THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

Not surprisingly my mind went back to my earliest eye tests when I was very small at Cunningham's Opticians on Prince's Street in Stockport. I can't remember ever seeing as clearly as I can today 75 years later......

[Stanley]

We can't stop change but I am constantly reminded that some old technologies are still the best. Nobody has ever beaten the sensible use of bleach as an aid to cleaning and sterilising. Modern sprays wrap it up in advertiser speak but it's still old fashioned bleach.

[Stanley]

One thing that has been a welcome change is that we no longer see the dreaded Yellow Ambulance which we used to call 'The Fever Wagon'. It was used exclusively to take people with notifiable infectious diseases, such as Scarlet Fever, to the dedicated Isolation hospital. It was a constant reminder that we were all at risk of contracting diseases which are now, thankfully, a thing of the past. Every time I hear of parents refusing immunisation for their children I think it might be a good thing if they had had the same experience. Instead they worry about harmless levels of microbial activity on work surfaces.....

[Stanley]

The Barlick Isolation Hospital at Bank Hill in 1905. At one time they were going to convert Christopher Bracewell's house behind Coates mill but it never happened.

[Stanley]

It struck me this morning that with the rise of mutant viruses and the increased risk of transmission by global travel we are getting the equivalent of the old isolation hospitals again but this time as dedicated units in large hospitals.
Another service that has disappeared is the Council-run disinfectant service. In Stockport the Borough Council had a decontamination centre based in the tram shed at the centre of town. My understanding was that it was used to sterilize bedding, soft furnishings and clothing from infected premises.

[Stanley]

It struck me the other day that a driver knows he is getting old when all the wagons he used to drive are now amongst the preserved classics! The oldest one were the 1940 Albion and the AEC Monarch of about the same vintage. I could understand them but now see my latest joining the class. I wonder if I qualify as a 'classic'....?

[Stanley]

The advertisement posted by Wendy in Forgotten Corners reminded me of the way my mother used to keep us entertained during the school holidays. She took us out on trips by public transport going as far as Liverpool for a ride on the ferry and a visit to New Brighton. This was of course during the war. One trip was to the Co-operative Society's stables where I remember we saw a large black horse called Hitler! We went on the tram to Middlewood near Poynton and hunted for blackberries which were a welcome addition to the rations.
Later, in order to free mothers for work in the mills in the war effort, the schools stayed open during normal hours and the teachers supervised play activities for any children that attended. This was very popular and I always went.

[Stanley]

The big craze for lads after the war was train spotting. We got the Ian Allan ABC books and crossed off every loco when we spotted it. I always get annoyed when I hear train-spotting used as a pejorative term, we were incredibly well informed about the locos and because of the war many locos were still in use that normally would have been scrapped long before so there was an incredible variety. How many people remember the Caprotti valve gear!

[Tizer]

Ian Allan was working for the Southern Railway when he published his first book of loco numbers during the war. He wanted the railway company to publish it but they declined so he went ahead and did it himself.

[Tripps]

I spent many hours on the long platform which joined Manchester Victoria and Exchange stations - it was said to be the longest railway station platform in the world, at the time. I still remember the names of some of the trains 'Bihar and Orissa' 'Bellerophon'.
An education in themselves - if only we'd had google to check them out.

Ah - now I see. . . Bellerophon

[Stanley]

David, I remember that platform well.... Here's a blast from the past for you. Mary in 1985 at Haworth with the newly restored Bellepheron. It took the KWVR about five years to completely refurbish it. [And yes, she'd pinched one of my hats....]

[Tizer]

The warship Bellerophon was known to sailors as the `Billy Ruffian'.

[Stanley]

I like it.....

[Tizer]

I've seen HMS Agamemnon referred to as `Aggie' and `Eggs and bacon'.

[Tripps]

I think that was a train name as well. I'll get the book eventually.
I missed one - misjudging the time as I welcomed Thomo back. I was too late to bid on an Ian Allan book on ebay. Now I need to wait another week, and hope no one else bids again.

[Stanley]

I think my ABCs vanished when my parents moved while I was in the army.... I had a copy of Dixon-Kempe's Yacht and Boat Sailing as well, a massive tome that was issued as standard to all naval ships, they go for over £300 now.....
We all carried a short ruler so that numbers could be neatly underlined as we saw the locos.

[Tizer]

Tripps, if you visit charity shops check the section where they sell books for kids. Sometimes old Ian Allan ABC books turn up there because the shopkeeper thinks of them as children's books rather than as collector's items. I found an Ian Allan book on Aircraft of WW1 that way and it prompted me to search on Abebooks - now I've got all the WW1 and WW2 ABC aircraft books as well as the battleships one.

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS David.....
The reason why I say that 'collecting train numbers' (A misnomer because it was the locos we were interested in) was a good thing was that it encouraged us to seek out information about the individual locos in other places and we soon became incredibly well versed in all matters related to construction and design. We also went out on foot to find the great beasts in other places.



We found that we had free entry to places like the Heaton Mersey Sheds. Nobody stopped us as in those days the ethos was to encourage interest in railways by potential future recruits to the industry. Elfin Safety hadn't struck in those days... You just walked in through and open gate on the river bank. (You never forget that smell.....)

[Stanley]

One thing that often strikes me these days is how we have separated industry from town centres and in effect created ghettoes on the outskirts. Anyone walking down the main shopping street in Stockport, Prince's Street, until the early 1960s could look directly down a short slope and watch molten iron being poured into moulds in Hollindrake's Foundry. My mother used to stop there and let me watch as I sat in my pram and I have never forgotten it. My mother was good at things like that, she evidently recognised that even at an early age I enjoyed watching certain things. A favourite was to stop at the end of Merseyway, the innovative town centre relief road built over the line of the river in Stockport so that I could watch the steam cranes at work. Because we know the date the road was opened I know that I was about 5 months old when I saw this in 1936 and the images are still vivid in my mind. I've liked cranes and molten metal ever since!
Is it any wonder we all grew up wanting to be loco drivers and engineers....

[Tizer]

My grandma lived on the other side of Blackburn from us and we used to walk there and back via Daisyfield, through back streets, factory yards, waste ground, railway sidings, dodging engines and wagons that were crossing streets (no crossing gates), by the canal and warehouses. Much more interesting than now!

[Stanley]

Bert Hardy's image of Dean Clough....
When I was running Bancroft engine people wandered in and out all day, in that respect (as in many others!) we were of another age....

[Tizer]

In contrast to all that freedom to wander at will, when I go to collect Mrs Tiz from the station today the security man on the gate won't let me through to meet her on the platform and I'll have to wait until she comes out through the ticket office.

[Tripps]

Have they stopped selling 'platform tickets' for a penny. They were essential for the young trainspotter of the 1950's.

[Stanley]

I don't know what the situation is now but when we did have to buy a platform ticket at the larger stations it was a white card and cost a penny. Most stations didn't bother charging. I remember one thing that used to fascinate me, remember this was during the war and the immediate aftermath and sweets were rationed. The pre-war cast iron vending machines for chocolate bars were still there and we always tried the drawers.....
our favourite vantage point was near the Heaton Moor station, it had the advantage that it was on the way home from school each day. Just opposite the station which was situated in a deep cutting on the North side of the Stockport viaduct there were three small wooden shacks perched precariously on the steep bank of the cutting, I remember that one was a shop selling model aircraft parts, even during the war there were small engines in the window. From there we had a good view South towards the viaduct and it was a great place for observing the rail traffic. I have spent many happy hours there in all weathers with my mates swapping information about the huge variety of engines and traffic, everything from goods trains hauled by 'Clog Irons' and the London expresses hauled by 'Namers'. Because of the war many of the engines dated back to the 19th century. A lovely, totally non-aggressive hobby and I regret its passing.

[Tizer]

Have they stopped selling 'platform tickets' for a penny. They were essential for the young trainspotter of the 1950's.

Yes, they've stopped selling 'platform tickets' for a penny - they're now 10 pence...but they won't let you have them! If all that sounds silly the reason is that the whole concept is a dog' breakfast. I decided to do a search on the Web to see what the true situation is and found it very confusing. Some stations will sell you a platform ticket while others won't; some of the latter will sell you one if you persist, others will deny all knowledge of such tickets. I saw a report in a newspaper where a railways spokesman told the journalist "The UK-wide policy is that no-one is allowed on the platform without a ticket for a train journey". (He also said that "platform tickets haven't been issued for years".) On a forum someone who seemed very knowledgeable about the British rail system quoted a government transport department spokesman as saying "It's policy in the UK that anyone is free to access the station platforms". So it's pot luck. Sometimes the person manning the entry barrier will let you on without any ticket if you tell them you're meeting a traveller and need to assist them with luggage or directions. But hard luck if when you try to go out the exit barrier the person manning that doesn't take the same view!

Oh, and by the way, trains to the West Country were stopped again this morning.