Tag: History

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming

200 years on – tomorrow

The world’s first public railway ran on 27th September 1825. The route from the coalfields around Bishop Auckland ran through Shildon and Darlington to reach Stockton on the river Tees.

Today you can still travel the route.

And at Shildon (north west of Darlington) the Locomotion Museum may not carry the international reputation of the Railway Museum in York but it’s still worth a visit. Its facilities are all modern.

You can arrive via the original railway line or if coming by car there is a large free car park.

Frankly this is a case of less is more – museums wise!

If you just want to get your head round “railways” then Locomotion does it better and quicker.

This is one of the great things about small museums – they often “punch above their weight”: The Wallace collection in the London springs to mind.

Locomotion concentrates on both the beginning of the railways and the modern experiments with speed such as examples of APT and HST.

An HST 125 from the 1980’s peeps out from behind LOCOMOTION dating from 1825

It is the presentation of these modern trains alongside the diminutive Locomotion and other early steam engines that looks so good.

There is a good selection of other engines and coaches showing developments over time as well as technologies.

Memorabilia and the inevitable shop and cafe round off an excellent site.

APT – the gas turbine prototype
Sans Pareil
The prototype HST stop gap for the APT which became a massive success in its own right under the 125 badge.
A working reconstruction of Sans Pareil
Mid twentieth century workplace looks clean – imagine the soot and smoke engulfing this place in every tunnel or from a passing steamer! Never mind the fierce heat when opening that firebox door! It belongs to a “Black Five” steam engine – nicknamed because it was always in black paint and classified as a class five locomotive.
A black 5 – a workhorse of the LMS and later nationalised British Railways.
Shildon was a massive wagon workshop and manufacturing site
Categories
Military History norman conquest

Anyone for tapestry?

September is a busy month for battle anniversaries in Yorkshire not least in 1066.

On the 20th the Vikings of King Harald defeated the Saxons of Earls Edwin and Morcar at Germany Beck in what is now Fulford. There are not many references to this battle – given that two climatic battles followed, its understandable.

The battle was according to records fought near where the beck joins a sharp turn in the river Ouse.

Crucially the defeated Saxons made good their escape as a rising tide flooded the beck. This meant they could fight another day.

There is a tapestry of the Fulford battle displayed at various locations over the years since it was made in 2012 after ten years effort!

On the 25th September the Saxons under King Harold of England defeated Harald and the Viking host at Stamford Bridge.

It was the end of the Scandinavian Viking threat after hundreds of years of invasion.

A tapestry of the Stamford Bridge battle can be seen in the old railway station at Stamford Bridge.

It was another Viking Scion – the Norsemen who took land in the Carolingian Empire and called it Normandy – who a few generations later then defeated the English in turn at Hastings.

It can be argued that without Fulford and Stamford Bridge there would have been no Hastings and maybe a different war between Harold and William might have played out.

So maybe instead of waiting for yet another Norman invasion (the bayeaux tapestry is en route to the UK) you could visit these other tapestries when they are on show instead or as well as.

People remember William for what followed yet Harold had marched 500 miles with his household troops and won a great victory putting together two separate regional armies before arriving at Hastings: William fought an outstanding adversary.

Back in 2020 I put together some shield wall armies and had some fun trying out various rules.

https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2020/09/06/prelude-to-wargames-rules-tested/

Categories
Military History

RAF Duxford Cambridgeshire

Usually it’s a biplane – but today it’s a ME109 and spitfire…..

About 85 years ago …..
Categories
battle anniversaries Military History

Marston Moor 2nd July 1644

380th anniversary of this crucial battle between king and parliament and in this battle the Scot’s Covenanters made the difference.

I added a Yorkshire rose to the Wreaths
Looking north to the royalist lines
Looking south to the parliamentarian and Scot’s position
The memorial is in good condition built in 1939 and repaired in 1973
Categories
life natural world

Intermission 23j

The sky is always full of interesting shapes and moods.

This cloud formation seems to promise turbulence at some point or maybe not?
sometimes you get the suggestion of a shape – a bird maybe
fluffy clouds never dissappoint and the high level cloud promises a fine day – over Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire
A typical evening cloud this year – sun, rain, cloud, wind – or a bit of everything
Sunsets have still been interesting even if they have been less in number or so it seems
Rainbows are always a welcome diversion from the inevitable rain
Categories
Book Reviews

The Pursuit of Italy

David Gilmour packs into one volume an excellent exploration of Italy. Metternich once said that Italy was just a geographical expression. A Prince of the Empire, his point was that Italy could never be a single Nation.

Gilmour explores this and many other ideas about who, what, why, when and where Italy is and was.

Gilmour choses to avoid the chronological approach which I think was necessary given the compact nature of the book. It means he could be selective on topics and still feed in essential historical elements to suit.

If you buy one more recently written general book on Italy – I think this one gives you some really excellent perspective.

Highly recommended.