recollections of a magical childhood
More Railway Stuff
Also, seem to recall Paddington had somewhere to watch the train movements. The trouble with places like Waterloo and Euston was that there was no good free viewing point to hang around in...thinking about it, that was why Bournemouth was so brilliant for watching..plenty of activity and a nice place to sit for the day!
The nearest heritage railway to us is the North Yorks Moors Railway which is about 30 minutes from where we live. June went down to see Jean and visit Dad last weekend and gave me a break from it so I went and had (another) look around Grosmont and the engine sheds there.
The video is worth a look
(Right) We often take the grandchildren there and Tom (Ben & Julie's son), here at Grosmont, is really into model railways and the real thing!
It was good just wandering about on my own. I had a look at all the model engines in the shop and the level of detail is amazing - right down to individual sand pipes, etc. The coaches are pretty fantastic as well but the Pullmans were £40 a pop!!
A shot from the Steam Gala weekend and a sight we would have enjoyed as nippers!
The King Arthur looks stunning! At a guess, the engine in front is a Schools....facts you never forget, eh?
I thought I'd check (in my trusty Ian Allen book) to see if it was a School's Class (it was - you were right) but then saw that behind it is not a King Arthur (N15) but an S15.
I assume a follow-on, improved model - incidentally, built at Eastleigh!
I used to be quite well up on Southern engine types and their history but am a bit rusty (no pun intended) now. I believe the S15 engine was a Goods version of the N15 King Arthurs. It had smaller wheels. Both types were built in the 1920s; the earlier ones by Urie and later ones by Maunsell and were apparently very successful in their day.
Yes, I'm sure you're right.They had the Westinghouse air brake system which made a cyclic chuffing sound to keep the pressure up....the pump was located on the other side of your photo out of view.
Do you remember the bright blue shunting tank that used to be at Liverpool Street?
Do you mean the 0-6-0 Diesel or a steam tank engine?
Christ! I don’t remember that at all!
Just a few pictures of other Dinky Toy models we had.
June has a good eye for buying what I think are funny cards for me, family and friends. Here are three and one was for me (I am not a fisherman!) Nothing particularly nostalgic about these but the middle one has an association with us getting old and a tenuous link to Bournemouth (deckchairs on a beach!).
Don't suppose you remember the advert for paraffin... Esso Blee Dooler?
Yes, I do and here it is!!
I've included a shot of the west exit from Wimbledon in the 1960's because it shows the long footbridge which we cycled to once and stood upon as an un-modified Bullied went underneath us.
Nice one
Corgi Toys
I definitely remember the Rocket transporter with the cross linked trailer wheels which we thought quite clever though I thought the Land Rover was in RAF grey/blue
Blimey! I remember that. The (Thunderbird) missile’s nose-cone was red nylon.
As for the colour of the Land Rover, I agree, I thought it was two-tone but the box shows it wasn't.
Also, I recall a couple of Minis (red and Blue?) and the Bentleys with jewelled headlights (and steering).
I don’t remember the Bentley funnily enough but definitely the Minis.
I seemed to like the Chevrolet Impala mostly because it was wide and sloppy just like the real thing but mine was black without the Police stickers or stripes!
Maybe like this gold one?
I was reading a car magazine the other day and the author mentioned these (below) which he had when he was a boy. I'd forgotten all about them until I read the article! Can you remember them?
Of course I remember those packs! It just goes to show how seriously we took our toys/models in those days.
A consists of number plates, Road Fund Licences, GB plates and Running In labels
B consists of “Styla” sportsdiscs tyre trims and number plates
C consists of Commercial Vehicle markings and number plates
I remember pack A but not the contents of the others. I noticed that the A pack contained "Running In" stickers - that's another throwback you don't see anymore!
Keep up lad. Keep up! (The Yingtong Song)
It occurred to me last night that something we haven't touched on is our visits to the Earls' Court motor shows!! Must have been around 1959 to 1961??? I remember arriving there by underground, walking along quite long semi-above ground walkways through the station to the exhibition centre where we wove our way through crowds to see such things as the Austin Mini and Humber Super Snipe
I also remember this dreadful soviet Mosckviches or whatever they were. The objective as I recall was to collect as many leaflets about the new models as we could in branded colourful carrier bags.....to take home for later disposal in the bin, I guess!! We could only have been around 10 years old! The show was always around November time...must have been half-term. How many years did we go for, I wonder?
Crickey, I'd forgotten we went there regularly. I recall the outside was a sort of dirty white art-deco building and it was really busy inside. Like you said we'd dash from stand to stand trying to get as many brochures as possible! Some videos here. Good videos by the way. It's from a different era - all posh commentary and tiaras!
Films & Film Stars
So what was the film that stoked my yearnings for Hayley?
I've no idea why but I suspect she would have been a bit of a madam anyway...better that you didn't date her, me-thinks. I've scanned all her film titles and none of them rings a bell particularly, although I do remember seeing her in "The Family Way" with Hywel Bennett in 1966 but that was long after our times together. However, I do recall that she did seem to crop up at every visit to the cinema in those days...perhaps we just stumbled upon lots of Disney films then or she co-starred with her dad.
Doris Day seemed to be quite a feature too but always appeared in cheesy films and was somehow too clean and good to be very sexy!
More like someone else's mum. Yes, a bit too much the 50s American housewife! Interesting fact - she lives in Carmel on Sea in California, where we spent a few days whilst there on holiday this year (and to quote The Fast Show - "Which was nice") and Clint Eastwood was Mayor of the place and also lives there.
I seem to recall that Jane Russell was supposed to be the raunchy female in the 50s...I'm sure she appeared in some westerns at Saturday morning pictures for kids, but I was just a little lad. I didn't go to Saturday morning pictures much as it was full of noisy brats throwing sweets and smelling of wee-wee while the usherettes shouted at the little buggers to sit down! I suspect mums sent their kids there to get them out of the house!
I think I tried the Saturday Morning Pictures but gave up for the same reasons as you.
I think Jayne Mansfield might have qualified as suitable school-boy fantasy material though! I love this one of her & Sophia Lauren
A "colourised" image made from a black & white photo taken at the same time - recently discovered I have a suspicion she knows she is "flaunting her assets"!
Battle of the River Plate?
Yes, absolutely (I think I went with my Mum!) . If not, I certainly went with her to see Cockleshell Heroes as I remember trying to conceal my sobbing at the end when all the battleships starting hooting!
Oh no! I've just found the actual clip. It was Guns of Navarone. Hang on a minute, I think I'm starting to blub again!!
Guns of Navarone.mp4
Other films from around then - Spartacus (risqué scenes in the cell?), The Magnificent Seven (cue more crying and emotion!), Sink the Bismarck, The Longest Day, The Cockleshell Heroes, The Great Escape, From Russia with Love, The Guns of Navarone.
I'd forgotten about The Magnificent Seven and Guns of Navarone, etc...
Theme from the Magnificent Seven.mp4click on the image above for the audio soundtrack
click on the image above for the audio soundtrack
Good ol' Matt Monro. I bunked off school one 'Games' afternoon to see 'From Russia With Love'. It was a bit tricky being underage for an 'A' film and in school uniform! (luckily our uniform was a black blazer). I'm sure I saw it at the Kingston Kinema....which was a bit of a sleazy fleapit a bit like The Continental in Winton!
click on the image above for the audio soundtrack
Just remembered we went to see the film "Flubber"! Christ whatever was the matter with us!
Flubber!!!??? Wiped from my memory bank! It couldn't have made a good impression!
"Flubber" was about some super rubbery stuff which you could put on the soles of your shoes and it meant you could jump really high....erm, in the Disney studios, a guy bursts in and yells, "I've just had a great idea for a movie. A guy invents this super bouncy stuff and sticks it on his shoes....well just think of the plot possibilities!"
Other guy, "Well, actually we were thinking more of something with Hayley Mills in it!"