Sunshine and snow showers

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

Snow showers? It must be spring! It’s pretty cold too, with an icy breeze in the more exposed parts. Out of the wind, the sunshine is warm, and the shower’s only a few flakes in the wind. There are more around though – we’ve done well to avoid them. A pleasant walk (keep moving!) in the quiet countryside around Hurst Farm and Aldenham Park.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=366910&Y=295745&A=Y&Z=120

Old ways to Little Dawley

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

There are old railways, the routes of old plateways and a former canal crowded into the land between the top of Coalbrookdale and Little Dawley.  The canal was effectively replaced by the railway, the last traffic on which ended when the power station closed. Its track is still in place, unlike the plateways, last used in this area in the 1930s. Their former trackbeds provide walkers with interesting and quiet byways through this surprisingly rural part of south Telford.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367690&Y=305690&A=Y&Z=120

Old ways to Baucott and Thonglands

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

We start near Tigger’s Ickle Shop (see Holdgate and Rowe Lane) – and we’re there in the nick of time, for as we select one or two tasty-looking items, a horde of noisily-chattering locusts (thirty or more, all dressed as walkers) descends eagerly upon the roadside stall. Minutes later, we’re heading in the opposite direction (by choice) and it’s quiet along Rowe Lane, with good views to left and right from this minor ridge. Rowe Lane was once the main way along Corvedale, and a mile or so later, we’re following another old way – a narrow stream that pretends to be a footpath. Having survived the particularly muddy last few yards of this path (where our spirits are lifted by the call of a curlew), we’re back onto good surfaces, for the track past the remarkable moated farmhouse at Thonglands. A very pleasant wander in a quiet corner of the county.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=354110&Y=288290&A=Y&Z=120

220 years later

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Railways...Leave a comment

In May 1996 I visited Ironbridge power station, where a replica of Trevithick’s 1802 steam locomotive was being demonstrated. The replica was built by apprentices at the GKN works at Hadley, in Telford, and was in action on plateway rails (steel angle) laid on the sleepers, between the rails of the power station’s oil siding. There is some uncertainty about the original – Trevithick’s 1804 Penydarren locomotive is generally acknowledged as being the world’s first steam railway locomotive. It seems that a locomotive was built in 1802, but whether it steamed successfully seems to be lost in the mists of time. The replica seemed to work OK, apart from needing to be bump-started if it was allowed to stop on top (or bottom) dead centre…

The power station has since closed and been demolished – all that remains is the 400kV switchgear house, and the railway tracks which brought the fuel.  Yesterday afternoon I visited the site to view, learn about, and have a ride on a rail vehicle at the very opposite end of the time scale – the ‘Revolution VLR’ (Very Light Rail), a new and very ‘green’ vehicle which could be in the vanguard of a revival in the fortunes of local rail services. The former oil siding is now in use as a demonstration track for this remarkable railcar. There will be more about this most interesting afternoon on “Geoff’s Rail Diaries”; in the meantime here are a couple of photos which bridge a 220-year span over powered rail transport.