ROCKWELL SCHOOL GATE DETAILS - 80'S

Not sure how well known these features are with those of us who are not from this part of town, so thought I'd put them up on show for anyone who hasn't seen them before.

They are a couple of arty details that are part of Rockwell school's gates.

I've no idea if they have been there since day one or if they were commissioned sometime later, but these photos were taken in 1982.

I thought I spotted the Wishart Arch etched into the sail of the ship, but on closer inspection, it doesn't really match.

The plane appears to be depicted as flying through searchlights, even if one has rusted away a bit.

All going well, perhaps an ex Rockwell pupil or teacher can supply more information about them.

END OF THE LINE

As I bring the recent railway theme to a halt, I'm going to end it with the same topic I started it off with - the Lochee line.

The map section I scanned in shows Lochee West Station & Lochee Station, with the line then continuing up towards Downfield.

Before it reaches the Kingsway, another line branches off East to Fair Muir and Maryfield goods stations.

The aerial photo is from around the mid 60's and it too has the Lochee line visible on it.

The easiest way to spot it is - you see that small dark square clump of trees near the bottom right of the picture, well the thin grey track brushing passed it is the Lochee line, and in fact that is where Lochee West Station was located.

You can follow the line on the photo all the way along it's swooping curve through Lochee and up beside the Kingsway Ice Rink.

You'd probably be best to save the large versions onto your own computer and go back & forward between the 2 to match them up.

And just in case the obvious escapes you - the left side of the map corresponds to the bottom of the photo, so you'll need to twist the images around in your mind!

GETTING THE SIGNAL - 1970'S / 80'S

Not exactly a brilliant picture this one but to be fair my brother was on board a train when he snapped it.

It was taken in the early 70's around the area between the rail bridge and the station.

To get technical for a moment - the WHISTLE sign was to warn of an approaching train shunting in the wrong direction over the up line.

The 2 signal arms on the tall post are shunting signals controlling one of the entrances to the goods yard.

What amuses me about the photo though is the reminder that back in the 70's my brother used to show his photos using a slide projector & screen at home, and every time this photo popped up on view, everyone in the room started to whistle!
 

Now this is a much better picture - this time one of Neale Elders.

You should recognise the view taken from the end of the platform.

The image was shot in December 1983, a year before these semaphore signals were replaced with a new coloured lighting system.

The signal boxes in the background are West Box & Central Box.
 

Another Neale Elder image here - the view along the rail bridge tracks taken in March 1986.

The "Push-Pull" train in the picture is another piece of history, and I'm pretty certain it has ScotRail on the side too!

If you need to delve deeper into the images, click onto them for the large versions.

2 BRITISH RAIL ADS - 1979/84

The top ad from 1979 has quite a lot of well known, but now long gone, BR services on display - Railfreight, Motorail, Red Star, Sealink etc - all of which have either been sold off, re-branded or closed down!

The 2nd one is a Dundee based ad for ScotRail dating from 1984.

The ScotRail name is still on the go - but minus the BR logo.

LOCAL RAIL TICKETS - 1980'S

Here's a nice wee collection of old BR tickets that were on the go in the mid 80's.
The large red & white ticket was probably the most common one in use back then for everyday city to city travel. Not only is the ticket a Dundee one, the machines that dispensed them were local too - the equipment being manufactured by NCR.
The white Excess/Travel slips were dished out by on-train staff in the days before they were given portable ticket machines for the job.
The wee pink ones were called Edmondson tickets and were issued at Broughty Ferry up until the station became unmanned in March 1985.
Big thanks to Neale Elder.

BROUGHTY FERRY STATION - 1980'S

Well I've passed it often enough, but I've never actually had any reason to use Broughty Ferry Station - so for those of you who were Ferry passengers, this batch of photos from the mid 80's will take you back.

Top one is of the level crossing & signal box at Gray Street and was taken in July 1985.

The signal box and footbridge were later dismantled and is currently in storage, perhaps to be reassembled sometime in the future.

Middle shot is a view from the other side of the structure as seen from the platform. Picture is dated February 1984.

The last image is a look inside at the station's ticket office. If you zoom into the large version you'll find plenty of BR paraphernalia to read. This was snapped in September 1984, and then a year later it became unstaffed.

The station is now operated by mission control in Dundee.

Photos by Neale Elder.

RAIL STATION & GOODS STATION - 1983

The top photo is a nice reminder of how Tay Bridge Station looked before it became the design it is today. The one on top being a basic shoe box design - functional rather than eye-catching.

This is exactly how I remember the area when I lived in Dundee.

At the time the picture was taken (21st December 1983) the larger building next to it, the goods station, was being demolished, although obviously all the work was being done at the rear.

If you view the large version, you can see the rail station's Christmas tree.

The close-up image of the Dundee West Goods Station sign was taken on 22nd December 1983, and as you can see it was the depot of National Carriers.

Another relic from the past that's in the bottom shot is the guy wearing a Kestrel Marine jacket!

Photos by Neale Elder.

TELE-TAXIS CARD - 1970

69333 was the only taxi service number I knew from memory back in the 70's & 80's.
Even when in an alcoholic stupor, somehow I still managed to remember it, which saved a lot of blurry-eyed fumbling about with phone books in phone boxes!
The card is older than when I started calling up Tele-Taxis mind you, dating from around 1970, when I was still in primary school!

SCOTLAND - 1974 WORLD CUP - #3

Germany was still divided back in 1974, but all of Scotland was united when we travelled over to the West to take on Brazil, Yugoslavia and Zaire.

Roaring us on, was the official Scotland mascot, as shown on an original patch in the top picture. I think it may have been nicknamed "Roary", but I really can't remember now.

To hold some of your essential knick-knacks for the trip, you might have had a bag designed like the one above. Very popular they were in the early 70's. We used similar styled ones at school, usually with football team crests on them. The one in the photo, however, shows the Scottish Bus Group logo, which would have been doing a roaring trade back then, shifting Scotland supporters to airports.

And below, you can view a very short film clip from 74, of Scottish fans greeting the team at an airport in Germany.

 

ROCK-IT TRAVEL AD - 1981

In the 70's, Cathie McCabe's was the main shop in town to visit to get concert tickets for gigs in Edinburgh & Glasgow.
By the time we reached the 80's, other outlets in town were getting in on the act and this 1981 ad for Rock-It Travel reveals that they were also becoming a wee bit more adventurous, with buses running to shows in Leeds & Birmingham.
Advance bookings for the 1982 World Cup in Spain were up for grabs too, which I'm sure many of Dundee's Tartan Army members took advantage of!

BILLY MACKENZIES VOCAL EXPERIMENTS

Mentioning Ken Hyder's global collaborations yesterday reminded me of the lesser known fact about Billy Mackenzie when he too dabbled in musical cross-fertilisation in the mid 80's.

I have an album by Holger Hiller on which Billy guests. Holger was in German post punk band Palais Schaumburg. However, this recording session was completely different to what either had done previously, resulting in some very avant garde, experimental, unconventional slices of contemporary composition. It took me a few plays to familiarise myself with the content, but once acquainted with the material, it is a real treat.

I've had this LP since 1986 and it's called "Oben Im Eck".

As well as Billy, there is Holger Hiller & Moritz Von Oswald, from Germany, and Izu Mi Kobayashi & Kaori Kano, from Japan.

The track below from the album is called "Whippets" and has Billy vocalising like you've never heard before, sounding something like a ninja battling it out with Godzilla!!

The images here haven't got anything to do with the LP recording, I just thought the photos of The Associates playing in Japan in 1985 fitted the "global" theme.

Actually, there is a wee connection, Moritz Von Oswald who played on Whippets, was the drummer for The Associates in Japan.

Previously he too was in Palais Schaumburg, but now Moritz is more known for running the brilliant Techno/Dub label - Basic Channel, in Berlin.

KEN HYDER ON DRUMS

Ken Hyder took up drumming when he was still at school (Harris), and has basically, stuck to it ever since.

He is one of the original innovators in fusing various musical styles from around the globe, physically exploring the planet and experimenting with sounds from other cultures, while still keeping a very strong link to his Scottish roots.

Ken formed his first band, Talisker, in 1969, a group that played free-jazz around Scottish themes. They recorded many albums with varying band line-ups, right up to the end of the 80's.

His collaborations on his other projects since, have taken Ken all around the world, playing with musicians from, South Africa, Latin America, Ireland, Japan, Siberia, well just about everywhere in fact, including recordings with Tibetan monks!

Needless to say he has a huge discography, far too many to list here (around 40 albums) that include work with top names in jazz and folk, again the list is too large to specify.

The wee music sample I have here is from Taliskers 1975 debut album "Dreaming Of Glenisla" - a track called "Diddlin' For The Bairns". The "diddlin" refers to the drumming term "paradiddle" which let's you know that it is a drum solo. Don't expect any rock drumming or jazz drumming cliches though!

The sample is taken direct off my vinyl copy so it comes with crackles and clicks!!

Ken is still going strong today, and continuing with the Scottish themes. In the case of his latest album release, an obvious Dundee linked title is one called "Lochee To Sibi - Return". Nice one!!

ON THE BUSES #2

This bonnie mess may rekindle some pleasant trips for a few of you and unpleasant ones for the rest of you!
This was mostly an early 70's scene when gang culture was the thing.
With no bus conductors to watch out for anymore, out came the felt pens & knives. The green leatherette seat covers would be slashed, exposing the yellow foam stuffing. Sometimes it was so bad that often there was no seat padding remaining and you had to sit on the bare wooden board underneath. The slashed leatherette was used to sew patches onto jeans as a kind of gang fashion trophy!
Windows would either be panned in from the outside or kicked out from the inside (good to know there was a choice involved!!!). I can also recall a couple of journeys when the large emergency window upstairs at the back was opened and stuff got chucked out along the route, fag packets, cans, stuffing etc and of course the usual gang signs & chants presented to the passers-by in the street..!!
They introduced a driver periscope mirror to try and monitor upstairs, but 1 driver facing up to 20 gang members didn't stand much chance. Despite this going on for years, we all just seemed to take this carry on in our stride.
Shit happens!!
Although I didn't indulge in bus vandalism, I did have a way of leaving my mark. For I was..."The Phantom Window Scribbler"...!! Actually, what it was, was when the windows steamed up I would do wee doodles in the condensation, like most kids did. However, as I got older I took it a stage further and drew full cartoons on the windows. So subjects like having a pop at Maggie Thatcher & Ronnie Reagan would go up. A bit of satire to cheer the passengers up!! The cartoons really did get a laugh, so it was a good bit of practise for later in life.
A free blank canvas, some harmless fun and no damage done.
Better to knock the stuffing out of politicians than nick the stuffing out of seats!!
Incidentally, the above snap is only an artist impression of such a scene, not the real thing!

ON THE BUSES #1

These Dundee bus tickets go back to the early 70's. Old money was still in use in 1970 hence the 8d one.
In the era of bus conductors, I remember a wee schoolboy prank we'd sometimes try. When passengers got off as you went on, they'd sometimes leave their used ticket in the back frame of the seat in front of where they were sitting. So just before the moment came for the conductor to ask for your fare, you'd grab the ticket from the seat frame and flash it to the conductor to indicate you had already paid. It has to be said though, as scams go, this one had a low success rate!
There was a also jokey quip about conductors doing the rounds back then. It was about how they would confuse passengers by shouting "Come on, get aff!".
Another function conductors had was to stamp their time-card at the bus clocks that were dotted around the routes, and the short clip below shows that very aspect in action.
Conductors were eventually phased-out in the early 70's when the one-man/driver only buses came into operation.

OPENING OF TAY ROAD BRIDGE - 1966

On this day 43 years ago, the Tay Road Bridge was officially opened.
Also on this day 43 years ago when I was aged 8, I was playing with my mates in the culdee where I lived, when one of my neighbours shouted over to us to ask if we wanted to go across the bridge. Needless to say, we all piled into his car. It was around teatime we set off, thinking we were in for a nice pleasant half hour trip, however, it seemed like the rest of Dundee had the same idea at the same time as the queue from our end of town was miles long, right along Dock St & Broughty Ferry Road. It was the same over in Fife when we eventually inched our way along the bridge. It was dark when we got back after what turned out to be about a 4-5 hour crawl, with the parents worried what had happened to us.
I remember the neighbour saying "At least, when you're old, you'll be able to tell people that you went across the bridge the day it opened!" - and I think this is that very moment!
I also recall there was a bit of a rush for Dundonians to get their mitts on one of these First Day Covers that commemorated the occasion. Wonder how many kept theirs though?
The film clip below is from the same day too and has a bit about the "new" bridge and how Dundee was looking forward into the future!
Lord Provost Maurice McManus explains the reasons for the bridge and its cost.
By the way, he is who the McManus Galleries building is named after.

MURIEL - TAY CENTRE - 1974

This is Muriel, photographed in the Tay Centre Hotel lounge in April 1974.
Reason for her visit was the Deep Purple gig at Caird Hall.
She was a London lass who ran a Deep Purple fan club called Purple Stars International Fan Club.
Prior to her Dundee visit she spent 8 days roughing it at Heathrow Airport waiting to greet Deep Purple who were flying in from L.A., only to discover that their plane was diverted to Gatwick!
Unperturbed, she then went to Kings Cross, jumped on a train to Dundee to catch the band's first gig of their UK tour at Caird Hall.
She booked into the Tay Centre Hotel, where the band were staying.
Muriel managed to get a pass for the show, joined them on stage during the sound-check and took a few photos.
When it was time for Deep Purple to appear, she was overcome with joy and started sobbing.
It wasn't so much the guys in the band, but the music she cared for.
After a short while, composed, she got back into concert mode and enjoyed the gig along with the rest of the Dundee crowd.
Enthusiasm, determination and result - mission complete.
Next day she departed Dundee for London.

RETRO TRAIN TREATS

Here's a batch of local rail related images taken in the late 70's / early 80's.

Top to bottom...

Broughty Ferry signal box.

Camperdown Junction, Dock Street.

Lady Diana Spencer loco.

Dock Street view.

Invergowerie accident.

Exact date to all aren't known but the Diana loco came into service in 1981 and the Invergowerie accident was in 1979.

Photos by Brian Perrie

DUNDEE - EUROPE - DUNDEE - 1983

I started using Inter Rail cards in 1980, and this one from 1983 was my 4th and last year of travelling this way. I chose to go to Greece going through the former Yugoslavia (despite lots of advice not to take that route). So the place names on the card are - DUNDEE - LONDON - DOVER - CALAIS - PARIS - NICE - VENTIMIGLIA - MILAN - VENICE - TRIESTE - BELGRADE - BAR (near the Albanian border) - THESSALONIKA - ALEXANDROUPOLIS (near the Turkish border) - ATHENS - KALAMATA - PATRAS, then pretty much the same route back up to VENICE. The trip from VENICE to LONDON was the direct Orient Express route through Switzerland. Then of course, back home to DUNDEE.
Click on the image to enlarge.

THE TRAIN LEAVING DUNDEE

It was good to get away from Dundee from time to time. I enjoyed travelling by train, so in the early 80's I pounced on the chance to get an Inter Rail card, which allowed unlimited travel around Europe for 1 month. Dead easy to use. Just write the destination on the card and away you go. No need to queue for tickets.
Unlike nowadays, when most people tend to choose their own holiday dates, back then most folk were stuck with the "Dundee fortnight". On the Friday everybody came off work, it seemed like half the town teemed down to the rail station to depart!