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Author Topic: Other things railways did  (Read 5942 times)
CyclingSid
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« on: September 30, 2018, 11:47:20 »

The disappearing sounds thread triggered other thoughts.

Growing up on Hayling there was using the Hayling Bridge (Langstone Bridge to those who lived the other side). It was a toll bridge with the tolls collected by British Railways staff. The decreasing weight limit on the old wooden bridge meant walking across, the aural effect would have been the wind (sort of thing they said "harden you up"?). Later on I used to cross Shoreham Brdige, another bridge where tolls were collected by British Railways staff. I would imagine that LBSCR weren't the only company that had these close links between road and rail which caused these arrangements.

Visits to Portsmouth usually meant an opportunity to look at, and sometimes use, the British Railways ferries. Were Poole - Channel Islands and Scilly Isles ferries run by British Railways?
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rogerw
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« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2018, 12:12:44 »

Services to the channel islands were run by BR (British Rail(ways))(Sealink) from Weymouth and, later, Portsmouth.  the Poole service only commenced after privatisation of Sealink.  The Scilly isles service has always been private as far I  know
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« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2018, 12:17:02 »

Running Hotels .... running buses ... running car parks (oh - they still sorta do that) ... hiring out arches ... selling advertising and franchising space ...
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« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2018, 19:29:00 »

Running Hotels .... running buses ... running car parks (oh - they still sorta do that) ... hiring out arches ... selling advertising and franchising space ...

........funny isn't it ?  After not doing the things that you mention above any more - you might expect that they might be able to concentrate their efforts on running a railway .........huh !
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« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2018, 19:44:40 »

Running Hotels .... running buses ... running car parks (oh - they still sorta do that) ... hiring out arches ... selling advertising and franchising space ...

Don't hire out arches anymore, that business has been sold off by NR» (Network Rail - home page), NR still own the freehold but no longer get revenue from the rents
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« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2018, 20:07:26 »

And don't I recall them taking over and running canals too?

And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Air_Services

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Railway Air Services (RAS) was a British airline formed in March 1934 by four railway companies and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up with Imperial's services.
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« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2018, 20:27:16 »

There was a period immediately after nationalisation when almost everything that moved in the UK (United Kingdom) (including the railways) or anything connected with transport were all under the umbrella of the British Transport Commission.

Their bailiwick included 32 ports, Pickfords, British Transport Films, Thomas Cook, Caledonian MacBrayne and London Transport.
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martyjon
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« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2018, 20:41:35 »

There was a period immediately after nationalisation when almost everything that moved in the UK (United Kingdom) (including the railways) or anything connected with transport were all under the umbrella of the British Transport Commission.

Their bailiwick included 32 ports, Pickfords, British Transport Films, Thomas Cook, Caledonian MacBrayne and London Transport.


That also included BRITISH ROAD SERVICES in their red liveried vehicles.
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broadgage
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« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2018, 15:44:20 »

Some early railway companies operated gas works or electric power stations.
In the absence of an existing gas or electricity supply, they had to build their own gas works  or power station if anything better than oil lamps and candles was to illuminate a large works.

Large stations in urban areas generally had gas or electricity available, and small country stations could manage with oil lamps, but a large engineering works or depot really needed gas or electric light.

Having gone to the trouble and expense of building a private power station or gas works, then railway homes within a reasonable distance were often supplied.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
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« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2018, 18:03:35 »

Let's not forget the company health service,I believe that the GWR (Great Western Railway) companies medical operation was used as a blueprint for our NHS .
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martyjon
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« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2018, 20:02:13 »

Let's not forget the company health service,I believe that the GWR (Great Western Railway) companies medical operation was used as a blueprint for our NHS .

Surely it's not the current GWR risen phoenix of the original GWR. the current one doesn't seem to be able to organise a hen party in a winery.
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eightf48544
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« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2018, 08:45:56 »

My first Summer Jobs were at the Motor Works at Slough where the WR cartage fleet was maintained.    A lot of Scammel 3 wheel tractors.

Working in the store we used to barrow across the mainlines at Slough to connect with a parcels train from Padd which stopped, on the  down main  at slough and delivered spare parts whilst we loaded parts for refurbishment.

Swindon made lots of odd things including Sand Soap for cleaning hands before Swarfega, including I believe fences out of old boiler tubes.

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martyjon
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« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2018, 09:08:31 »

My first Summer Jobs were at the Motor Works at Slough where the WR cartage fleet was maintained.    A lot of Scammel 3 wheel tractors.

Working in the store we used to barrow across the mainlines at Slough to connect with a parcels train from Padd which stopped, on the  down main  at slough and delivered spare parts whilst we loaded parts for refurbishment.

Swindon made lots of odd things including Sand Soap for cleaning hands before Swarfega, including I believe fences out of old boiler tubes.


Yeah, them were the days. I remember the sand soap, we used to rub it into our hands and then splash GUNK onto our hands to more or less liquify the sand soap and it was easier to remove all the oil and grease before finally washing our hand with big chunks of coal tar soap cut from even bigger slabs. Then they brought in barrier cream which one should rub into ones hands before starting work and this was supposed to stop the oil, grease and dirt from sticking to ones hands, but the downside of this was that it made handling of items slippery. Do they still sell Swarfega ?
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Western Pathfinder
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« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2018, 09:30:00 »

They do still sell swarfega it's dreadful stuff, what is needed is lanolin hand care cream of which many brands are available.
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martyjon
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« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2018, 09:32:14 »

One thing the railway did in my time as a youngster was the transport of a circus from one town to another. An advanced party from the circus would arrive at a venue, set up a temporary fence around the site and erect the second big top. On a Sunday the circus train would arrive at the local goods yard, in my case it was Ashley Hill Goods Yard on Muller Road and all the animals would be paraded from the goods yard up Muller Road to Horfield Common where the circus performed. Animals such as Lions, Tigers, Bears and Monkeys would travel in open caged lorries to which they had been transferred by bridging from the specially adapted and reinforced rail vehicles to the road lorries within the goods yard.

If I remember rightly the regular performing circus on Horfield Common was Bertram Mills Circus which used this mode to transfer between venues but Chipperfields Circus also visited and performed at the same location.

Another Bristol circus venue was the (Durdham) Downs and for that location, Clifton Down stations goods yard was used.

Have to browse YouTube to see if any film of such occurrences are on there.
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