Locomotion-The Shildon Railway Museum.

Today we are visiting the railway museum at Shildon.  Shildon is on the Stockton & Darlington Railway Line the first railway in the world. The contest between Stephensons "Rocket" and Hackworths "Sans Pareil" took part here. The winner being Stephensons "Rocket"  . Below is the original "Sans Pareil"

This is a reproduction of Sans Pareil, this one works.

One of the original carriages from The Stockton & Darlington.

This is the Engine and carriage used in the film "The Railway Children"from the late 1960's

The famous "Flying Scotsman" built in 1902 and sadly starting to show its age, for a long time the fastest locomotive in the world.

The engine built in Btitain and shipped out to South Africa and used in Zambia and Zimbabwe now in retirement at Shildon.

The LMS 5000 engine, when I went to school in Lancaster the trains were pulled by these brutes, not sure wether this one is pre or post war. They were made over a long period of time and used right through to the change over to diesel in the 60's

An American Baldwin made in Philadelphia in 1943 shipped over to England and used to ferry GI's and their stuff around the northeast, moved over to France in 1944 and finished up in Poland. After the curtain came down it came back to the northeast.

 

This is the "Hardwicke" which held the speed record sometime in the 1850's.

The very first Royal Train from the 1840's

Another old engine built in Britain and used abroad, this one worked in Sierra Leone.

Our short trip to England is nearly over and we return to,France tomorrow.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North.

Beamish is a museum based on rural life from 1820 to a 1940's war time farm. It shows the transformation of the farming countryside to a coal mining area and the industry that was required to support the mines.  It covers a huge area, so this visit we restricted ourselves to the town site and the Colliery.

The displays are a mixture of everything from old cars, tractors, trains etc and the mundane things of every day life, which are very interesting, comparing the modern day stuff with things from a hundred years ago.

An old trolley bus used to move the people around the sight.

    

A bit of Northren England here - dry stone walling.

Another old trolley bus.

Some old publicity signs.

These old signs I find very interesting.

These two old buses in the repair shop for abit of tlc.

One of the best things about this place is that they use the machines they have refurbished. This Fordson tractor being used cart away wood.

All the houses in the various village's are heated by coal fires as they would have been in the old days, this horse and cart take all the coal to the houses.

A display of old Hoover cleaners

This is what it was old about, the main driver of the industrial revolution- coal.

The old bus we travelled on back to the car park.

Durham old town and its Cathedral

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Sunday we are heading to Durham a town in North Eastern England and it's wonderful Cathedral.

The streets of old Durham town, oldy worldly, twisty turny.

This Post Office pillar box leaning over from the wind

The new Alms House built in 1666 to replace the old one built in 1414.

The Cathedral Close now part of the most of the buildings belong to the university.

One of the wings of the Cathedral

Tha famous rose window of the Cathedral. The Building of the Cathedral began in 1080 and was completed around 1133. The rose window was added in the mid 19th. century.  No photo's of the inside I'm afraid, camera's not allowed.

More of the old streets 

The only view of the castle we got to see, by this time the wind was so strong the castle was closed to the public - health and safety - the 21st. century problem of Britain.

Over the next couple of days we will,be exploring the industrial history of the North East.

Sandsend & Kettleness Nab, Whitby

Whitby beach, this shot looking southeast towards the harbour piers, the abbey ruins on the East Cliff in the background.

Looking in the northerly direction towards Sandsend and Kettleness Nab. The Nab (the local name for headland) is much changed over the years because of alum mining. The mining came to an end around the mid 19th. century after around 150 years of hacking away the top of this headland to extract the shale from which they extracted the alum. Alum was a product used in the dying and leather industries. After the alum extracting finished the railway arrived which changed the headland again.   

The walk along the Nab is on the old railway right of way.

Pheasant taking the sun as we walk along the track

End of the road, the railway track goes into a tunnel here which is closed to the public, the trail goes over the top to pick up the old track on the other side but we decide to return.

Lovely views of the North Sea

A fishing boat with its catch returning to Whitby

Info board explaining the trail.

Back to Sandsend Village.

Heartbeat Country

We have crossed over from the west coast to the east coast, Irish Sea to the North Sea a drive of around 4 hours.  Today's trip out is onto the moors above Whitby to a village called Goathland otherwise known as Aidensfield in the tv show 'Heartbeat'. The first photo is a part of the moors called 'Hole of Horcum' a very scenic part of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.

The steam train from Whitby to Pickering, a 20 mile journey, so popular they run 7 trains a day each way.

The Village of Goathland/Aidensfield with the old Ford Anglian police car.

Scripps Garage 

The Railway Station

The 11:50 from Whitby arriving a couple of minutes early, something unheard of in British Rail days.

The 11:50 from Pickering a couple minutes late.

The Goathland Hotel, better known as The Aidensfield Arms.

Greengrass's Farm.

 The view of Whitby from the top of Bluebank. The ruins of Whitby Abbey can be seen on the hill on the right first established by Hilda a princess sent by king Oswi of Northumbria in 657AD. These ruins date from the sacking of the Abbey in the 16th. century by Henry V111 when he was having is disagreements with the Pope.