ChrisB

I wouldn't mind trying that sometime, if it can still be done.

In those days you could have got a direct bus from Derby Midland Station to Friargate Station and it would have gone past the old Woolworths. Absolutely! Words cannot describe how awful it is. It may be a city by name but certainly not in stature!

When I first got a place of my own, I got lots of things from Woollies, pots, pans and household items. Very good quality too, still got some things to this day!

They were definitely in use into the 60's but they may have been banned after that decade. If you want to see one, you need to watch the Michael Caine film 'Billion Dollar Brain' He recieves a suspect package by courier and takes it into a shoe shop to see what's inside it!

Can anyone remember the type which were just gentlemens urinals? They were a U shape with just two 'stalls' inside and were built of brown glazed bricks. I don't think they had a top on, they were open to the elements. They must be totally extinct now!

It is most definitely Huntingdon Street, it's the parking area in the top far corner with the strange lodge type building just visible on the extreme right. I'm interested in the lower picture. Did the broken brick wall face Canal Street? and were the buses parked in a sort of dead end? It looks like the time when Carrington Street was being cleared. I'd be very glad to see any more because I'm interested in the time when Broad Marsh was being re-developed.

On Barton double deckers, you could smoke on both the upper and lower decks!

Throughout Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and many other places too, the Co-op have had some of best and most prime town centre locations any business could ever have wished for but their stores just seemed to stagnate and never moved with the times. I remember Alfreton Co-op very well, again a prime location but when they pulled out it was split into smaller units and the main part now is a Wilkinsons. The Co-op is known for holding on to it's property even if it's no longer using it, in fact they own most of Ripley! With the sites they own, they've probably decided there's more money in b

Close this week! They are Coalville, Long Eaton, Ilkeston, Derby and Chesterfield. I think it's a shame really but with the best will in the world, it's not exactly the recession to blame for their demise. They have been very poorly managed, selling a lot of, well, rubbish frankly and expensive rubbish too. They got themselves into a position where they simply couldn't compete with others which have flair, imagination and good buyers. It will have a big impact, particularly in a place like Ilkeston where the store is in such a prominent position, it will be like tearing the heart out of th

Did you have them? I had them as a lad they never did me any harm, it was considered part of childhood, all kids had them. In fact, when one of my two older brothers got it, my mum pushed the other one in with him and said 'let em both have it now and get it over and done with' But just now, a lot is being made of the Swansea measles outbreak as if it's a very dangerous disease. Some 'expert' was saying on TV the other day that vaccination should be mandatory for all children. I never had a single vaccination for anything when I was a kid - and I'm still here! Are these things any worse

Not had any text messages but I do get calls on my landline. I must have given my number sometime and it's been passed on and on. I have registered with the TPS and it has reduced the calls but it can't apparently stop the ones from Asia. They go like this; someone comes on with a very strong Asian accent, Indian or such and says 'Hello, my name is Martin, or Andrew, or Stuart' They use English names because they think it sounds better, It doesn't, it sounds ridiculous! Then, 'Would you take part in a consumer survey, if so, your name will be entered in a £1000 prize draw' (that's just to

These bridges are going up in lots of places now. It's a combination of Health & Safety requirements and the blame/claim culture. But they are not just the old footbridges we used to know. Now they are very complex fabricated structures which, in addition to steps, are required to have ramps either side for wheelchair and disability buggy use and said ramps are not allowed to slope at more than a certain degree. Consequently, these bridges are not just one side of the track to the other, they take up a very large amount of space. There's one between Ilkeston and Trowell, it's a collosal s

That arial photo is fantastic, incredibly sharp. It shows a couple of interesting things; The Catchems Corner pub is clearly visible, also, I though the curve of the railway was just a short link from one line to another, in fact it goes on for quite some distance before it joined the GC line. Is this the same curve which was quite steep and often caused problems for trains going up to Bulwell Common?

I love B&M Bargains, I reckon it's the best of the cheap supermarkets. They've got branches in Hucknall, Ilkeston, Sutton and Mansfield As regards mushy peas, I like the sound of jacksons recipe, I must give it a try. I've tried a few tinned brands, Batchelors seem to have too much colouring, Crosse & Blackwell (in Asda) aren't bad and Harry Ramsdens are often so thick you have to thin them with water before you can warm them up.

The map is very interesting. I used to think that the Midland (shorter) tunnel crossed the GCR one at a higher level. This map shows that the two tunnels were parallel (although at different levels) with a short distance between the two. It also shows that the Midland did cross the GCR line (whilst the latter was still in tunnel) I'm guessing somewhere near where the Kingsway pub is.

Almost all Midland General buses displayed three intermediate points as part of the destination. You will see that this one is showing BASFORD, EASTWOOD, HEANOR. The A1 left Nottingham by way of Sherwood Rise, Basford and joined the road to Ripley at the end of Stockhill Lane. The B1 displayed BOBBERS MILL, EASTWOOD, HEANOR, just to show that it left Nottingham by Alfreton Road. I've often wondered why they kept one or two journeys on the A1 when the trolleys were withdrawn, perhaps a few workers from Heanor, Eastwood etc. needed to go to Basford. Or perhaps they felt the need to maintain a

Even after all this time it's difficult to comprehend that one minute it was a living, breathing, working railway, doing a job, providing a service. Then the next minute, it was gone!

Well yes, but no! It was originally the Robin Hood Coaches garage. Robin Hood were taken over by Bartons in 1961 but I don't know how long Bartons kept the separate garage going.

Yes, I've been waiting eagerly for the answers to the quiz as well! I'll have a guess at the penultimate one, is it the tunnel at Kirkby which was filled in, then dug out again for the opening of the Robin Hood Line?

I had a wander round last week and it seems the only part of the old bus station which is still recognisable is the area where they used to park spare buses at the top right, to the right of the present Staples office store. It's nice that Huntingdon House survives (don't think a cafe would do much business today though!) The old art-deco Barton garage is boarded up again, having been a Rapid Fit Auto Centre and the old Robin Hood garage is a Halfords Auto Centre, so I don't suppose there was enough business for two auto centres side by side!

I've often wondered about what used to be the Parkside Club on Station Street, just below the Bentinck Hotel. In recent years it was called Club Kemmet or something like that. It's still there but seems to have been abandoned a long time ago. Does anyone know anything about the place?

It was announced yesterday that Daw Mill Colliery in Warwickshire would have to close immediately due to an underground fire. 550 men to be made redundant, maybe jobs for 70 will be found at Thoresby Colliery. There are still 50 million tonnes of coal at Daw Mill but the fire has made it impossible for the pit to continue. Personally, I think it's a terrible tragedy that this once mighty industry and major employer is now near to complete oblivion. I believe that leaves just five deep mine collieries remaining in the UK. Meanwhile, we continue to import vast quantities of foreign coal thro

I've been looking at a railway book in the library with some pictures of the locations mentioned. On one of them, the caption reads: This was Arnold Road, Highfields. I took this to mean somewhere near the Arnold Rd / Hucnall Rd Junction, top side of the City Hospital. But I've never seen the name Highfields on a map or heard it referred to. Was this area known as Highfields?

The way Stephen has described that sounds exactly like one my mum used to make, except she used to call it Lancashire Courting Cake.

I don't think that type of spoon was for putting loose tea into the pot, you would have a small caddy spoon for that. This type of spoon was for mashing loose tea in a cup or mug, before teabags were widely available. You would put a small amount of tea in, clamp it shut, then pour your water in - and hopefully it mashed!