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| World War I Daily Mail Official War Photograph, Series 21, No. 121, titled "One of our monster guns". |
On the back it said, "Passed by Censor" and "One of our monster guns with which we are hammering our way forward is seen travelling on a railway trolley".
If war is not to your taste then how about Harry Potter?
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| Platform 9.3/4 at Kings Cross Station |
( by Matthewedwards at en.wikipedia - CC A-S A 3.0 license)
with a trolley disappearing through the wall between platforms 9 and 10.
This lad is no apprentice magician but he is proud of the trolley he rides,
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| Karrawang woodline, south west of Coolgardie, Western Australia, May 1928. (CC A 2.0 generic license) |
This photo comes from the W E Fretwell Collection -Photographs of William Edward Fretwell (1874-1958). The boy in the photo is H N Fretwell who wrote of this photograph:
However my trolley search ended much closer to home.
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| Blackpool Balcony Car - by Dr Neil Clifton -1 Aug 1959 |
(CC A-S A 2.0 generic license)
Abalcony car seen near the Tower. By 1959, traditional trams like the Blackpool Standards were considered very old-hat. They had been removed from almost all British cities, and the last few remaining in Blackpool were felt to be an embarrassment - but on very busy days they had to be brought out. Car No 40, still retaining its open ends, was not an object for Blackpool to be proud of. It is seen here reversing at a point which, in those days, was called 'Central Station' (that railway establishment nearby still remained open). Note the conductor with his long bamboo pole for reversing the trolley arm.
You will not need a bamboo pole to get back on track. Just visit Sepia Saturday 92
21 comments:
Interesting as ever, Bob.
That Blackpool tram may have been an embarrassment in 1959 but I find something appealing about them. Probably harking back to a less frivolous or complicated time.
Now I just knew that someone would follow that trolley prompt and I am not in the least surprised it is you. And thank goodness you do because it leads to one of those entertaining and wide-ranging posts I so love.
(By the way : hopefully this comment is coming via a network blog link, just to test the system out)
Great post. As a closet train/tram fan these are great.
Thanks for the diversity of the theme. I really like seeing old trolleys.
Trolleys! Whatever next! Mr A used to have a trolley like the one in your 3rd photo but, coming from Hull, he used to call it a bogey... apparently ;-)
Hi Bob .. fascinating - I had to look up salmon gum forests .. and I love the photos .. the Fretwell collection is so interesting ..
We used to love riding on the trolley bus in Hastings back in my grandmother's day when we went to visit her in Bexhill .. and we weren't being stung by jellyfish!
Great photos .. and story line - we can see where the bamboo pole came from .. the hop pickers perhaps?
Thanks so much .. wonderful sights .. cheers Hilary
The Blackpool trolley was probably in poor condition in 1959, but now it looks like it would be fun to ride. It would be a good tourist attraction if restored.
I remember riding the trolleybus in Nottingham when I visited my Gran. They were ever having to stop and reconnect using those long poles. Thanks for the memory.
I love the Blackpool trolley. What a thrill to sit up front there on top and watch the world.
P.S. Yes, my post for today is a Sepia Saturday post. I just don't get around to linking until mid day Friday.
I used to love riding the trolleys, which we called street cars when I was small in Detroit. They didn't smell like the buses.
In North America I believe the three-wheeled railway trolleys were sometimes called jiggers or velocipedes. I have a photo of my Grandpa on one taken around 1912-1913 in Saskatchewan. Nice images Bob.
Fantastic photos & information- I've got to read about the salmon gum forests now.
My parents lived near Blackpool for a time and I have a vague recollection of the trams running along the front to see the illuminations. On reflection, they may have been buses.
I remember when I first saw the harry Potter trolley, wanting to have a closer look, but in a rush to catch a train on a more ordinary platform.
Massive guns on that tank. Oh the trolley, you worked your way up to that. Don't think I ever saw a double decker trolley in this country. Now the trolleys are gone, rails torn up as everyone went to their own autos...
I love the old trolleys. Sad that they didn't keep them around. Entertaining trip around the trolleys! Thanks!
My goodness, I'd say they could see that gun coming from miles away.
And I'm wondering if the contraption the young fellow is on was pedal propelled or a pump action with feet and arms.
Fascinating!
This is a wonderful trolley post, I really enjoyed it. Thanks.
Hi Bob,
This is a cute post! I like how you tied it all in together, and the picture of the little boy is precious.
Thanks so much for your visit,
Kathy M.
A nice medley on the theme. The first one struck a note with me as this week I was reading an online article about the enormous number of un-exploded shells still found in Belgium today. That monster still kills even 100 years later!
That really is a monster gun. Surely the recoil would knock the train off the rails?
i would love to sit on the deck of that last trolley and see the sights.
i've much enjoyed the ride here!!
thanx!!
:)~
HUGZ
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