It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads Research Laboratory is revving the engine of his Morris Oxford and preparing to release the handbrake. With his car (unbalanced atop due to the addition of a large road sign attached to its roof) aiming towards a small […]
Dateline Sunday 23rd April Potpourri Node At Ropery Road The younger set spent Sunday morning at Woolacombe beach either running or swimming or both, whilst the Golden Wedding pair stayed at the gaff preparing their next fellowship meeting. Lunch was planned by daughter-in-law at Comyn Farm near Ilfracombe. Streetview breathed its last at Chambercombe Manor … … but the road…
On The Buses Lovering’s car showroom is very obvious near the sea front at Combe Martin, and, as was often the case, the company was he local bus and coach operator. Here is their OWB parked on the road the leads up the hill (left) to Ilfracombe. The company ran excursions, as here to Plymouth … … and a selection…
“Golden” Holiday Memories Above: the beach at Combe Martin; below a couple of coastal scenes snapped by sons on their local walks, locations not known. (Immediately below, Valley of the Rocks??) It was wonderful countryside. Dateline Tuesday 26th April Arlington Court Given by its spinster owner Rosalie Chichester … … to the National Trust in 1949, the house is more…
About 57 Years Ago It was in 1966 that the first Red Arrow route began from Waterloo Station. From memory (as unreliable as ever!) It ran a route for commuters at peak times and a revised route for shoppers inter-peak. fbb remembers excitedly clutching his tanner (sixpence, two and a half new pence in the new dispensation) and pushing his…
Whatever Happened In Macclesfield? Readers may have been mystified that, about a week ago, fbb promised to tie up the consequences of Arriva’s closure of its Macclesfield depot. The replacement services from D&G/Centrebus took some time to resolve as the negotiations with the bit of Cheshire doing the tendering were somewhat protracted. These were eventually resolved and a splendid new…
Paris Proposed “Prolongement” Proceeds That blue blob (above map upper left) is at Mantes-la-Jolie, a community about 55km from central Paris – about the same track distance as Guildford is from London. Here is its station from days past … … and Station Square opposite with the arrival of the evil and terrifying motor vehicles! The caff above on the…
The Logo Returns fbb thinks it used to stand for Est Ouest Ligne Express and was the initial brand for Paris R E R line E, the fifth such to be created. The name was dropped once the line opened in 1999 and it became simply RER E. But the “L” now seems to mean “Liaison”, “link”. That is because…
Va à l’Ouest Jeune Homme Assuming that our readers’ ability to understand spoken French is not of the highest standard, let us look at the “Ouest” extension of RER E without linguistic challenges. Stage One is from Haussmann St Lazare to La Defense in tunnel and coming up for air at Nanterre-la-Folie. A station is being built under the roundabout at…
But First At 1500 yesterday Evri has managed to “got” the parcel, presumably “not got” on Monday, when it was handed over, due to the proliferation of Public Holidays in May. The sender is based in Haywards Heath, so the sender’s “local depot” might well be in Birmingham! But it is happening and fbb is looking forward to “gotting” it…