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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?

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here's a shot from 1928ish showing the railway sweeping left passing below Brooklyn Road

Bulwell Common Station - bulwell c1969 looking towards broomhill road and st albans road junction in the distance

I am writing my memoires for my grandchildren and am currently reminiscing about my time spent at Henry Mellish. I was one of many Mellish boys on the School playing fields when the crash occurred. We

It's name was changed in early BR days to Basford North. The map shows that the road changed from Vernon Road, Basford to Highbury Road, Bulwell at the railway bridge, we always called it the Northern Bridge.

And for years it had graffiti on it saying; 'Vote Peck X'.

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As a total wander from the subject, I went to Shelton Street school with John Peck,s daughter, Jenny. John Peck had a second hand bookshop on Alfred St Central.

OK- somebody get this back to the Topic!!

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Is this the same curve which was quite steep and often caused problems for trains going up to Bulwell Common?

It was steep and curved, the problem was if the train got held at Bulwell Common South Junction restarting the train could be difficult. It was not a busy line just a few trains each day.

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And for years it had graffiti on it saying; 'Vote Peck X'.

Buses including Trollybuses could not pass each other under the bridge they had to go to the centre of the road to get through. The trolly wires were together in the middle.

Wasn't John Peck an RAF pilot in the 2nd WW?

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do you have anymore pics?

The pic is from the site 'http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk'

One thing to notice is that the designers/architects of the day seem to have put a bit more effort into peoples quality of life (notice the near perfect line of symmetry going up the road just left centre) - more space, bigger gardens etc. not like today, cram it in, more proffitt, sod the neighbours etc.

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  • 8 months later...

A little research reveals the following.

The Catchems Corner pub is at the corner of Mandalay Street

There are Catchems Corners in Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

The name seems to indicate former sites of Tollgates in the Turnpike era, perhaps the clue is in the name Catchems.

All the sites seem to be Pubs.

Regarding Mandalay street, the route Radford Rd, Vernon Rd, Highbury Rd used to be the A611, but has now been downgraded to a B road. The A611 now uses Hucknall Road etc.

Probably the Vernon Road used be the route of a Turnpike before the coming of the Railway, probably to Hucknall and beyond.

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Having kicked off the idea of it being a turnpike term, I am now worried if ever there was a turnpike along there.

When Byron was buried at Hucknall, his funeral route from Nottingham allegedly went up the Mansfield turnpike and through Papplewick, because there was no good road from Bulwell to Hucknall.

This list is all I could find - and it seems unlikely to me that any of these passes through Bulwell?

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Nottinghamshire_Turnpikes

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This map

http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/map%20Nottinghamshire%20turnpikes.jpg

suggests that the road from Bulwell to Basford was off the turnpike syestem altogether.

This gives a complete list of tollhouses in the county - Radford and Bobbers Mill are the only ones even close by, as far as i can see.

http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/Tollhouses%20of%20Nottinghamshire.htm

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I heard (or read) somewhere (and I can't remember where) that the main road to Mansfield in Medieval times was the Kings Highway which is close to the road through Papplewick. The bit from Daybrook which we now know as the A60 was a later addition. I can't remember the details but I remember being quite surprised.

However back to Bulwell Common Station. My old neighbour, Wilf Hazledine who died in the 1980s was a shunter during and after WW2 in the eastern region part of Nottingham's railways. He was working at Bulwell Common station 60 odd years ago when the Canberra bomber crash landed on the yard. He was checking the couplings on a freight train (I assume the trucks designated for the pick-up goods) when he decided to go to the station porters cabin and have his snap. Shortly after he got to the station, the aeroplane crashed onto the wagons he had been working on only moments before.

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This incident crops up in another topic. I think it is in the Railway section.

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Found it , it's in 50s Nottingham under 'Mid air collision'

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According to the book Leen Valley at Work by Martin Weiss, they tested jet engines at Hucknall by fitting them to propeller planes like Lancasters. When the plane was in the air, they fired up the jet and killed the props. I don't know the technical details of this but apparently there were a few near misses and perhaps the Bulwell Common one was a near miss too far. A few houses on St Alban's road got new chimneys out of it.

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In the 1950's RR had a Lincoln bomber with a Tyne jet mounted in the nose, it used to fly around with the propellers feathered. They also had a

VC 10 with one of the twin engine pods at the rear replaced by a large fan jet. The sound of jet engines being tested was a common thing.

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We could often hear the jet engines being tested from Bilborough in the 50s and early 60s.

I often glance at the fence where I used to stand trainspotting next to Bulwell Common yard in the early 60s. Happy days

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  • 1 year later...

I am writing my memoires for my grandchildren and am currently reminiscing about my time spent at Henry Mellish. I was one of many Mellish boys on the School playing fields when the crash occurred. We had a bird's eye view of the event. Another story just to show how small a world we live in. I have lived in Tasmania since March 1970 and am a keen bush walker. Several years ago a group of Club members were sitting round a camp-fire swapping yarns when a new member said, "I saw a plane crash once". he then proceeded to tell of how he was a pupil at the nearby Catholic School when the crash occurred. Over 50 years ago we both witnessed the crash, Had never met until that night 50 odd years later some 12,000 miles away from our birth place. I am retired 77 years young. Have been a Forest supporter for 72 years although I reckon Tommy Lawton was the finest centre forward to play for England and still love pork pie.

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A warm welcome tassiebri, I'm sure you'll find much on here to keep you interested.

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