Rob.L

fch, All the name changes cost the company a small fortune - GPO > Post Office Telephones > British Telecom > BT in the space of a few years. And then add in the many logo changes... It all resulted in a lot of dumping/pulping of literature and stationery, repainting of vans, new signs on buildings, and so on. Still, I only care that there will be enough left in the coffers to start paying me my pension when I retire in a few months time, after 41 years!

After S&P, the Wheelergate shop became one of Waterstone's bookshop chain. They moved out a few years back, and it's now one of thousands of Sainsbury Local supermarkets. Still got the original curved frontage, though, thankfully. Even the bottomless pits of supermarket chain money couldn't change that.

Yes, as civil registration in the UK didn't start until then. Lots of parish registers online, though, if you can afford the prices charged to look at them. Although www.familysearch.org is a useful tool to start with, and that's free.

Interesting posts, carltonlad. The route that went up Cavendish was the 72, which terminated at the top of Coningswath Road. It's now the 27 route, confusingly. The 25 carried-on along Burton road, turned up Main Road, Gedling, then up Westdale Lane, along Mapperley Top, then down Breck Hill to Arnold. It still follows virtually the same route. And for those poor conductors on the 25 in the 1960s, who used to get snowballs thrown onto their platforms as their bus went up Westdale, I can but apologise now.

That was when Post Office Telephones (later BT) had Marmion Road Technical Engineering Centre (TEC) in the cutting there. The tunnel was used by the PO Shooting Club, although the local residents probably never heard a shot.

Allsopps are still around, but moved to Ilkeston in 2007. 1960s Allsopps becomes one of the UK’s major manufacturers of school exercise books, and moves to Union Road in Nottingham after Maid Marion Way is widened. http://www.allsopps.co.uk/about/

1,132 yards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottingham%27s_Tunnels#Great_Northern_Railway

By strange coincidence, this appeared in my Facebook timeline today. I'll forgive the mis-spelling of Mapperley! "Ghost Train of Mapperly Tunnel Two school children playing in the tunnel heard a steam engine rapidly approaching them – terrified they ran out into the fresh air. A few seconds after their escape they realised that the train could not have existed, as the north end of the tunnel was barricaded" http://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/ghosts-of-nottinghamshire-railways/

Which is a bit different from my main memory of the golf course... Walking on it in the snow of 1963, only to see my older brother drop up to his shoulders into a snow drift where the ground level changed. Still laugh about it now. Or sledging down the hill. You had to aim for the narrow footbridge over the stream, or else you got wet.

Corner of Burton Street and South Sherwood Street.

Probably somewhere near the second photo. Difficult to tell with no points of reference. Although quite a bit of that fencing is still there in the "nature walk" between Arnot Hill Park and Aylesham Avenue. They built to last in those days. Pity the fence lasted longer than the line.

I'd be interested to know if there's any more pics of the NSR and GNR, mainly because my house now sits where the line ran between Mapperley tunnel and Daybrook station.

Last I heard, Ogri was still gong strong in Back Street Heroes magazine, although it's been some time since I last thumbed my way through a copy while waiting for parts at Twist-Grip.

That may explain why I didn't have that problem with either my Mk4 or my Mk5. Both engines were fine, although I had to get rid of the VV carb off the Mk5 - it was better as a doorstop than it was fuelling the engine. (D&B were spot on when they suggested changing it for a Weber) Both cars died from terminal rust, unfortunately.

Agree about how easy they were to repair. When the cambelt went on my Mk4 2.0, I got it towed home and left on the road outside my house. Took me about an hour and a half to fit a new one, in the dark! Can't do that with modern cars. For one, the valve gear would have been wrecked when the belt went, totalling the top end. For another, you couldn't get the specialised tools. And then there's the hooking-up to the computer....

Cowlick cheese was mentioned earlier in the thread. It's back! Jamie Oliver is featuring it on Channel 4 now, available from http://belvoirridgecreamery.wordpress.com/colwick-cheese/ and selected local shops.

#22 Glad I cleared up our dog's mess before those pics were taken.

Yes, saw that as well. But the market is definitely still on, every Wednesday. Hope your language skills are up to Polish, Bulgarian, and especially Romanian, though, as they seem to be the predominate languages among the customers.

Yes it is. According to this web site, http://www.remotegoat.com/uk/event_view.php?uid=6403, contact number is 0115 920 0116.

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8876&page=2 Post 32 onwards.

Back when Woodthorpe Drive used to be called Scout Lane, it had a toll-gate/toll-house at the Mansfield Road end. To avoid paying the toll, shepherds used to take their flocks by a back route, which is still visible today behind what is now a Tesco Express.... https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=52.986216,-1.140492&hl=en&ll=52.986474,-1.140727&spn=0.001905,0.004823&sll=52.98629,-1.14011&sspn=0.001905,0.004823&t=h&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=18&z=18

A little bit of it, yes. But there's only about 30ft of the Woodthorpe section that you can access, then its gated as its now someone's back garden.

I walk the dog down the old GNR line at the back of Arnot Hill Park every day. Once in a while, some left-over from the old days resurfaces, like the tie-plate and fixings I found not too long ago. And a fair bit of the fencing put up in the days when the line was active is still there.

No, a record is a round black thing with a hole in the middle. (Copyright Goon Show 1958)

I've been buying e-cig bits and pieces from a company in China recently, as their prices are so much cheaper than some retailers here, and offer free postage. They sell all sorts of stuff on their web site, some "authentic", others copies, and I have an order on the way via Singapore Mail with a couple of polarising filters for my Nikon - US$3 each. They've just had a Boxing Day sale, and were offering a battery torch for US$0.01, delivered!