40 thoughts on “ALL OUR YESTERDAYS”

  1. I have no idea where that first picture is but judging by the snow, the car and the contraption at the front of the bus, it was the winter of 1962/63. Which apparently was awfie cauld – the cauldest since 1947. Not that I would personally know but they have become infamous.

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  3. The bus snowplough is a Glasgow Corporation AEC Regent, so the pic is likely to be from the 1950s, I’d guess as these models were quite old but Panda Paws may be right, some may have still been in use 1962/63.

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    1. The “backender ” as they were called . They ran right up to the late 80’s , used to get one to school , very industrial diesel engines , as I remember .

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  4. Pic 2, Tris, is Aberdeen going by the bus livery, the granite building and the street name, Trinity Quay. Looking at the clothing – all workmen – It could be 1930s 0r 1950s.

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  5. #2 is Aiberdeen, but I don’t remember that shape of the bus with the sloped back front and peculiar roof. I’m 1948 vintage so I would guess this could be immediately post war, or maybe as late as early fifties? And it looks like everyone is going home from Hall Russell’s shipyard.

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    2. The bus looks a bit like a wartime utility body and so far as I can see at that angle, a Daimler radiator. Aberdeen had a lot of more modern Daimlers later on, as had Dundee; pre – selector gears which accentuated any sporting instincts in the driver, although Dundee drivers seemed to have more of this than Aberdeen.

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  6. The fourth picture reminds me of UK and European locomotives I would see in the movies set in Europe, and how unusual they would look compared with the old steam locomotives in American Westerns. The European locomotives had cylindrical bumpers in front, while the American locomotives had wedge-shaped “cow catchers.” The idea being that American locomotives would operate in open range country on the Great Plains and other wilderness areas, with cattle, bison, and wildlife all around. Apparently the cow-catchers evolved and became less prominent as time went by, but those European bumpers never caught on in America. Orient Express movies always had bumpers on the engine.

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    2. Danny, love the 2nd pic of what is surely a Union Pacific Challenger 4-6-6-4 locomotive, precursor of the even mightier “Big Boy” 4-8-8-4. Not beautiful but massive and mighty.

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      1. Hi Andi…….I noticed that it was a Union Pacific, but not the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy. Apparently (Wiki says) UP operated the Challengers over much of its line, usually in freight service, but also in some passenger service on the steep mountain grades of the West to California and Oregon. Operating experience which went into the design of the Big Boys.

        UP3985…..A Challenger in operation:

        The Big Boys were in operation on the UP until 1959. Wiki says: “The Big Boy fleet of twenty five locomotives were used primarily in the Wyoming Division to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah.”

        A reminder that the main line of the UP in Wyoming is generally along the alignment of the 1869 transcontinental railroad which hooked up in a ceremony at Promontory Point near Ogden. A beautiful desolate place maintained as a national historic site as it was on May 10, 1869…..the west front of the Wasatch range to the east, the Great Salt Lake to the south and the Great Salt Lake Desert to the west. Hard to be there and not think of the railroad builders who finally made California accessible from the East. What was left of the original tracks were pulled up as scrap metal in WWII, but much of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific grades are still visible in the area, and at the historic site you can drive your car along the 1869 grade for several miles.

        A famous picture of the Jupiter on its way to the Golden Spike ceremony from the west, carrying Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific. He and T.P. Durant of the Union Pacific later shook hands at the center of the meeting of the rails picture. A nationwide telegraph hookup from the operator at the base of the pole got the news to the East and to California in real time, the Liberty Bell was rung in Philadelphia, and the parade in Chicago was seven miles long.

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        1. PS….Andi…….Speaking of Union Pacific Steam, UP 844 , a 4-8-4, was the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific in 1945. It’s still maintained and in use by UP for publicity purposes……with an identical unit of the same class, UP 838, kept in the UP roundhouse at Cheyenne (Wyoming) for spare parts.

          Some video of 844 on the UP turntable at Cheyenne…..and moving right along with traffic at about 70 mph. A locomotive of this class pulled a 1,000 ton passenger train at 100 mph.

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          1. Danny, thanks – wonderful clips of UP3985 and of the Highball running at 75 mph. Over here when an express loco was running fast they were sometimes described as “shovelling the smoke over her shoulder”. Wonderfully evocative phrase. When I was a kid I could walk to the end of my street and look down the embankment onto the railway lines and often I’d see the trains headed up the west Highland Line for Fort William and Mallaig pulled (or double-headed, as they say) by two Stanier “Black 5” locos – wonderful black monsters. If you were down near the trackside, they were only feet away and sometimes the driver or fireman would wave to you. One day one of them even blew the whistle – I know it was for me because there was no other rule book reason for him to do it. You can’t buy that!

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            2. Great story Andi. Wonderful experiences! I found a video of Union Pacific double-heading UP 844 and UP 3985 Challenger over Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie. Sherman Hill was the high point on the transcontinental railroad, and is still the highest point on the Union Pacific main line. No close views here unfortunately.

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  7. The bike in front of the bus…not enough detail; it could be a Triumph or a BSA. The mudguards are more enveloping than anything I’ve seen on them.

    Oh, you were asking about the bus?

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    2. Conan, I’d say BSA Bantam D1 – 1948-ish. The big rear mudguard with carrier rack and plunger rear suspension are typical. It was probably that snot green colour too – did it come in any other, I wonder. Ah, but then I remember the old riddle – What’s red and throbs between your legs? – A GPO telegram boy’s BSA Bantam!

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      2. Bantam is right, but I’d say newer than that due to its rear suspension; I’ve a suspicion that all the early ones had rigid frames. Both D1 (125cc) and D3 (150cc) were available with that frame.

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  8. Tris, 2nd last pic – at first I imagined a wee Glesca wifie saying, “Ye wait fur ages fur a 17 caur an’ then a dozen o’ them turn up at ance.” But it’s maybe the big power cut in 1954 that brought the city’s trams to a standstill.

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    1. Dave, I did initially think it was the last night of the trams, then I thought of the big power-cut. After I’d put up my comment, I thought again – “Whit an eejit you are, Andi – power cut and a’ the trams lit up like Blackpool illuminations and a’ the street lamps on!”

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