Gang Plodge - Part 2

Please be Reminded;

DECEMBER BLOGS

fbb will be adding his traditional "Advent Calendar" each day from 1st to 26th December. Thus year the theme is:-

Christmas is Not Just for Christmas

It's as Easy as A to Z

To that end, there will be a daily quirky quiz question, mainly about Christmas; to be answered in the following day's  blog.

As your increasingly ancient blogger is in need of a bit of a break, the Public Transport content of December postings will be somewhat reduced in amount, but, hopefully not reduced in stimulation and excitement.

Hmmm?

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And Back to Whitley Bay

The first public trains ran on the Tyne and Wear Metro in August 1980. Only the northern part of the loop via Whitley Bay was operated with trains departing from Haymarket and terminating at 

Tynemouth (the ORANGE line).

Trains via Byker still operated as previously with proper trains from Newcastle Central.

The posh VIP opening was in November 1981, performed with aplomb by HMQ observed by the obligatory V a bit less I Ps a k a Civic Dignitaries.

Everything about the Metro was "state of the art" and shiny. There were escalators at the underground stations, there were barriers and ticket machines and there were a couple of front seats next to the driver's cubicle so you could see the road ahead.

Juicy.

But Whitley Bay station was still rather tired but with bright new signs.

The splendid all-over station roof  was opened up when the route was converted from electric to diesel in the 1960s to let the fumes out and the wind and rain in.

It was also cut back a little at one end ...

... to make way for a new footbridge.  The extension canopy over the platform (above, upper right) was removed but most of the structure remained.

And, hooray, it has recently been reglazed, repainted and generally refettled!

The holes have been refilled as well.

Here are the lads hard at work ...

... and here is the roof (a section thereof) without hi-vis costumes but still with the work platform in place above the tracks.

It has made the station much brighter as revealed by the VIP in the Atrium!

It's All On-Line?

Or is it? Whilst trawling the interwebnet for pictures of Whitley Bay station this item appeared as a response to the flbb interrogation.

There was the tower, and there was an older roof - but what was the train? Surely the North Eastern Railway never ran anything like that?

Another picture added to the confusion.

We now have overhead electrification and a very un-British looking train.

Closer inspection, with brain switched on, revealed that it was a different tower and the station buildings appeared to stand above the tracks not alongside. If in doubt, fbb, read the text!

These pictures were not of Whitley Bay but of Newcastle - and not on Newcastle Tyne and Wear but Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

The ever helpful Google had found stations NEAR Whitley Bay (i.e. Newcastle upon Tyne), but, being Google, it had found one other Newcastle which has a station.

There is the similar tower, next to the bus station ...

... so as part of tomorrow's variety we should have a look at the Oz trains at Newcastle.

Those Yellow Tank Wagons!

Now fully displayed.

Ignore the Sodor wagon on the topmost shelf and the two yellow wagons on the bottom. They are not "Shell".

One and a half shelves are dedicated to Shell tankers, most of which have featured in recent blogs. Is fbb obsessed or is he obsessed?

And do fellowship worshippers at church reverse away when the old bloke mentions any tank wagon?

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 F athers of  F aith

The word 'patriarch' is from Greek. 'pater' as in Latin is 'father' and the 'arch' bit is from 'archein', a ruler. So a Patriarch is a father who is also a ruler. There is a string of them in the Bible as follows:-

Abraham married Sarah and they produced Isaac

Isaac married Rebecca and produced twins ...

Quirky Answer : Jacob was smooth skinned ...

... while his brother, Esau, was hirsute and, most likely, red haired. 

The two brothers had a massive falling out which involved a bowl of bean soup ...

... basically because everyone cheated everyone else. 

Jacob had twelve sons and a daughter. a busy man indeed. The kids were produced by four different women but that is another story, and full of even more cheating by everyone involved!

But we read that Jacob wrestled with God ...

... thereafter becoming something of a reformed character.  His eleventh son, the first born to Rachel, the woman he really loved, was Joseph, famous for the coat his dad gave him! This famous long linen coat with embroidery ...

... was a sign of his status as Jacob's favourite first born, but first born to the woman he loved. It never was a coat of many colours.

So he got sold to some itinerant travelling salesmen and  ended up No 2 in Egypt where, through God given good management, he saved the people from starvation!

You really couldn't make it up! The whole shemozzle would make several months' storylines for a Biblical equivalent of EastEnders!

HIT or MYTH?

There is not the slightest doubt that this complex everyday tale of country folk (Oh, that's "The Archers", sorry!) has its place in real history even if detailed corroboration is simply not there. Remember, these people were nomads shambling around the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia - they were of no interest to the scribes charged with the recording of the exploits of kings, queens and princes.

But back to Abraham; and the point at which he was 'told by God' to sacrifice Isaac. Scaree!

But, at the last minute, a male lamb (ram?) was spotted caught in a bush and, by substitution, saved the boy.

The death of a 'lamb' as a substitute to save people. ..?

Sounds familiar? It should sound familiar, because that's the consequence of CHRISTmas.

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 Next Variety blog : Sunday 7th December