Tuesday 12 August 2014

Eee its Tea time

Here I am at the York's medieval city walls and the signs directing those in need of refreshment to Evie's Tea Room, envelopes can be posted on the way past in the double post box.  Nearby is Exhibitions Square the home of the City Art Gallery which is currently closed for a major upgrade until 2015.  This is Bootham Bar
the north west entrance and  one of four gatehouses into York.  In medieval times it restricted traffic into the city, sometimes collecting tolls and in times of war was closed and defended.  Although York's historic centre is its famous attribute it is also a key railway junction halfway between London and Edinburgh on the east coast line so where better to house the national railway collection which includes this  
beast, the enormous steam locomotive KF7, its scale can be judged by the family reading the information board.  It is one of originally 24 designed specifically for the conditions on the Guangzhou-Hankou Railway line in China. Built by the Vulcan Forge of Newton-le-Willows in Lancashire, a company that even had its own railway station (Vulcan Halt).  Completed in the 1930s these engines remained mostly unscathed through the turbulent period of China's history in the 1930s and 40s until they were retired in the 1970s.  There are two known survivors of this class, one in the Beijing Railway Museum and this one in York which was offered back to the UK by the Chinese Government for preservation and arrived in 1981.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at E here

 

6 comments:

ChrisJ said...

York is a fascinating city. I do love the double mail box. I've never seen one of those before. Many years ago we were taken to the railway museum for a school field trip. I'm ashamed to say I was bored to tears, but I was only about ten years old and trains were not my thing.

Roger Owen Green said...

I should drink tea more often

ROG, ABCW

mrsnesbitt said...

Love York - we often tootle down on the motorbike - the A64 is famously terrible to use late Sunday - Scarborough to York. Bottle necks in so many parts, we use A19 instead.
Great post.
Denise ABC Team.

Gerald (SK14) said...

Ee ah just do with a cuppa - those double mailboxes are actually quite common.

Leslie: said...

I'd love to go back to York again and try out Evie's Tea room. It's a beautiful city.

Leslie
abcw team

Ni de Aqui, Ni de Alla said...

Wow! That's a big machine! Great pictures, England is amazing!