Plaque Of The Week

Plaque Of The Week. Mostly at or near railway stations. Submissions welcome!

[Philip Haigh @philatrail]

Different times…

[Ronke Lawal @ronkelawal]

Wilston Samuel Jackson was the first Black British Train Driver and there's a blue plaque dedicated to him in King's Cross Station.

[railway200 @railway200]

During this busy period for the health service and as the modern railway's bicentenary year comes to a close, it provides a timely reminder of the little-known but important role played by the railway in the creation of the NHS.

When devising the NHS, politician Aneurin (Nye) Bevan took inspiration from The Great Western Railway Medical Fund and its hospital and restorative baths in Swindon, established to help look after sick or injured railway staff.

Founded in 1847, the Fund opened a hospital, swimming and washing baths, a dispensary, medical and dental practices and laboratory.

@GWRHelp

After visiting the facilities, it is reported Nye Bevan said: "There it was, a complete health service. All we had to do was to expand it to embrace the whole country."

Today, a blue plaque on Faringdon Road, Swindon commemorates the railway's role as "the blueprint for the NHS."

For more info: https://t.co/nRCtZCb3iM

[Joe Brown @JoeBrownLondon]

#OnThisDay 105 years ago at 20:32 a mail train carrying the remains of the Unknown Warrior arrived at Victoria platform 8. The roof of the carriage carrying the soldier's remains was painted white, so people en route could salute it. Image: MoorwaySouth https://t.co/jKM1aaJM4l

[Tim Dunn @MrTimDunn]

Some nice heritage features spotted on Platform 1 of @NetworkRailMAN Manchester Piccadilly today. Cast iron foliate capitals & polychromatic brickwork, a granite water fountain which likely pre-dates the station rebuild of 1866 and a plaque re-sited from the 3rd Woodhead Tunnels.

[Gareth Dennis @GarethDennis]

@Railnatter As the rather oblique 1981 plaque at Barnstaple station says... "The winnable future seems that much brighter" - a future within our reach but denied us by the dreck we've been given as political leaders shines far brighter than the one we've got now.

[Tim Dunn @MrTimDunn]

Niche spot alert! If you look closely, near the south end of Grantham Platform 2, you might spot this memorial to one of Britain’s longest construction sites. There are similar at Durham & Peterborough, and a monument at Newcastle… all to the ECML electrification. By 1991 wires had reached Edinburgh.

It sped up services and enabled a new fleet of trains, the 225s, which are still giving sterling service for @lner today on @NetworkRailEC alongside newer electric and bi-mode trains too.

“This mast, the 10,000th on the East Coast Main Line electrification project was "planted" here at Grantham on Wednesday 15th October, 1986, by the Rt. Hon. John Moore, M.P., Secretary of State for Transport.”

[Joe Brown @JoeBrownLondon]

ON THIS DAY: 104 years ago at 20:32, a mail train carrying the remains of the Unknown Warrior arrived at Victoria platform 8. The roof of the carriage carrying them was painted white, so people en route could salute it. Image: MoorwaySouth / Wikimedia

[Class 507 Preservation @class_507]

On this day in 1978, Queen Elizabeth II performed the official opening of the #Merseyrail underground at Moorfields, then travelled to Kirkby aboard brand new 507001.

46 years later, Merseyside's own royal train is nearing retirement, but we will be preserving it for posterity.

[Green Signals @greensignallers]

Where is @SRichardBowker in this photo - and where is he off to??!

[Plaque Of The Week @PlaqueOfTheWeek]

Can anyone help with a picture of this plaque?

[RailwayHeritageTrust @RailwayHeritage]

Could I call on the @railwayheritage social media hive mind - does anyone have a photo of a plaque that used to be sited at Charing Cross Station, commemorating those who died when the roof collapsed in 1905? It went missing during the 1980s redevlopment of the station.

[RailwayHeritageTrust @RailwayHeritage]

Could I call on the @railwayheritage social media hive mind - does anyone have a photo of a plaque that used to be sited at Charing Cross Station, commemorating those who died when the roof collapsed in 1905? It went missing during the 1980s redevlopment of the station.

[melbourne metropolitan busways board @commies4eno]

did the single most important bit of tourism I have done, or ever will do: the first reinforced concrete underpass in the WORLD

[The Woodhead Route @WoodheadRoute]

Tens of thousands of people walk past this every day. When the Woodhead station closed this sign was moved to platform 1 at what is now Manchester Piccadilly,

Where it still is now: dusty and lonely.

[Transport Scotland @transcotland]

It’s official!

@ScotGovFM unveils the plaque at #Leven Station as rail services return to the #Levenmouth area for the first time in more than 50 years.

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/pWNXMhnE7n

#ScotlandsRailway | @FifeCouncil

[Jeremy "Looking for Arrows" Zorek🚰 @jeremyzorek]

So the reason I came to Gloucester was to see the hostel where my grandfather stayed when he fled Germany as part of the Kindertransport in 1939. This plaque marks the building where he lived with a few other boys who also came via the Kindertransport

[Red Sky At Night @redskyatnight]

If I’d been asked to guess what famous person would be commemorated with a blue plaque at Weston-super-Mare, I would have named pretty much very single human being I’ve ever heard of before I arrived at this answer

[ianVisits @ianvisits]

Westminster Council would like you to know that Sir Simon Milton Square is named after Sir Simon Milton, in case you had concerns that Sir Simon Milton Square might have been named after someone other than Sir Simon Milton.

[Tim Dunn @MrTimDunn]

#OnThisDay 11 Jan 1912, Leonard Woolf travelled by train from Frome to London to propose to Adeline Virginia Stephen. Their marriage led to the Hogarth Press (published much Virginia Woolf) & Leonard's Fabian reports, which informed the League of Nations. Railway history, innit.

[Plaque Of The Week @PlaqueOfTheWeek]

New blue plaque at Ashburys station honours railway historian and journalist Paul Abell

https://t.co/BxTOfDGkkl