Old transport and general ramblings
| |
The World War 2 JeepThe US Army Willys and Ford 'Jeeps' are a great vehicle to own and are often the first ex-army vehicle that many military hobbyists get to buy. Their relatively small size means that they'll fit in a single garage and the cost of those all-important spares is not too high. Interest in military vehicles is as high as it's ever been and the demand for spares and accessories means that just about every part is available and easy to find thanks to the web.
|
| |
The Strategic Steam ReserveLong viewed as a kind of British 'Area 51' , the vast underground complex at Corsham, Rudloe Manor, Box near Bath. The complex was not however, excavated for military use being originally a quarry for the famous Bath Stone. Parts were also used as an ammunition store as well as a large district which was earmarked for government office and residential use. Rudloe
Tunnels near Bath, England was the home of the UK Government
nuclear war headqua The secret underground reserve at Rudloe operated in a section of the huge underground quarries at Corsham in Wiltshire and provided acres of underground secure space for the storage of steam locomotives |
rters. This secretive outfit was buried (literally)
deep in the west country at Corsham, home of the uk top secret
strategic steam reserve just outside Bath, England. |
|
Railways in WalesOn 21 February 1804, the world's first steam railway trip took place when Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks near Merthyr. This first journey inaugurated over 170 years of steam haulage in the valleys with the last few NCB steam engines working in collieries right up to the 1980's. In the intervening years, south Wales acquired the densest network of railway lines in the world with companies competing with each other to the extent that the narrow valleys often had two or three railway lines carrying the 'black gold' from the mines to the docks at Cardiff, Penarth and Barry.
|
