Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955)

This is a great little film from 1955 where railway workers rescue a goods train stuck in a snow drift at Bleath Gill.

It takes a lot of workers, a big snow plough, some burning rags and a lot of elbow grease. 

The railway was the Statinmore railway and the engine was 78018, the railway closed in 1962 but the engine survived into preservation via a trip to the infamous Woodham Brothers scrapyard.Read more at Bleath Gill: Whatever Happened to the Heroes?

What would happen today? The railway would be closed or the train left there until spring....

Speeches that changed the world

I have seen this book around and it spoke to me as a book that should really be in my collection. After all like most people I am aware of great speeches like the Gettysburg address or the 'I have a dream speech' but I have never actually read them. Plus I am fascinated by such things so when a book token came into my hands I went to get the book.

The speeches have been chosen because of their impact on the world. Some were made by great men, some by evil men and other were made at the right time in the right place.

As good history always does they give us pause for thought sometimes exposing humanity at its greatest and weakest. History has much to teach us and so do these speeches.