Random Stuff!

[wolfheze]

The sierra cosworth mention has got me thinking about the btcc championship in the late 80s, used to go to Silverstone to see Andy Rouse , Robb Gravett, Tim Harvey etc do battle. Those Sierra race cars were putting out well over 500 bhp, proper racing was that

 

[wolfheze]

Apologies to those who've already seen it.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I've not seen that before, very impressive stuff. How close was that hole???

I'm really hoping that road was closed for the landing.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Ah nostalgia, you can't beat it... I got told off some time ago for going 'off-topic' when i mentioned Moor Street Station, but as much as a lot of old Brum was drab, there remains a timeless beauty about this station. It is a real gem in the heart of a rapidly changing and modern city, and what a foil for the brand, spanking new multi-million£ Grand Central.

There are some fascinating old pictures of Moor Street on the links at the bottom of this website.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/birmingham_moor_street/index0.shtml

Also a piece in the Birmingham Mail.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/new...celebrating-history-birminghams-train-8411060

Definitely a real gem.

 

[wolfheze]

Lucky Snow Hill was listed otherwise it would have been lost. I can't picture exactly where it was in relation to the old ring road system before the bull ring redevelopment. Talking of railways my father once told me a story about a despatch rider during the war who was unfortunately killed when he went off the A 45 (then called the Coventry rd) at Bickenhill where the roadworks are and plunged down onto the railway line.

 

[wolfheze]

Anyone collect diecast stuff?
Started a collection of the aircraft I used to see. Still some way to go as some types haven't been made for years and some not at all yet. Never actually saw a courtline one eleven but just liked the colour scheme, kind of the British version of Braniff.View attachment 3119

 

[wolfheze]

I know its a rubbish picture but best i can do on the phone

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Ah, Court Line. I never flew with them but remember them. A pal of mine used them on a package holiday jaunt to Majorca in the early 1970s. They were certainly the means by which many British people took their first holiday abroad - by air anyway.

Their 1-11s were painted in those all-over pastel colours: versions of yellow, green, pink, violet. The airline and associated travel company, Clarksons, went out of business in 1974, mainly as a result of the OPEC oil embargo on The West following the Arab-Israeli War, a severe recession and the three-day week. Has much changed in the world in that respect? it's a different type of oil problem at the moment; we're getting over a massive recession and the Middle East, as always seems to be the case, is a powder keg.

Incidentally, Go adopted a variation of the Court Line aircraft livery scheme when they painted their B 737s in different colours on the engine covers and beneath the fuselage. Go also painted different logos on the side of their aircraft that incorporated the word 'Go' such as 'Let's Go'; 'Go Now'; 'Away We Go' and many more.

 

[wolfheze]

I remember GO, not sure where i saw them though. Did they fly from bhx?

 

[wolfheze]

Think the first I heard of Courtline was on the bbc news programme 'nationwide' when they went bust in 74?

 

[flymetothemoon]

GO were origially set up as a low cost arm of BA based at Stansted.I cant
remember one ever visiting BHX though

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Go Fly was BA's low cost airline set up in 1998 and its base was Stansted as has been said. After a Europe-wide search (according to the airline's CEO Barbara Cassani) a second base was set up at Bristol in 2001 and later a third at East Midlands.

BA had become uneasy with their low-cost airline, partly because it was thought to be diverting passengers away from BA mainline, and sold Go to a management buy out. Not long after that easyJet became interested in purchasing Go and it was finally completely absorbed into easyJet in 2003.

I used Go several times from Bristol and it was an excellent airline with, at the time, a touch of class (if that's not an oxymoron when associated with low cost airlines) not normally found in the genre in my experience.

During and for a while after the 'takeover' period some easyJet flights were using Go aircraft still painted in Go livery.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's because of Go that Birmingham has been unsuccessful in it's attempts at getting an Easyjet base.

After they took over they got an EMA base by default and it apparently performed so badly that they've now got a downer on the Midlands.

 

[wolfheze]

Must have been when i was flying out of Stanstead that i saw them.

 

[richard winterbourn]

Oh my God, i must be a lot older than i thought! I can remember flying on a brand spanking new pink Courtline Tristar(?) on one of its first flights, to Palermo in Sicily. The strangest thing happened though as we were able to leave Palermo on the return journey. It seemed the whole of the airport came out to watch, and from my window seat i could see a man on a ladder above the airport buildings fall off and crash through the roof. Clearly, there was nothing i or anyone on the aircraft could do, but i often wonder what happened to him.

 

[wolfheze]

Probably this one

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I remember seeing a visiting yellow CourtLine Tristar at Birmingham.

 

[wolfheze]

Wish i had started going a year or two earlier, I seemed have missed quite a lot

 

[richard winterbourn]

Maybe that was the one Wolfheze, it was quite an experience. However not as good as my first flight from Brum, or should i say Manchester. Fog at Elmdon meant being bussed up to MAN for a MATO BAC-1-11 to Faro. The return, a touch of history, a DanAir Comet back into Brum.

The one real downside someone stole the duty free bottle of Camus brandy i bought in MAN and i lost some of my luggage in the car park at Brum on my return. I left it by the side of the car. Telephone calls to the airport later failed to find it.

 

[Brum X]

Should Birmingham be a skyscrapercity ??

The below was indeed an April fool, but gives you an idea of the sort of massing we could have in the city centre. There are tall buildings proposed over 100 metres but i really think we need a statement tower of 200 metres to tell the world we mean business. Of course BHX would have to be consulted on such a tall tower but im sure they will be fine. Its the politicians that poke there nose into stuff like this. (tut tut Mr prescott who did just this back in the 90s when we had a similar proposal)