Welcome to the 
web pages:
Robert and Barbara
Darlaston
Birmingham childhood, family scenes and steam
railway photographs,;
compiled by Robert Darlaston
PHOTOGRAPHS To celebrate our Golden Wedding in June
2019 we set up an album of eighty photos of our family and
a few of its activities during those years. You are welcome to view the photos: please follow this link:
Fifty Golden Years 1969 - 2019
Note: with some browsers it is best to right click
and open in a new window.
(When the page displays, click on
the down arrow, and again on the first photo. Use the further arrows to view
other photos).
You
may also like to view our Album with one photo from each year from 1953 (when
Robert
first
had a camera) to 2015: Click
here >
One a Year: .
FAMILY PAGES
Meet the Darlastons : Family photos from the 1940s to date, plus our selection
of “Desert Island Delights”
(from music, art and literature). Updated
2/4/2018
Harebells
on the Common: -Birmingham in the
war and 1940s: rationing, hospital,
early days at school,
trams, wireless,
schoolboy nonsense, Welsh farm holidays, and Robert’s first pin-up. Updated
2/4/18
Amberley.
Memories of Amberley Prep
School, Birmingham, illustrated by childhood mementos Updated 3/9/2017
KingEdwardsSchool: A memoir of Robert’s
school days at King Edward’s School, Birmingham in the 1950s
with
contemporary photographs, plus an account of a return to K.E.S. in 2006 (updated,
6/3/2008)
Trams: Memories of the last years of Birmingham
trams, 1947-1953, with photographs and press-cuttings plus
details of tram 395,
preserved in Birmingham. A glimpse of
Birmingham’s 21st century trams Updated 24/10/18
1959 - Revisited Colour photos from the Midlands, South Wales
and Scotland, taken in 1959 Added 7/9/2009
Birmingham
Pictorial: Photos of the city
in the 21st century, including a few bits of history. Additions, 6/4/09
Goostrey: Pictures of our Cheshire
village with Goostrey weather statistics from 1987 to 2017 Updated regularly
Family
Trees: The family back to the de Harlastons
in 1373. Seven generations of Hopkin
Smith, plus our link
with Ivor Novello. Historical
narrative about the family with photos from 1890 – 1958 Additions
25/1/09
CruiseHolidays. : Ships and
cities from Canberra at Istanbul, Aurora in New York to Arcadia in Cadiz (Updated,
October 2018)
Banking Years: Some mildly humorous incidents from Robert’s career, with
rather embarrassing photographs
RAILWAYS
About 400
photos by Robert Darlaston of steam trains, mostly from 1953-1965
Railways 50years ago: Steam in the 1950s: Birmingham and West Midlands, South Devon,
Swindon, Wales; GWR Slip Coach (new
14/2/08)
Railways1: West Midlands; train-spotting at
Birmingham Snow Hill; South Wales (incl Llantrisant and Afan valley) 1953-62 Updated 23/10/14
Railways2: Mid-Wales railway journey via Brecon in
1959 and West Country railways from 1957-62
Railways3: Railways in the Scottish Highlands in 1959
- 1961 and the Isle of Man Railway in 1965 New
material added 23/7/08.
Railways4: Birmingham New St; steam scenes from
around
Railways5:
The
decline of steam from 1964 to 1968. Closure of the old Birmingham Snow Hill. New material added 13/7/08.
Moor St and Tyseley: Scenes at the GWR stations
and loco depot in Birmingham, 1953-2010.
(New material 12/12/2010)
SevernValley&LlangollenRlys. Scenes on two preserved
GWR lines, 1957 – 2017
Welsh Narrow Gauge 1 Talyllyn
Railway from 1955; Welshpool & Llanfair from 1956, Vale of Rheidol 1953
-1985
Welsh Narrow Gauge 2
Ffestiniog Railway from 1955, Welsh Highland
Railway, Snowdon Mountain Railway.
Railway
Chronology of Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1954-2017
A
year-by-year account of changes to the area’s railway network since 1954
I
have compiled this Chronology to form a supplement to that compiled by Mr C.R. Clinker and published in 1954.
It is
available in three sections accessed by these links:
RAILWAYS of W. MIDLANDS pt 1.
Modernisation and Reshaping, 1954-74
RAILWAYS of W. MIDLANDS pt 2.
Recovery and Sectorisation, 1975-93
RAILWAYS of W. MIDLANDS pt 3.
The Privatisation Years, 1994-2017
(pages added 22nd June 2015, updated 1st
Sept 2017)
HOME
PAGE This
page was last updated on 24/10/2018.
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Photographs ©
Robert Darlaston unless otherwise stated
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