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.

Green Sward

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of the colour green

The Cricket Game by David Inshaw

In the middle of winter it is time to dream of the warmth and light of summer and the sound of ball on willow of a cricket match underway.

I wonder what games the Roman soldiers played here to while away the time at Hardknott Fort which guarded the Hardknott and Wrynose Passes at this isolated spot, protecting the supply chain that ran from what was then the port of Ravenglass inland. Today the passes 1 in 3 gradient and twisty narrow single track still make it a bit iffy in winter in fact they were shut at the weekend due to snow and icy conditions causing a multi car pile up.

 

Eden Valley - 1960s Railway Poster - Artist A J Wilson

Perhaps the time of year to be in the pastures by the Eden River (know to the Romans as Itouna, meaning rushing water)

2010: Endangered Species - Mammals

I think this water vole would agree.

Market

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt in search of markets or cafes...

This week is another opportunity to show one of my London Transport Museum cards and this time we are 'Simply' heading for the markets, of which there are many in London.  The artist is Andrew Crocker who is an English landscape painter who also produces allegorical portraits. Another of his works commissioned by London Transport was 'Docklands' which can be seen here but it was never used.

I have always thought this was a postcard of a market but of course on closer inspection, despite the crowds, it is not and actually shopkeepers selling their wares inside as well as outside.  Could I claim this as cafe as it seems we have a couple enjoying the advertised Nettle Drink al fresco while smiling at the photographer.  The place is the coastal village of Heysham which also has a ferry port nearby which likes to call itself  'Gateway to the Irish Sea'.  I would date this postcard to the 1950s and has at least two postcard buying opportunities, a display stand on the left and a 'postcard shop' sign on the right. 

Cakes

 See Ir On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of sweets or deserts...

A postcard of one of a series of posters commissioned by London Transport around the 'Simply' theme so that taking the tube or bus could lead one to the simple pleasures of the city.  'Simply Appetising was  the subject for artist Michael Forbes who came up these sweet treats as "A Little Bit of What You Fancy", I'm picking the eclair which I am sure, to complete the idiom, 'will do me good'.

2016 PHQ Card -  Aardman Animations

Is it tea time? No its Timmy Time. No cake stays hidden for long.  As well as appearing with Shaun the Sheep little Timmy  has mini adventures of his own and tries (not always successfully) to stay out of trouble. The series of short 10 minute animations are called 'Timmy Time'.

Long and Curvy

 See It on A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt looking for long and curvy bridges

PHQ Card - 2015: Bridges

The Peace Bridge curves and snakes over the River Foyle joining the two communities of Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland and opened in 2011.  The Protestant Unionists on the east bank will refer to the city as Londonderry and the Catholic nationalists on the west side as Derry.  The BBC gets around this problem in their news broadcasts by always referring to it as Derry/Londonderry.  The bridge however has been a great success, becoming a beloved part of the city and it features in New Year and numerous other celebrations. Even the Dalai Lama has visited and walked across it.

Now travelling by postcard over the water to the city that is sometimes jokingly called 'the second capital of Ireland', Liverpool. Many of those emigrants from Ireland may have worked on the building of  its Overhead Railway and definitely worked in the docks.

Liverpool Overhead Railway Poster

As well as carrying millions of passengers Liverpool's overhead railway was a tourist attraction, this poster from the the 1930s invites a visit for "unrivaled views of Dockland Shipping"

Originally opened in 1893 it was the first overhead railway in the world to be operated by electricity. Rather ironically one of the factors of its eventually decline was due to the corrosion of the corrugated iron decking caused by the steam operated Docks Railway plying its trade underneath some of the sections.  The cost of repair was too much and it closed in 1956.  Once known as the  'Dockers Umbrella' its 7 miles (11km) was demolished in 1957/8.  I have two photo cards of the railway but only this one has a postbox. Spot it near the link bridge.

Take the High Road

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt this week takes a look at streetwear and here

Photo - Jean-Daniel Sudres; Illustrations - Jean-Pierre Arcile

is where raditional costumes and streetwear together with photography and art  meet in this postcard of the Rue du Port, somewhere in Brittany, France.

View Indicator, Douglas Park, Largs

I do lover an orientation table and from this viewpoint over the Firth of Clyde the islands of Arran and Bute and lots more will be seen. The postcard was sent in 1980 so I'm thinking 1970s or late 60s fashion.

Scotland Its Highlands and Islands "Off Staffa"

Going back further in time once again traditional and 'modern' dress is combined in this railway poster of the 1920s/30s encouraging travel to Scotland. The poster invites the reader to contact David MacBrayne Ltd whose ferries still ply the islands and islands (now trading with the name Caledonian MacBrayne) and still sailing past the basalt island of Staffa and the famous Fingal's Cave although our travellers seem to be distracted elsewhere. 

Where Eagles Fly

1983: Birds of Prey

An Eastern Imperial Eagle with its large clear eyes and projecting brows gazes from its perch somewhere in Hungary. With a wingspan of 6-7ft (1.8-2.16m) it would be impossible to miss in the skies although it is a species on the red list and designated as 'vulnerable' so perhaps one would have to travel to the North Hungarian Mountains and, only if lucky, see it soar among the peaks.

The Lesser Spotted Eagle is an unusual bird of prey in that it hunts its diet of frogs, mice and insects on foot and can be seen prowling in lightly wooded areas.

1983: Birds of Prey (Design - Szucs Erzsébet)

although the postmark is a very satisfactory swooping eagle

2001:Birds of Prey

The wedge taled eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey and one of the largest eagles in the world with a wing span of 6ft - 7ft 7in and is reported to be able to fly tirelessly for hours on end soaring high in the skies of Australia, Tasmania and Papua New Guinea at altitudes of 2000 metres and has even been recorded as high as 6,800 metres above the ground. On the stamp it has decidedly got its feet on the ground or rather a fluffy bunny, its common meal of choice.

1969: Legend (Design - J Rosing: Engraver - Cz Slania)

Eagles have featured in the legends of many cultures and this stamp features a Greenland legend called 'The Girl and the Eagle'. The blog 'Slania Crazy' was unable to find any telling of the story and I have drawn a blank also so all I can do is gaze at the stamp, see the rope in her hand, the stern gaze of the eagle and the vista from a high peak.  The stamp was the 5th in an occasional one stamp issue on the theme of Greenland Legends issued from 1957-1969.

Now you may have noticed I haven't found any eagles with wings unfurled so will have to

1975: Winter Olympics, Innsbruck, Austria 1976

go off piste and watch one about to swoop on a bobsleigh team.  The poster featured on the stamp is from the first ever Winter Olympics in Chamonix, 1924 and serendipitously this stamp gives me three Es all in one.

The Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter E - here for Eagle, Equatorial Guinea and ekuele - swoop over for more Es at  See It On A Postcard

Dive In

The weather is glorious at the moment here so the beach will be a popular destination this weekend but perhaps a lido or outdoor swimming pool would be an alternative. This card features a railway poster created by Fortunino Matania in the late 1920s to tempt people onto the train and journey to the seaside resort of Southport.  Referred to as a 'Sea Bathing Lake' it was demolished in the 1990s but you can see from these old black and white photos how the artist has brought life to the lake under a vibrant blue sky.   Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) drew for all the famous illustrated magazines of the day and was also a war artist in the first world war.  The fun fact is that he had a photographic memory.

Postcards for the Weekend theme - Retro/Vintage - travel back in time at Connections to the World

 

The Needle

A postcard of an LMS Railway poster encouraging people to visit the Lake District ("illustrated guide free") featuring a glorious sunset in the Wasdale Valley as imagined by Montague Black (1884-1964), painter, illustrator and poster artist.  The rock is Napes Needle and it, and the surrounding mountains, (not to mention the Wasdale Inn) are considered the birthplace of English rock climbing and, as you can see, the artist has included tiny rock climbing figures, two enjoying the view from the top.  The first assent of the Needle was by a young graduate called Walter Parry Haskett-Smith on a windy day in the early 1880s.   He would return fifty years later to celebrate this first assent on an Easter Sunday in 1936 when he was 74 and climb it again only this time hundreds of people had gathered to watch.  As he reached the top the crowd cheered and someone shouted "Tell us a story",  quick as a flash he replied "There is no other story. This is the top story".

Napes Needle is made of the volcanic rock rhyolite and as it keeps the sun until late in the day is quick drying. To scramble the steep polished groove between the crag to get to the starting point of Needle Ridge is called, "threading the needle" which is probably seen a little better in the photo below.

taken from the book 'Beautiful Lakeland' published in 1912 by the Abraham brothers of Keswick who ascended this pinnacle many times with the added complexity of hauling their giant mahogany glass plate cameras up with them.  This was Ashley Abraham's favourite climb although he describes in the book his unpleasant experience of Christmas Day 1897 when it started to rain and freeze immediately on the rock and at one point on the descent swinging" round and round on the rope end like a spider at the end of its clew".  Sometimes things are best viewed from afar. 

Postcards for the Weekend theme -  Any Land Form - travel to Connections to the World 

Dive In

This vibrant sunny scene could be the perfect way to celebrate summer as it fades into autumn. It just makes one want to head over for a swim, I especially like the group in a circle to the right.  Perhaps they are training as part of the 'aquacades' shows that used to be put on here in past times to packed crowds.

The poster was painted by the watercolour artist Frank Sherwin (1896-1985).  As can be seen, the text says it is the "new luxury swimming pool" in the seaside town of Morecambe, the poster is from 1936 the year the open air pool or lido opened.  Morecambe at the time was trying to outdo their larger neighboring seaside resort, Blackpool, so note the "Britain's Most Modern and Progressive Resort" statement on the card. The railway company encouraging people to travel there is the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish) whose chairman (Sir Josiah Stamp) also officially opened the lido in 1936. At a size of 396ft (112m) x 110ft (33.5m) it was generally called the Super Swimming Stadium, open seven days a week and floodlit at night.  I won't bore you with the statistics but the fact there was 5.5 miles of piping did blow my mind. Built of concrete and bricks in a very quick time a problem occurred early on with a leak on the sea wall that let sea water into the pool at high tide and let water escaped at low tide which was never totally cured.

There used to be hundreds of lidos all over England but Morecambe met the fate of many of them being demolished in the 1970s  and the 19th century Central Pier in the background of the painting which had been fitted with a new 2000 seat ballroom pavilion in 1936 fell victim to the usual hazards of piers - fire and rot and was demolished in 1992.  Happily there is still one pier left in Morecambe and as that is built of sturdy stone I think that one will last.   

An entry to 'Postcards for the Weekend' theme - Bright Colours - be dazzled at Connections to the World       

Yippee New Bike

It is just the weather for taking a bike ride at the moment and this happy postcard invites you to hop on board. It is a 1966 advert for the junior Batavus bicycle. I love the look on the faces of the group of children, one the proud owner and his overjoyed friends. At least that is how I read it. My sender, Norbert, tells me Batavus is one of the oldest brands in the Netherlands. It is also the right weather for cycling in the Netherlands for he tells me it is 15 degrees centigrade at "clog level", with dry humour.

The card came in an envelope with lots of stamps

a combination of Euro and pre 2002 guilder stamp. On the left are the two Euro stamps by the side of the 45 guilder stamp. The one on the extreme right is from the 1979 Dutch literary series, this one for Joost Van den Vondel, a 17th Century writer and playwright "master of the lyric".  The colourful one next to it is the 1977 Child Welfare issue which at first I thought was a clown acrobat, but couldn't understand the theme of "Danger to Children". Unless it was beware of circuses.  Then I turned it around:

and realised it was a box of matches, not to be played with.  The Child Welfare stamps are issued every year with a different theme, they always seem to be one of the most attractive of the Dutch stamps.

Thank you Norbert for the stamps, card and newspaper.

The Need for Speed

A 'demon of speed' riding a Terrot bike, faster even than a train, with time to wave to his friends on the bridge as he speeds off to exciting adventures.

This is a postcard of a poster from the 1920s from the manufacturer Terrot. They manufactured both bicycles and motor bikes and their posters always accentuated the freedom of two wheels, travel and tourism.  More of  Terrot's posters here

Terrot started out in Germany as a machinery manufacturer starting a branch in Djon in 1887 where in 1890 the factory added bicycles to its products. The 20th century brought their first motorbike in 1902.  At the time of this card they were producing 250cc machine with a 2 speed gearbox, powered by a British JAP engine.  The largest motorcycle manufactures in France for the most part of the 20th century, their bikes won many races and they even ventured into motorised bicycles in the 1930s, but were eventually taken over by Peugeot in 1958 and by 1961 all production had ceased.

I cannot find any information about the artist of the poster, signed Nick (the back of the card refers to him as Nyck but I think he may have used both signatures);  possibly worked for an advertising agency in Paris as there are other posters by him such as

Our hostess of Postcard Friendship Friday is Beth at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy

Morecambe Rail Poster

I do like old railway posters on postcards.  This is of one designed by Claude Buckle in the 1950s.  It says the "sunny Lancashire coast" and it certainly is today.

The scene is of this seaside towns front with the Super Swimming Station (left), Winter Gardens (right) and Central Pier in the background.  I like the muted colours, the detail of people walking round the gardens and  the little sailing ships although the hills are a bit of artistic licence as they are in reality further round the bay, but that is one of the joys of painting, you can alter a view to create a harmonious scene.  

The Super Swimming Station, its actual name, was built to rival Blackpool down the coast. Built in 1936 on the site of a former ship breaking business that was an attraction in its own right, people payed to board doomed ocean liners and old warships. The open air pool size was 396 ft x 110 ft and it could accommodate 1,200 bathers and 3,000 spectators. The inter war years were a boom time for lidos and many were built but few survive and this is one that did not. It had a problem with a leak in the sea wall that was never satisfactorily fixed and seawater came into the pool at high tide and water from the pool escaped at low tide. It was finally demolished in the 1970s.

The Winter Gardens was a 2000 seat theatre but  is now in the hands of a charitable trust who are raising money to refurbish it, but at the present time is only open for things like ghost hunts, supposedly a very haunted venue.  Being opened in 1897 it  has had over a hundred years to build up a collection of spooky spirits.

Beth at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy is our hostess for Postal Friendship Friday.