Little Grandson James Now Plays American Football

 It seems only yesterday that little James would accompany me as assistant on-train-guide on the Settle-Carlisle railway.  This photograph of him and me was taken by Lorna his mother if memory serves.  It was soon used in advertising the different-ness of the S&C:

Nowadays James, 6-foot-three and rising,  plays American football for Birmingham University.   He plays quarter back, where height, reach and ball skills are needed:

Flower Pot Time Again

 Settle's 11th annual Flowerpot Festival is here.  For the months of July and August the town is populated with an ever increasing number of flowerpot creations which draw in visitors from all over the place.  I have just met a couple from Australia who are here because they saw a) the water tower and b) the flowerpot festival on Australian TV!

Many people make their own but we are lucky enough to have ours made at the flowerpot festival workshop at Watershed Mill.  Experts with experience and imagination create FP men throughout the year.  This year we are hosting characters from Star Wars Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper:

Good eh?  

Meanwhile, below is DCC next door's contribution.  Stephenson's Potcket.

Two Pictures from Facebook

 These two cropped up on Facebook.  One is of our lovely (110 years) old Ford Model T Gladys, handsomely parked outside Singleton church, Lancashire.  The other is a splendid shot Settle station with water tower background and the vegetable oil fuelled diesel locomotive Climate Hero on the up line. 

Yesterday (5th July 2024), DB Cargo UK's 66004 made a 'light loco'
return run between the company's base at Knottingley Traction
Maintenance Depot (West Yorkshire) and the British Gypsum works at New Biggin (Westmorland & Furness). The loco was sporting a bright green livery (with "I'm a climate hero" written on the sides) and carrying a "Martin House" headboard on the front. On the return leg, the loco stopped briefly at Settle station (which I wasn't expecting). Someone climbed-down from the cab, crossed the line via the footbridge, took a few photos, returned to the cab, then the loco continued its journey. I later found-out that the person taking the photos had won a cab-ride as a prize in a recent rail industry fund-raiser (in aid of the Martin House Children’s Hospice charity) and he wanted a few photos as a memento of his once-in-a-lifetime trip along the S&C. I can't blame him for that, but it meant I didn't get the video clip I'd planned. Instead, I got some attractive photos and an interesting story, which I thought I'd share.

(Photographs and text courtesy of Mark Harvey)

We've Shed Two Sheds

 Thanks to the amazing Settle Sell and Seek Facebook site we have been able to find instant buyers for two sheds that have nestled inconspicuously inside the north and south ends of the rooftop tank.   They had been full of mainly electrical 'rubbish'.   Leftovers from almost a lifetime of electrical jobs, re-wirings and obsolete electrical gadgets.   I know that daughter Lorna will be delighted that we are downsizing our collections of 'stuff'.  Part of the reason for the removal of the shed was that we did not know how well our fibreglass roof had survived below them and the weight of their contents.  (It looks as new)

The sheds have found a very good home with Mike and Fiona Myers of East Morton near Bingley.   They will house chickens at their, farm right on the western edge of Ilkley Moor.  Their website is well worth a look.

https://www.moorlandsfarmholidays.com

The spaces occupied by the sheds will be 'grassed' and will house shrubs in planters, making that rooftop area much more welcoming as virtual garden and summertime lounging areas.

The Yorkshire Dales Explorer

 A brand new train service has started from Lancashire to Ribblehead.  A named train too - The Yorkshire Dales Explorer.   From Rochdale via Manchester Victoria and Bolton and on to  the S&C at Hellifield.  This is a real break-through for cross border train travel.  This is a screen-grab from Real Time Trains and it is on its way, one minute early at Ramsgreave & Wilpshire on its first day:

The Glory on the Yorkshire Dales in High Summer

 Found these two splendid pictures on Facebook.   They are both of the same steam train at two locations in Dentdale on Saturday 22nd June 2024.   The first, by Shep Woolley, shows Arten Gill viaduct.  The second, by Matt Kirby, is of Dent Head viaduct.   The fireman of the Battle of Britain class locomotive Tangmere is Settle's Martyn Soames.   Not long afterwards she roared through Settle station with * 'Her Whistle Wide and Her Throttle Back'*.   What a sight and sound.

*The Runaway Train - song

Have a listen.  A song from my childhood.  Days of innocence when the word 'hell' was swearing, deserving of omission.

Gladys Emmanuel Update

 Our lovely 110 years old Ford Model T is in good hands with nephew David Kay: