Metro and a Station (mini blog 1)

 Mentioning Metro

The name originates from the above, a privately owned and developed London Underground company that we now know as The Metropolitan Line (the purple one).

Sometimes known as 'The Met' in publicity ...

... it later spawned Metro-Land, a developer of housing to be home to the people who would fill the trains!

But the soubriquet faded somewhat when the whole collection of London Underground trains, trams and buses became London Transport in the 1930s.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the name stuck!

It gained an extra letter 'i' to make it French!

Now the use of a word, which once meant "pertaining to a large city", is now world-wide stretching as far as Cardiff ...

... where the brand is already being part of 'the conversation'.

Glasgow is on the case as well ...

... using thr Metro brand as a hook on which to hang a fully 'franchised' and  'integrated' network. fbb intends to look more closely at the plans, but at the moment it seems very much like one of these floating past.

But today's  blog Metro is this beauty.

Dubbed the Austin miniMetro, it was introduced in 1980 and a sweet little thing it was.

fbb's  first ten driving lessons were in a British School of Motoring (BSM) Triumph Herald ..

... but he drove about half a dozen different (legally but not far) cars before his next and final set of 5 lessons in some sort of Datsun. Yes, he passed first time! 

Big 'Ed.

But BSM's later car of choice was the Metro. 

Oxford Die-cast has just introduced a cute model to OO scale (1:76) ... 

... and cute is the word. Its detail is amazing at only two inches long in the old money. BSM had moved on from enlarged 'L' plates; so the old bloke, wallowing, yet again, in nostalgia for a long-lost youth, sought corroborative reality.

It looks like these two may be 'preserved' but one lacks the blue stripes ...

... and another lacks the pyramid on the roof.

But there was one photo that matched the model.

From the quietness of the street and the other car lurking in the background, this may be a contemporaneous coloured capture.

The model is  pricey though, and at £10.95 will not be gracing fbb's layout!

Vanguard made a BSM Triumph Herald roughly suitable for 'O' gauge ...

... but with enhanced appurtenamces.

And A Station ...

... but which one?

Readers may remember this from previous blogs ...

It is the approach to Nottingham Victoria at Weekday Cross junction, arriving from London Road High Level.

So is this, but from a different angle.

But what is a 'peak' doing on the Great Central? Gricers please explain.

Or fbb might ask you about this station.

However, below is the station fbb will be looking at in tomorrow's mini blog.

The main structure of the station is unchanged today ...

... BUT ...

... Where are we?

And A Bit Of  Puzzle?

Readers may wish to amuse themselves by trying to explain this ever so genuine photograph supporting an on-line "news" item. The word 'news' should be treated with a pinch of salt ...

.... or perhaps more than a pinch?

Why doesn't the bicycle (between the two cars) have any handlebars?

What item is being ridden by the two people on the right?

What is being celebrated by a blue-white-blue flag and a purple-white-red flag, neither of which exist in any vexillological database?

And does the person with the dangerously enlarged head need some kind of medical treatment before squeezing into his car?

Finally, what has anything in the picture got to say about French driving licence changes?

There may well be some Appalling Implications!!!

  Next Station blog : Tuesday 3rd Feb