What's Not In Nottingham (2)

 Passengers : Parcels : Pool

We need to get our bearings! The RED line is the Midland Railway running from the east into Nottingham Midland station. The PINK line is London Road, leading from the historic centre of Nottingham to, guess where, London! The YELLOW area is Nottingham London Road Low Level station and its approaches and appurtenances., the ambit of the Great Norther Railway (GNR).

The rest will feature later.

The GNR arrived from the east - from Grantham - and, at first, had rights of access to the original and only Nottingham station,later with "Midland" added. But the relationship between the two companies was, at times, tortuous.

So in 1857 the GNR opened its own station, Nottingham London Road, later with 'Low Level' added. 

This was a grand affair with opulent station buildings ...

... and a large four bay covered train shed, subsequently extended with a three bay addition, The station handled passengers ...

... with parcels and light goods services sharing the platforms.

By the end of the 19th Century, The Great Central Railway was building its Victoria station in Nottingham, so the GNR jumped into bed with them and built a chord line into their station. This took most trains away from Low Level and into a better environment for connections and onward travel.

After lingering for a good many years, the original terminus closed to passengers in 1944.

But the (not so Great?) British Railways were ready to take over their splendid station and transform it into the parcels depot for Nottingham ...

... ultimately becoming wholly BRUTE-alised!

For a while in the early 1960s the station was a popular visit for rail tours.

... even hosting a visit from the preserved GNR Stirling Single ...

... attracting far bigger crowds than the station ever did when in normal passenger use!

Because of its rebirth as a parcels depot, the station buildings survived intact and were later occupied by a well known Health Club.

Whether by planning requirements or by commercial constraints, much of the station was rebuilt, refurbished and upgraded for its new purpose, and that included its splendid train shed.

Ineeed, the roof is unchanged in size and scope.

No doubt the ghosts of GNR passengers would recognise something of their former terminus, but fbb does wonder how many of those submitting themselves to today's masochism will realise that they lift, groan and sweat where once stood trains for Grantham!

Virgin customers now swim where once GNR locos deposited ash, steam and oil in the inter-platform track beds!

Only a hazy memory exists photographically of where eager travellers would enter for the departure of their eastbound trains.

Hey ho, such is progress.

Sadly, the other three stations did not fare so well. We shall return to them from Tuesday onwards. In the meantime a book review from Nottingham will adorn tomorrow's blog.

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 N azarene  N onentity

Quirky Answer, coming up ...

The title might shock some readers, especially some Christian readers. But. because of the extras that has been heaped on Christmas to make it pretty and to provide fodder for nativity plays, we become bamboozled by a sort of folksy celebration of prettiness and clutter - so bamboozled that the historic Birthday of Yeshua Ben Yusuf (Jesus son of Joseph) is lost in the man-made hype.

The Nativity was NOT PRETTY.

The most likely location for the birth of the Christ Child ...

Quirky Answer - and his manger was in one of the caves used by Shepherds to winter their flocks.

These caves are near (even under) what is now known as "The Shepherds' Field".

Apart from a brief visit from said shepherds, the only occupants would have been Mary, Joseph and the baby, placed unceremoniously in a feeding trough.

About two years later a group (number unspecified) of Zoroastrian Magi rocked up having studied the stars and followed one that was a bit weird. [Note : God's miraculous involvement in the  ways of humanity can be scary and weird - but they always make a difference.]

They came, according to Matthew's Gospel, to the house where the family was living.

It is unlikely that they would wear posh costumes and silly hats for a lengthy journey by horse (yep, no camels get a mention, horses would be the choice of such VIPs!) ...

... but whatever clutter you add, the most important part of the visit was he gifts.

Gold for a King - Jesus in his heavenly role.

Incense for a Priest - Jesus as the our way to God

Myrrh for a Death - Jesus came to die on a cross

The Wise Man narrative was NOT PRETTY.

Apart from one incident when, aged about 12, Jesus got separate from his parents because he was having a theological discussion with the Temple Priests ...

... we know NOTHING of the Nazarene Nonentity until ...

... It was the right time for the Nonentity to assume his full identity - and begin just three years of carefully recorded activity.

Quirky Question : Who came7 to Jesus in secret and, three years later, helped him publicly in death?

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 Next Beautiful Bus blog : Mon 15th December