Category Archives: Ferroequinology

Schwabian Interlude 1. Ferroequinological.

Posted on November 6, 2011 by John

By train to South-West Ger­many.  East Coast did well so we had a full 45 minutes from arrival at Kings Cross to depar­ture from St Pan­cras, though a new rul­ing that you can’t take hot drinks through the secur­ity appar­atus … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Another London Amble

Posted on October 1, 2011 by John

Prob­ably because they don’t run so many trains as East Coast, we hadn’t pre­vi­ously trav­elled on Grand Cent­ral to or from Lon­don.  The set was a 125 — which  must be the world’s longest lived high speed diesel train.   … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Small and Eccentric

Posted on August 6, 2011 by John

We man­age to sub­scribe to a num­ber of small and eccent­ric pub­lic­a­tions which, taken together, give us a lot of pleas­ure.  (The ever-wonderful “Private Eye” doesn’t count for these pur­poses, nor the Lon­don Review of Books, which are too big … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Bolton Percy Steam and Ale

Posted on August 6, 2011 by John

Approach­ing Bolton Percy from Tad­caster on a recent Fri­day morn­ing, we found the rail­way bridge lined with men and cam­eras, so we nat­ur­ally enough leant our bikes on the fence and joined them, cor­rectly anti­cip­at­ing a steam-hauled delight.  It did … Con­tinue read­ing →

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A North-West Wind

Posted on July 24, 2011 by John

On the train to Thirsk with a non-folding bike — there were 4 on instead of the reg­u­la­tion 2 but the guard didn’t seem to mind and any­way two were off at Thirsk, the first stop.  The reason for this … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Back to the Fifties

Posted on July 22, 2011 by John

One of my favour­ite train­spot­ting haunts in the 50s was the foot­bridge at the Lon­don end of Southall sta­tion, hav­ing been refused fur­ther access to the plat­forms them­selves by the porter, “Bloody Grumps”, as we called him after his only … Con­tinue read­ing →

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On t’Moors

Posted on April 16, 2011 by John

A really pleas­ant day out — bus to Pick­er­ing, then to inspect the won­der­ful medi­eval wall paint­ings in the church.  There’s St George, St Chris­topher, St Edmund (not Sebastian in spite of being por­cu­pined with arrows) the mouth of Hell … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Abandoned in London

Posted on March 6, 2011 by John

Not us, actu­ally, but 16,000 chil­dren left at the Found­ling Hos­pital in the late 18th cen­tury.  A fas­cin­at­ing small exhib­i­tion at the Found­ling Museum by Coram’s Fields in Blooms­bury, dis­play­ing a small selec­tion of the tex­tile tokens which moth­ers left … Con­tinue read­ing →

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The Good, the Tasty, and the Damp and Muddy

Posted on September 26, 2010 by John

Cyc­ling with 35 Ger­man 13-year olds (mixed) two teach­ers and a dozen par­ents from Heil­bronn to the Hook of Hol­land.  Cycle paths or signed routes most of the way.  Idyllic cyc­ling by the Neckar and the Rhine, wooded hills, castles, … Con­tinue read­ing →

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A Most Pleasurable Transit

Posted on September 24, 2010 by John

06.00 from York, 08.55 from St Pan­cras, an easy walk from Gare du Nord to Gare de l’Est for an ICE just after 1 to Man­nheim, then a short wait for a con­nec­tion to Heil­bronn ariv­ing just before 6. Everything … Con­tinue read­ing →

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