug-14 and was stored again in Jun-16 and returned to BAE Systems.

 

The aircraft was sold to Neptune Aviation Services (USA) as N477NA in Sep-16 and was converted to a fire-fighting tanker, operating as 'Tanker 15'. It was put into winter storage at Missoula, MT, USA in Nov-21. It's now 34 years old. Updated 27-Feb-22.

On 1Q56 Tonbridge West Yard to Woking. 73963 was on this originally but failed, replaced by 73212 at Tonbridge.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 12-Dec-24.

 

Fleet No: "302".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWCM in May-91, the aircraft was ordered by TEA Italy SpA as I-TEAB but it was cancelled before delivery.

 

The aircraft was stored at Toulouse until it was sold to Athimar Leasing (Airbus!) and leased to Emirates Airline as A6-EKI in Jul-92. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-01 and immediately sold to Air Transat as C-GLAT.

 

The aircraft was permanently retired at Montreal-Mirabel in Jan-20 and broken up there later the same year.

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 05-Feb-19 (DeNoise AI 29-Jul-22).

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDN, this aircraft was delivered to the Orix Aircraft Corporation as G-OOAB in Mar-92 and leased to Air 2000 the following month. It was wet-leased to Bahamas Air in Nov-93, returning to Air 2000 in Mar-94.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Oct-00 and re-registered N292MX in Nov-00. The aircraft was leased to Mexicana in Dec-00. Mexicana ceased operations in Aug-10, it was repossessed and stored at Mexico City. It was to have been leased to the 'new' Mexicana but the finance didn't materialise and it was ferried to Marana, AZ, USA in Sep-11 for further storage.

 

It never flew again. The aircraft was sold to Evergreen Trade Inc in Oct-11 and was broken up at Marana in Oct-12.

540 Beall Ave, Wooster, OH. Built in 2000, replacing an older restaurant on the same site and remodeled to its current look in late 2012 or early 2013.

Detail of the east window of 1925, probably by Benjamin Warren, one of the Birmingham School of Art trained Arts & Crafts artists.

 

The red brick church of St Barnabas at Franche was built c1870-1 by Martin & Chamberlain and is a fairly typical example of Victorian Gothic. The exterior however suffers from the lack of the original spire over the south porch, which though never a large structure was damaged by a gale in the 1930s and replaced by the rather mean, half-hearted tower we see today.

 

Inside the church appears more spacious than expected, the well proportioned nave giving way to a more slender chancel beyond. The most significant features is the diverse collection of stained glass windows, ranging from Arts & Crafts in the chancel to more modern work on the south side of the nave, an intriguing mixture.

 

St Barnabas's is happily normally kept open and welcoming to visitors.

www.worcesteranddudleyhistoricchurches.org.uk/index.php?p...

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 16-Apr-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

National Jet Systems.

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 29-Aug-21 (DeNoiseAI).

 

This was also my ride home, Los Angeles / Manchester 12/13-May-94...

 

Named: "Robert Burns".

 

This aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BNWU in Mar-93. After 21 years in service it was permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in May-14.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 06-Jul-17 (DeNoise AI 19-Sep-22)

 

Fleet No: "744",

 

This aircraft was delivered to Continental Air Lines as N79744 in Feb-81. It was leased to subsidiary company Continental Micronesia in Dec-92.

 

The aircraft was returned to Continental Air Lines in Aug-00, sold to Pacific Aircorp 743/744 Inc and stored at Tuscon, AZ, USA in Oct-00.

 

It was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door in Mar-01 and re-registered N747DH. The aircraft was leased to DHL Airways in May-01. It was transferred to Astar Air Cargo in Jun-03 and operations for DHL Air continued.

 

The aircraft was retired at Kingman, AZ, USA in May-09. It was last noted still stored at Kingman in late 2012.

Replaced by 50 of the oldest uploads

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 24-Dec-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 29-Oct-23.

 

Fleet No: '562'.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Western Air Lines a N2812W in Mar-74. Western was merged into Delta Air Lines in Apr-87.

 

After 27 years in service, the aircraft was permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in May-01. It was sold to the Avborne Accessory Group later that month for parting out.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a (slightly) better version 03-Dec-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

Very grainy, taken on a dark and murky day at LAX (but rescued by 'noise reduction' software).

 

An 'unlucky' aircraft which didn't stay long with any airline. First flown with the Boeing test registration N57008, this aircraft was an early standard B767-205 (Line No:81), delivered to Braathens S.A.F.E (Norway) as LN-SUV in Mar-84.

 

It was returned to the Boeing Equipment Holding Company as N767BE in Sep-85 and leased to TACA International Airlines in Oct-85. It returned to Boeing in May-86 and was leased to VARIG Brazil as PP-VNL the following month.

 

Boeing sold it to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation in Aug-86 while the lease to VARIG continued. It was returned to ILFC in May-87 and was leased to Britannia Airways as G-BNAX the following day, for the summer season.

 

Returning to ILFC in Oct-87 as N650TW, the aircraft was converted to a B767-205ER before being leased to TWA Trans World Airlines in Oct-87. It was sub-leased to Gulf Air between May/Sep-88.

 

In Mar-01 it was returned to ILFC and stored. In Oct-01 the aircraft was leased to Aero Continente (Peru) as OB-1758. It became OB-1758-P in Jun-03. It was returned to ILFC in Oct-04 as N371LF and stored at Dothan, AL, USA.

 

The aircraft was leased to MaxJet in Jan-06 and was re-registered N260MY the following month. MaxJet ceased operations in Dec-07 and it was impounded at New York-JFK. ILFC managed to retrieve it in Jan-08 and it was stored at Victorville, CA, USA.

 

It was leased to Air Seychelles (still as N260MY) in Aug-08 and was re-registered in S7-ILF in Sep-10. It was returned to ILFC in Nov-11 as N391LF and permanently retired at Goodyear, AZ, USA. The registration was cancelled in Mar-12. It was last noted still stored at Goodyear in Mar-13 and was subsequently broken up.