I finally got to carry out the main exercise of the trip and take the photos of the coal depot site in Sunderland that I’m currently modelling. It wasn’t a wasted trip by any means, I’ve now got things more firmly settled in my mind, but I doubt any of the photos will themselves work for the backscenes. I’d have needed the chainsaw and my canal restoration friends to remove a lot of vegetation to get anything very useful.
As I didn’t have any need to spend much time in the town, and as it was a hot day, I did the sensible thing and went to the seaside. Good job I didn’t have that chainsaw though:
I can only assume they’ve had people cutting up firewood in the past. As I was at Roker, and within a few yards of one of the best Fish and Chip shops in the country, lunch was easily sorted!
The A1M had been closed since the previous day, and the SatNav was showing lots of red around Durham, so I decided to cut across North of the city via Penshaw Monument (the sign you’re nearly “home” to many) and Stanley. I debated stopping at the latter to visit Durham Trains of that ilk but frankly couldn’t be bothered as it wasn’t a great model shop last time I visited.
From there I headed up Weardale to Frosterley before turning off to cross the watershed into Teesdale. Many of the places I passed are referenced in the Lost Railways of Durham book I was reading yesterday and the evidence of the activity that really started the railways is all around. Here are a couple of pics I snapped on the way:
These are just small operations but they are signs of the mineral wealth that built the North East into an industrial powerhouse, sadly now much declined (but at least Nissan are expanding).
Tomorrow is a “free day” in that I’ve absolutely nothing planned. I really should get the rat bike out but with a forecast of solid sunshine and high temperatures I’m not sure I will. What I really need is a nice cool shady spot next to an old railway where I can do a bit of cycling for the sake of it then relax, preferably without having to drive very far, but I think that’s a rather tall order.
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