Mike
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mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Mike
@mikeyashworth.bsky.social
760 followers 230 following 1.6K posts
Ex-London Underground and retired back to "The North" - transport, design history, things industrial, architecture & heritage - all tickle my fancy. Postings often link to my Flickr account for more things!
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mikeyashworth.bsky.social
You were chatting about 'the winter of 1963 on the show the other day @tommckinney.bsky.social & I can just about recall it as a child in Rochdale - the Guardian even did a booklet. My 93 yr old mother can recall the shocker of 1947. Puts me in mind of V Williams Folk Songs of the Four Seasons...
Cover to a Guardian newspaper pamphlet issued to recall the harsh winter of 1963 - a b/w image on a green tinge. showing a bulldozer clearing the road between Danby and Castleton on the moors above Whitby, Yorkshire, on 10 February 1963.
November 23, 2025 at 8:36 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
For for @lccmunicipal.bsky.social - screenshot from a mid-60s BBC Archive film on Cockney accents and a view of a housing estate 'over the border' in Chigwell, Essex. @municipaldreams.bsky.social
screenshot from a mid-60s BBC Archive film on Cockney accents and a view of a housing estate 'over the border' in Chigwell, Essex. In colour a view of an estate of two story modernist maisonettes in a bleak grass courtyard dominated by a painted sign "GLC Housing Dept> Ball Games Prohibited".
November 23, 2025 at 1:58 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Seawards! The 1949/50 cover to the official guide to services & destinations of the then immensely popular Thames sailings from London of the Eagle & Queen Line steamers who for decades ferried generations of Londoners to Essex & Kent seaside resorts. @seasideferry.bsky.social

↘️ flic.kr/p/2rGZm92
Seawards : official souvenir handbook of the Eagle & Queen Line Steamers : The General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. : London : nd [1949/50] : cover. The cheery front cover, a happy passenger waving from onboard the Royal Daffodil, to the General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.'s regular publication, the guide book to their steamer services from Tower Pier in London, down the Thames to various resorts and destinations in Essex and Kent. Undated this is datable by notes as to a photographic competition for 1949 - 1950 run by the company As well as details as to sailings and services descriptions of the various towns visited are given along with adverts for local companies and services. Although the company's earlier extensive sailings to the Continent had been cut back, some cross-Channel day trips were still operated as were a wider range of freight destinations. The General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. had its origins in 1824 and was for decades one of the major players in services from the Thames both to home and Continental destinations. They were effectively acquired by P&O in 1920, acquiring competitors the New Medway Steam Packet Co. & their 'Queen Line' in 1937, and survived until changes in travel and trade patterns saw the company cease to exist in 1971. The cover uses some marvellous rope 'lettering' for the main title. This runs across the sky below which we see passing a company vessel in its white and green livery. The cheery young lady is fashionably dresses in an autumn leaf pattern dress as she holds the handrail looking out over the waves.
November 23, 2025 at 10:49 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Oh dear. It being a Saturday - but in November the Two-Course meal won't be available in certain British Railways Refreshment Cars. A menu card beautifully printed by the Curwen Press using the British Transport Commission's Monotype house style. #typography #design #railways

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A beautifully produced and printed, simple item of ephemera issued to advertise catering facilities on certain trains to the West Country on Saturdays. These appear to include certain services departing London Paddington as well as the summer through services from Yorkshire and Lancashire via Bristol towards Weston-super-Mare and Plymouth. From 23 June to 8 September a two-course meal was available in 'certain' refreshment cars for 8/-. (Eight shillings/40p). Cold Meat and Salad Potatoes and Sweet or Cheese. the leaflet is printed at the Curwen Press and shows the 'house style' using Monotype types and decorations (a border in pink) that the British Transport Commission was using at the time. For something so straightforward and ephemeral it is a delight. The reverse. A beautifully produced and printed, simple item of ephemera issued to advertise catering facilities on certain trains to the West Country on Saturdays. These appear to include certain services departing London Paddington as well as the summer through services from Yorkshire and Lancashire via Bristol towards Weston-super-Mare and Plymouth.
November 22, 2025 at 2:34 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
And I also have to tell you what the lovely Mr. Herbert, the Electrical Storekeeper at Miller Street garage, had made available for me ...

#Birmingham #Transport #heritage
Later style Birmingham City Transport bus stop flag, circular enamel in a cast iron frame. On a white background - Buses Stop Here By Request, on curved letters around the outside, and To City within a central cross bar. The 'To" and "From" city was useful not only because Birmingham's buses only ever had a tendency to show the outer destination on the blinds despite their direction of travel. Earlier style Birmingham City Transport bus stop flag, circular enamel in a cast iron frame. On a blue background - Buses To City By Request, on curved letters around the outside, and Stop Here within a central cross bar. The 'To" and "From" city was useful not only because Birmingham's buses only ever had a tendency to show the outer destination on the blinds despite their direction of travel.
November 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Ah.
Rectangular enamel badge from a London Transport Leyland RT type bus - blue background, red roundel circle and the words London TransporT across the bar on a silver background. In my personal collection.
November 22, 2025 at 1:56 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
"Dear Mr. Ashworth". I was infamous, as a child and teenager, for cheerfully writing to all sorts of places, companies and people asking for information or how to 'get things'. Anyhow, I spent my pocket money, 50p, & got my Guy Motors casting from the front of a #Birmingham bus.

↘️ flic.kr/p/2mWuagp
I was infamous, as a child and teenager, for cheerfully writing to all sorts of places, companies and people asking for information or how to 'get things'. 'Things' like redundant street lamps or signs and in this case, one of the Guy Arab chieftain's heads that adorned so many of Birmingham's buses at the time. To be honest I know there were times when my long suffering parents wondered what I'd get up to next - Pa in particular was very good at driving me to council depots or locations to pick things up and 'cough up' on my behalf! This little gem however was manageable by hand and although 50p doe not sound much now, it was a goodly chunk of my pocket money at the time! Anyhow, thanks to Eric Jenkins, the Chief Engineer of the West Midlands PTE and his staff, I did indeed obtain my chieftain's head and I've always been very grateful. This aluminium casting, Birmingham cream still visible on the reverse, sits in happy company with the slightly different version that I obtained at Cleveland Rd depot in Wolverhampton off one of their buses as they went for scrap. But I did not think I still had this letter until a few days ago when sifting through a long packed box. The cast aluminium chieftain's head (often known as an Indian's head after the native American headress it purports to show) with the motto 'Feathers in our cap' was Guy Motors of Wolverhampton motto for many years and post-war buses, such as Birmingham's 'New Look' or 'Standards' delivered in their hundreds in the 1950s, carried this version as part of the radiator and front construction. Birmingham, of course, had many such badges at one time, as the Guy Arab chassis proved to be a firm favourite with BCT and many survived into the formation of WMPTE in 1969. They were however gradually whittled away as OPO buses took over service after service. However, they remain a real icon of 1960s Birmingham to me so I'm happy to have this little reminder of them!
November 22, 2025 at 10:51 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
😂 I'll raise you a Crawford's Jaffa Cake from 1932. And an Iced Star....
Page from the 1932 Crawford's of Edinburgh biscuit catalogue showing Iced Stars, Ginger biscuits and Jaffa Cakes.
November 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
21 November 1948 saw long planned & war delayed extensions to London Underground's Central line services both west to West Ruislip & east as far as Loughton. This is the cover to the publicity leaflet designed by Tom Eckersley. #London #transport #graphicdesign

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The covers to the London Transport publicity leaflet issued for the extension of Central line services both west to West Ruislip and east to Loughton on 21 November 1948. These long planned works were delayed by WW2. The leaflet, using red and white, reversed out, use a weather vane surmounted by a crowing cockerel with W - E highlighted to emphasise the directions and is by Tom Eckersley. At the flaired base of the weathervane are the LT roundel symbols and the 'new' British Railways totem (BR formed in 1948 as LT was nationalused) as the lines both west and east used main line railway infrastructure.
November 21, 2025 at 7:54 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
A cold clear dawn over Otley, West Yorkshire, at 0700 this morning. #yorkshire #sunrise #photography
View across parkland and the River Wharfe at Otley, West Yorkshire, from the window this morning at 0700. The first glow of the rising sun illuminates an almost clear sky and silhouetting the now bare trees on the far river bank. Lights reflected in the still water.
November 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
I'm interested to see that the plans for part of the 'final link' in the TransPennine Upgrade railway plans - Stalybridge to Diggle - are out inc. work to electrify the line across the Uppermill Viaduct. Even the lovely vegitation growing off the structure is retained! #sarcastic
Image of Uppermill railway viaduct now - including vegitation growing out from the stone work. Image of Uppermill railway viaduct with overhead electrification gantries added - and the vegitation still growing out from the structure. This sort of invasive growth if left unchecked often leads to major structural damage and therefore major structural intervention.
November 20, 2025 at 8:41 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Camping Cottages for carefree camping holidays : North Eastern Region : British Railways : 1958 : a charming leaflet giving details of converted station buildings available for holiday letting - one proviso was that also bought a return rail ticket! @railwayheritage.bsky.social

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Camping Cottages for carefree camping holidays : North Eastern Region : British Railways : 1958. A charming brochure advertising holidays in British Railways Camping Cottages for 1959; these were old station buildings, waiting rooms or offices that, at a select number of stations, had been converted to holiday accomodation for up to six berths at prices ranging from £11 to £5 10/- depending on the station and dates. There was a rail travel qualification as you had to also book ordinary return tickets from your home station to that of your destination. The sites in the North Eastern Region were situated across Northumberland, Co. Durham, Yorkshire and Westmorland being at Akeld, Brinkburn, Middleton-in-Tessdale, Ampleforth,Kirknewton, Clifton Moor, Scalby, Hayburn Wyke, Castle Howard and Hampsthwaite. The cover includes a scraperborad or Windsor Board illustration of a group of holidaymakers looking out across a valley towards the station where the accomodation is at the station. this is in one of three lozenges that are stipped green against the green background - the illustration being in a maroon/red as is the BR totem at bottom with text in black.
November 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
And here's the offering typical of what was to be found at both station and on-train buffet cars.
Travellers-Fare tariff : price list : British Rail : nd [c.1975] : tariff. The centre fold is cartefully, typographically laid out with Tariff in red on the left column and with "starters, Main Courses, Vegetables and Sweets ranged right in a vertical column and on the other page the Hot Snacks, Cold Snacks and Beverages are in a column ranged left. The details of the cover appear in the lower edge of the left margin column. Prices are shown. The page cover and the Drinks Tariff, in red, and the two columns of wines, aperitifs, spirits, beer, minerals and cordials listed with price in black - all on silver background.
November 20, 2025 at 11:24 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
One thing that did not end up on the British Rail menu - the Advanced Passenger Train - seen here on a c.1975 Travellers-Fare tariff, menu & price list cover alongside an 1890s L&NWR express train. #food #railways #trains

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Travellers-Fare tariff : price list : British Rail : nd [c.1975] : cover. A shiny British Rail "Travellers-Fare" menu card that likely dates from the mid-1970; the only evidence comes from the one item that definately was not to be available on the menu and that was the BR "Advanced Passenger Train" seen on the cover - "prototypes due to enter service by 1978" - along with a London & North Western Railway express train of the 1890s. The various APT prototypes (gas turbine and electric) never got past prototype stages although they helped spawn the HST 125 diesel sets and the various elements of technology, such as the tilt mechanisms, were further developed within the railway industry. The two outline drawings are in black on silver with the BR logotype and "Travellers-Fare" in red ranged between the two illustrations.
November 20, 2025 at 11:24 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
A London railway station in the background of a poster publicity photo - it's of the Metropolitan Railway/line station of Marlborough Rd that closed on this day, 20 November, in 1939 replaced by stations on the new Bakerloo line extension btwn Baker St & Finchley Rd.

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Poster, Poster : publicity book issued by : The 'Boro Billposting Company : London : nd [c.1935] : Page 8 - 4 - Sales Condition. This page - four of the twelve reasons - shows a photo with a massing of Karpol adverts but in some ways it is the north London background that is of interest. Clearly seen - albeit with the right section of the canopy airbrushed out to make 'Karpol' stand out more - is Marlborough Road station on the Metropolitan Railway. This, one of three sub-surface stations on the Met between Baker Street and Finchley Road, was one of the many reasons that this two track section of line was such a bottleneck and in 1939, under the auspices of London Transport who had taken over the Metropolitan in 1933, the new deep tube Bakerloo extension with a new station at St. John's Wood allowed the closure of Marlborough Road station. The building survives at street level. The station is seen in the background, posters on walls to the right and in the foreground the back of a man in a coat and hat.
November 20, 2025 at 8:21 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
A stark cold sunset tonight over Rombalds Moor above Wharfedale from Otley, here in West Yorkshire this evening. #yorkshire #cold #winter #photography #sunset #landscape
A stark cold view of Rombalds Moor, seen from Otley, West Yorkshire, in silhouette with the last light of the setting sun - a line of yellow against a darkening deep blue night sky.
November 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
An interesting image! "To hold its Beam above a Broad Highway - In graceful lines, an Ornament by Day" say the 1938 catalogue says....
From the 1938 Concrete Utilites street lighting catalogue comes one of the company's more controversial columns and brackets. The remarkable 'winged bird bracket' is certainly eye-catching and indeed it caught the eyes of various influential architects, designers and organisations such as the Royal Fine Arts Commission who did not like this concrete sculpture 'beating up the streetscape' in various towns and cities! It is the sort of street furniture that Ian Nairn, the noted commentator on such matters in the post-war years raged about. As the page notes "To hold its Beam above a Broad Highway - In graceful lines, an Ornament by Day" - the argument was that it was taking something as 'simple; in design terms as a new concrete column and adding excessive and unecessary ornamentation. I never did see one of these 'Bird Brackets' in use and I suspect they were soon victim to damage and spalling. These examples are seen as part of the installation on the promenade at the Lancashire seaside resort of Morecambe with a GEC lantern. From the 1938 Concrete Utilites street lighting catalogue comes one of the company's more controversial columns and brackets. The remarkable 'winged bird bracket' is certainly eye-catching and indeed it caught the eyes of various influential architects, designers and organisations such as the Royal Fine Arts Commission who did not like this concrete sculpture 'beating up the streetscape' in various towns and cities! It is the sort of street furniture that Ian Nairn, the noted commentator on such matters in the post-war years raged about. As the page notes "To hold its Beam above a Broad Highway - In graceful lines, an Ornament by Day" - the argument was that it was taking something as 'simple; in design terms as a new concrete column and adding excessive and unecessary ornamentation. I never did see one of these 'Bird Brackets' in use and I suspect they were soon victim to damage and spalling. This example was used to 'frame' the new civic town hall in Hackney, east London.
November 19, 2025 at 12:39 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Hot Buttered British Rail Toast from Travellers Fare in 1983 - at 17p per round. @doublearrow64.bsky.social #railways #food
Small advertising price card - Travellers Fare with the British Rail double arrow ranged left and, all in red, a double line border. Within the border is printed in black "Hot Buttered Toast per round - 17p" and wit a date code of July 1983 lower right.
November 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
And on cue as expected. And they wonder why West Yorkshire has the most shambolic, underdeveloped mass transit network in Western Europe.
November 18, 2025 at 6:52 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
But perhaps we are now starting to re-examine the role plastics play in our wider world, both in terms of production, pollution and impact on human and natural health. Not in this booklet mind you - this was the New Elizabethan Age.
the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : the Living Room. On the left, a smiling cavewoman holds a portable radio whilst underneath a child pulls a cat's tail. To right, cave children pour ink on to a chair. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : the Kitchen. A mostly text page giving details of types of plastics such as Alkathene, Perspex, PVC, Diakon, Nylon, Mouldrite and Darvic and their uses in the kitchen for various appliances and utensils. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : General information and care of plastics. On left various cartoon figures include a smiling '50s houswife, the cavewoman withher arms folded and a child throwing a pot of emulsion paint over a cat. On the right, Care of Plastics, a row of three children - the left poking the centre child in the eye who is also having is ear pulled by the child on the right.
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
The uncredited illustrations sometimes mind me of Ronald Searle - but much more, in places, of Susan Einzig. It's also interesting to see the story of plastics, the 'wonder' material in the context of what we know now. That said, their use in say food packaging has saved countless lives.
the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : Introduction. Double page - on left lower a caveman fashioning items from bone. On right, a cavewoman wearing a lampshade as a hat is surrounded by a hoard of children playinga round a house. A blue mat on a yellow background. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : the Living Room and kitchen. To left a cavewoman balancing on a stool holds a table lamp in her hand. To rights a cavewoman scowling at a horde of children and a mixing bowl is looked on by a twee '50s housewife. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : Bedroom, nursery and bathroom. To left, on yellow background, three children play in a bathroom and sink. To right under text, a cavewoman admires herself in a hand mirror as children play alongside. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : Garage and garden. A single illustration spreads acrosss double page; from left children play on a car parked in a garage whilst outside in the garden a horde of children play with housepipes and washing lines.
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
A remarkable 1956 publicity booklet - for the New Elizabethan Age & for the miracle materials of plastics issued by ICI - Imperial Chemical Industries - & aimed at a female audience, the growing market for household goods & appliances; The Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics.

↘️ flic.kr/s/aHBqjCB88E
the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : front cover. A sketch of a cavewoman, with club, in yellow leopard spotted garb standing whilst in the background a twee '50s hosuewife sits reading. The title is in 'primative' lettering. the Cavewoman's Guide to Plastics : publicity booklet : Plastics Division : Imperial Chemical Industries Limited : Welwyn Garden City : 1956 : back cover : We want plastics. Eleven primative cartoon style children hold or hang from the lettering "We Want Plastics".
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Seductive Scarborough, Yorkshire, "The Glory of the English Coast" : seen here in an advert on the covers of a 1930 London & North Eastern Railway holiday guide; artwork of the castle rising above the town & bay, is by Picking. #yorkshire #holidays #graphicdesign #seaside

↘️ flic.kr/p/2rFSut2
Holiday Guide to North Eastern England : booklet No. 3 : London & North Eastern Railway : nd [1930] : back cover : Scarborough by Picking. For several years the London & North Eastern Railway re-issued the relevant pages from their many "Holiday Guide", a vast annual tome, inserted into regional covers such as this; the Holiday Guide to North East England that covers Yorkshire, Co. Durham, Northumberland, Tynedale, Teesdale & the Eden Valley and the Lake District. The colourful back cover is of Scarborough, from the bay, and is by the artist "Picking"; some one I can find little about but who was commissioned by the LNER and the London Midland & Scottish Railway for handful of posters. This would have been an advert paid for by the Borough's Corporation to attract tourists to "The Glory of the English Coast". The artwork covers the top two-thirds of the page and shows in shades of purple, black for the bulk of the castle hill topped by the stylised castle in gold/yellow and with reflections of the lights of the town on the water in the same colour. The lettering is in a sans serif, similar to the Gill Sans typeface that the LNER was starting to use about that year.
November 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
Just in time for the first proper frosts of the season - difficult to believe that up here in the North, in West Yorkshire, raspberries are still fruiting. #seasons
Photo of raspberries still fruiting in or West Yorkshire in mid-November 2025. We are due the first serious frosts of the season here this week.
November 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
mikeyashworth.bsky.social
½lb FREE! Yes, a whole half poung free! Mid-1960s vintage packet of OMO washing powder detergent - and yes, for some reason its still full. I can't say I'm particularly tempted to use it!

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Quite why I still have a full carton of OMO washing powder in the house ... This packet - with ½ lb (half a pound) FREE! - probably dates from the mid-1960s and the packaging represents the typical eye catching design used to ensure that housewives 'saw' the product on the shelf. I recall that many people had their favourite brand and were quite reluctant to change brand loyalty? Lever Brothers apparently registered OMO as a brand name in 1908 and it was one whose formulation must have altered over the years as detergent technology developed. It is no longer available as a UK brand but Unilever still produce it in overseas markets. The packet is a bright blue and the left 2/3rds has a bright white star flash in white with red and light blue alternate shafts, the word OMO centred in black. To the right on a yellow oval panel is 1/2lb and "FREE" in red.
November 17, 2025 at 6:42 AM