philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I don’t recollect a NCT bus service along that part of Haydn Rd. A lot of our company staff complained about that and had to walk from Nottingham Rd. or Hucknall Rd. When a lady from the factory came to me to complain about the bus service I picked up the ‘phone and got her put through to Mr. Deakin the boss of NCT to voice her complaint personally. He was an old buddy of mine. Funnily enough I’ll be having a beer with him tomorrow evening. Ten years older than me but still fit and well. He has a gold bus pass! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 There's an old thread about the Meridian bridge on Haydn Road, but it also includes a photo which shows the railway bridge. Scroll down a bit. https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/15038-meridian-bridge-on-haydn-road/?tab=comments#comment-445349 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I recollect Derrick Deakin telling us that the railway bridge was the reason there was no service along Haydn Rd. Even if it was passable by the more careful of drivers there was bound to be one that would hit it. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Mr Deakin once scrapped a 2 day suspension I got from a traffic manager & replaced it with a gentle slap on the wrist instead. Good bloke. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I wonder if he was related to the Mr Deakin who was headmaster of Henry Whipple Primary when I was there? Not so much a bad bloke as just awkward. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 No, Derrick came to Nottingham originally from Warrington. As Catfan said he is a jolly good bloke and was an excellent MD of City Transport where he was chief engineer when I first knew him. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 4 hours ago, philmayfield said: New Basford Station on that line closed in 1964. If I'm not mistaken, New Basford station was on the Great Central., which ran north out of Victoria and was on the other side of Boowul Common from the Leen Valley Line to which Kev is referring. From memory, stations out of Victoria were Carrington..somewhere near where Clarendon College is, New Basford, on Haydn Rd and then , via Bagthorpe Jn, Boowul Common. The Leen Valley Line ran out of Daybrook, under Edwards Lane, and along the south side of Arnold Road, before turning under it and emerging alongside Hucknall Rd, which it followed as far as Moor Bridge, before turning along Bestwood Rd and beyond. At some points, there was only really Hucknall Rd and a row of houses separating the two lines. The Midland and the Great Central were clear rivals pre nationalisation, and even though the Great Central could have become the basis for a high speed rail route providing relief for much of the M1, it eventually lost out and only the Midland remained.. minus the Leen Valley extension and a lot besides. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,269 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I mentioned earlier that one of our teachers at Berridge who lived on Bracadale Road later became head teacher at Hawthorns Primary School in Bestwood. His name was Alan Parr and I gather he published a book about the area which some members may have read: Bestwood, The Story of a Village. Alan Parr wasn't a Nottinghamian by birth. He hailed from Leeds. The area of Bestwood was obviously of great interest to him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I visited Hawthorns Primary a few years back, to enquire about the book. A lady in the office offered to give me her copy, but I couldn't accept it. Instead I asked if she could send me a photcopy, which she did. I sent a donation to the school funds. That school, in School Walk, has I believe moved to a new build which I think must be located further from the original village centre, though I've not seen it. There's a lot of new housing development arouund there which is presumably boosting pupil numbers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 My old company bought the old Cooper Brother’s hosiery factory adjacent to the New Basford station in around 1966. They ultimately rented from the city council a parcel at the side where the platform and railway lines had been although they had been removed by then. After I joined in around 1972 I managed to purchase that parcel for a small sum as it was no use to anyone else. We ultimately built a large extrusion factory and erected five 50 tonne silos and a weighbridge on the station site, still leaving room for parking and a truck turning area. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,269 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Alan Parr probably knew the previous school. I'm not sure when he retired but I believe it was earlier than the standard 65. He died in 2017, in his early 70s. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Thinking about the Leen Valley line.. I reckon that the bit alongside Hucknall Rd. should maybe more properly be called the Leen Valley Extension, as the Leen Valley Line 'proper', is the old Midland one which runs literally along the Leen Valley through Annesley, Hucknall, Bulwell and into Nottm. Midland Station.. now just called Nottingham, since Victoria on the Great Central.. is long gone. The whole thing is very complex though as there were also elements of the old Great Northern railway about.., e.g, Basford North Station (a.k.a. Basford and Bulwell) with links to Derbys I believe and of course numerous links between them all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 15 minutes ago, DJ360 said: If I'm not mistaken, New Basford station was on the Great Central., which ran north out of Victoria and was on the other side of Boowul Common from the Leen Valley Line It's complicated because there were 3 stations with Basford in the name, and those names sometimes changed during their lifetime. The one on Haydn Road was New Basford, on the Great Central coming out of Victoria. There was also a Basford station at Vernon Road - where Nottingham Road joins - on the Midland line going to Bulwell. And there was Basford & Bulwell (aka Basford North) which crossed Vernon Road near the Northern Baths. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 And a few with Bulwell.. Bulwell Market.. on the Midland.. still operating, Bulwell Common.. closed along with the rest of the Great Central, and Bulwell Forest, on the Leen Valley extension,adjacent to Rigleys which was never operative in my lifetime, having closed in the 1930s or possibly earlier. Hucknall Central, Hucknall Byron and Hucknall Town. The thing about 'station spotting' is that it can be almost endless. I once attended a talk at our local (Billinge) history society, on the subject of 'Lost Railway Stations of St Helens.' The town currently has two with the name, plus numerous 'local' ones such as Eccleston Park, Thatto Heath, Lea Green, Earlestown etc., which are within the borough boundaries. But this chap revealed that there had, in the preceding 200 years, been dozens of stations, some on long gone lines and others, now disused, on lines which survive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Link to Google Maps showing the location of the old Hawthorns Primary in School Walk, and the new build, on the edge of the newer housing further along Moor Road. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.0261859,-1.1786913,786m/data=!3m1!1e3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beekay 5,094 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 I know I've mentioned this previously, but when I was about 11 years old, I, with my youngest brother were in Heathfield isolation hospital with Gastro Enteritis for about 3 months. We used to watch the locos pulling wagons from Hucknall Road towards Valley road/Mansfield Road. We used try and count the number of wagons, also coming back as well. We could see them through our ward window and at first, that was the nearest we got to outside, until our condition improved when we could then walk across a field towards the line and the hospitals piggery. My brother would be about 6. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Sounds like you had a view of the Great Central/ Bagthorpe Jn. BK. My Mum worked at that place in the 1960s. She was a canteen manageress. I think by that time its remit had changed, though I can't recall much and I never got to see the upper floors. The site, along with all of the former railway land..is now all housing. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 48 minutes ago, philmayfield said: My old company bought the old Cooper Brother’s hosiery factory adjacent to the New Basford station in around 1966. They ultimately rented from the city council a parcel at the side where the platform and railway lines had been although they had been removed by then. After I joined in around 1972 I managed to purchase that parcel for a small sum as it was no use to anyone else. We ultimately built a large extrusion factory and erected five 50 tonne silos and a weighbridge on the station site, still leaving room for parking and a truck turning area. What were you extruding? Plastic? Alloy? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Polyethylene. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,712 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Pipe? Profiles? Washing up bowls? Seriously.. I'm interested..having twice worked in the polyethylene film production game. (That's 'plazzy bags' to the uninitiated.. ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 11, 2021 Report Share Posted July 11, 2021 Amongst many other things we held the UK patent for the vest style carrier. Injection moulders, printers, extruders, converters, reclaimers, profile extrusion; you name it, we did it. We sold out to BPI in 1997. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,218 Posted July 12, 2021 Report Share Posted July 12, 2021 20 hours ago, philmayfield said: Amongst many other things we held the UK patent for the vest style carrier. Injection moulders Fascinating. Please tell us more Phil. I was always taught that James Watson Hendry invented the first screw based injection moulder. What enhancement or breakthrough did your company make? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 12, 2021 Report Share Posted July 12, 2021 Hardly a breakthrough. The vest carrier was invented at AB Celloplast in Sweden and we held the UK patent, so that meant all the supermarkets and people like Boots, Mothercare and many more. The bits we chopped out were recycled and injection moulded into handles for bags so nothing was wasted. We also developed the clip closure bag and extruded the closure profiles. All were extruded, printed and converted on site. We processed thousands of tonnes of polymer and had 5 fifty tonne storage silos with regular tanker deliveries. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,218 Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 Thanks Phil, By vest carrier do you mean the body armour that has all those pockets that the police wear, the baby carrier or something else. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,378 Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 Laid flat they are the shape of a singlet... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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