StephenFord

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Posts posted by StephenFord

  1. I completely agree with you Oztalgian. The 3-blind layout was common to most of the THC (former Tillings) group companies, but Midland General did it slightly differently. Most had the final destination at the top, with the route number and 3-line "via" screen underneath. MGO had the final destination at the bottom - which I suppose was more logical - so that the full display on a B3, for example, would show in the right sequence Eastwood, Brinsley, Selston, ALFRETON. 

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  2. Amitryptiline also contains a muscle relaxant. I was prescribed it (a) for back pains, and then (b) for shingles. (I began to wonder if the doctor had shares in the manufacturer!) I was told to start with one (10mg) at night, and gradually increase this to FIVE. Well, I never got beyond two at a time. Not exactly nightmares, but the most peculiar and unsettling impressions in my sleep, and fit for nothing before 10 in the morning. If I'd taken five, I would have been like a zombie for a week at a time. I persevered (with two) for a few days, but eventually I thought, "Blow this for a game of soldiers" and finished with them. Lousy stuff.

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  3. I would say that it is East Midland (in the old colour scheme of chrome yellow, chocolate and cream, used until the mid 50s when they adopted all-over red - boring!). My guess is that it is a Leyland, from the days before the deep radiator was developed. Rear entrance single deckers weren't all that rare, and East Midland certainly had plenty of them over the years. What is more unusual is the outward opening swing door, which probably indicates that it's a coach, rather than a bus. Opening a sliding door as the bus came to a stop was fine, but you didn't want enthusiastic passengers (or conductors) throwing open a swing door, and clobbering unsuspecting folk on the pavement !

  4. It was only the trolleybuses that took the Nottingham Road route out of town. The original Ripley trams started in Parliament Street (about opposite the big Co-op as far as I can gather), and then followed the old Bulwell route by Canning Circus, Alfreton Road, Bentinck Road and Radford Road, before bearing left over the bridge at Church Street Basford. You can see this on the map that Merthyr Imp put up.

  5. The ones with the sunken gangways were AEC Regents (although there were a few wartime Guy Arabs that may have made an appearance now and then). Later the B8 was Bristol Lodekkas which had a low (downstairs) floor level, allowing the upstairs to have the normal centre aisle layout within a reduced overall height. I think it was the railway bridge on Moor Road, near Bestwood village, that required low height deckers.

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  6. Re #2 - I agree with every word you say. The problem with christening as I see it is that it makes a statement that is simply not true - summed up in the old Anglican hymn "I was made a Christian when my name was given..." It encourages the attitude that, having been "done", there is nothing else to being a Christian - no need for personal faith, living for Christ, or actually thinking about whether you actually believe the teachings of the bible, for example. Without taking these things seriously, so-called "Christianity" degenerates into a jumble of folk sayings (that might or might not be true) meaningless religious slogans and sheer emotionalism. I know lots of people dismiss the bible altogether, but let's be honest - there is no other tangible authority to define what Christianity really is.

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  7. Re #6 - I'm sure you know that many of the GC services went that way into and out of Marylebone, joining the Paddington direct line between South Ruislip and Ashendon Junction just north of Haddenham (it was a high speed grade-separated junction, seen to this day in that the up track follows the course of where the flyover carrying the GW line over the GC used to be).

  8. Re #194 - You always started out for Devon or Cornwall on a Black and White, but mostly they only went as far as Cheltenham, which in those days was the coach equivalent of Crewe (or the wretched Birmingham New Street) - a hub where everyone from anywhere changed to go anywhere else! From Cheltenham you would usually go by Royal Blue on the Devon and Cornwall. (I say usually, because the old Associated Motorways network did an awful lot of borrowing, swopping and hiring in to cover the peaks - so it was certainly possible to continue all the way in a Black and White. In fact, on August Saturdays you might find yourself for several hours on an ordinary bus standing in for a coach.)

  9. I hate motorways. Full stop. I think it comes from living "off-centre" in Devon for 10 years. The M5 seemed interminable, and then so did the M42 (or M6 depending on destination). Coming up to Nottingham, we invariably turned off the M5 at Junction 11A near Gloucester and came up the Old Fosse Way. Give me proper roads any day (provided all the other traffic stays on the motorways, of course !! )

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