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The Biggest Little Railway In The World
The Biggest Little Railway in the World (BLR) was a temporary 71 mile (114 km) 1.25 inches (32 mm) O-gauge model railway from Fort William to the City of Inverness, the two largest settlements in the Scottish Highlands. It has been described as a crackpot project to run a model train the length of the Great Glen Way by an army of madcap enthusiasts, geeks, and engineers in the best spirit of eccentric Britishness. Project The project was headed by Dick Strawbridge, MBE. It was backed by a television production with the same name as the railway. The production team and security staff were also needed to assist with the project. Project management The project took months of planning. It was described as an operation of fiendish complexity. Calls were made for the 56 volunteers determined to be needed for the project. There were planning meetings at the start of each day. Some disagreements occurred but were overcome by a spirit of gusto and camaraderie. Team ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of ' literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands. The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claire Barratt
Claire Barratt (born 1974) is an English industrial archaeologist, steam engineer and television presenter. Career Barratt studied civil engineering at the University of Portsmouth, and whilst doing so, became more interested in mechanical engineering. On graduation she worked at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, the Royal Armouries and the British Engineerium, where she remains a consultant engineer. It was from here that her television career was launched when she appeared on Channel 4's ''Salvage Squad'' – a programme about restoring historical machinery – first as a participant, later as co-presenter. Whilst filming, she completed a master's degree in Conservation of Industrial Heritage and won the Association for Industrial Archaeology Student Fieldwork Award. Presently a freelance consultant industrial archaeologist, Barratt has restored and run many different vehicles, and is currently restoring a watermill in Cornwall. She is a member of Subterranea Britannica, a soci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daily Record (Scotland)
The ''Daily Record'' is a national tabloid newspaper which is published online also based in Glasgow, Scotland. The newspaper is published Monday-Saturday while the website is updated on an hourly basis, seven days a week. The ''Record'''s sister title is the '' Sunday Mail''. The title has been headquartered in Glasgow for its entire history. It is owned by Reach plc and has a close kinship with the UK-wide ''Daily Mirror'' as a result. The ''Record'' covers UK news and sport with a Scottish focus. Its website boasts the largest readership of any publisher based in Scotland. The title was at the forefront of technological advances in publishing throughout the 20th century and became the first European daily newspaper to be produced in full colour. For much of the last fifty years, the ''Sun'' has been the largest selling newspaper in Scotland. As the ''Records print circulation has declined in line with other national papers, it has focused increasing attention on expanding i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drumnadrochit
Drumnadrochit (; gd, Druim na Drochaid) is a village in the Highland local government council area of Scotland, lying near the west shore of Loch Ness at the foot of Glen Urquhart. The village is close to several neighbouring settlements: the villages of Milton to the west, Kilmore to the east and Lewiston to the south. The villages act as a centre for regional tourism beside Loch Ness, as well as being a local economic hub for the nearby communities. Geography The village lies in Glen Urquhart on the A82 road to Inverness, near a junction with the A831 and beside the river Enrick. The river Enrick runs the length of Glen Urquhart, meeting the river Coltie and then flowing into Loch Ness (the eastern edge of Drumnadrochit). The nearby local hill and tourist attraction is called Craigmonie. Glen Urquhart itself adjoins Loch Ness and the larger geographical area known as the Great Glen. History The settlement grew up around a bridge over the River Enrick, and the name Drumnadroc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loch Ness
Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as "Nessie" ( gd, Niseag). It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil. The southern end connects to Loch Oich by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal. The northern end connects to Loch Dochfour via the River Ness, which then ultimately leads to the North Sea via the Moray Firth. Loch Ness is the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area after Loch Lomond at , but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume in the British Isles. Its deepest point is , making it the second deepest loch in Scotland after Loch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loch Oich
Loch Oich (; gd, Loch Omhaich) is a freshwater loch in the Highlands of Scotland which forms part of the Caledonian Canal, of which it is the highest point. This narrow loch lies between Loch Ness (to the north-east) and Loch Lochy (to the south-west) in the Great Glen. It is fed by the River Garry (from Loch Garry) from the west, and feeds the River Oich from its northern end. The Laggan locks separate it from Loch Lochy. The Loch Oich wildlife is rich with a wide variety of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Every autumn the Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') migrates from the sea using Loch Oich, Loch Lochy and Loch Ness as their spawning nests. Thomas Telford artificially raised the level of the loch by many feet to provide a navigable channel for the Caledonian Canal. Well of the Seven Heads The tall needle-like monument on the banks of Loch Oich at the side of the A82 was erected in 1812 by Alexander Ranaldson Macdonell to commemorate the Keppoch murders (S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Augustus
Fort Augustus is a settlement in the parish of Boleskine and Abertarff, at the south-west end of Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands. The village has a population of around 646 (2001). Its economy is heavily reliant on tourism. History The Gaelic name for the modern village is ' () and until the early 18th century the settlement was called Kiliwhimin. It was renamed ''Fort Augustus'' after the Jacobite Rising of 1715. The accepted etymology is that the settlement was originally named after Saint Cummein of Iona who built a church there. Other suggestions are that it was originally called ' after one of two abbots of Iona of the Comyn clan, whose badge ' refers to the cumin plant, or that it was called ' ("Comyn's Burialplace") after the last Comyn in Lochaber. In the aftermath of the Jacobite rising in 1715, General Wade built a fort (taking from 1729 until 1742) which was named after the Duke of Cumberland. Wade had planned to build a town around the new barracks and call it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OO Scale
OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, or 1:76.2), and the only one to be marketed by major manufacturers. The OO track gauge of (same as H0 scale) corresponds to prototypical gauge of , rather than standard gauge. However, since the 1960s, other gauges in the same scale have arisen—18.2 mm (EM) and 18.83 mm (Scalefour)—to reflect the desire of some modellers for greater scale accuracy. Origin Double-0 scale model railways were launched by Bing in 1921 as "The Table Railway", running on track and scaled at 4 mm-to-the-foot. In 1922, the first models of British prototypes appeared. Initially all locomotives were powered by clockwork, but the first electric power appeared in autumn 1923. OO describes models with a scale of 4 mm = 1 foot (1:76) running ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James May
James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. He also served as a director of the production company W. Chump & Sons, which has since ceased operating. He is a co-presenter of the television series ''The Grand Tour'' for Amazon Prime Video, alongside his former ''Top Gear'' colleagues, Clarkson and Hammond, as well as ''Top Gear's'' former executive producer Andy Wilman. May has presented other programmes on themes including science and technology, toys, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. He wrote a weekly column for ''The Daily Telegraph''s motoring section from 2003 to 2011. Early life James Daniel May was born in Bristol, the son of aluminium factory manager James May and his wife Kathleen. He was one of four children; he has two sisters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spean Bridge
Spean Bridge ( gd, Drochaid an Aonachain) is a village in the parish of Kilmonivaig, in Lochaber in the Highland region of Scotland. The village takes its name from the Highbridge over the River Spean on General Wade's military road between Fort William and Fort Augustus, and not from Telford's bridge of 1819 which carries the A82 over the river at the heart of the village. The Highbridge Skirmish on 16 August 1745 was the first engagement of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The Commando Memorial, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during Second World War, is located approximately north-west of Spean Bridge, at the junction of the A82 and the B8004. It overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle. Transport Lying in the Great Glen, Spean Bridge has road links north towards Inverness and south to Fort William, provided by the A82, and the A86 heads east to join the A9 at Kingussie. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the '' Belle Époque'' era of Continental Europe. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists and the evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Ideologically, the Victorian era witnessed resistance to the rationalism that defined the Georgian period, and an increasing turn towards romanticism and even mysticism in religion, social values, and arts. This era saw a staggering amount of technological innovations that proved key to Britain's power and prosperity. Doctors started moving away from tradition and mysticism towards a science-based approach; medicine advanced thanks to the adoption ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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