Past Stations

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Architecture - Stations (train, bus or airport) 

Liverpool Exchange opened in May 1850. it had five platforms with an overall roof for "the comfort of passengers"  By the 1870s traffic had increased so much it was eventually expanded in 1888 and opened in its new form. Exchange consisted of this grand hotel frontage behind which was a covered cab road, further buildings provided offices, booking and waiting facilities. It now had 10 platform faces protected by gabled roofs. The station closed in 1977 and trains were diverted to the new underground link line. The card was sent in 1903.

In contrast - Redmire Station in the snow.  Once the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway, unfortunately the track has deteriorated and at the moment the platform and car park are being used as en engineering base to re-lay the line The station building (once the station masters house, booking hall and waiting room) has been owned by the 2nd Acomb Scouts Group since 1988 taking the name of Redmire Station House Activity Centre, a hostel for use by families and youth groups with cycling and walking routes straight from the door into the Yorkshire Dales. 

Broad Gauge engine in Bristol's old Temple Meads Station. Brunel's Great Western Railway was built using broad gauge which would lead to the Gauge Wars as the rest of Britain largely adopted standard gauge. The tracks at Temple Mead were then converted to mixed gauge. The postcard artist John G Norris shows Post Office Station Staff transferring mail at Bristol Old Temple Mead Station around 1892.

 

As an added bonus there is a special cancel for the departure of the Orient Express from Temple Meads Station in 1985 as part of the Great Western Railway's 150th anniversary celebrations

Lighthouses

 

1998: Lighthouses (Design - Dick Davis)

The original Eddystone Lighthouse of  1698 built on a small rock in dangerous seas (first of four). This was a wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley it experienced many storms in the next few years and was showing wear and tear.. A great storm five years after being built was its last and killed  Winstanley who had gone out to make repairs on the structure. Ironically it fulfilled his wish to be in it during "the greatest storm there ever was"

1978: Lighthouses of the Bailiwick

Views of calm seas but dangerous rocks and tides in the Baliwick of Guernsey

2002: 100th Anniversary of ICES (Council for the Exploration of the Sea)

A joint issue of  the same miniature sheet by Greenland, Faroe Islands and Denmark. Each country had two stamps. I have a Danish stamp which was used for postage but it is the one with the ship and fish without the attached lighthouse so post the full expanse with a lighthouse showing the way. I like to think that is the Skagen Lighthouse in the far north of Jutland, once Denmark's tallest lighthouse which today also houses a migratory bird center.

Sunday Stamps theme of  - Lighthouses - follow the light to See It On A Postcard  

Palaces

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Architecture - Palaces

The monumental Winter Palace in St Petersburg, the former main residence of the Russian royal family on the south bank of the Neva River. Today of course it is part of the Hermitage Museum complex.

 

The Royal Palace of Aranjuez one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It looks a wonderful entrance into the square for high stepping horses. There is a museum on the ground floor and the rooms and gardens are open to the public.

Sporting XYZ

 

1996: Olympic Games

The XXVI Olympic Games in Atlanta. The first time Uzbekistan competed as an independent nation.

1970: Football World Championships

Football's Jules Rimet Cup was awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup between 1930 and 1970. Named after the FIFA President who initiated the tournament, the trophy went permanently to Brazil when they won it for the third time in 1970.  In 1938 Italy won the trophy in France. When the Nazis occupied Rome in 1943 the Italian football official Ottorino Barassi took the trophy from a bank vault and hid it in a shoe box beneath his bed to prevent it being stolen or melted down by the occupying forces. 

  Brazil won the Jules Rimet trophy for the first time in 1958 beating the hosts Sweden

and for the second time in Chile 1962

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1982: World Cup

The 1982 World Cup in Spain. The stamp features El Salvador and Hungary. This would he the last time that El Salvador qualified for the tournament. Hungary beat them 10-1 in the first round but despite that did not advance to the second round.

Sunday Stamps A-Z for -  the roman numeral X, Yemen and Zaire - See It On A Postcard 

Village Houses

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - for the month of July : Architecture - Houses

One of the traditional houses or mansions in the village of Vizitsa on the southern Pelion peninsula,  located 540 metres (1771 ft) above sea level overlooking the Pegasetic Gulf

The village of Pivakes on the south western slopes of the Pelion mountain range is considered one of the best preserved  villages in the region. The Pelion in Northern Greece, as can be seen, is heavily wooded with trees such as beach, oak and chestnuts  beneath which are cool springs and streams. The stone paved paths connecting the villages are called kalderimia where one might spot a wild tortoise trundling along or basking in the sunshine  One of my favourite places in Greece.

Vallorcine, Haute-Savoie, (Altitude 1260m) France

Vallorcine , the last village of the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc valley before crossing into Switzerland

Easdale Argyll

Meanwhile at sea level is the village of Ellanbeich on Seil. The village is sometimes called Easdale because of its proximity to the island of that name, one of the smallest permanently inhabited islands of the Inner Hebrides 

Waterfalls

 

1956: Power Stations and Waterfalls (Artist - S Jonsson)

Skogafoss, a 60 metre waterfall on Iceland's south coast with easy access from a car park. 

1977: Europa - Landscapes

In contrast the remote "off-the-beaten-track"  Ofaeru waterfall (Ofaerufoss)  in Iceland's Southern Highlands, a two tier waterfall plunging 40 metres (130 ft). The natural stone bridge spanning the falls was washed away by melting glaciers in 1993.

2026: Waterfalls

High Force, County Durham. The River Tees plunges 21 metres over a vertical cliff. After heavy rain the peat laden river splits into two falls but the rock can be completely covered  by water in exceptional weather.. England's most powerful waterfall in terms of volume.

Hardraw Falls, North Yorkshire plummets over a limestone lip, eroding softer rock to create an overhang. Visitors to this natural amphitheater are warned not to walk behind the veil of water because of the precarious nature of the overhang. 

Sunday Stamps A-Z this week at the letter W - Waterfalls - See It On A Postcard 

Church Towers

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt this month is Architecture, today - Churches

For those experiencing summer heatwaves here is a cool snowy view of Ulverston Parish Church, Cumbria. The tower was rebuilt in 1540 when the old one was destroyed in a gale.

.In the 13th Century as part of a modernisation of All Saints Church in Bakewell a tower and spire were built over the main body of the church. It became apparent in the 18th Century that the tower and spire were too heavy for the stonework and the spire started to crack. It was removed in 1825 and a new tower and spire built which we see today.

St Anna in the town of Verl, Westphalia. An east tower was a novelty at the time when it was built in 1792 as traditionally they would be built on the west side.