On our trip to Northeast England last year we took the opportunity to visit Beamish Open Air Museum, a place I’d always wanted to see since first I heard about it. It didn’t disappoint. It’s a wonderful nostalgia fest for those of a certain age.

I liked the transport exhibits – which are functional. Beamish occupies a large area. You could walk round it but it would take you a while.

Trams and a bus:-

More trams:-

A Porto tram (not on duty that day):-

Tram/bus stop:-

The weathervane on the stop is tram shaped:-

Railway Locomotive and Carriages:-

Dipwood Halt, A small scale railway halt:-

Turntable at Dipwood Halt:-

Helsinki has some nice trams.

I saw a great looking old one first but didn’t have my camera ready. Sadly it didn’t pass again.

All these are fairly modern:-

There’s a bit more age here I think:-

This one had an advertising slogan on it. Don’t ask me what the Finnish means!:-

The friends we were with were keen on us seeing the Illuminations so we duly stayed in Blackpool till the sun had gone down.

Illuminations, Tower in Distance:-

Tower:-

Tram:-

Overhead Illuminations:-

Roadside Illuminations, Alice in Wonderland Theme:-

More roadside Illuminations:-

You can’t go to BLackpool and not note the things for which it is most famous.

Piers.

Central Pier:-

North Pier:-

The Tower and trams:-

I took this photo of the Arrábida Bridge (of which more later) from the road above the north bank of the River Douro before we found the starting point for the boat trip:-

And I took this zoom from the bank itself:-

River bank buildings hard by the Dom Luís I Bridge:-

Other river bank buildings:-

Heritage Tram, Porto:-

This bridge seemed to take a road out over the river,* presumably because the houses were right on the bank and allowed no room:-

Cable cars. They seemed to come down from near the Dom Luís I Bridge:-

*Edited to add:- it’s called the Viaduto do Caias das Pedras.

…… that the last Glasgow Tram ran along the rails.

The trams were much loved in Glasgow. Thousands turned out to watch their final passing.

There’s film of Glasgow’s trams at the Scottish Screen Archive and The Last Tram appears on You Tube.

One of the strangest manifestations of the trad jazz boom of the early 1960s was The Temperance Seven. Despite the band’s name it was in fact a nine-piece. It was said at the time that was because only seven of them were teetotal. Wikipedia suggests that actually none of them were; it may be a pun on one under/over the eight.

Most of their tunes, performed in 1920s fashion, featured a long musical introduction before the vocal came in. The vocal also tended not to be sung but rather voiced, Rex-Harrison style.

My eldest brother had a few of their records. The You Tube video for this one has some nice film of trams.

The Temperance Seven: You’re Driving Me Crazy

Another of their hits was Pasadena:

The Temperance Seven: Pasadena (Look out for the (two) false ending(s.)

This last one, Hard hearted Hannah, I include because the good lady’s aunt apparently used to belt out the song at family “do”s.

The Temperance Seven: Hard hearted Hannah