Niederau, Achensee and Tratzburg Castle

Sunday, 10 August 2003. It was our first full day in Austria for this trip and we are booked on an excursion to Lake Achensee and Tratzburg Castle.

Our coach is picking up from our sister hotel, the Schonnschein or "Sunshine" hotel. We were first meeting our holiday rep here before the trip, to take up or otherwise any optional outings.

There is only one day we don't fancy which would be our last day. I start to plan an outing for that day and then it's time to get on the coach for today's trip. We travel through some typical Tyrolean landscapes. Many of the buildings have large stores of wood for burning fuel over the winter. Some have sheds, others pile it around the house for added avalanche protection.

I thought at the time that we had been to Achensee before, during our 2000 trip. But that had been Königsee. So I didn't recognise anything particularly!

It was quite dull when we arrived but before long the sun came out, turning the lake a bright and beautiful turquoise colour and raising everyone's spirits.

We heard the deep note of a diesel engine and turned to see the arrival of the Nostalgia Bus. This was a regular service and although our schedule didn't allow us to go for a ride on it, it was worthy of a closer look.

The driver was in full traditional dress, complete with lederhosen, leather shorts.

Then it was back to our own bus for the trip to Tratzburg Castle. This was taken from our moving coach so is a little blurred. Unfortunately no photography is allowed inside.

Outside though was the mangled wreckage of a car. Maybe you had been wondering from a previous comment why the Austrians might need to stack wood against their buildings in case of avalanche? This is why. The damage to the car was caused by something slightly larger and weightier than a snowball...

We arrive back at Niederau following our tour and the coach driver is good enough to drop off the Schonnschein guests and then carry on up the hill to our hotel. The local pony club is setting off for a late afternoon ride.

Return to Austrian Tyrol 2003 Index

Blackpool Steam and Transport Day, 1982

Sunday, 6 June 1982. We walked down to Blackpool Airport to the Steam and Transport day. Stand by for traction engines and fairground organs galore!

It wasn't the best of days as far as the weather was concerned, but the weather is never all that predictable in Blackpool anyway and can change ten times in as many minutes. The scene as we walked in alongside the steady stream of cars heading for the car parks.

Visiting the site today, you could be forgiven for wondering where all these fields were, but at the time the terminal building was a lot smaller and the hotel and pub restaurant were not even thought of, so there was a lot more space than there would be in later years.

Prospector up close and personal. This is the last surviving showman's engine built by Foden. Dating from 1910 it was built for W Shaw & Sons of Sheffield and toured all over Yorkshire, hauling fairground rides and providing their power until 1939 when it was sold to someone for preservation.

I can just about remember the last days of steam rollers, puffing away in the 1950s as hot tarmac was poured onto a road, followed by shovelfuls of grit, the resulting mixture then compressed by these leviathans to thin layers on top of previous layers to form a road. Feeling the earth shake as they went by and watching the hot steam rise from the newly-made surface. The clanking of chains and rollers as the steam roller was steered by the simple method of the steering wheel causing the chains at either side of the front roller to pull on one side of the axle whilst going slack on the other to allow it to swing. This is Cinderella - all these steam engines seemed to have a name as well as the registration (MB 5846) and a serial number (10906). It was made in 1924 by Aveling & Porter.

DH 2482 Goliath was a traction engine commissioned by the War Department in 1917 and delivered the year after to pull artillery guns to the front in World War I. Made by J & H McLaren with 3 gears, serial no. 1623. Used after the war as a showman's engine.

FA 2316 Dolphin the last showman's engine to be built by Charles Burrell & Sons Ltd at their Thetford factory in 1925. Serial no.4030, she had 3 gears and passed through several owners before becoming bogged down in a field and finally rescued for preservation.

A display of vintage motorcycles standing in a row.

An early (1920s?) Indian motorcycle from the famous American manufacturer. Unfortunately I've been unable to ascertain the exact model. Usually if a vehicle of this age is still in existence you can google the make and registration number and find out the required details, but in this case I drew a blank. If anyone knows more, please leave a comment.

An early motor scooter. I fared just as well with this as I did with the Indian above. There is a Mrs W.R. something or other that lives at No. 4820 of her road in Maine USA...

The other big draw to the day for me was the reason for this gathering of folks whose attention has been gathered so fully...

There was a good collection of fairground organs at the show!

Large ones, small ones, some with wooden flutes, some with metal pipes.

Almost all with animated figures. Some with percussive instruments like castanets all the way up to sets of drums and glockenspiels.

The largest of them had all of these things; full sets of both wooden and metal pipes and auxiliary instruments too.

I had taken a tape cassette recorder with me and still have a set of recordings made on this day of the different organs. Plus some of the sounds of the steam engines and noises of the fair. It was the start of an ongoing family joke, where I used to take a small cassette recorder on holiday and capture sounds of sea and events and family. I christened it Captain Slog from the Star Trek phrase: "Captain's Log..."

Return to Blackpool Attractions Index Page

Found Photos Index Page

A series of articles featuring vintage photographs that I have come across in family archives or have bought in albums at car boot sales and antiques shops. photographs are at least half a century old with some from the early years of the 20th century. They represent a view of the social history that the present generation owes its existence to. Most of the people depicted would have viewed the present world as an alien place.

Each article can be accessed by clicking or tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article will bring you back to this index page.

Photographic and Darkroom Equipment

An unusual post this time as it is just about unheard of for me to sell stuff via this blog, but having inherited the collection of photographic equipment of my uncle, my brother and I have been disposing of the following somewhat outdated and redundant items. Most, as will be seen though, were in excellent condition and most items were still boxed.

Most of these items are of curiosity value in their own right. All photographs can be clicked/tapped for a larger view.

All of these items have now been disposed of and are no longer available.

Courtney studio flash boxed set with Solarflash units 1000 and 1000S with stands, background stand and trough, Courtney M44 flash meter, Courtney 84cm silver brolly, silver circular honeycomb and snood. All contained in a single large carrying case.

A second Courtney studio flash boxed set with 2x Solarflash units 4000 with stands, background stand and trough, Courtney M44 flash meter, 2x Courtney gold/white reversible brolly.

Durst M601 Colour Enlarger. Baseboard, rack and pinion stand, enlarging head.

Durst M601 Colour Enlarger. Colour head insert with bulb, condensers and colour filtration system, Colour analyser, Nikon Nikkor 50mm enlarging lens and enlarger mains power pack.

Durst Modular 70 Professional Enlarger. Baseboard, rack and pinion stand, enlarging head and B/W insert.

Durst Modular 70 Power pack, Labometer, Colour Analyser, Vario B/W contrast analyser, RH Designs "The Analyser" enlarging meter and timer.

On the left, a couple of vintage timers / manual switches and right, a Philips System 2000 Digital Process Timer PDT 2015.

JOBO Colour Processor CPE2.

Print processing drum and chemical bottles for the above processor.

Micronyl water filter. c1960s

Darkroom safety lamps. The one on the left would have been bought with the Durst M601 enlarger and has an Ilford 902 Colour printing safety filter fitted. Next is a 1950s/60s lamp fitted with standard red filter for black and white printing. Finally a somewhat more sophisticated Wotan Duka 10 lamp with various settings and tilt head.

Various Barfen chemical storage bottles with concertina action to expel air from inside a partially full bottle. Measuring cylinders, thermometers and a chemical mixer.

Unexposed photographic 10x8 paper dispenser - sends out a single sheet at a time. Holds 100 sheets I suspect. The leaflet says 200 but shows a double unit.

Plastic developing trays for both 10x8 and 7x5 prints with tongs.

Two enamelled metal dishes 10x8 inches c1950s.

Photax dishwarmer holding up to 4x 10x8 dishes to keep chemicals at correct temperature.

High-speed print washer with inlet and outlet hoses.

Paterson print drying rack.

Paterson 35mm contact print frame. Prints entire film of photos on a sheet of 10x8 paper.

Contact printer for 6x6cm negatives.

Enlarging masking frame allowing up to 4x smaller prints to be made on a single sheet of 10x8 inch paper.

Paterson film developing tank.

Luminescent dial thermometer for darkroom use - glows slightly in the dark if held to a light first (not tested!).

Measuring cylinders and funnels. Paterson water filter with fittings to both rubber tap sleeve and bowl. Two sponges still in original unopened packaging (very reasonable rates...)

Slik 88 camera tripod with pan and tilt head. A highly-respected tripod over many years.

Several bits - a tripod projection screen, another camera tripod (in the stringed box), tripods and stands for background screens and photoflood lighting and ... er... a wire tailor's dummy in the tube with the blue label...

Studio Photoflood set comprising stands, two silver metal reflectors, lampholders to fit and photoflood bulbs (not tested). Age can be estimated from the packaging material!

1950 Brayhead HI LITE hand-held electronic flash unit with shoulder strap. Boxed and with original instructions. Seen below with flash head open.

Royal BC Duo Lux 1950s or early 1960s flashgun with reflector, battery pack and a number of flashbulbs. They contained magnesium wire in a blue glass bulb and when it went off they got so hot that the glass would melt and bubble. They are single use only!

Small quantity of unused PF1 and PF1B flashbulbs.