Union Street Station??

[Commo 1,292]

I have just started reading Joy James book "Yo'd Mek a Parson Swear" about her childhood growing up in St Anes from the 1940's and the awful conditions some folk had to survive in which the passing of time tends to soften the memory somewhat even though at the time you knew such conditions existed.

Joy James grew up on Moffat street, which was off Pym street, and she makes a passing refeence to hearing the mournful sound of the hooting of rains from the neaby Union Street station. I have no memory of any such station, the closest in my memory to Pym St being Victoria station, and having spread out my 1964 Geographia street map, can see no railway line any nearer.

Anybody out there able to throw any light on this?

All suggestions gratefully received!

[BulwellBrian 107]

My memory thinks that Union Street crossed Victoria Station on a bridge. It would disappear when the station was demolished

[catfan 14,793]

More like Union Road !

Just down from Vic Stn.

[Commo 1,292]

Yes, my only answer, but am surprised that if this is so, Joy didn't call it Vic Station. Union Road ran up to Huntingdon Street and continued over the other side, from where you could look down into the station cutting and the start of the tunnel.

[Cliff Ton 10,483]

Interesting to know where Joy James got that name from; I've never heard or seen any reference to a station with that name before.

As BulwellBrian and catfan have both pointed out, Union Road was the road/bridge which went over the north end of Victoria Station.

[catfan 14,793]

Was there a station either Thorneywood, Wells Road area ? Not a million miles from Moffat Street.

[Cliff Ton 10,483]

Stations at Wells Road, Thorneywood etc, were on the Suburban Railway.

All the information you'll ever need, here http://www.forgotten...es/nottsub.html

[MELTONSTILTON 452]

Commo, your question interested me, so I telephoned my dad who was a railway signal man at the old Victoria station in the 1950s and 1960s, and I put the question about Union road station to him, the only thing he could think of, was on Union road near York street there was some steps and a gate leading to the station,for railway workers only, but the station staff used to turn a blind eye to passangers using it if they were late for their train or held a valid ticket...

I hope this is of some help......

[Cliff Ton 10,483]

Was there a station either Thorneywood, Wells Road area ? Not a million miles from Moffat Street.

Closest station would've been St Ann's Well. Also a lot of information on the subject already on Nottstalgia

http://nottstalgia.c...opic=4886&st=20

[BulwellBrian 107]

When the Victoria Station was built there was the two railways (Great Central & Great Northern) could not agree on a name, The GCR wanted to call it Nottingham Central but the GNR didn't agree. It was first called Nottingham Joint Station but became Victoria at the suggestion of the then Mayor of Nottingham.

[Commo 1,292]

Many thanks Cliff re #9, this is the answer and I admit to being totally ignorant regarding the Nottingham Suburbab Railway. Will read thro all earlier posts.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I don't recall a Union Station either, I lived not far from Moffat Street in one of the terraces on Turner Street for a few years as a snotty nosed kid.. I can remember on foggy mornings the sounds of train whistles from Vic station.

Also if you all remember, there was a partially enclosed footbridge over the station coming out onto Milton Street. it was in line with Union Road and almost parallel with the section that came out at the bottom of Mansfield Road.

[Commo 1,292]

Loved the footbridge through to Mansfield Road because if there wee not too many ther folk around you get get a really good echo from a good old shout! Also remember the old adverts on the walls of the footbridge, and one was for Virol. Being a clever little soul, I had for some reason at the ae of about 5 to have heard about the bad lads in London using Vitriol to disfigure those they were not happy with, but being not so clever thought the two were the same thing so was worried as to why I would benefit from the stuff! Luckily Mum never tried to get it down me!

[Cliff Ton 10,483]

Not quite Virol, but fairly close. And it is Victoria, with the amazing atmosphere.

[Commo 1,292]

What a great composition. Love it! Vic station had a completely diffeent atmosphere from Midland, which was all bustle. Vic had that "mystical" feeling, always seemed to be in a magical mist!

[StephenFord 866]

I think it was to do with being the last main line to London. In spite of everything (and the Great Central was a very passenger focused railway) it never quite caught up. So it's major stations often had a rather quiet air about them. It is said that a canon of the church was once approached by a young theological student who said he had great difficulty finding a quiet place to meditate. The canon instantly replied, "Have you tried Marylebone station?"

But all joking apart, that picture is so atmospheric - it really captures what it was like to go into Vic - the drifting smoke trapped by the canopy, and the sun striking through it all. This is the footbridge giving access to the platforms. There was another bridge that was a public footpath from Mansfield Road to Glasshouse Street. It was infuriating, because it had high boarded sides, and although you could hear the trains below, you could see absolutely nothing - even the knot holes were too high for little boys to look through!

On a rather sombre note, my mum had either an uncle or great uncle, (I have never quite worked out where he fitted into the family) who is reputed to have been killed at Vic when he stepped off the platform in front of an incoming train on a night of dense fog during the black-out. I've never been able to find any corroborating evidence, but I distinctly remember both my mum and grandma mentioning "Uncle Herbert" and his sad demise.

[mick2me 3,033]

ancestry.com might tell you more?

[Trevor S 2,003]

That photo (#14) definitely captured a 'mystical' feeling in more ways than one.

Does anybody see that person second from the right and apparently a child? Looks as though the figure is about to run through the poster at full pelt. Blow the picture up and you will see the leading foot off the ground and the rear foot raised and the body leaning forward as though the person is running.

Is this the photographic proof that the Hogwarts Express did stop at Nottingham on its way north? Was this the entrance to the magical Platform 9.75 of Victoria Station?

[Cliff Ton 10,483]

As the previous photo seems to have attracted a bit of attention, here's another - similar but different.

Why did nobody take photos like this at the "Midland" station?

(I know the answer; no atmosphere)

[StephenFord 866]

I beg to differ! There was plenty of atmosphere at Midland - but it just happened to be the station that survived. I'm sure there must be, for example, pictures of that impressive glazed brick ticket office with the entrance ways marked tantalisingly "To the trains ->" at either end. Then, when you had passed through there, you were on a level to watch the Great Central trains thundering over the Midland. You could do that without buying a platform ticket, because tickets were checked at the top of the steps down to each platform, or pair of platforms, where signs quaintly proclaimed "ALL TICKETS MUST BE SHEWN" Then the steps down to the platform had those rather slippery wooden block treads - try galloping down that lot to catch a train at the last minute, and you were liable to go base over apex and land at the bottom with a cracked skull. The refreshment room on platforms 4/5 was also a very ornate set up. I enjoyed many a glass of orange squash in there returning to Sawley Junction from visiting relatives on a Saturday evening after hearing "The 9.40 arrival from London, the 9.46 to Sawley Junction and Derby only is reported 25 minutes late passing Melton Mowbray..." And they didn't do apologies (however insincere) in those days.

In the early 50s I remember setting off overnight on holidays to Cornwall or Scotland, on the last train from Midland to Derby, 11.55 on a Friday night - heading down Carrington Street, with all the drunks, on a 43 trolleybus. Ah, the excitement of those journeys.

Another thing that both of the pictures of Victoria reminds me of is how smartly everyone dressed to go on holiday. There was no "jeans and sweat shirt". Look at the bloke in his sports jacket, flannels and even a trilby - Mrs in her nice coat, and the lad in his school uniform - even down to the cap, for goodness sake!!!!!

[katyjay 5,091]

And once they got there Stephen, they were still well dressed. Look at any photo of the family walking along the seafront in Skeggy or anywhere else, you know, those photos taken by a photographer to buy later, and dad was still in his suit and tie, if it was really hot, he'd ditched the jacket for a sleeveless pullover. Mum was still in her nice dress. Kids maybe a bit more casual. When dad sat in a deckchair he rolled up his trouser legs, rolled up his sleeves on his shirt and put a knotted hankie on his head to stop the sunburn. No money for sunhats, and summer clothes. Mum when paddling in the sea, tucked her dress in her knicker legs. LOL.