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Dunstable Town Railway Station
Dunstable Town, also known as Dunstable Church Street, was a railway station on the Great Northern Railway's branch line from Welwyn which served Dunstable in Bedfordshire from 1858 to 1965. Against a background of falling passenger numbers and declining freight returns, the station closed to passengers in 1965 and to goods in 1964, a casualty of the Beeching Axe. The station site is now in use as part of the Luton to Dunstable Busway. History The Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway (LD&WJR) was authorised on 16 July 1855 and empowered the construction of a line from Dunstable to join the Great Northern Railway's (GNR) main line at Digswell. The line would run from a junction near the London and North Western Railway's (LNWR) Dunstable station across the road now known as the A5 to a second station in Dunstable at Church Street. Finding itself in financial difficulties, the LD&WJR merged with the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway on 28 June 1858, thereby creati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fourth largest town in Bedfordshire and along with Houghton Regis forms the westernmost part of the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area. Etymology In Ancient Rome, Roman times there was a minor settlement called Durocobrivis in the area now occupied by modern-day Dunstable. There was a general assumption that the nominative form of the name had been Durocobrivae, so that is what appears on the map of 1944 illustrated Dunstable#History, below. But current thinking is that the form ''Durocobrivis'', which occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, is a fossilised locative that was used all the time and Ordnance Survey now uses this form. There are several theories concerning its modern name: *Legend tells that the lawlessness of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them. The term 'union station' is used in North America and 'joint station' is used in Europe. In the U.S., union stations are typically used by all the passenger trains serving a city, although exceptions exist. For example, in Chicago, the Illinois Central and Chicago & North Western depots coexisted with Union Station, and although most Metra commuter trains (and all Amtrak services) continue to use Union Station today, some lines depart from other terminals, such as Ogilvie Transportation Center or Millennium Station. The busiest station to be named "Union Station" is Toronto Union Station, which serves over 72 million passengers annually. The first union station building was Columbus Union Station in 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David St John Thomas
David St John Thomas (30 August 1929 – 19 August 2014) was an English publisher and writer who founded David & Charles. Early life and career The son of writer Gilbert Thomas (1891–1978) he shared his father's enthusiasm for railways, particularly in the running of their Bassett-Lowke model railway. Brought up in Devon over the World War II period, his first job was as a reporter on the ''Western Morning News'' in Plymouth where he specialised in covering transport and holiday stories. He later became a freelancer, combining journalism and radio and television reporting with fruit farming and being commissioned by the Dartington Hall Trust and others to produce reports on rural transport. His first book (for young people) was published in 1959 and in 1960 he produced the first book in the series he was to edit (and later publish), ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain'', ''The West Country''. Foundation of David and Charles On 1 April 1960 he founded, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Office Of Public Sector Information
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the United Kingdom and is responsible for Crown copyright. The OPSI announced on 21 June 2006 that it was merging with the National Archives. The merger took place in October 2006. The OPSI continues to discharge its roles and responsibilities from within the structure of the National Archives. Controller of HMSO and Director of OPSI The Controller of HMSO is also the Director of OPSI. HMSO continues to operate from within the expanded remit of OPSI. The Controller of HMSO also holds the offices of Kings's Printer of Acts of Parliament, King's Printer for Scotland and Government Printer for Northern Ireland. By virtue of holding these offices OPSI publishes, through HMSO, the '' London Gazette'', ''Edinburgh Gazette'', ''Belfast Gazette'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flanders And Swann
Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a school revue in 1939 and eventually wrote more than 100 comic songs together. Between 1956 and 1967, Flanders and Swann performed their songs, interspersed with comic monologues, in their long-running two-man revues ''At the Drop of a Hat'' and ''At the Drop of Another Hat'', which they toured in Britain and abroad. Both revues were recorded in concert (by George Martin), and the duo also made several studio recordings. Musical partnership Flanders and Swann both attended Westminster School (where in July and August 1940 they staged a revue called ''Go To It'') and Christ Church, Oxford, two institutions linked by ancient tradition. The pair went their separate ways during World War II, but a chance meeting in 1948 led to a musical partnershi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slow Train (Flanders And Swann Song)
"Slow Train" is a song by British duo Flanders and Swann, written in July 1963. It laments the closure of railway stations and lines brought about by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, and also the passing of a way of life. Lyrics "Slow Train" takes the form of an elegiac list song of railway stations which has been likened to a litany. Its evocation of quiet, rural stations is highly romanticised and uses imagery such as the presence of a station cat or milk churns on a platform to illustrate a "less hurried way of life" that is about to vanish: The strength of "Slow Train" is considered to lie in its list of "achingly bucolic" names of rural halts. The nostalgically poetic tone of Flanders' lyrics has been likened to Edward Thomas's 1914 poem " Adlestrop", which wistfully evokes a fleeting scene of Adlestrop railway station in Gloucestershire. Although most of the stations mentioned in the song were earmarked for closure under the Beeching cuts, a number of the stations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ground Frame
Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals, track locks and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control. Usually located in the signal box, the levers are operated either by the signalman or the pointsman. The world's largest lever frame is believed to have been in the Spencer Street No.1 signal box in Melbourne, Australia, which had 191 levers, but was decommissioned in 2008. The largest, currently operational, lever frame is located at Severn Bridge Junction in Shrewsbury, England, and has 180 levers; although most of them have now been taken out of use. Overview The lever frame is located in the signal box, which can be a building at ground level or a tower, separated from or connected to an existing station building. Early lever frames were also built as ''ground frames'' next to the track, without any form of shelter and were usually operated by traincrew and not per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beeching Cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes'' (1965), written by Richard Beeching and published by the British Railways Board. The first report identified 2,363 stations and of railway line for closure, amounting to 55% of stations, 30% of route miles, and 67,700 British Rail positions, with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport and reducing the rail subsidies necessary to keep the network running. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. The 1963 report also recommended some less well-publicised changes, including a switch to the now-standard practice of containerisation for rail freight, and the replacement of some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rail Siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter rails, meant for lower speed or less heavy traffic, and few, if any, signals. Sidings connected at both ends to a running line are commonly known as loops; those not so connected may be referred to as single-ended or dead-end sidings, or (if short) stubs. Functions Sidings may be used for marshalling (classifying), stabling, storing, loading, and unloading vehicles. Common sidings store stationary rolling stock, especially for loading and unloading. Industrial sidings (also known as spurs) go to factories, mines, quarries, wharves, warehouses, some of them are essentially links to industrial railways. Such sidings can sometimes be found at stations for public use; in American usage these are referred to as team tracks (after the use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blows Down
Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire in England, located near (and named after) the town of Dunstable. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns. At , Dunstable Downs are the highest point in the county of Bedfordshire. Because of its elevation, Dunstable Downs hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth during the years 1808 to 1814. Whipsnade Zoo has cut an enormous lion shape into the chalk on the side of one of the hills. The lion can be seen from the B489 (Aylesbury to Dunstable road). The downs are used by gliders, kite fliers, hang gliders and paragliders in the area because of their height. The London Gliding Club is based at the foot of the downs. Much of the downs is managed by the National Trust as part of the Dunstable Downs & Whipsnade Estate property. Ascents Central Bedfordshire Council and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skimpot
Skimpot is a suburb of Luton, in the Borough of Luton, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The area is roughly bounded by Dunstable Road to the north, Hatters Way to the south, Skimpot Road to the west, and the M1 to the east. Originally a small rural settlement, Skimpot was engulfed by the expanding town of Luton in the mid 20th century. Skimpot Road forms part of the border between Luton and Dunstable. History The east side of Skimpot was the former site of Luton Stadium, a former greyhound racing stadium. The stadium was constructed in 1931 and racing continued there until 1973. The site is now an industrial estate. Politics Skimpot makes up the south-west area of Challney ward, which is represented by Cllr Khtija Malik (Labour), Cllr Tahir Malik (Labour) and Cllr Tom Shaw (Labour). The ward forms part of the parliamentary constituency of Luton North, whose MP is Sarah Owen (Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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