Stables c1900

As much as the early 1900's saw a huge increase in motor vehicles on the streets of Great Britain, the horse was still by far the biggest method of transport on the roads, and so stables like these were commonplace. These stables would be used to house horses used to pull wagons, carts etc, and known as 'livery stables'

 

  Shire horse eyeing this blogger with suspicion - he proved friendly enough though!

Horse drawn float, c1900

 

 A two wheeled float such as this one would have been used to carry unwieldly loads, often milk churns or beer barrels. They would be driven by a single horse, and the driver would stand up at the front of the cart

 

Beamish Edwardian Bakery

These photos taken in April (apart from the photo of the advertisement on the side of the building taken in January) show the latest progress on the Bakery being built the Beamish open air museum - when finished, this Bakery, in the 1913 high street, will make and sell typical products of a north eastern Bakery. I can't wait!

Prometheus Electric Iron, 1915

 

 This is a very early electric iron (although the first one was patented in 1881, but seemed pretty lethal - see here for one http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10325625&itemw=4&itemf=0001&itemstep=1&itemx=9 ), produced by the Prometheus Electric Company of New York, USA. Electric irons are a domestic item that today we take for granted, but would have been very novel - and also expensive - in the Edwardian era. Owing to their expense, they were often hired out by companies - this one has 'THIS APPARATUS IS THE PROPERTY OF THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE ELECTRIC SUPPLY COY LTD' stamped on a metal plate affixed inside the handle. Apart from the initial expense of the item, another issue with using an electric iron is where to plug it in - no wall plugs in those days! The answer was to plug it in an electric light socket, as illustrated here with the socket for the iron on the left. It is now illegal to do this, although i'd struggle to think of why you'd want to! An interesting piece of Edwardian technology not often seen, and although perhaps not as interesting as an electric locomotive or big motor car, is probably more influential in the development of our domestic lives

Edwardian chocolate!

Not a particularly informative post, but just some nice photos of some Edwardian chocolate bars on display in the front window of the Jubilee Confectioners in the Beamish recreated Edwardian high street

 

 

Rolls Royce 40-50hp (8 cyl) Car (Lambert & Butler Motors 12 of 25)

This is 12 of 25 in the Lambert & Butler Motors Series of Cigarette Cards issued in 1908. From the back of the card;

"This is a 6 cylinder, 40-50hp car, known as the "Silver Ghost," which, in 1907, completed under the observation of the Royal Automobile Club, a road trial of 15,000 miles, with only one involuntary stop of one minute, to turn on the petrol tap, at the 629th mile. The car holds the record (14,371 miles) for the longest run without an involuntary stop"

Hawthorn & Leslie 0-4-0ST Steam Locomotive No 2, 1911 - Part 3

This typical Edwardian industrial railway Saddle Tank Locomotive, covered previously on the blog here;

http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hawthorn-leslie-0-4-0st-steam.html

And here;

http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/hawthorn-leslie-0-4-0st-steam_12.html

Is now complete and has returned to steam at the Tanfield Railway, a fantastic preserved railway in the north east of England. I believe the testing has gone well, and should be in regular passenger service before too long. I highly recommend a visit;

http://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/

 

 

London & North Western Railway Poster, 1910

London & North Western Railway and Caledonian Railway poster dating from 1910 advertising services to Scotland. A reproduction of the poster can be bought from - http://www.past-reflections.co.uk/Scotland_1910.html

Parts of Edwardian electric locomotive found in pub garden

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates recently, work and real life have got in the way but hope to get back up to speed soon - i've certainly got plenty of material!

Image - BBC

This post was sparked by a news article yesterday of the interesting discovery of cab sides from a 1904 electric locomotive found in a pub garden in Choppington, in north east England. The locomotive was North Eastern Railway number 2, an ES1 (Electric Shunting 1) BO-BO class electric locomotive built in 1904 for use on the Newcastle Quayside branch between Trafalgar Yard and the Quayside itself. Number 1 was preserved and has been covered on the blog here, with photos here;

http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/north-eastern-railway-electric.html

The identical No 2 was the subject of an attempted preservation after they were withdrawn in 1964 but unfortunately this failed, and was scrapped at the aptly named Choppington. The discovery of these panels is an amazing find, and there are photos here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-21742168

Hopefully they will go to a good home, and nice to know that a bit of No 2 lives on. According to a post on the LNER Forum, the other cab side with NER crest was at a model railway club, but i'm unsure of it's present location

Fiat 35-40hp Car (Lambert & Butler Motors 11 of 25)

This is 11 of 25 in the Lambert & Butler Motors Series of Cigarette Cards issued in 1908. From the back of the card;

"The illustration represents an up-to-date 35-40hp Fiat Car, fitted with standard Roi des Belges side-entrance body, folding glass wind sreen, and double extension Cape cart hood. Among the Royal owners of Fiats, are the Kings of Spain, Italy, and the late King of Portugal, while the German Emperor owns a whole fleet of them"