The Anonymous Widower

An Idea for the Glasgow Edinburgh Railway

Writing these notes, which reflected some things I’d seen on my journey to Scotland, I realised that Scotland could do much better between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Or should it be Glasgow to Edinburgh?

They could create a large Parkway station with lots of parking on this line about half-way and call it something imaginative like Scotland Central.  It would be easy to get to either end and if major stadia like Murrayfield and Hampden Park had quick connections, it would make getting to Scotland’s twin capitals and their major events easier.

It would also make connections to the north via Stirling and Dunblane easier!

If it was in the right place for those coming from the south of Scotland, so this would be ideal for Kazakh Jock.

A Glaswegian suggested to me, that you close the three southern airports of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick and put one in near Scotland Central, as there’s not much there!

I’d love to be a fly-on-the-wall in the committee, which decided to do that!  Both Edinburgh and Glasgow would have different and irreconcilable views.

October 1, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Over the Sea From Skye

The bus took a more or less direct route between Kyle of Lochalsh to Arnadale with a small detour to Broadford to put down and pick up passengers.

It was my first time on Skye since about 1972.  Then we had all come, with our three boys crammed in the back of our 1969 Porsche 911T. Strangely the car still exists and is in New Zealand.  But a picture of the car is the only one of the holiday.

Porsche 911T on Skye

That Porsche 911T was the first performance car we had and we acquired it for £1650 courtesy of a loan from my favourite bank manager, David.

I remember for that holiday we left early in the morning from the Barbican and first stop was Gretna Green at about 7:30 in the morning.  So when people say I push myself, it’s nothing new in my book.

We stayed somewhere north of Portree and I remember that we were greeted on the doorstep by a dead sheep.  It was nothing against holiday homes or anything sinister, but just an inconvenient expiry.  In the end we got the Police, who found who owned it and it was quietly disposed of.

I also remember we hurried off the island and I can still remember hurtling up Glencoe towards Glasgow, which we achieved at an average speed of about 80 mph.  Or that’s what I claimed at the time!  But it was certainly fast on an almost empty road.

The detour to Broadford reminded me that in 1975, the village had an airstrip. C said that next time we came we’d fly! I doubt I will and she sadly can’t!

I went straight to Arnadale and immediately got the ferry to Mallaig.

Arnadale to Mallaig Ferry

September 30, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 3 Comments

To Glasgow and Back

I’d been to Glasgow a few times before in my life.  The first was when I was a student and I hitched to see Spurs play in the Glasgow Cup, the second and third  were when I passed through on the way to and from Skye with my family and the last time was many years ago, when C took her first flight with me in Tango-Tango, my Piper Arrow.  In the last case, we were actually aiming for Prestwick, but weather meant a diversion to Glasgow Airport.  It’s sad to think, that the two people who accompanied me that day,  C and my youngest son, have both passed away. I can still remember us all getting out of the small plane at the General Aviation Terminal and saying to a pilot with a smart uniform, that today had been my wife’s first flight.  He suggested that because of the weather, that she deserved a Purple Heart!

I’m not sure now, where I’d hitched to Glasgow from in I suppose the summer of 1966 or 1967, but it could either have been Liverpool or perhaps London, where I was working at the time in Enfield Rolling Mills.  I do remember though going over Shap in an old Albion truck in the pouring rain, as there was no M6 in those days.  I also remember waiting perhaps two or three hours for a lift on the A74 to somewhere nearer to my destination.  In the end I got a lift from a driver in a van that had been delivering the Scottish Daily Express.  I think, it’s the only time in my life that I’ve had any positive thoughts to that rag in any of its guises!  I remember that the match was at the old Hampden Park and Celtic were the opponents.  Searching the Internet I did find this program, which sets the match in 1967, which must be right.  But then I must have known C at the time, so it’s surprising she let me go off hitching around the country.  Unless this was when she was being a mother’s help in Ireland for the Wright family from Norfolk!  Two of their daughters; Amanda and Caroline were later bridesmaids at our wedding.  They also had a brother Tim.

I also remember passing that day on the beach at Wemyss Bay after taking one of the Blue Trains from the centre of Glasgow.

I don’t remember much of the match, but I think Spurs won and I also remember a Rangers supporter who turned up getting thumped for his trouble!

After my troubles getting lifts in Scotland coming up, I took the late train down to Manchester.  It was very late and I remember I wrote a letter of complaint, about having to use a taxi to get to my friend’s house in Manchester.  I think they sent me a cheque for about nine shillings!  It gave me my first reward in the art of complaining.

So that trip shows, I’m just reverting to type after over forty years, by travelling around!

But on Monday, the trip was different!  My host kindly dropped me at Waverley, I bought a ticket from the machine and fairly soon, I was on my way to Glasgow in a smart new train. It’s when you do this sort of journey you realise how far trains have come in the last twenty years or so.  And also how far, some of the lines have still to go!

September 30, 2010 Posted by | Sport, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spitfire Women

BBC4 had this excellent documentary about the women of the Air Tranport Auxiliary  tonight. Marion Wilberforce wasn’t mentioned.

September 18, 2010 Posted by | World | , | Leave a comment

More R101 Pictures

They are small so I scanned them together.

 

 

The house is probably my in-laws’ house in Crescent Road, New Barnet.

September 14, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | Leave a comment

Was This Pilot Marion Wilberforce?

My post about our use of women in World War II, Why We Didn’t Lose World War II has got me thinking about the Air Transport Auxiliary, especially as a number of people have contacted me after the article.

I can remember in the 1970s seeing a book called something like Ferry Pilots Notes for the ATA, which showed you how to fly everything from a Spitfire to a Stirling or a Liberator with little or no training.  Where was the Health and Safety?  Nowhere, they were just exceptional pilots, even if some of them were amputees, one-eyed or diminutive women like Joan Hughes. 

When I was learning to fly at Ipswich Airport in the early 1980s, I can remember an elderly lady flying into the field in an immaculate vintage de Havlland Hornet Moth.  She used to come for checks on her flying skills. And also to practice aerobatics in a Cessna 150 Aerobat.

The instructor who flew with her, said that she had been a ferry pilot during World War II and was one of the best pilots he’d ever sat with.

Searching for the Air Transport Auxiliary, I found this page, which talks about the first eight women pilots of the organisation.  This is one of the eight.

Marion Wilberforce

Marion Wilberforce was an experienced pilot in the 1930’s, flying her own Gypsy Moth.

In the ATA she rose to become Deputy Commander of the No. 5 Ferry Pool at Hatfield, and later became Commander of the No. 2 Ferry Pool at Cotsford. She served the full 5 years until the ATA was disbanded after the war she purchased a Hornet Moth and continued flying until she was 80. She died at age 93, in July 1996.

I’m absolutely sure, that the pilot was Marion Wilberforce and she was doing aerobatics at an age of almost 80!

At least Richard Poad is getting an exhibition together on the Air Transport Auxiliary  at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre.

September 14, 2010 Posted by | World | , , | 18 Comments

A Photo of an Airship

Last night I was going through some old photos of my mother-in-law’s and found a couple of pictures of an airship.

Here’s the best one.

The Airship Photo

On reading the call-sign on the side as G-FAAW, it became obvious with a bit of searching the Internet, that the airship, was the ill-fated R101, which crashed on its first flight in France.

The R101 is one of those projects, that suffered from bad design and management.  It should also be said that there appears to have been a lot of political interference.  After all the R101 was the government’s project to rival the capitalist R100, so I don’t think they wanted it to fail. 

But was this pressure worth the lives of the 48 people, who died with the R101?

The picture looks like it was taken in the area of Cardington, but it might be elsewhere.

My mother-in-law and in fact others in North London, including my own mother, were somewhat fascinated by airships.  A lot of this was probably due to the shooting down of the German airship by Captain Leefe Robinson in September 1916 at Cuffley, the fire of which could be seen a hundred miles away.  I think both would have been about four at the time and it was something that must have made an impression on both their lives. Somewhere, I’ve seen a tin box of the remains of the downed airship, that had been scavanged by perhaps a child at the time.

 

 

September 5, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | 5 Comments

The Big Duxford Air-Show

Yesterday and today, is the big Battle of Britain air-show at Duxford. Hopefully, as I’m in line with the runway, I’ll get a few interesting flyovers.

September 5, 2010 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment

Kiss Your Holiday Goodbye!

Yet another holiday firm has gone bust. All of those that have failed this year,  have been at the bottom end of the market.  I know it is hard for those who have lost their holidays, but surely when you book, it is sensible to do this with a company that is unlikely to fail. I’ve rarely used a package holiday company and when I’ve booked in the past, I’ve often put it together myself, by booking the flights and hotel I want.  That approach is usually cheaper and you often get a better room too!

I remember once on Skiathos, we compared prices with others, who’d used a package.  We’d booked direct and flown easyJet and probably paid about 20% less. The only difference was we didn’t get a useless rep. But as the hotel was short of De Luxe rooms, who was it that got the free upgrade to Superior?

On another point, how much do all these failures cost the taxpayer?

August 18, 2010 Posted by | News | , | Leave a comment

Travelling With The Stars

Well! I haven’t often, but seeing that Tom Cruise last night spent three hours signing autographs last night, in a very uncelebrity like way, it made me think of the times, I’d come across stars and celebrities in my travels.

Virginia Wade – I was going to Liverpool in the late 1960s and she shared a table of four, all the way to Crewe in Standard Class.  The other two at the table were both male and like myself interested in trains. One was a British Rail engineer and he gave us a running commentary of the works along the line. I don’t think she was very impressed, but we didn’t disturb her from her rest as she sat well back.

Janet Webb – She was the large extrovert lady, who used to close the Morecambe and Wise Show.  I encountered her on a trip to Darlington, when she was going with the owners to open a shop for well-upholstered ladies in Sunderland.  She was a real pro and kept the whole carriage entertained, as we ate our breakfast.

Susan Hampshire – We were travelling to Greece on British Airways in the days before cheap airlines and she  was travelling with her husband. She entertained the plane, signed autographs and generally made a rather crowded trip much better.

And then there was Joan Collins, who asked me for a light at six in the morning, after an overnight flight from the United States. I’ve never smoked so I couldn’t oblige, but I must say she didn’t quite look the glamourous Alexis at that hour of the morning. But who would be at their best?

July 23, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | 1 Comment

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