Railways

“Let It Snow!” – with 1955 Northern England video

January 21, 2013

This weekend I received a text message from my granddaughter. She was doing a survey about weather for her geography homework. The question was, “Which is your favourite of the following six songs about the weather?” My choice was “Let it snow!” Some people may not appreciate that sentiment but I love snow. Although born [...]

Bradshaw’s Guide: The 1866 Handbook Reprinted

June 21, 2012

The current re-run on the BBC of Michael Portillo’s rail journeys using his “Bradshaw’s Guide” from 1866 grabs my attention most evenings in spite of having seen most of them the first time around. On some parts of his journeys he visits places I know well, and at other times I’m introduced to areas of [...]

Return to the Eden

October 3, 2011

How good it is to be back in the Eden Valley after a week in Brussels. A string of lectures, project supervision and a panel debate with Euro-officials and politicians were hard work but very enjoyable, especially the days spent with a group of twentyfive wonderful 20-25 year old students from countries all over Europe. [...]

Lake District “Ratty” – The Ravenglass Railway

August 10, 2011

“Ratty” is not here an animal character from a children’s book but the name popularly given to a railway – The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway – and this year (2011) is the fiftieth anniversary of its being saved from permanent closure. Below is an article, slightly updated, which was originally written in early 2009 for [...]

The Yorkshire Dales – Update 2010:01

January 14, 2010

Janet’s Foss, near Malham – Image via Wikipedia With the beginning of 2010 not only am I expanding the blog to cover a wider area of the North of England (see my post about the changes at Around-England 2010) but I’m also starting a series of news updates about different areas of the region which [...]

The Coniston Railway

February 3, 2009

In a previous posting I mentioned recently visiting the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway after staying overnight at Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass. During the same trip, while further north, I had a chance to slip into Michael Moon’s bookshop in Whitehaven. I’d not gone for anything in particular but enjoyed maybe thirty minutes just browsing around and [...]

Muncaster – Overnight at a Lake District Castle

January 28, 2009

Over the past thirty years of driving up to Whitehaven, I’ve often looked across the valley to Muncaster Castle on the hillside above the River Esk not far from Ravenglass. Last week, though, I had reason to stop there. On my way north in the morning, and looking for somewhere to spend the night before [...]

Keswick used to have a railway station

June 19, 2008

What is now the Keswick Country House Hotel was originally built by the company that in 1865 launched the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway. As their new railway line into the northern Lake District replaced the previous three-hour (minimum!) journey from the Penrith mainline station by horse-drawn coach, the tourist trade expanded rapidly. A new [...]