MADE IN BIRMINGHAM NEWSLETTER: September 2008

Welcome to the new newsletter in our new format, published as a blog and accessible at anytime, thanks to Google.

Please make a note of this address

http://madeinbirmingham.blogspot.com/

You will also be able to add your own comments, I think! So please feel free to write something repeatable (all comments are moderated), you can also contact me directly at madeinbirmingham at gmail.com

JP's retirement.

Reports of my early retirement, after nearly 20,000 flying hours are true, I am very glad to say!

My last flight on the Airbus 319, note the BR porters hat from Snow Hill Station which I found around 1967 in the main booking office! Bet the Porter who wore that hat never guessed where that would end up!

AT LAST SUCCESS!

After a three year campaign, first to save the factory, then to get it listed ( both failed) and finally to get two roads named after the industialist who bought the factory in 1939 from New Imperial Motorcycles, I can report success. Clifford Road and New Imperial Crescent are now the official road names at the Barrattt Spring Road development in Hall Green. If your wondering what the connection is the full story of the amazing Solomon Cliffoird Joseph is at;

CLIFFORD & NEW IMPERIAL

TWO BIG MIDLANDS RAILWAY EVENTS

FIRST PUBLIC PASSENGER TRAINS FOR BRAND NEW STEAM LOCOMOTIVE TORNADO AT THE GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY

Book your seat in railway history, Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd Sept 2008

The country’s first brand new steam locomotive to be built for the main line, since 1960 is now ready to pull passengers at the Great Central Railway.

“We’re honoured to be involved in running the first passenger trains with Tornado,” said GCR president Bill Ford. “This is our year of Express engines and Tornado is top of the bill! The engine has been attracting international media attention and our phones have been ringing off the hook with people wanting to know when they can ride behind it. The good news is the date has finally arrived!”

The engine has been built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, an independent group of railway enthusiasts based in Darlington. The A1 Class of Pacific locomotives was designed by Arthur H Peppercorn for the London and North Eastern Railway and built in 1948/49. They were the last of the East Coast Main Line's series of thoroughbred express passenger steam locomotives. Examples of many other Darlington and Doncaster built locomotives have been saved for preservation, but not the Peppercorn A1s which were scrapped. It has cost £3 million to build and taken 18 years to complete.

The engine will pull its first trains on Sunday 21st of September. These are exclusively for the supporters of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust who have financed the construction of “Tornado”.

The first public trains are due to run on Monday 22nd of September. They will depart from Loughborough Central station for the roundtrip to Leicester and back at 10.15am, 12.15pm, 2.15pm and 4.35pm. This will be the very first time fare paying passengers will have experienced the thrill of riding behind this new and very powerful loco.

On Tuesday 23rd of September, Tornado is expected to pull trains at the same times.

The engine was tested at the Great Central Railway because the heritage line has permission to run non passenger services at up to 60mph.

More details http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/

SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY Autumn Steam Gala

September 19, 20, 21, 2008:(Special Timetable)

A very special Steam Gala this year and a must for GWR fans as visiting locomotives include 3440 'City of Truro' and 9017 'Dukedog' . Autocoach 225 will also be in attendance.

Continuous running for three full days, with with an extensive train service between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth.

The Engine House, the Visitor & Education Centre at Highley will be open for extended hours throughout this event as follows:

Friday 10-00 am to 8-00 pm
Saturday 8-00 am to 8-00 pm
Sunday 8-00 am to 5-00 pm

More details at

http://www.svr.co.uk

MIDLANDS HISTORICAL DATA

Midlands HThis is a project to make digital copies of a collection of rare old books, maps, photographs and documents relating to the West Midlands. There are several reasons why this makes sense :-

· to conserve the archives (through reducing wear and tear on originals by enabling digital copies to be viewed)

· to create searchable archives (through using optical character recognition to generate indexes)

· to provide wider access to the archives(through providing copies of CD's, and by giving access to digital images via the internet)

This is a private initiative to help libraries, archives and family history societies in the West Midlands to achieve these aims. Put simply, we do the preparation of the digital images for free for these bodies, and cover the costs through sales of CD's and pay-per-view. The project is non profit-making to keep prices as low as possible. Some money is ploughed back into restoring original documents so they can be conserved for future generations. We also work closely with local Family History Societies, Local History Groups and any other local body with an interest in preserving the printed archives of the Midlands. We are always interested to hear from any archives, libraries, family history & local history societies that need digital copies to be made of their holdings. We launched a newsletter at the end of June 2003 to keep you informed as we release new titles. At present, we are adding about 3 or 4 titles a week. If you would like to receive the newsletter, please subscribe to the newsletter by following the link. Alternatively, to see our recent new releases, please go to the New Releases page

http://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/index.html

WALKING TOUR DIGBETH

Sorry, still awaiting Ray Shill to contact me!

THE FORUM

http://madeinbirmingham.org/forum/

Salford Park

Does anyone have memories of Salford Park?

http://www.madeinbirmingham.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=529&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Remember the ALDIS signal light, made in Sarehole Road

http://www.madeinbirmingham.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=370&highlight=aldis

SNOW HILL STATION

http://www.madeinbirmingham.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1882#1882