Railway Bridges

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of railway bridges

Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Railway Poster by Jack Merriot (1954)

A train crosses Knaresborough Viaduct over the River Nidd. The artist, Jack Merriot (1901-68) created both railway and GPO posters, today highly collectable (ie expensive). Painter, illustrator, writer and teacher, his style was described as being "characterised by a breezy freshness, crisp with well-controlled colour". His posters certainly suggest that one was about to arrive by train to a rarefied idyll. 

Settle-Carlisle Line Postcard No 64

The Duchess of Sutherland hauling a chartered passenger train travelling from Carlisle to York crossing the small Bongate Bridge near Appleby. The railway station at Appleby has a water tower where steam trains have the opportunity to take on water.

As a contrast to countryside scenery here was an opportunity to view the docks of Liverpool  as well as the ocean liners and shipping traffic on the River Mersey. The railway opened in 1893 and closed in 1956 when it was demolished.

Bridges Over Water

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Bridges spanning water

Japanaiserie - Bridge Under Rain (after Hiroshige) by Vincent van Gogh (Paris 1887)

 Copied from a woodcut by Utagawa Hiroshige Vincent van Gogh's 'Bridge in the Rain' added more colour than the original and because the shape of woodcuts would not fit directly on square canvases he added a colourful border. Vincent and his brother Theo had had collected many Japanese prints and woodcuts in their time together in Paris. Hiroshige's original, called 'Sudden Evening Shower on the Great Bridge near Atake', was part of his series - One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Under clear skies at the mouth of the River Morar, on the road to the Isles, near Mallaig.  The river is the shortest in Scotland, it drain from Loch Morar so is really more of an estuary among rocks. There are a series of waterfalls known as the Falls of Morar on its short run to the sea.

Calm waters on the Leicestershire Ring, also known as the East Midlands Ring. There are many bridges over its 154 miles which consists of a mixture of rivers (Soar and Trent) and canals. The bridge top middle is at Hartshill Basin, bottom left Hawkesbury Junction, both are over he Coventry Canal. Bottom right - Braunston where the Grand Union and Oxford Canals meet, the cast iron bridge is the Horesley Iron Works Bridge. I think that is the marina seen through the arch.

Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and Piglet

For pure bucolic bridge delight what could pass the time better on a sunny day than a game of  Poohsticks with friends.

 “Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Learning

 

1983: 150th Anniversary of the University of Zurich

Established in 1883 the University of Zurich was the first European university founded by a democratic state rather than a monarch or the church. There have been 12 Nobel Prize winners (primarily in physics and chemistry) educated here. Three famous names stand out - Rontgen, Schrodinger and Einstein.

1997: Universities 

   Padua University was founded in 1222, the second oldest university in Italy. The stamp shows the Bo Palace (Palazzo de Bo) built in 1594 and is the oldest surviving anatomical theatre in the world. An inscription as old as the theatre says "This is a place where the dead are pleased to teach those who live". 

Two famous astronomers who were temporary residents are Galileo, who taught at the university, and Copernicus, who was a student, Another alumni of Padua for those interested in the English Tudor era and its machinations was Sir Francis Walsingham, who would become spymaster for Queen Elizabeth I.

1998: 750th Anniversary of St Marienstern Abbey, Panschwitz-Kuckan

Founded in 1248 St Marienstern Abbey is one of the few Central European monasteries that has maintained a uninterrupted history and during that long time survived the Hussite Wars, the Reformation, world wars and the old GDR. The Abbey as well as being home to the Cistercian nuns of the order of St Benedict functions as a educational and cultural learning centre which includes a 6000 square metre Educational Garden

For the Sunday Stamps theme of - Places of Learning - See It On A Postcard

Crossings the Dales

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt  is travelling inland over bridges

Settle-Carlisle Postcard No 62

66150 taking cement tanks from Clitheroe to Moss End past the Mount Zion chapel via Dandry Mire Viaduct. The chapel opened in 1876, its foundation stone laid on the 1st May of that year to coincide with the first day of passenger trains running on the line. It is believed to be the only place of of worship in the UK built by railway contractors. Before the permanent chapel was built a temporary wooden shack on the site served as chapel, school and reading room for the railway navvies (workers). Weekly services stopped in 1999 but it is lovingly preserved by the Friends of Hawes Junction Chapel and now provides welcome shelter and maybe reflection for walkers and cyclists exploring the Yorkshire Dales.

Settle to Carlisle Postcard No 53

I've shown a postcard of Ribblehead Viaduct before but as one of my favourite viaducts I seem to have accumulated views of it in all season so here it is in autumn/winter colours. The locomotive is Capability Brown travelling south from Glasgow to London Euston. The loco carried the name Capability Brown (after the famous landscape gardener) from 1992 to 1996 and was subsequently renamed High Peak in 1998 possibly because it changed from passenger service to freight.

Automobiles

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is Travelling by  Car or Bus

A 1904 Renault 20/30 HP Park Phaeton, an early passenger car. The name phaeton seems to indicate speed but  perhaps the next car is more likely

to fit the bill.The Lacia Lambda, a groundbreaking car built in Italy from 1922-31. A polo match may have just finished or about to start. The sport is described as "chess at full gallop".  Did this early advertising poster equate that to driving a Lancia?.

The Square, Northleach

Time to slow down and  pay a visit to a post office (on the left) in the Cotswold market town of  Northleach, Gloucestershire. A postcard from the early 1980s, yellow and white must have been a popular colour for cars back then.

High and Low

 

G

1963: Landscapes of Hwagshan - Yellow Mountains

Jade Screen Peak composed of Mesozoic granite formed through intense magmatic activity, its steep cliffs later sculpted by repeated glacial action during the last 2.6 million years, known as the Quaternary Period.

1963: Czech Scenery

Taking a deep dive to the caves and stalagmites of Moravia. The Moravian Karst contains over a thousand spaces and caves decorated with stalactites and stalagmites. The five major cave systems have guided tours, one of which has a motorboat ride along the underground Punkva River

1964: Tourism Series

More stalactites and stalagmites in the Drach Cave, four great caves in the island of Majorca which are connected to each other. One can experience a music concert on the subterranean Lake Martel where classical musicians play from illuminated rowing boats. The lake is named after the 19th Century French speleologist Édouard-Alfred Martel.

1964: Stalactites of Aggtelek

The Aggteleki Cave  also known as Baradla Cave is a massive 26 kilometre long and located on the border areas of Hungary and Slovakia. Famous for its huge chambers, stalactites and underground concert hall.  It  may be chilly down there but is a constant 10c (50F) year round. A UNESCO World Heritage Site 

Sunday Stamps theme - Geology - visit - See It On A Postcard

Animals

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for Travelling Animals

"The Champ"

This champion sheep has done a lot of travelling to agricultural shows to win its rosettes.

2014: Working Horses

Travelling around the  city. The police won't have had much need for raincoats this summer

Elephants taking a trail through a misty forest