Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 04-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

Operated for British Airways by franchise partner Loganair.

First flown with the Saab Aircraft test registration SE-G16, this aircraft was delivered to the AMR Leasing Corporation and leased to AMR Eagle Inc (American Eagle) as N595MA in Dec-90. It was sold to another lessor on delivery and leased back to AMR Eagle.

It was sub-leased to Metroflight the same day and operated on behalf of American Eagle. Metroflight was merged into Simmons Airlines in May-93 while operations for American Eagle continued.

The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Mar-97 and leased to Northwest Airlines in May-97. It was sub-leased to Mesaba Airlines and operated on behalf of Northwest Airlink. It was returned to the lessor in Dec-98 and stored.

The aircraft was leased to Loganair as G-LGNB in Jul-99 and operated on behalf of British Airways. It was returned to Loganair in Oct-08 and immediately operated on behalf of FlyBe Airlines. It returned to Loganair in Sep-17.

It was returned to Jetstream Aviation Capital as N34216 in Dec-22 and ferried to Springfield, MO, USA in Feb-23. The aircraft ferried to London, ON, Canada for maintenance in Mar-23 and returned to Springfield in Apr-23 for storage.

At the beginning of Sep-23 the aircraft was ferried to St. Hubert, QC, Canada and leased to Pascan Aviation as C-FRCV later that month. It was stored at St. Hubert before finally entering service on 06-Aug-24. Current, updated 07-Jan-25.

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 It was withdrawn from service and stored at Frankfurt, Germany in Nov-01.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 scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Dec-24.

'Star Alliance' livery.

First flown with the Embraer test registration PT-SXN, this aircraft was delivered to 'bmi regional' as G-RJXK in Sep-01. It was in 'Star Alliance' livery until it was repainted in standard livery in Feb-08.

'bmi regional' ceased operations in Feb-19. bmi regional's routes were transferred to Loganair (also part of the Airline Investments Group) and this aircraft was transferred to Loganair in Mar-19. It was re-registered G-SAJU in Apr-19.

It was withdrawn from service and stored at Aberdeen, Scotland, UK in Mar-20 as a consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It never returned to service and appears to be permanently retired. Updated 10-Dec-24.

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 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.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 09-Apr-20.

Additional 'Official Airline CHOGM 2005 MT' titles (= 'Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting' 2005 Malta).

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVWQ. This aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to Air Malta as 9H-AEG in Feb-04.

It was subleased to Skyservice Airlines Canada as C-GAEG in Dec-05, returning to Air Malta in Mar-06, and again between Oct-07/Apr-08. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Dec-15 and stored at Shannon.

It was re-registered EI-FMT in Feb-16 and leased to Volotea Airlines a week later. It was re-registered EC-MTN in Dec-17. The aircraft was placed in temporary storage at Nantes, France in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It returned to service briefly in Oct-21 and was stored again until Feb-22. Current, updated 30-Sep-22.

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 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.

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

Fleet No: '3059'.

Originally built as a DC-10-30CF with a main deck cargo door enabling it to carry passengers or cargo, this aircraft was delivered to World Airways as N109WA in Apr-80. It was sold to a lessor in Feb-82 and leased back to World.

It was sub-leased to Air Florida between Mar-83 and Jul-84. It was also sub-leased to Malaysia Airlines between Jul/Sep-85 for a Haj Pilgrimage operation. The aircraft was leased to United Airlines in Apr-86.

It was sold to United in Sep-86 and re-registered N1859U. In Mar-97 it was converted to a full freighter configuration and transferred to United Airlines Cargo.

The aircraft was retired by United in Dec-00 and initially stored at Marana, AZ, USA. It was moved to Roswell, NM, USA in Dec-01 and was due to be sold to Federal Express (N327FE assigned) but the deal fell through.

It was sold to a lessor in Aug-02 and leased to Brasmex (Brasil Minas Express) as PR-BME in Sep-02. It returned to the lessor in Feb-04 and was stored at Sao Paulo-Guarulhos.

The aircraft was re-registered N478CT in Nov-04 and ferried to Marana the following month for further storage. In Feb-05 it was leased to Arrow Air Cargo.

They ceased operations at the end of Jun-10 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor in Jul-10 and was stored at Opa-Locka, FL, USA. It never flew again and was broken up there in Apr-14.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 30-Sep-22 + DeNoise AI.

Seen here on its first visit to Manchester in the original livery.

First flown in Dec-88 as CCCP-82060, this world-famous aircraft was operated by Antonov Airlines and originally designed to carry the Russian equivalent of the Space Shuttle, 'Buran'.

Russia's 'Space Shuttle' programme was cancelled and the aircraft converted into a freighter configuration, completed in Sep-93 and re-registered in Ukraine as UR-82060. It was withdrawn from use and stored at the Antonov factory airfield at Gostomel, Kyiv, Ukraine in Apr-94.

It was re-registered UR-480182 in May-96 and returned to its original registration, UR-82060 in May-98. The aircraft didn't fly again until May-01 when it entered service as the world's largest cargo carrier.

It was stored at Gostomel between Aug-20 and Jun-21. It was stored again at Gostomel in early Feb-22. Sadly, the aircraft was destroyed by Russian Forces on 24-Feb-22 in the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 21-May-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 03-Jan-26.

With additional small 'Sky Cruiser' titles.

The Boeing 747-446D was specially built for Japan Airlines and used on hi-density Japan domestic services. It had quite a few differences like no long range tanks and the most obvious, no winglets.

This aircraft was delivered to JAL Japan Airlines as JA8907 in Mar-93. It was sold on delivery to a lessor and leased back to JAL.

When JAL took over JAS Japan Air System in Apr-04, it divided the company into Domestic and International divisions. JA8907 was transferred to Japan Airlines Domestic. The aircraft was sold back to JAL in Mar-05.

In Oct-06 the Domestic Division was merged into Japan Airlines International. It continued in service until Aug-10 when it was sold to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest as N893DB.

The aircraft was permanently retired at Walnut Ridge, AR, USA. It was noted still stored at Walnut Ridge in Sep-11 and the registration was cancelled in Apr-12.

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 14-May-22 (DeNoise AI)

After arrival at Manchester, UK from Oslo, Norway on delivery, ex Braathens.

This aircraft was delivered to Braathens S.A.F.E Airlines as LN-BRT in Feb-92. It was sold to a lessor in Feb-93 and leased back. It was returned to the lessor in early Feb-00 and leased to British Airways as G-GFFB three weeks later.

In Oct-08 the aircraft was returned to Indigo Aviation AB and stored at Dinard, France. There were a few attempts to lease the aircraft, to Aeroflot-Nord (Russia), Comair (South Africa) and Murmansk Airlines (Russia), none were taken up.

It was re-registered VP-BKU in Dec-08 and leased to AVL - Arkhangelsk Airlines (Russia) but was never delivered and was re-registered to the lessor in Feb-09. Eventually, in Jul-09 the aircraft was leased Aeroflot-Nord (Russia). They were renamed Nordavia Regional Airlines in Dec-09.

The aircraft was permanently retired at Moscow-DME in Jul-18. It was preserved at Moscow-DME in 2000 and is used as training aid by Domodedovo Airport services. Updated 18-May-22.

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.

Lengths of cut up rail lay awaiting disposition after being replaced on the Norfolk Southern track along Highway 247 in Warner Robins, Georgia.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 29-Mar-17, plus DeNoise AI 30-Dec-22.

Named: "Asia".

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWJO, this aircraft was delivered to Austrian Airlines as OE-LAH in Feb-95.

It was sold to the Ingepar/TAP Consortium in May-06 and leased to the French Air Force as F-RAJB for 5 years. The aircraft was sold to Celine Aviation as F-HCEL in Jun-06 while the lease to the French Air Force continued (as far as I'm aware the aircraft remained as F-RAJB).

In Sep-06 it was leased to the French Ministry of Defence and reverted to the French Air Force in Nov-06. The aircraft was stored at Irstres Air Base in Dec-20 and advertised for sale,

It was 'sold' to LMO AERO as F-HLMG, for the Kenyan Red Cross in Mar-21 and moved to Chateauroux, France where it was stored. The intention was to use it for the transport of COVID Vaccines and PPE supplies. However, that didn't happen and it remained stored.

It was ferried to Kertajati, West Java, Indonesia in May-22 for continued storage. I'm assuming that as it's now 28 years old, it's permanently retired. Updated 30-Dec-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 12-Mar-17, although the negative has deteriorated (yellowed) over time.

Taken from the glass fronted viewing terrace at Las Palmas with some reflections!

A UK airline based at Manchester, Av8 Airlines (Aviate - gettit?) was yet another airline that didn't last. Initial services were operated using this leased Icelandair B767 on long-haul flights Manchester / Dublin / Cape Town using Icelandair's AOC. Operations were started in Nov-03. The plan was to have a B767-300ER for long-haul and a B757-200 for inclusive tour flights from Manchester to southern Europe. They took delivery of the B757 (G-OAVB) in Nov-03 and it flew regular training flights but never entered revenue service. Their own AOC was granted in Mar-04 but was rescinded almost immediately as the parent travel company couldn't raise the necessary CAA Bond. They ceased trading in early Apr-04 and the B757 was returned to the lessor.

This aircraft was delivered to SAS Scandinavian Airlines as SE-DKX in Oct-91. It was sold to the Sunrock Aircraft Corporation in Jan-94 and leased back to SAS. At the same time it was transferred to SAS Norway and re-registered LN-RCL. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Nov-03 as N365SR.

It was leased to Icelandair the following month and immediately wet leased to a new UK company, Av8 Airlines. They ceased operations in Apr-04 and the aircraft was returned to Icelandair.

In Dec-04 it was wet leased to NEOS (Italy) for the winter, returning to Icelandair in Apr-05. It was wet-leased to SBA Santa Barbara Airlines in Nov-06, returning to Icelandair in Sep-08.

After major maintenance at Tel Aviv the aircraft was leased to Travel Service Airlines (Czech Republic) in Dec-09. In May-09 it was sub-leased by Travel Service Airlines to Kabo Air (Nigeria), still operated by Icelandair. The aircraft returned to Travel Service Airlines in Dec-09 and was returned to Icelandair in Apr-10.

In May-10 it was wet-leased to SBA Santa Barbara Airlines again, returning to Icelandair in Feb-11. It had a major maintenance check at Guangzhou, China and was dry leased, long term, to Air Niugini as P2-PXW in Apr-11. Now 31 years old, it continues in service. Updated 29-Oct-22.

Note: The registration TF-FIB was previously used on an Icelandair B737-400.

***Replaced photo 3/12/13***

My first attempt at HST palette with my QHY9M.

Image taken with an Orion ED102T CF & QHY9M mono CCD. Baader Ha,OIII,SII 36mm filters

Taken over 2 nights 3/9/13 & 3/10/13

Ha- 3x1200sec mapped to Green

OIII-7x1200sec mapped to Blue

SII-5x1200sec mapped to Red

Guided with Orion SSAG,PhD & 50mm Orion Mini-Guider

Acquired with Nebulosity 2. Dark frames subtracted and DDP applied to each channel

Post-Processed in Photoshop CS6

I am happy with my CCD Narrowband result, but I may add more subs and try LRGB on this target, perhaps a wider FOV with the AT65EDQ on it's way

The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443) is located in the constellation of Gemini. It is a supernova remnant that astronomers believe occured 3,000-30,000 years ago and it is @ 5,000 light-years away.

www.astrochuck.blogspot.com

Replacing an earlier digital proto with a better version 17-Mar-20.

Hybrid basic British Airways livery with FlyBe titles. It was only operated for 4 months, this photo was taken the day before it left the fleet.

First flown with the Embraer test registration PT-SBQ, this aircraft was delivered to a lessor and leased to BRA British Regional Airlines as G-EMBG in Nov-98 and operated on behalf of British Airways. British Regional was merged into British Airways Citiexpress in Mar-02. Citiexpress was renamed BA Connect in Feb-06. The aircraft was transferred to FlyBe Airlines in Mar-07 when British Airways 'gave away' their loss-making UK regional services. It was returned to the lessor in Jul-07 and leased to Dniproavia (Ukraine) as UR-DNB at the end of Aug-07. In Mar-12 the Ukranian Government 'consolidated' Dniproavia into Aerosvit and operations continued using Aerosvit flight numbers. Both companies ceased operations in early Jan-13 but some services were resumed the following month. Dniproavia was declared bankrupt in Dec-17 and the aircraft was transferred to Windrose Airlines, It was permanently retired in Apr-18.

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.

Shibdon Pond Local Nature Reserve

History

In the nineteenth century this site had been a series of wetland pastures, but this changed when twentieth century mining and railway activities altered the water level and formed the pond. Between 1837 and 1951 Blaydon Main Colliery dominated the site. The capped shaft can still be seen behind Blaydon Swimming Pool. This area used to be a refuse dump, but careful planting and management of native British trees will ensure a rich new habitat for the future. The grassland provides habitat for voles and shrews which attract hunting kestrels.

Birds

Bird life varies throughout the year. From the observation hide you will be able to spot common birds such as tufted duck, mallard, coot and moorhen. In summer, masses of insects swarm above the pond and these can attract swifts, swallows, house martins and sand martins in large numbers. Look carefully around the edge of the pond and you should see grey herons and water rail as they search for food. In autumn, kingfisher can be seen regularly along with waders such as greenshank and common sandpiper. During cold winters numbers on the pond are boosted by visiting wildfowl from Northern Europe. In past years, a wide range of scarce species from Europe and further afield have been noted including laughing gull and green winged teal from North America, ferruginous duck from the Mediterranean and glaucous gull and Iceland gull from the edge of the Arctic Circle. Also at this time cormorants roost on the main island on the pond in large numbers.

Marsh

The marsh is a mosaic of reed beds and open pools which provide nest sites for birds such as sedge warbler and are ideal cover for otters visiting from the River Tyne. Where the marsh merges into grassland orchids can be seen during the summer months. The most obvious insect life is the dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. In spring, look out for the orange tip butterfly and in summer the small skipper and meadow brown butterflies, common darter dragonfly and emerald damselfly. Heather, knapweed and yellow rattle are typical plants which grow here.

Scrub

Beyond the marsh areas of scrub provide cover for many birds such as whitethroat and willow warbler during the summer months. Predators such as foxes are attracted to this area by the large number of rabbits which live here.

Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winlaton ward had a population in 2011 of 13,896.

Between 1894 and 1974, Blaydon was an urban district which extended inland from the Tyne along the River Derwent for ten miles (16 km), and included the mining communities of Chopwell and High Spen, the villages of Rowlands Gill, Blackhall Mill, Barlow, Winlaton Mill and Stella, as well as Blaydon and Winlaton. During its existence, the Urban District's fourteen and a half square miles constituted the second largest administrative district by area, on Tyneside, after Newcastle upon Tyne.

History

The town of Blaydon is essentially an industrial area and is not more than two centuries old. Indeed, in the 1760s there was little here but a few farms and cottages. In the latter part of the same century a smelting works was set up from which sprang the industrial growth of the area.

Though the town itself has a relatively short history there has been activity in the area for many centuries.

Early history

The earliest recorded evidence of human activity at Blaydon is a Neolithic polished stone axe found in the early 20th century. Finds and structures from later prehistoric periods include a bronze spearhead and log-boat, both recovered from the River Tyne in the 19th century. A number of Bronze Age cists[citation needed] are recorded from Summerhill and several others from Bewes Hill.

Little is recorded of medieval Blaydon, which appears to have been based upon the modern farm sites of High and Low Shibdon. The Blaydon Burn Belts Corn Mill, part of a row of 5 or 6 water corn mills stretching from Brockwell Wood to the River Tyne is known to have been present by the early 17th century, suggesting a healthy population at that time. It is likely that, as well as farming, many industrial activities such as mining and quarrying had begun in the medieval and post-medieval periods, well before the industrial period of the 18th to 20th centuries when Blaydon became an important industrial centre.

Battle of Stella Ford

Also known as the Battle of Newburn or Newburn Ford, this relatively unknown battle has recently been elevated in importance by English Heritage. On 28 August 1640, 20,000 Scots defeated 5,500 English soldiers who were defending the ford over the Tyne four miles (6 km) west of Newcastle.[6] The Scots had been provoked by Charles I, who had imposed bishops and a foreign prayer book on their church. The Scots army, led by Alexander Leslie, fought its way to Newcastle and occupied the city for almost a year before Charles I paid it £200,000 to depart. The battle brought to an end the so-called 'Eleven Years of Tyranny' by forcing Charles to recall Parliament.

The 18th century and the Industrial Revolution

The stimulus for industry at Blaydon and Blaydon burn, as elsewhere in the region, was the growth in coal mining and the coal trade, particularly from the early 18th century, when the Hazard and Speculation pits were established at Low Shibdon linked to the Tyne by wagonways. The 18th century Blaydon Main Colliery was reopened in the mid-19th century and worked until 1921. Other pits and associated features included Blaydon Burn Colliery, Freehold pit and the Blaydonburn wagonway. Industries supported by the coal trade included chemical works, bottle works, sanitary pipe works, lampblack works, an ironworks, a smithy and brickworks - Cowen's Upper and Lower Brickworks were established in 1730 and were associated with a variety of features including a clay drift mine and coal/clay drops. The Lower works remains in operation. Blaydon Burn Coke Ovens, also of 19th-century origin, were replaced in the 1930s by Priestman Ottovale Coke and Tar Works which was the first in the world to produce petrol from coal[citation needed] known as Blaydon Benzole.

In addition to the workers' housing developments associated with industrialisation, a number of grand residences were constructed for industrialists in the area, such as Blaydon Burn House, home of Joseph Cowen, owner of the brickworks. Ironically, the remains of Old Dockendale Hall, an earlier grand residence (or perhaps a superior farmhouse) of 17th century or earlier construction, was destroyed when the coke and tar works was built at Blaydon Burn.

Blaydon School Press

In the 1930s, pupils at the now demolished Blaydon Intermediate School, under the leadership of English teacher Mr Elliott and art teacher Mr Boyce, gradually developed a technique for producing hardback books. Their productions were highly respected and favourably compared to other successful private printing presses of the time. In one volume produced by the school in 1935, entitled "Songs of Enchantment", the pupils were successful in convincing the famous poet Walter de la Mare to write a foreword in which he praised their enterprise and efforts.

Stella South Power Station

The post war era of the late 40s and 50s saw a rapid rise in demand for electricity and, in the North East, the extension of existing and construction of a number of new power stations was seen as a key part of the solution. For the Blaydon area, this meant the arrival of a new power station at Stella Haugh, known as the South Stella Power Station, which helped to meet the energy demands of the North East until its closure in 1991. It was demolished in 1992.

Governance

Blaydon ward elects three councillors to Gateshead Council. In the House of Commons, the Blaydon constituency has been held by Liz Twist for the Labour Party since 2017. The area has traditionally been a Labour stronghold and the seat has been held by them since 1935.

Geography

Modern Blaydon stands close to the Tyne with the A695, a key road from Gateshead to Hexham, passing through the town centre. Between this main road and the river is the railway and beyond it, on a bend of the Tyne, is the industrial district of Blaydon Haughs. The main part of the town lies south of the railway.

Despite being a largely urban and industrial area, there are various rural aspects to Blaydon and the surrounding area. The area has many acres of open countryside, mostly at 500 feet (150 m) or more above sea level, and numerous farms and similar holdings. Between High Spen and Chopwell are large Forestry Commission woods, and these and other forested areas extend westward down the hillside to the River Derwent, which forms most of the metropolitan district boundary.

Shibdon Pond, on the eastern edge of the town at the former site of Blaydon Main colliery, is a nature reserve with many species of waterfowl. English Nature has designated Shibdon Pond as one of Tyne and Wear's Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The subject of a regeneration campaign, Shibdon Dene (sometimes inaccurately called 'Blaydon Dene') is another recreational area consisting of a pathway between a great number of fine trees.

There is also a nature reserve north-west of Blaydon at Blaydon Burn, on the route of a wagon-way which carried coal to the riverside. The track, roughly a mile-and-a-half long, is used by walkers and cyclists and ends near the Path Head Watermill.

Demography

Blaydon had a population of 15,155 in the 2011 census, which increased from 14,648 a decade earlier.

Economy

Once the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Gateshead, Blaydon's traditional industry was coal mining. However, since the decline of mining in the 1950s and 1960s, the economy has diversified. As well as a small number of commuting professionals, residents of Blaydon are often involved in engineering and manufacturing with many businesses operating from premises in Blaydon Haughs (or 'The Spike'), on the banks of the River Tyne.

Blaydon was for a time the head office of Associated Cooperative Creameries (later renamed ACC then ACC Milk). ACC Milk was sold to Dairy Farmers of Britain in 2004. On 3 June 2009, Dairy Farmers of Britain went into receivership and the dairy in Chainbridge Road closed shortly afterwards with the loss of 300 jobs. In 2010 the dairy was acquired by Medina Dairies and reopened, but closed again just a year later.

Blaydon has a shopping centre, known locally as the precinct. A brutalist 1970s creation, it contains the town's major shops including newsagents, Greggs, Costa, Iceland (supermarket), B & M, Blaydon Carpets and Furnishings, Ladbrokes, Superdrug, Boots (chemist), Boyes and, at the nearby car park, a McDonald's. There are also several food and grocery outlets. The precinct underwent redevelopment in 2012–2014, with the installation of a lift, and the demolition of the Geordie Ridley pub to make way for a new Morrison's supermarket, a new day-centre and doctors' surgery, and roof-top parking. There is also a Co-op Funeralcare just outside the precinct on Bridge street. Blaydon Car Boot Sale takes place every Wednesday between March and October at Blaydon RFC.

The area underwent a significant programme of housing regeneration between 2009 and 2014 with new developments in progress at High View on the Winlaton-Blaydon border, by the riverside on the site of the former Stella South power station and at Axwell Gardens, near to the existing Axwell Park estate.

Landmarks

On the west of the town and a mile inland from the Tyne is Axwell Park, once the home of the Clavering family. Axwell Hall (also Axwell House) is a Grade II* listed mansion, built for Sir Thomas Clavering by the noted architect James Paine and completed in 1761. The last (10th) baronet died in 1893 and Axwell Hall later found use as a prisoner-of-war camp during the second world war and later as an approved school. Much of the park has been developed for residential purposes and the hall itself was, after two decades of decay, restored. There are plans to convert it to residential apartments.

Stella Hall

Up-river from Blaydon and outside the town boundary, Stella Hall was a 17th-century mansion set in a park. The house was built by the Tempest family, and in the next century passed by marriage to Lord Widdrington and then into the Towneley family. From 1850 it was owned by Joseph Cowen, owner of the local brickworks and MP for Newcastle, who was followed by his son, also Joseph, again an MP and also the owner of the Newcastle Chronicle. The house was demolished in 1955 to make way for housing.

Education

Blaydon is part of the Gateshead Local Education Authority. It is home to a number of primary schools (both faith and secular schools) including Blaydon West primary and St Joseph's, a Roman Catholic primary school. It also has St Thomas More Catholic School, a high achieving Roman Catholic secondary school which serves the Roman Catholic population of the western part of Gateshead borough.

Religious sites

Blaydon has several churches. In the town centre, St Cuthbert's (Church of England, opened in 1845) and St Joseph's (Roman Catholic, opened in 1905 on the site of an earlier church) are opposite each other, on either side of Shibdon Road. Both are impressive structures, and the interiors still reflect the style of architecture used in their construction. Also on Shibdon Road, at the corner with Lucy Street and opposite the entrance to the roof-top car park above Morrisons, is Trinity Methodist Church.

There is also a Catholic church in Stella (St Mary and Thomas Aquinas, opened 1835) .

A brand new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in 2013, near Cowen Road. This was built by voluntary labour as Witnesses from all over the North-East donned hard hats and work gear, working under the supervision of professional builders.

In Winlaton, the parish church of Winlaton opened in 1828, the Congregational church in 1829, and the Wesleyan Chapel in 1868. The latter two united to form Winlaton United Reformed-Methodist Church, but this closed in August 2015, with some members moving to join Trinity Methodist Church in Blaydon. The Primitive Methodists had opened a building in 1850, which was extended in 1895, and was later to become the Blaydon Corps of the Salvation Army; this corps closed in September 2012. St Anne's Catholic Church in Winlaton was opened in 1962.

Sports

The Blaydon area is the origin of the well-known traditional song "Blaydon Races", written by local musician and showman George 'Geordie' Ridley in 1862. The town's athletic club – the Blaydon Harriers – organise a road running race (called the Blaydon Race) every year on 9 June. The route of the race follows the route outlined by Ridley in his song. The traditional starting point lies outside Balmbra's pub in Newcastle's Bigg Market, and the race follows a course along Scotswood Road before crossing the River Tyne and ultimately finishing in Blaydon town centre. Local councillors, societies and notaries have in recent years organised an annual Blaydon Festival with music, sport and arts events that coincides with the week of race day.

As well as the Blaydon races, The Blaydon Harriers organise regular race meetings on the Shibdon Pond fields (and other venues) throughout the year. These are usually well-attended both by participants and spectators. The Harriers' colours are orange and black.

The rugby union club, Blaydon RFC play in the English National League 2 North, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system and a high level considering the size of the town. The Crow Trees rugby ground is situated to the east of the town, in neighbouring Swalwell. Blaydon RFC play in red shirts and white shorts. The former England international Mick Skinner played for Blaydon. Their smaller but no less illustrious neighbours, Winlaton Vulcans RFC play in Durham and Northumberland Division 2 and number Ken Goodall, the former Ireland and British Lion International, as one of their former players. They play in black shirts, shorts and socks with the club badge of an arm gripping a hammer over an anvil depicting their heritage being formed from the steelworking heritage of the area.

Since 2013 Blaydon has also been host to Blaydon Cycle Club, meeting weekly and throughout the week catering from novice cyclists right through to having a race team competing in local and national events.

Notable people

Alun Armstrong, former professional footballer with Ipswich Town F.C. and Middlesbrough FC

Peter Armstrong, the poet and psychotherapist, was born in Blaydon

Sir Thomas Clavering, 7th Baronet, owner of Axwell Hall

Joseph Cowen, 19th century politician and journalist

Graham Onions, Durham and England cricketer

Bert Tulloch, former professional footballer with Blackpool

Gavin Webster, stand-up comedian

William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington, owner of Stella Hall

Culture

Live jazz and rock music is regularly performed at the Black Bull pub near Blaydon Bridge. Although many pubs were demolished during the refurbishment of the town in the 1970s, a number of pubs still exist in and around the precinct, along with the Staffs (formerly the Railway Staff Club). The Blaydon and District Social Club – a former working men's club – and the Blaydon House Sports and Social Club (formerly the Conservative Club), which occupied the house of the nineteenth-century Doctor Morrison, and was reputedly the oldest building in Blaydon, were both demolished in 2020–2021 to make way for housing. The façade of Blaydon House was incorporated into a new building. The Masonic Hall on Blaydon Bank was closed in 2015, with Lodge meetings transferring to Ryton Masonic Hall.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 24-Dec-25.

First flown with the ATR test registration F-WWEQ in Jan-95, this aircraft was stored at Toulouse, France until it was leased to Gill Airways, UK as G-BWDA in Jun-95. Gill Air ceased operations in Sep-01, the aircraft was returned to ATR and initially stored at Newcastle, UK.

It was sold to Aeronautix Leasing as F-WQNG in Oct-01 and transferred to Dinard, France for further storage. The aircraft was transferred to Montpelier, France in Aug-02 and was repainted in full Aero Malaysiana livery as 9M-AMB by the following month.

Unfortunately, Aero Malaysiana failed to gain Certification from the Malaysian Authorities and the lease was cancelled. It remained stored until it was leased to Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey, Channel Islands) as G-BWDA in Aug-03.

The aircraft was wet-leased, short term, to Aer Arann (Ireland) for just over two weeks in Mar-05. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Jul-09 and leased to Royal Air Maroc Express as CN-COB the following month.

It was returned to the lessor in Oct-12 and stored at Monchengladbach, Germany. It was re-registered T7-COB in Jun-13 and remained stored (The registration prefix 'T7' is San Marino - see below).

In mid 2015 the aircraft was due to be sold in the Philippines to the Alphaland Balesin Island Club as RP-C9017, however the sale was cancelled and it remained stored. In Nov-15 it was ferried to Toulouse-Francazal for freighter conversion.

It was sold to Summit Air Charter (Canada) as C-GJPY in Jan-16. The freighter conversion was completed at the end of Jul-16 and the aircraft was delivered to Canada. It was stored at Edmonton, AB, Canada in Apr-20, presumably due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It returned to service a few months later. Current, updated 24-Dec-25.

Note: San Marino is described as "an Enclaved European microstate surrounded by Italy". It's officially The Republic of San Marino, also known as The Most Serene Republic of San Marino! It does have an airfield which can take aircraft up to small business-jets)

Replaced 18432 YN06LMJ On 19 To Rotherham Via Dinnington.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Jan-23, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 30-Dec-23.

This aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SPL in Jan-97. It was repainted in the 'Tropical Megatop / Raffles' special livery in 1998, however it was quickly returned to standard livery after sister-ship 9V-SPK (also in the 'Raffles' livery) was lost when it crashed on take-off at Taipei, Taiwan on 31-Oct-2000.

It was sold to Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo as B-HKX in Jan-09 and was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck side cargo door (SCD) in Jun-09.

The aircraft was transferred to Air Hong Kong in Jul-17 and returned to Cathay Pacific Cargo in Jun-18 when it was stored at Hong Kong.

It was sold to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest and leased to Atlas Air Cargo as N471MC in Aug-18. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Lleida, Spain between Feb/Apr-20. It returned to service on 09-Apr-20. Current, updated 28-Jul-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 16-Aug-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 23-Apr-24.

Translift Airways, which later became TransAer International Airways was one of the original ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) airlines operating services for other airlines. The history below only shows major sub-leases but there were lots of 'one-off' and short-term leases in between.

I was dreading doing the history for this aircraft, it goes on for ever...

Named: "Caitlin Shligigh".

First flown in Apr-93 with the Airbus test registration F-WWIZ, this aircraft was delivered to the Orix Aircraft Corporation as N429RX in Jul-93 and stored until it was leased to Translift Airways as EI-TLE in Oct-93.

It was wet-leased to Leisure Air (USA) between Nov-94/Apr-95, TransMeridian Airways (USA) between Dec-95/Apr-96, Turkish Airlines between May/Oct-96 and TransMeridian Airways between Nov-97/Apr-97.

Translift was renamed TransAer in May-97 and became TransAer International Airways in Sep-97. The aircraft was wet-leased to Novair Airlines (Sweden) for 3 weeks in Nov-97, TransMeridian Dec-97/Apr-98, AirWorld (UK) between May/Nov-98, TransMeridian between Dec-98/Apr-99 and Britannia Airways between Apr/Oct-99.

The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Nov-99 (TransAer ceased operationa a year later in Oct-00). In Jan-00 it was leased to Airtours International Airways as G-BYTH. It was transferred to Airtours German operation, flyFTI (Frosch Touristik International) as D-ASSR in Apr-00 for the summer season, returning to Airtours as G-BYTH in Nov-00.

It was sub-leased to Skyservice Airlines (Canada) as C-GTDM in Dec-01. Confusingly, it was sub-sub-leased back to Airtours for the summer season in Apr-02. Airtours was renamed MyTravel Airlines in May-02.

The aircraft was returned to Skyservice Airlines (on paper) in Nov-02 and became G-BYTH the same day on return to MyTravel. It was transferred to MyTravel Lite in May-03 (MyTravel's attempt at 'low-cost' - it didn't work!) and was based at Birmingham (UK) for the summer season.

It returned to MyTravel Airways in Nov-03 and was sub-leased to Skyservice Airlines as C-GTDM in Dec-03, returning to MyTravel as G-BYTH in Apr-04. It was sub-leased to Skyservice again (as C-GTDM) between Nov-04/Apr-05 and between Nov-05/Apr-06.

As G-BYTH the aircraft continued in service with MyTravel. The MyTravel Group was merged into Thomas Cook Airlines in Mar-08 and it continued in service until it was returned to the lessor in Apr-10.

Later that month the aircraft was leased to Skywest Airlines (Australia) as VH-FNP. Skywest entered a franchise agreement with Virgin Australia in May-13, operating as Virgin Australia Regional Airlines.

The aircraft was withdrawn from service at the end of Apr-20 and stored at Perth, WA, Australia, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It remained stored at Perth until it was ferried to Sharjah and returned to the lessor in late Mar-21.

It was leased (or sold) to Olympus Airways (Greece) as SX-AQK in Apr-21 but never entered service. It remained stored at Sharjah, UAE. Now 32 years old, it's permanently retired and probably used for spares. Updated 25-Feb-25.

Station Abcoude 23/06/2020 16h42

Due to the doubling of the track between Amsterdam and Utrecht, the Abcoude station area was reconstructed. An aqueduct (Rien Nouwen Aqueduct) with four tracks has been built under the Gein to replace the lift bridge. Because the existing station is located on the slope to the aqueduct, a new station with a modern platform cover has been built north of the Gein near the Hollandse Kade on the north-east side of Abcoude, further from the center of the village than the old station. Only the middle two tracks are located on the island platform. The outer two tracks are used by the intercity trains.

On April 23, 2007, the aqueduct and the new station were put into use. There is only one entrance on the west side of the station. The square in front of the station is called Geinplein and the road along Spoorlaan, because the street names Stationsplein and Stationsstraat already existed and still exist at the old station. However, the old Stationsplein was no longer accessible, while Stationstraat no longer runs to the (current) station.

The old first station building has survived and thus remains a landmark along the railway (although it is hardly visible from passing trains). The old track around Abcoude has been demolished, as well as the second station building and the platforms from 1977. The old first station building fell into disrepair but eventually got a different purpose. The building was renovated and since April 2016 a bed and breakfast "De Witte Dame" has been established in it.

Abcoude

Abcoude is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. Since 2011 it has been part of the municipality of De Ronde Venen. The former municipality of Abcoude consisted of the villages Abcoude and Baambrugge, and the hamlet Stokkelaarsbrug.Abcoude lies in the Province Utrecht, about 13 km southeast of (the centre of) Amsterdam, on the confluence of the Angstel River, Gein River and Holendrecht River. In 2001, the town of Abcoude had 6431 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 1.28 km², and contained 2678 residences. The current approximation is over 8000.Abcoude was first mentioned in a report from 1085 by the bishop of Utrecht. In this document the residents of Abcoude were named ’habitatores de Abecenwalde’. In 1672 most of the town was burned down by the French. In 1820 Abcoude had 1100 inhabitants. The municipality of Abcoude was formed in 1941, from the former municipalities of Abcoude-Proosdij (containing the village of Abcoude) and Abcoude-Baambrugge (containing the village of Baambrugge).The town is served by Abcoude railway station. It is in the northern part of Abcoude. The station offers direct services to Amsterdam, Utrecht, Gouda and Rotterdam. Abcoude has its own exit on the highway A2 between Amsterdam and Utrecht, exit 3.Abcoude is known as the only town whose name starts with the letters A, B, and C in that order and ends with D and E in that order.

Area: 32.11 km²

Population: 8,657

Density: 285/km²

Elevation: -1 m

[ Wikipedia 09/2020 ]

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 14-Sep-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 01-Sep-25.

Named: "City of Watertown".

Delivered to Mohawk Airlines as N7822M in Nov-67, Mohawk was merged into Allegheny Airlines in Apr-72. The aircraft was sold to Sudwes Legdiens, South Africa, as ZS-SWK in Dec-74.

TAT Touraine Air Transport bought it in Jan-79 when it became F-GBRQ. TAT were renamed Transport Aerien Transregional in Apr-84. The aircraft was wet-leased to Jenair between Apr/Nov-92 and wet-leased to Air Martinique in Apr/May-93.

It was withdrawn from use and stored at Dinard, France in May-93. It was leased to Air Provence International in 1996 and then sold to Sahara Airlines, Algeria as 7T-VKK in Jul-99.

Sahara Airlines ceased operations in 2003 and their fleet of 5 FH-227's were stored at Algiers. Some of them were still there in 2006 but I can find no further information on this aircraft.

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.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 26-Mar-23.

On the tail you can just make out the Goodjet logo under the thin layer of paint.

First flown in Oct-90 with the Airbus test registration F-WWIY, this aircraft was delivered to GATX Leasing and leased to LACSA (Costa Rica) as N482GX in Dec-90, it was wet-leased to Aero Quetzal in Sep-91 and returned to LACSA in Oct-91.

It was returned to the lessor in Jan-95 and leased to Air Charter (France) as F-GLGN in Feb-95. It was returned to the lessor in Nov-98 and stored. The aircraft was leased to Air Europe SpA (Italy) in Apr-99 and returned to the lessor in Apr-01.

Then it was leased to Canada 3000 Airlines as C-GVXH. Canada 3000 ceased operations in Nov-01 in the aftermath of the 911 terrorist attacks in the USA. The aircraft was returned to the lessor and initially stored at Toronto, ON, Canada.

It was moved to Toulouse, France in Apr-02 and re-registered F- GKCI the following month. It was re-registered F-WKCI in Aug-02 before being leased to Transair Sweden as SE-RCG in Oct-02. On delivery to Transair, it was immediately wet-leased to Goodjet (Norway).

Transair Sweden ceased operations for Goodjet in Dec-02 due to a US$ 3 million debt (they were declared bankrupt in Jan-03). Goodjet also ceased operations and were declared bankrupt the same month!

The aircraft was repossessed by the lessor and stored at Bordeaux, France. It was leased to Free Bird Airlines (Turkey) as TC-FBE in Nov-03. It was returned to the lessor and stored at Goodyear, AZ, USA in Oct-11. The aircraft was sold to AeroTurbine Inc as N216AT and permanently retired. It was broken up at Goodyear in late 2012.

what do you think?

I destroyed my other humvee but think this one looks better :D

please comment and tell me if you want me to upload separate picture of the humvee and killer drone,thanks!

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

National Jet Systems.

Replaced by 50 of the oldest uploads

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 12-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

This aircraft, built as a Tristar 500, was delivered to British Airways as G-BFCE in Jul-79. It was in service for less than four years before it was sold to the UK's RAF Royal Air Force as ZD952 in Mar-83.

It was leased back to British Airways charter subsidiary British Airtours as G-BFCE in Jun-85 for the peak summer season, and returned to the RAF as ZD952 in early Oct-85.

It was converted to a Tristar KC.1 in Oct/Nov-85. The aircraft was in service with the Royal Air Force for another 29 years until it was permanently retired at Kemble, UK in Feb-14. Updated 12-Feb-22.

un bellissimo borgo medioevale lambito dal canale di Le Grau-du-Roi che permette di raggiungere il mare o il fiume Rodano o il Canal du Rhone à Sète.

Da qui partono infatti crociere di vari tipi, non ne ho mai fatta una.

Ma sinceramente preferirei affittare una péniche e girare scegliendo personalmente gli itinerari.

Ho anche comprato un libro con tutti i canali e fiumi navigabili francesi, praticamente si può girare tutta la Francia senza scendere dal battello !

The Tour de Constance

Constructed to replace the former tower of Saint Louis - The Matafère - the Tour de Constance was built in 1242 to protect the port and the city. It is Aigues-Mortes’ only defensive structure. A fixed frame bridge linked the small castle with the tower which was originally surrounded by a ringed moat. In 1249, it was known as la Tour du Roi – the King’s tower. By 1254 upon the return of the seventh crusade, it’s over.

--------------

Do not use any of my images on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission.

All rights reserved - Copyright © fotomie2009 - Nora Caracci

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 14-Feb-20.

Operated on behalf of Air Alliance by Air Georgian.

Fleet No: "952".

First flown with the Beechcraft/Raytheon test registration N20707, this aircraft was delivered to Air Georgian as C-GVGA in Dec-97 and operated on behalf of Canadian Regional with 'Ontario Regional' titles. It was returned to Air Georgian in early May-00 and operated on behalf of Air Alliance operating on behalf of Air Canada. Operations continued with Air Canada Regional and Air Canada Express. It was returned to Air Georgian in late 2018 and was possibly stored at Winnipeg, Canada in Jan-19. It returned to operation with Air Georgian at some point, in basic Air Canada 'toothpaste' livery without titles or logo. Air Georgian ceased operations in May-20 and it's assets were sold to a new company, Pivot Airlines, which co-incidentally happens to have the same Management personnel as Air Georgian. Updated Feb-21.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 22-Jul-21 (using Topaz DeNoiseAI).

Fleet No: "015".

This aircraft was delivered to Continental Airlines as N27015 in Apr-00. Continental Airlines was merged into United Airlines in Oct-10. It was sold to a lessor in Mar-13, then sold back to United in Oct-17.

The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Washington-Dulles, USA in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was ferried to Roswell, NM, USA for further storage in Sep-20 and returned to service in mid Feb-21. Current, updated 10-Feb-23.

The construction of a new fire station to replace Gipton and Stanks fire stations and removal of 24 fulltime posts from the establishment by way of planned retirements.

Key Points:

 Gipton is classed as a very high risk area and Stanks as medium risk area.

 Stanks fire station is poorly located at the outer edge of the local community and access/egress from the site is problematic.

 In the 5 year period between 2004/5 and 2009/10 operational demand in these areas reduced by 28% (there has been a reduction of 61% of serious fires) . 2

 WYFRS has piloted a new type of vehicle (Fire Response Unit) to deal with smaller fires and incidents to free up fire appliances to respond to more serious emergencies.

 The pilot has been successful and it is believed that a District based Fire Response Unit will handle in the region of 3,000 calls per year.

 The new fire station would have lower running costs.

 The two Killingbeck fire appliances would be supplemented by a Resilience Pump for use during spate conditions.

 Targeted community safety and risk reduction work would continue.

1. Foreword

1.1 This proposal forms one of a number of similar initiatives developed by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) as part of its plans for the future provision of a highly effective and professional Fire and Rescue Service.

1.2 Each proposal is based on sound and comprehensive research, using real data from past performance and predictions of future demand and risk. Multiple sources of analysis have been used, allied to professional judgment and experience, to form the basis of robust business cases for change. The proposals are also reflective of the significant improvements in fire and community safety achieved over the past 10 years and represents a return on the investment made by the Authority on behalf of the public of West Yorkshire.

1.3 The proposals also incorporate a number of new and innovative approaches to addressing the challenge of maintaining high standards of performance for an emergency response service, within ever tightening financial constraints. The proposals have been developed as a package of inter related initiatives, representing major capital investment in local communities, whilst at the same time delivering annual recurring savings.

2. Introduction

2.1. Gipton fire station was constructed in 1937; it provides the initial emergency response cover for the residential and commercial areas of Gipton, Harehills, Burmantofts, Killingbeck, Halton Moor and Oakwood.

 The fire station area covers approximately 8.45 square miles.

 There is a population of 75,316.

 There are approximately 2015 commercial properties within the area.

2.2. Stanks fire station was constructed 1973; it provides the initial emergency response cover for the mainly residential locations of Whinmoor, Swarcliffe, Whitkirk, Colton, Halton, Crossgates, Scarcroft, North Seacroft, Wellington Hill, Manston, Barwick-in-Elmet, Scholes and Thorner.

 The station area covers approximately 14.39 square miles

 There is a population of 42,452

 There are approximately 663 commercial properties within the area.

2.3. Gipton has been classified as a very high risk area using the WYFRS Risk Matrix methodology. During 2009/10 there were 2196 operational incidents within this area including 86 dwelling fires and 33 Road Traffic Collisions. Stanks fire station area has been classified as medium risk and during the same period there were 688 operational incidents in the area including 34 dwelling fires and 12 Road Traffic Collisions. 1

2.4. Three fire appliances currently provide the initial fire and rescue coverage for Gipton and Stanks and are constantly crewed by 60 whole-time firefighters. The operational demand in these areas has reduced by 28% between 2004/5 and 2009/10 (there has been a reduction of 61% of serious fires) yet the provision of operational resources has remained the same over this period of time. 24

3. Community Impact Assessment

3.1. The following statement is taken from the 2011-2015 Community Risk Management Strategy and emphasises our commitment to deliver an efficient economic and effective range of services, “Every area within WYFRS will be considered in order to provide a better service at reduced cost”.

3.2. To enable WYFRS to deliver against this commitment a wide range of analysis and modelling tools have been used to determine the current and predicted levels of service delivery, together with their associated costs. These tools have also been used to undertake four separate impact assessments in regard to WYFRS proposals which will seek to:

 Identify options which minimise reductions in service delivery standards and where there is scope for service delivery improvement.

 Develop measures that will mitigate any negative impact upon service delivery and where possible maximise opportunities to achieve improvements.

3.3. WYFRS has developed a risk matrix which allocates a separate score/rating for hazards within communities. It is possible to use this risk rating in conjunction with the costs for providing services to each fire station to compare the cost of fire and rescue cover for each area. Gipton is one of the more cost effective stations in West Yorkshire but Stanks is almost 50% more expensive proportionate to the risk. 6

3.4. For most parts of the day the operational demand on resources based at the new station will be comparable to those of equally resourced fire stations. Figure 1 compares the predicted average operational activity levels for the new station with those of two other fire stations provided with two appliances. It indicates that although operational activity levels are generally comparable they are slightly higher during the evening hours due to the occurrence of smaller nuisance fires. 7

3.5. A Fire Response Unit has been piloted in Leeds District; this unit will attend small fires, car fires and certain fire alarms. These types of incident occur frequently in the East Leeds area. Figure 2 shows the level of activity in the new fire station area with the incidents the Fire response Unit attends taken out of the activity levels. The benefit of the Fire Response Unit can clearly be seen. The activity levels for the new station have been reduced considerably compared to other stations; it also shows that the new station will be less operationally active during the evening than the other local stations.

3.6. The new station in East Leeds will have a comparable level of activity to other fire stations provided with two appliances. 7

Figure 2 - Activity Timeline of Incidents Excluding Secondary Fires and Some False Alarms

Site Locations

3.7. An extensive review of emergency response cover has recently been completed and this has included the use of evaluation tools alongside local knowledge and professional judgment to identify optimum locations to build new WYFRS fire stations.

3.8. A site search mapping system has identified a number of appropriate areas across the County to build new fire stations and a number of sites have been identified within these areas which would provide the best solutions. A new fire station site must first be available for purchase and also provide access to road networks, it must not be located within flood plains and it must meet local planning permission requirements.

3.9. Analysis has been undertaken using the Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC – see also para 3.15) toolkit, together with the Phoenix/Active resource modelling toolkit.

3.10. The optimum area for a fire station between Gipton and Stanks has been identified as being situated on the A64 in the vicinity of Killingbeck police station. This proposed site is approximately 1.6 miles from Gipton Approach and 2.2 miles from Sherburn Road. The presence of a large site owned by West Yorkshire Police at this location may also present some potential to co-locate resources.

Determining where resources should be located

3.11. Independent research has assisted WYFRS to determine the potential impact that the implementation of each proposal would have on fire appliance attendance times to operational incidents. A simulation model has been used to identify the performance impact of moving resources to the new fire station. This modelling measures how the location of a new fire station would have performed if it had been in existence and responded to the actual incidents that did occurred in this area between 2007/8 and 2009/10. 4

3.12. Models have been run for locating a two fire appliances at Gipton and closing Stanks, and then run again for locating a two fire appliances at Stanks and closing Gipton, both these options provide a significantly lower level of response performance than would be achieved by locating

3.13. The proposals has a small reduction in performance in fire appliance attendance times against the Risk based Planning Assumptions for all incidents across the whole of West Yorkshire of approximately 0.3% for first appliance and 0.1% for the second appliance. 4

3.14. Local Impact – Figure 3 identifies that:

 There is a reduction in response performance against the Risk Based Planning Assumptions in the Gipton station area. The main reason for this is simultaneous activity. This change will be greatly mitigated by the Fire Response Unit. The predicted response times still represent good performance and are appropriate for the. Further impact will be achieved by targeted risk reduction activities.

Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) toolkit

3.15 The FSEC software toolkit has been developed by Central Government (Department for Communities and Local Government) for use by Fire and Rescue Authorities in determining appropriate fire and emergency cover. It enables the relationship between dwelling fire casualties and the social demographics of small areas in the county (super output areas) and the location of response resources (fire stations) to be determined. Four demographic benchmarks are used to demonstrate this relationship and to represent predicted risk associated with a range of appliance response times.

3.16 Analysis of the FSEC outputs (which is a cost benefit analysis in regard to property and life risk) predicts that the relocating the fire station to Killingbeck will:

 Reduce the risk to the community.

 Result in significant efficiencies. 9

3.17 The FSEC modelling suggests that the impact of the Killingbeck proposal would be less than other relocation options

3.18 The Phoenix/Active software tool is another analysis tool used to identify the impact of any changes of the Risk Based Planning Assumptions referred to above. It predicts that locally there is likely to be a small adverse impact on the performance against Risk Based Planning Assumptions. Across the Brigade the impact is negligible. 10

Predicted Risk Level

3.19. A new fire station located, within the Killingbeck area would attract the same risk classification as the Gipton fire station area therefore the new fire station would be classified as very high risk. Targeted risk reduction activity will help to reduce the risk, with the aim of reducing it sufficiently enough to re-categorise the area as high risk in the future. 1

3.20. Isochrones (travel distance) can be drawn around the proposed location of the new fire station (Section 8). These indicate the distance the appliance would be able to travel within the Risk Based Planning Assumption time of 7 minutes.

3.21. Section 8 also illustrates that for this area of West Yorkshire a single fire station in the new location provides fire appliance coverage which is more proportionate to risk than the current arrangements.

Risk Reduction

3.20 During 2010 a comprehensive and integrated framework for service delivery was developed, this is outlined in the Community Risk Management Strategy 2011-15. This was implemented in 2011 and is proving a very effective means for targeting resources and reducing risk and is an essential method for reducing any negative impact of change in fire cover. Fundamental to this approach is the introduction of District Risk Reduction Teams and Local Area Risk Reductions Teams.

3.21 The location of a fire station in the Killingbeck area will enable targeted community safety activities such as Home Fire Safety Checks to continue.

4 Firefighter Safety Impact Assessment

Risk and firefighters gathering risk information about premises.

4.1 One of WYFRS’s risk indicators is dedicated solely to “Firefighter safety” and has taken cognisance of the following statement within the 2009 WYFRS Firefighter Safety Strategy; “Effective gathering and analysis of information prior to operational incident attendance is of critical importance”.

4.2 The firefighter safety indicator captures the following information to reflect this statement:

 The predominance of specified commercial properties within each fire station area.

 The availability of associated risk information held for commercial properties.

 The predominance of high-rise properties within each fire station area.

4.3 The swift arrival of supporting resources can have a beneficial impact upon the safe management of operational incidents and this is the rationale for this information being captured by the indicator.

4.4 Following the 2009/10 evaluation process the firefighter safety risk bandings for Gipton and Stanks have been determined as high and very low respectively. 1

8

4.5 The targets for operational risk information for the 2012/13 IRMP Action Plan will be set in a proportionate manner, with areas of higher risk levels receiving a greater number of operational risk information inspections. More inspections will take place in areas such as Gipton to increase the availability of risk information available to firefighters via the Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) and as more information is made available the corresponding risk level will be reduced.

4.6 The Premises Data-base currently indicates that there are a total of 1650 commercial properties within the Gipton and Stanks area that have not been made subject to an operational information inspection. A high priority has been placed on firefighters in Gipton visiting the premises where incidents could potentially occur. 11

4.7 It is therefore anticipated that the availability of risk information via the Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) for properties within all areas will be considerably improved by 2015, by which time the corresponding firefighter safety risk banding will have been reduced to Medium

The arrival times of the 2nd fire appliance

4.9. During 2009/10 there were a total of 333 operational incidents within the areas of Gipton and Stanks which required the attendance of more than one pumping appliance (one every 1.1 days). 12

4.10. Currently the North and East Leeds area has two fire appliances based at Gipton, Moortown and Leeds with one at Rothwell, Garforth, Stanks and Wetherby.

4.11. Increased second pump arrival times require the first attending crew to manage the initial stages of certain incidents in isolation; there is some potential for fires to become more developed in these initial stages.

4.12. The proposal improves the second appliance attendance times into Garforth station areas and there is little impact for the others local station areas.

5. Equality Impact Assessment

5.1 The new Public Sector Equality Duty places a requirement on the organisation to ensure where changes affect service delivery to the community or employees WYFRS assess those changes for any possible negative impact on equality. In this context equality refers to the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010, race, gender, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, age, gender-reassignment, maternity and pregnancy and marriage and civil partnerships.

5.2 This Equality Impact Assessment has been completed by using information drawn from the Office for National Statistics in regard to this area and has been used to determine whether the removal of a fire appliance from the area will lead to an adverse or disproportionate impact upon any sections of the population. 13

5.3 A 2008 report provided by the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department analysed the correlation between dwelling fires and socio demographics. This report has been used to provide an indication of whether any particular groups within the population are at heightened risk from fire. The report indicates that sick/disabled persons, lone pensioners and Black Caribbean/African groups were associated with a greater incidence of dwelling fires.

5.4 The Gipton and Harehills population was estimated as being 24,904 during 2001 with a fairly equal gender distribution. The predominant ethnic group within the population is White British with Asian/Asian British representing the next major group, followed by Pakistani, Black British/Caribbean and Asian/British Bangladeshi.

9

5.5 Approximately 49% of the resident Gipton and Harehills population are Christians, 23% are of Muslim faith and 25% declared no religious preference. In 2001 16% of the population was aged over 60 and 20% of the population had a limiting long-term illness.

5.6 The WYFRS Prevention strategy contained within the 2011-2015 Community Risk Management Strategy emphasises that risk reduction activities will be focussed toward areas of the county identified as being at higher risk from dwelling fires, deliberate fire setting and road traffic collisions and that an appropriate and proportionate allocation of resources will be made available for District Risk Reduction Teams (DRRT) to achieve this.

5.7 Although the Ward statistics indicate that the communities of Gipton and Harehills are very diverse the findings of the Equality Impact Assessment are that this proposal will not lead to any negative changes in the delivery of Prevention, Protection and Response services and consequently there will be no anticipated impact upon any under-represented groups. The Equality Impact Assessment also confirms that there is no negative impact on any employee group.

6. Organisational Impact Assessment

Efficiencies

6.1 This proposal will enable WYFRS to manage some of the financial deficit caused by reduced government funding.

6.2. The proposal has considered the less than optimal positioning of existing fire stations and appliances together with the reduced operational demand placed and associated costs. The most cost effective solution to these issues is to provide a new fire station and ensure that two fire appliances will be crewed by nine firefighters who will respond to emergencies in less than two minutes from being mobilised.

6.3. This can be achieved by reducing the staffing at Gipton and Stanks by 24 posts; this will be done by way of planned retirements. The staffing and duty system at the new fire station will remain the same.

6.4. The removal of posts that coincide with forecasted retirements will achieve significant revenue savings.

6.5. Although capital investment will be required to construct a new fire station, part of these costs will potentially be off-set by the sale of the two existing fire station sites.

6.6. There will be other associated savings delivered by this proposal, including:

 Reduction of Personal Protective Equipment.

 Reduction in consumables and station maintenance costs.

 The new station will be more environmentally friendly and have energy efficiency technology.

6.7. The analysis undertaken for Gipton and Stanks has identified that there is considerable overlap in the existing Risk Based Planning Assumption isochrones (footprints) for these areas. This overlap represents a duplication of resource coverage and therefore one of the objectives for providing a more efficient service within these areas is to reduce this overlap. 14

10

Impact across West Yorkshire and Resilience

6.8 The reduction in pumping appliances in this area does have a small impact upon attendance times against the Risk Based Planning Assumptions across West Yorkshire for all incidents; performance is reduced by 0.3% for first appliances and 0.1% for second appliances. 4

6.9 In order to maintain WYFRS’s operational resilience, the fire appliance currently sited at Stanks will be relocated at the new fire station. This fire appliance will not be continually staff but will be activated during periods of anticipated or unanticipated high levels of operational activity and in response to significant events which could affect emergency response; such as wide area flooding, bonfire night, periods of bad weather or when attending very large incidents.

6.10 The use of Resilience Pumps supports WYFRS strategy of staffing the appropriate number of fire appliances for normal levels of activity and having the mechanisms to add further fire appliance when required. This strategy is important in maintaining an excellent fire and rescue service whilst meeting the efficiencies required by the reduction in public service budgets.

7. Conclusions

7.1 The existing fire stations at Gipton and Stanks are 3.7 miles apart and consolidating resources at a new fire station at a central location is an economic, effective and efficient way of providing fire and rescue services for these areas.

7.2 The provision of two front-line fire appliances constantly crewed by whole-time firefighters is still deemed appropriate for this area despite the success of previous year’s risk reduction activities.

7.3 Targeted risk reduction initiatives co-ordinated by the Leeds Outer North East, Inner North East and Outer East Local Area Risk Reduction Teams will be undertaken.

7.4 It is expected that the targets established for gathering safety critical risk information, will mitigate the impact upon the safety of WYFRS firefighters resulting from the removal of a pumping appliance from this area.

7.5 The introduction of a Resilience Pump will maintain three appliances in the area and support WYFRSs resilience arrangements

7.6 The consolidation of Gipton and Stanks resources at one central location together with the addition of a Resilience Pump will deliver significant efficiency savings whilst maintaining a high level of service delivery and providing employees with vastly improved accommodation facilities.

The Jacquard head used replaceable punched cards to control a sequence of operations. It is considered an important step in the history of computing hardware. The ability to change the pattern of the loom's weave by simply changing cards was an important conceptual precursor to the development of computer programming and data entry. Charles Babbage knew of Jacquard looms and planned to use cards to store programs in his Analytical engine. In the late 19th century, Herman Hollerith took the idea of using punched cards to store information a step further when he created a punched card tabulating machine which he used to input data for the 1890 U.S. Census. A large, punched-card-based data processing industry developed in the first half of the twentieth century, dominated by the International Business Machine corporation (IBM), with its line of unit record equipment. The cards were used for data, however, with programming done by plugboards.

Some early computers, such as the 1944 IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Harvard Mark I) received program instructions from a paper tape punched with holes, similar to Jacquard's string of cards. Later computers executed programs from higher-speed memory, though cards were commonly used to load the programs into memory. Punched cards remained in use in computing up until the mid 1980s. In Wikipedia

This specimen is in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

Found these instructions on Building School, I did not create this design, nor do I have knowledge in regards to who did.

However, we at the Liberation group feel that this would be an excellent Hardsuit design for our display.

Any thoughts?

~Kai

NOTE: Color Scheme is not locked in, most likely going with Light Gray.

EDIT: Credit for design goes to "Gambort"

on 01/11/15 this service will no longer run. The High Green to Sheffield section will be replaced by services 1 and 1a; the

Sheffield to Low Edges section will be replaced by service 86. last day of operation will be 31/10/15

this is part of the bus partnership

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 04-Nov-24.

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDD, this aircraft was delivered to Edelweiss Air as HB-IHZ in Jun-99. It was sold to a lessor on delivery and leased back to Edelweiss.

The aircraft was wet-leased to Bangkok Airways in Oct-07 and returned to Edelweiss Air in Apr-08. It was sold back to Edelweiss in Nov-13.

The aircraft was stored at Zurich, Switzerland in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and returned to service in mid Jun-20. Current, updated 04-Nov-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 19-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

Air 2000 had a contract with TCS Expeditions for 'Round-the-World' winter charters in the early 2000's and the aircraft was suitably repainted. Air 2000 titles were retained on the right-hand side.

Named: "Explorer 1".

This aircraft was delivered to Guinness Peat Aviation (later to become GECAS) and leased to Air 2000 as G-OOOU in Aug-91. It was wet-leased to Kiwi Travel International (New Zealand) in Nov-95 and returned to Air 2000 in Apr-96.

In Mar-99 it was operated for TCS Expeditions in an all First Class configuration for exclusive 'Round-the-World' charter flights, returning to Air 2000 the following month. Similar flights were operated for TCS Expeditions between Jan/Mar-00, Jan/Mar-01 and Nov-01/Feb-02.

The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-02 and stored. In Apr-03 it was leased to Air Atlanta Icelandic as TF-ARI and operated on behalf of Excel Airways in May-03. It returned to Air Atlanta Icelandic in Nov-04 and was placed in winter storage at Marana, AZ, USA until Mar-05 when it was again operated for Excel Airways.

In Nov-05 the lease was transferred to Excel Airways and the aircraft was re-registered G-VKNA. Excel Airways was renamed XL Airways in Nov-06. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-07 and immediately leased to Aladia.com (Mexico) as XA-MTY.

Aladia ceased operations in Oct-08 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor and re-registered N240MQ in Nov-08. It was initially stored at Lake City, FL, USA and later at Victorville, CA, USA.

It was sold to FedEx Federal Express in Aug-09 and remained stored at Victorville. The aircraft was re-registered N930FD in May-10 and was ferried to Mobile-BFM, AL, USA for freighter conversion with a main deck cargo door. It entered service with FedEx in Oct-10. Now 35 years old it continues in service. Updated 28-Aug-26.

The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity "Lake Worth Country." These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world. They included founding families such at the Potters and the Lainharts, who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city. The first white settlers in Palm Beach County lived around Lake Worth, then an enclosed freshwater lake, named for Colonel William Jenkins Worth, who had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1842. Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River. By 1890, the U.S. Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach. The area at this time also boasted a hotel, the "Cocoanut House", a church, and a post office. The city was platted by Henry Flagler as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach, across Lake Worth in 1893, coinciding with the arrival of the Florida East Coast railroad. Flagler paid two area settlers, Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse, a combined sum of $45,000 for the original town site, stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth.

On November 5, 1894, 78 people met at the "Calaboose" (the first jail and police station located at Clematis St. and Poinsettia, now Dixie Hwy.) and passed the motion to incorporate the Town of West Palm Beach in what was then Dade County (now Miami-Dade County). This made West Palm Beach the first incorporated municipality in Dade County and in South Florida. The town council quickly addressed the building codes and the tents and shanties were replaced by brick, brick veneer, and stone buildings. The city grew steadily during the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, most residents were engaged in the tourist industry and related services or winter vegetable market and tropical fruit trade. In 1909, Palm Beach County was formed by the Florida State Legislature and West Palm Beach became the county seat. In 1916, a new neo-classical courthouse was opened, which has been painstakingly restored back to its original condition, and is now used as the local history museum.

The city grew rapidly in the 1920s as part of the Florida land boom. The population of West Palm Beach quadrupled from 1920 to 1927, and all kinds of businesses and public services grew along with it. Many of the city's landmark structures and preserved neighborhoods were constructed during this period. Originally, Flagler intended for his Florida East Coast Railway to have its terminus in West Palm, but after the area experienced a deep freeze, he chose to extend the railroad to Miami instead.

The land boom was already faltering when city was devastated by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. The Depression years of the 1930s were a quiet time for the area, which saw slight population growth and property values lower than during the 1920s. The city only recovered with the onset of World War II, which saw the construction of Palm Beach Air Force Base, which brought thousands of military personnel to the city. The base was vital to the allied war effort, as it provided an excellent training facility and had unparalleled access to North Africa for a North American city. Also during World War II, German U-Boats sank dozens of merchant ships and oil tankers just off the coast of West Palm Beach. Nearby Palm Beach was under black out conditions to minimize night visibility to German U-boats.

The 1950s saw another boom in population, partly due to the return of many soldiers and airmen who had served in the vicinity during the war. Also, the advent of air conditioning encouraged growth, as year-round living in a tropical climate became more acceptable to northerners. West Palm Beach became the one of the nation's fastest growing metropolitan areas during the 1950s; the city's borders spread west of Military Trail and south to Lake Clarke Shores. However, many of the city's residents still lived within a narrow six-block wide strip from the south to north end. The neighborhoods were strictly segregated between White and African-American populations, a legacy that the city still struggles with today. The primary shopping district remained downtown, centered around Clematis Street.

In the 1960s, Palm Beach County's first enclosed shopping mall, the Palm Beach Mall, and an indoor arena were completed. These projects led to a brief revival for the city, but in the 1970s and 1980s crime continued to be a serious issue and suburban sprawl continued to drain resources and business away from the old downtown area. By the early 1990s there were very high vacancy rates downtown, and serious levels of urban blight.

Since the 1990s, developments such as CityPlace and the preservation and renovation of 1920s architecture in the nightlife hub of Clematis Street have seen a downtown resurgence in the entertainment and shopping district. The city has also placed emphasis on neighborhood development and revitalization, in historic districts such as Northwood, Flamingo Park, and El Cid. Some neighborhoods still struggle with blight and crime, as well as lowered property values caused by the Great Recession, which hit the region particularly hard. Since the recovery, multiple new developments have been completed. The Palm Beach Mall, located at the Interstate 95/Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard interchange became abandoned as downtown revitalized - the very mall that initiated the original abandonment of the downtown. The mall was then redeveloped into the Palm Beach Fashion Outlets in February 2014. A station for All Aboard Florida, a high-speed passenger rail service serving Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, is under construction as of July 2015.

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

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach,_Florida

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 16-May-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 12-Oct-23.

Sneaky photo taken at Tripoli from behind a GPU.

Originally built as a B720-060B, ordered by Ethiopian Airlines as ET-AAG. The order was cancelled and the aircraft first flew using the Boeing registration N93136.

It was converted to B720-068B standard and delivered to Saudi Arabian Airlines as HZ-ACA in Dec-61. It was sold to Overseas International Distributors in Oct-79 and stored at Van Nuys, CA, USA.

It was re-registered N2628Y in Dec-81 and sold to Sonico Inc. They ferried it to Moses Lake, WA, USA, where it was stored again and used for spares. It was finally broken up there in Oct-82.

Added Gold Mario. I may replace this later when I get Toad, so be on the lookout! As always, info from now on will be posted here; so make sure to keep an eye out for when I update info on nicknames n' such.

Most of you probably don't care at this point. I've updated this for what, 4 times now? Uh, sorry about that... I'm not trying to rub this anyone's face or anything, just don't have anything better to post.

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Last Updated: 5/14/2015

.....

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1. is when I got them

2. is what the amiibo's nickname is

3. is what level said amiibo is currently on

//////

Mario

1. I got him shortly after Christmas, tied for the 3rd amiibo I got. Somewhere at the end of December I think.

2. His nickname is Madio, which is a pun off the original name.

3. He's currently lv.42, grouped with my more experienced amiibo's. He was actually lv.50 awhile back, but grew stuipid and non-aggressive because I kept training him with the same people over and over again. So Madio, along with a bunch of others are being retrained. He's probably my best and smartest amiibo at the moment, though he tends to spam Cape too often.

Donkey Kong

1. I got him shortly after Christmas along with Mario, which means he's also tied for my 3rd amiibo.

2. I named him Beat&Smack for his tendancy to hurdle you around like a sandbag.

3. He's currently lv.27, over the half way point but not quite up there. He was part of the intial batch that was trained to lv.50, but I'm retraining to be smarter; much like Mario.

Link

1. He's actually tied for my 4th amiibo with a bunch of others that I got from Toysrus. Got him the same day as Mario and Donkey Kong.

2. Nicknamed SirCourage, I think you get why.

3. Currently lv.25. He was actually 50 awhile back like Mario and Donkey Kong, but I'm retraining him to be smarter.

Samus

1. Tied with Link for my 4th amiibo, nothing special. Expect alot of characters tied with Link.

2. Nicknamed Huntress, thought it sounded cool.

3. Currently lv.19. She's one of my newbies. Like the others above, I'm retraining her to be smarter.

Yoshi

1. He was my 11th amiibo to be exact, I got him the same day I got Luigi, but at Toysrus. I don't know why I didn't pick him up sooner.

2. Nicknamed Yoshisaur, I just thought it sounded cewl.

3. Currently lv.20, I haven't got far with him due to paying attention to other characters. He was lv.50 before though.

Kirby

1. My very first amiibo was unwrapped as an early Christmas gift from my parents. My little sister actually wrapped the box.

2. Nicknamed Kitby, I got this name from my very first photo of my Lego Kirby. I misspelled his name in the photo title and I've loved the nickname ever since. My buddy Deku Scrubster actually pointed it out.

3. Currently lv. 23, same situation as the others above.

Fox

1. My 2nd amiibo was a gift from my great grandparents at Christmas, at Christmas Eve to be exact.

2. Nicknamed is Trick for his incredible speed in mindgame prowness.

3. Currently lv.50. He was one of my first amiibo's to be retrained along with a couple others.

Pikachu

1. Tied for my 3rd amiibo along with Mario and Donkey. The 3 were found at Meijer shortly after Christmas.

2. Nicknamed Peekachu.

*giggle*

3. Another lv.50, was retrained along with Fox.

Luigi

1. My 10th amiibo. I got him at Best Buy right before I went to Toysrus down the road to get Yoshi.

2. Nicknamed Weegee because he's Weegee.

e_e

3. Currently lv.37. Retraining him.

Captain Falcon

1. I got him from my grandma as a gift in mid January, I helped pay for it though. tied for my 13th amiibo along with a few others.

2. Nicknamed TheHawk. My Falcon tends to stay in the air and quickly swoop in and out for hits, so my amiibo will do the same.

3. Lv.33 because I'm retraining him.

Peach

1. Tied for my 4th amiibo like Link.

2. Peech. *giggles again*

3. Only lv.21 at the moment, I'm trying to be careful with this one. Because like the characters above, I'm retraining her to be smarter. Problem is, I hardly know how to play Peach in general and I'm learning myself. So I'm taking my time with her.

Bowser

1. My first Wave 3 amiibo was also my 17th. I got him about a week before Lucario on a Sunday. The 25th to be exact.

2. Nicknamed him Bruzer. He was actually named Browser originally, but I changed it at short notice because it sounded better.

3. Currently lv.34. Definitely one of my more experienced amiibo's. I've been trying to get him to use Bowser Bomb more to break shields.

Zelda

1. Tied for my 4th amiibo with a bunch of others. Acquired at TRU.

2. Nicknamed WisdomWiz.

3. At lv.23. I'm taking my time because I wanna teach her how to be a defensive machine. Plus I still have a bunch of others to train. Being retrained.

Sheik

1. Tied for my 19th amiibo, got my Target's last one.

2. Nicknamed Illusive. The name always reminded me of how Sheik is as a character. I don't wanna go all nerd, but she's the fastest character in terms of frame data.

3. Now lv.50. She actually has a good pressure game!

Marth

1. Tied for my 13th amiibo along with Falcon. Gift from my grandma.

2. Nicknamed Mars, a reference to his name in the Fire Emblem anime when it was translated into the US.

3. Currently lv.28, retraining.

Meta Knight

1. My 27th amiibo and my most recent one at that. Was a late Christmas gift from my grandparents. Best Buy exclusive.

2. Nicknamed Mask. I dunno, it beats MaskedPuff in terms of coolness. Probably going to stay that way until I come up with something.

3. Only lv.1. I haven't trained him yet, but I'm determined to make him one of my strongest amiibo.

Pit

1. My 16th amiibo. Another gift from my grandma.

2. Nickamed Capt OPG. It technically stands for "Captain of Palutena's Guard", but I try not to think about when I say his name because it brings down it's 'coolness' factor.

3. Lv.39. Definitely an experienced amiibo, and I must say, he's learned not all that much XD

Ike

1. Obtained a bit later in mid Febuary. My 22nd amiibo I believe.

2. Named him Brawn for the sheer power in his moveset.

3. Lv.1, retraining because he turned retarded.

Diddy Kong

1. My 11th amiibo, aquired at Meijer when I randomly stopped by. His eyes are surprisingly non-derpy.

2. Nicknamed TheMangler... Why? Two words, Monkey Flip.

3. Lv.18. Darn Diddy won't learn anything cool, I'm working on boosting his smarts up.

King Dedede

1. Tied for my 25th amiibo along with Mega Man. A preorder from Walmart.

2. Nicknamed Hammy. If you get this reference, you get a virtual cookie :3

3. Uh... he's only lv.1 lol. I haven't trained him yet. I assure you though, he'll be one heck of a force to reckon with.

Lucario

1. Tied for my 17th amiibo along with Toon Link. Woke up early to grab this Toys 'R' Us exclusive.

2. LuCardio, that is all.

3. Lv.21 at the moment, working on him cuz I have no idea how to play Lucario effectively lol.

Shulk

1. reely

2. feelin

3. et

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More info to come!

Leyland Olympian D238 FYM Stagecoach 14168 seen here at new Brighton on the free bus service 15 from Harrison drive to the Floral Pavilion replacing D158 FYM witch has gone to Liverpool for the week end for the Liverpool giants

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 09-Oct-19.

Taken just a few months before the BKK airport code was transferred from Don Muang to the new Bangkok airport at Suvarnabhumi. Don Muang was re-coded DMK.

Operated by Bangkok Airways on behalf of Siem Reap Air on some services.

First flown in Mar-95 with the ATR test registration, this aircraft was stored at Toulouse until it was leased to Bangkok Airways as HS-PGE in Nov-95. It was returned to ATR and stored at Toulouse as F-WQNF in May-06. The aircraft was leased to Vietnam Airlines as VN-B216 in Jul-06. It was returned to ATR as F-WKVE in Jun-10 and was stored at St. Brieuc, France the following month. In Feb-11 it was leased to Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras as PR-AZT. It was transferred to Imetame Metalmechanica Ltda (Brasil), trading as Imetame Airline, in May-12 and was repainted in a special livery. It doesn't appear to be operational currently and I have no further information. Updated (Oct-19).

I haven't had much time for the computer lately........babysitting and gardening and home renos. It just wasn't the time of year to be spending lots of time learning a new photomanpulation program. But today I investigated Picmonkey and Aviary , the sites recommended by Google and Flickr as Picnik replacements. Didn't like either........too simplistic. But found PIXLR, which seems to be a cross between Picnik and Gimp.

It was quite easy to learn the simple effects........crop, exposure, saturation, vignette, sharpness, blur, etc. But there are still many tools I have to learn and the layering possibilities seem much more sophisticated than Picnik. One thing it seems to be mjissing is drop shadow and framing........and couldn't get the vignette to outline the edges like I prefer. But for the most part...........I'm happy.

Here's a site I found that lists and rates the various photo editing sites. She likes Picmonkey best, so I might look at it again..........seems there's an advanced version.

kimellabella.blogspot.ca/2012/04/final-review-of-quality-...

UPDATE: I rediscovered picmonkey and found options I'd overlooked the first time.......so now quite like it. Also..........the Picnik folks are about to launch a new site called ribbit that is SO like picnik!

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