In Affectionate Remembrance of the Derby Horse Cars, 1904

With the retirement of horse drawn trams when electric ones were introduced, the sense of occasion was marked by these postcards - not Derby specific, but issued to many towns and cities which were introducing electric trams almost identically, aside from the change of location and dates, with even the same image being used. The card reads;

'In affectionate remembrance of the Derby Horse Cars (London Road and Osmaston Road Sections) which succumbed to an ELECTRIC SHOCK July 28th 1904 after 25 years of faithful service

"GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN"'

Crossley 20/25 Tourer, 1914

This stunning large Edwardian Tourer was made by the firm of Crossley Motors, based in Manchester. Their large 20hp model became uprated to 20/25hp in 1912, and were well known for their quality, reliability and high speed of 55mph. They were quickly adopted by the Royal Flying Corps from their beginnings in 1912, and both the Tourer variant and a Tender (light truck) built on the 20/25 chassis were the standard vehicle of the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force. This example is preserved in Lancashire along with a Tender. This Tourer was built in 1914 and went to India to serve as a Royal Flying Corps Staff Car, and is still capable of travelling at 55mph, and did so to get to Stow Maries Airfield in Essex, an original WW1 Royal Flying Corps Home Defence Aerodrome 

World's first colour moving pictures discovered - British, and 1902!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19423951 - click the link to view the footage and the report, copied below. Exciting news, and beautiful images, in the news today and yesterday;

"The world's first colour moving pictures dating from 1902 have been found by the National Media Museum in Bradford after lying forgotten in an old tin for 110 years.

The discovery is a breakthrough in cinema history.

Michael Harvey from the National Media Museum and Bryony Dixon from the British Film Institute talk about the importance of the discovery.

The previous earliest colour film, using the Kinemacolour process, was thought to date from 1909 and was actually an inferior method.

The newly-discovered films were made by pioneer Edward Raymond Turner from London who patented his colour process on 22 March 1899.

The story of Edwardian colour cinema then moved to Brighton. Turner shot the test films in 1902 but his pioneering work ended abruptly when he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Now the film has been restored by the National Media Museum and is being shown to audiences for the first time.

The Race for Colour is broadcast on Monday, 17 September 2012 on BBC One South East and Yorkshire, at 19:30 BST and nationwide for seven days thereafter on the iPlayer"

Hawthorn & Leslie 0-4-0ST Steam Locomotive No 2, 1911 - Part 2

Inside the smokebox

These images taken the past weekend on 8th September show the latest progress on the overhaul of Hawthorn & Leslie No 2, covered before on this blog here - http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hawthorn-leslie-0-4-0st-steam.html - located on the Tanfield Railway. As you can see there has been a LOT of progress in the past two months and will hopefully be back in steam before too long, it looks wonderful

 

 

Humber 11hp Tourer, 1914

This Humber 11hp Tourer was bought at auction in 2002 in a highly original state. The buyer planned to restore it to original condition, but unfortunately passed away before he got any further with the restoration than disassembling it and rebuilding part of the engine. The car was instead donated to the Coventry Transport Museum, who have decided to leave it as it is, conserving it instead of restoring it.

AEG Electric Locomotive, 1913

 

 This very unusual looking electric locomotive was built by AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitats-Gesellschaft, which translates as 'General Electric Company') of Germany for the Harton Electric Railway system in the north-east of England, in 1913. The Harton Electric Railway was an industrial railway that linked the collieries at Harton and Westoe with the staithes at South Shields, very innovative and forward-thinking when the vast majority of industrial railways and even main railways were, and continued to do so until the 1960's, relied on steam locomotives.

 

The Harton Electric Railway was opened in 1908, originally using Siemens built electric locomotives (again built by a German company), later supplemented by AEG built locomotives such as this one, E9. The system was in use for over 80 years, and E9 went through the ownership from the Harton Coal Company to the National Coal Board and later British Coal, before moving to preservation at the Tanfield Railway in 1988, where it was photographed on a wet day in July 2012

Watch 'Undressing Extraordinary', 1901

Another fantastic film from the British Film Institute's Archives, showing one man's efforts to get undressed and go to sleep. This film is another of my favourite, with superb camera trickery and special effects

"Adams" 14hp Landaulette (Lambert & Butlers Motors, 5 of 25)

This is 5 of 25 in the Lambert & Butler Motor Series of Cigarette Cards, issued in 1908. From the back of the card;

"This picture shows the "Adams" 14hp Landaulette, purchased by the British Minister to Abyssinia for presentation to the Emperor Menelik. This superbly equipped car was chosen for use in the wild region of Central Africa on account of its extreme simplicity and reliability for which the "Adams" cars have become world renowned. They are well known by their description, "Pedals to Push, that's All," which relates to the control"

Motor Omnibus, c1907

This is a period advert from The Motor Car Emporium Ltd, of Addison Road North, Holland Park Avenue, London. The Motor Car Emporium was a dealer in Durkopp and de Dion Bouton vehicles, specialising in commercial vehicles. This advert shows a single decked Motor Omnibus with an open verandah at the rear which was popular with French motor busses at the time. The description says that it 'Carries 14 inside, 4 on platform and 2 beside driver'

 

Watch 'The Smallest Car in the Largest City in the World', 1913

This amusing short film shows 'the baby Cadillac ordered by Queen Alexandra for Crown Prince Olaf of Norway' driving around London