banjo48 928 Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 #48. It was tight but they got a 20 yard pistol range in there, licensed up to full bore. One of the biggest jobs was cladding all that concrete to prevent ricochets. TK was one of the gaffers first name Terry but known as TK. Big mate of mine we have been shooting together for over 35 years. Colin I left the PO in 79, to be self employed, but ended up working for BT after a year or so. I knew most of the hierarchy there but cannot place TK. One of the engineers was a Terry W and I believe he climbed the management tree a little after I left. A 20m full bore range ! obviously bigger than I remembered, whist under construction we used to go down into the basements quite a bit as we used to deal with "the ministry of works" guys that had a lock up down there. Lots of blue asbestos in that building too ! member one day my blokes (I was a foreman charge-hand by then) were doing all the lighting on the dock area and a crew came in with a big compressor and scaffolding etc. then started spraying this blue stuff all over the steelwork ! It was snowing the stuff and our parked cars had a layer of it on them. I went across and asked them what it was that they were doing, and they said "fireproofing" , still to this day I cannot understand spraying steel to fireproof it ! no one had a mask on anywhere. Anyway we later learn't it was blue asbestos and the PO had to have the whole lot sealed and cladded to prevent it being disturbed. Cost the bloody earth at the time. One of the original clerk of works there, eventually got mesothelioma and died, but I have lost touch with most of the other guys. We had to sign paperwork at the time to say it had been noted we had been exposed to blue asbestos and would be fully covered if we succumbed to it ! Great ! Fun times indeed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Bilboro-Lad. Thanks for the instructions. However, if you ever saw me try to hop over a fence you will crease up. But I will give it a try. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fch782c 144 Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi Banjo 48 Slightly off course but I remember my dad coming home from work one night to say he didn't work for GPO anymore we all thought he'd jacked in his job and my mum was about to have kittens till he explained he now worked for BT. I think his job was installing Telex/Telephone Lines to at the end of Airport runways I always remember the masses of gear he carried around in the back of his car sorry to digress Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 When I left the railway industry 10 years ago, I commented at my leaving do that folk reckon you should move on from one company to another every 4 or 5 years. Well, I started working for British Railways Workshops in 1968. During the next 35 years it became British Rail Engineering Ltd, BREL (1988) Ltd, BREL Ltd, ABB Transportation Ltd, ABB-Daimler Benz Transportation Ltd (ADtranz), Daimler-Chrysler Rail Systems Ltd, and finally Bombardier Transportation Ltd. So, without ever leaving, I worked under 8 different company titles - making an average of just over 4 years each. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barclaycon 569 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 One of the spin-offs from privatisation, was that the companies that took over didn't actually have the required expertise to do the job properly and so had to re-employ lots of the people who had been there for years and knew how things should work. I know quite a few people who were discarded by BT when it was honing itself to be an attractive investment only to be taken back at much higher wages when it became a private company. Unfortunately, in the case of the railways and infrastructure maintenance, this specialised and responsible job was given to companies like Balfour Beatty and Jarvis who pitched for the lucrative contracts without having the necessary skills and working practices. That's how we ended up with Railtrack, train crashes and people dying. Employing immigrant workers who couldn't speak the language, delaying much-needed work on things like cracked rails and opting for the cheapest solution every time caused havoc from which we 've never really recovered. I'm sure we'll look back on the 80's as a kind of turning point where integrity was shunned for short-term profit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fch782c 144 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Re #45 That reminds me of a drawing office I worked at in tthe late 80s early 90s It was called BREL Engineering on St Peters Street Derby. I hated that job, I was a Draughtsman working on Rolling Stock and I was trained to produce detailed drawings using Ink Pens but BREL insisted that all drawings must be produced using Plastic Lead. it was awful and extremely difficult to use. Apologies for going off at a tangent again Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 fch - I also worked at St Peters House for a while. I assume you were one of Alan Constable's merry men? He had a habit of standing in the foyer downstairs watching people come in late (Engineering Director this is). There were still quite a few people who came by train from a distance, and their arrival time depended on the excellence or otherwise of Regional Railways (as it was then) train service. One of them once asked him why he was never there at half past six (not five of clock) in the evening to clock them out again going home! I also happen to know that he made the mistake of doing this with his secretary once. Came into her office as she was taking her coat off at 8.35 one morning and said "Late!" She bided her time, but a couple of days later he came strolling into her office about 20 past five with a letter that needed to be written urgently. She stood up, looked him in the eye, and snapped "Late!" Margaret took no prisoners. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fch782c 144 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Hi stephenford I'm still trying to remember all the chaps there, one in particular sticks in my mind was a brilliantly talented draughtsman who would come in late of a morning wearing the same shirt as the day before but somehow sometime during the evening between the office and the pub had managed to loose his tie so every lunch time he would go to the local charity shop to buy another tie. And this would go on virtually every day of the week. Another guy I remember was a large chap called Chris Jones from Burton Joyce and my brother Adrian Stimpson was on another team working on stock for another project. I stayed for about a year and moved on to RR Power Generation for another year before defecting to Ruston Gas Turbines at Lincoln, who later merged with somebody else and formed European Gas turbines. Leaving there after about 6 months to start work for British Gas when they were building a new Gas Turbine Energy Centre in Loughborough Happy Days Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fch782c 144 Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Hi stephenford just remembered a few more Ron Seabrook and John Eagles was the one who kept losing his tie lol Brilliant draughtsman though, Steve Earp, Norman Dudly, Trigger ? Cznt remember his real name Paul Robinson, Andy and Chris Walker, Andy Lezala, Dave Fogg, Graham Heart, Dave and Geoff Shirtcliffe thats about all I can remember for now Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Hi fch - yes, I can put a few faces to names there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fch782c 144 Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Firstly my apologies to everyone for deviating off subject with my posts Re: BREL and thankyou Stephenford for resurecting a few memories from the my past. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Cliff Ton, re your post no 5, not sure but suspect earlier photo is of north (Arnold) end of tunnel? (look at cliff above it) also recall seeing remains of burnt out buildings on left first time I walked it in about 1964, at that time could walk right through one end to the other, The Arnold end was dry and in open fields apart from the cutting, southern end back then was like a swamp and we got hassle from Gedling Pit workers on their surface rail lines leading up to loading dock on mapperley plains, Northern cutting still accessable but tunnel mouth banked up with soil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,468 Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Cliff Ton, re your post no 5, not sure but suspect earlier photo is of north (Arnold) end of tunnel? (look at cliff above it) The book it came from describes it as "the western portal", so you're correct ! On a similar subject, here's a photo from the same book which I don't think I've shown before. From Daybrook station looking towards Gedling, with the Suburban line (singled) going off to the right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilboro-lad 294 Posted January 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Did the suburban only run in one direction then? Like a circuit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Did the suburban only run in one direction then? Like a circuit? No, it was double track. That photo shows it in later years long after passenger services had ceased and it had been singled. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 Â The book it came from describes it as "the western portal", so you're correct ! Â On a similar subject, here's a photo from the same book which I don't think I've shown before. From Daybrook station looking towards Gedling, with the Suburban line (singled) going off to the right. Â And that is taken from almost exactly the same position as this one... From the embankment looking towards Gedling. Â 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,468 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Award yourself a gold star Rob. L !!! I hadn't noticed or realised I'd done a 'Before and After'. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlebro 234 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Well, the sky is the same colour! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 The bit of embankment left from the NSR in Cliff's pic as it is now... To the right of this, there is a padlocked gate leading to woodland which is full of snowdrops. Further along, towards Aylesham Avenue, some of the original fencing is still there... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,510 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Is that the bridge in the distance that carries Arno Vale Road? Whilst on the subject of that road, did the bridge exist over the railway? Not much room for a train under there ....... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 That bridge is on Thackeray's Lane, just before the junction with Sandfield Road. It doesn't date as far back as when the railway was working. There's certainly not enough clearance under it for a train! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,510 Posted January 19, 2014 Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yes right, I've been over that bridge thousands of times but don't remember it being lowered post-railway era! maybe it was before I lived up that way.you enjoying your new camera Rob?! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilboro-lad 294 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2014 There aren't any bridges on Thackeray's Lane. It's the Arno Vale Road one and the cutting would have been deeper back in the day. (I think). (edit) No you are right. I thought that was Arnot Hill Rd. Didn't know it was Thackeray's right up there. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,468 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 According to where I got it from, this shows Arnot Hill Road bridge in the background. The train is travelling towards Gedling. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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