The LNER Encyclopedia

In my wanderings around the country i have noted many public houses with a Railway theme. Some have signs outside with a railway scene real to the area or totally foreign depending how well the artist has researched his subject.
What i would like to invite forum members to do is to photograph good and bad signs and also to tell the other forum members about pubs with a rail related theme.
I know of one pub just down from the old Christon Bank Station called Blink Bonny but not after the loco, after the horse that the loco was named after. If you see things like this have a chat with the landlord and tell him about the loco and encourage him to hang a picture of it.
For starters i know of a few Mallards, an Elizabethan and im sure from memory that there was a pub just across from Newcastle Central called the old Victoria and Comet that referred to engine names. Others off the top of my head Great Eastern Hotel at Brandon, Suffolk which has a Mallard restaurant should really be a Claud though.
The debate is open.

We have The Mallard (former Speed the Plough) with a wall covered in builders plates etc,
an Old Fox which used to be The Station Hotel, in Gateshead there is a Station Hotel, we used to have a "Brandling" which referred to the station,junction and the family. A "Bowes Incline" which refers to the former rope worked waggonway.We had a Blink Bonny but it burned down many years ago but it referred to the racehorse not the loco.
in Toon there is The Head of Steam opp the Central Station, there used to be a "Rocket" out of Toon which has long gone.
Most of the old style pub names have been changed for trendy ones or an Irish theme.
The Wetherspoon house, The Union Rooms opposite the statue of Geo Stephenson in Toon used to be a gentlemens club frequented by the Stephenson's, Lord Armstrong, Joseph Swan & Sir Joseph Cowen ( my great, great, grandfather) to name a few.
The Victoria & Comet mentioned in the previous post is now an Irish theme pub with suitible name, Kirkpatricks I think.
A good idea this so its camera in pocket, I will of course have to inspect the inside of the pub before taking a pic,just for research of course.

Oh I missed one, the Marsden Rattler in Shields.

Thanks for kicking off the research redtoon, happy new year to all our members.

Just to wet the whistle.the pubs in my area.

http://www.gateshead-pubs.com/5730.html ... ion*id*val*

And my contribution the the Sand Dancers website, all pubs of course.a subject dear to my heart.

http://www.southshields-sanddancers.co. ... e_bars.htm

am i correct, that the term Sand Dancer relates to a now shut pub/club on the seafront ? and is/was a nickname for people from Shields.
Years ago at work. we used to call Sand-dancers. mackems wearing flip flops !

I remember going through Killamarsh a few years ago and seeing two pubs with railway connected names, I don't know if they still have them, I think one was the Midland, can't remember the other one.
Does the Blinkbonny at Christon Bank count? Unfortunately it has a horse on the board instead of an A3, I have dropped a few hints over the years to no avail.

The Cock O The North at Durham is long gone along with it's excellent sign, now housing. Is the Flying Scotsman still at Forest Hall? Also wasn't there a Samson (orSampson) at Gilsland with another excellent sign?

G'Day Gents
Think there's a 'Mallard' at Little Bytham, almost under the bridge/viaduct that runs through the town.
manna

You know it's summer in South Australia when all you can hear are air cons

I recently mentioned this in another thread, but I might as well bring it into this one - it being dedicated to the subect. There's a "The Mallard" in Stevenage (my wife was a barmaid there at one time). It was, at one time, called "The Railway", and is located in Julians Road just down the slope from where the old Stevenage station used to be. Across from the pub is the entranceway to what was the up goods yard and is now one of these conglomerations of small business units, one-man tyre shops, screen printers, and the like. The 'bubble' in the road of what was once the forecourt of the old station is still there.

There used to be The Talisman outside Hitchin station, reflecting the pride that such a crack service used to call there. Gone now, sadly. Then there was The Silver Bullet, on the Upside at Finsbury Park, a reference to the 1935 streamliner. Ditto!

My wife grew up in the Rosehill area of Hitchin, is she correct in thinking "The Talisman" is where the BQ used to be ?

When I was to move from KX Div.'l Control (Great Northern House, Euston Road) to a job that required some Rules & Regs. competency (Station Sup'v'r Fins.Pk.), the DI (JM) entrusted (lumbered?) with giving me my first R&R Exam. took me down to this 'The Talisman', where the necessary was conducted at a corner table in the Saloon, and if he thought I needed it, my examiner gave me a little thinking time by going across the room for a pull or two on the 'one-man bandit's handle.
One could suspect that then, 'the railway' had yet to adopt its first 'alcohol and drugs policy'.

woberty wrote:My wife grew up in the Rosehill area of Hitchin, is she correct in thinking "The Talisman" is where the BQ used to be ?

Hello Robert

I think The Talisman was in Walsworth Road whilst B&Q was built opposite on the site of Bowmans Mill?

StevieG wrote:When I was to move from KX Div.'l Control (Great Northern House, Euston Road) to a job that required some Rules & Regs. competency (Station Sup'v'r Fins.Pk.), the DI (JM) entrusted (lumbered?) with giving me my first R&R Exam. took me down to this 'The Talisman', where the necessary was conducted at a corner table in the Saloon, and if he thought I needed it, my examiner gave me a little thinking time by going across the room for a pull or two on the 'one-man bandit's handle.
One could suspect that then, 'the railway' had yet to adopt its first 'alcohol and drugs policy'.

The gigolo! Wore a homburg, as opposed to a trilby, though. In those days, few of the inspectorate ('the black macs', of which the modern railways are so short) went bareheaded. I was amazed to see that the LM inspectors still wore bowlers, even in the early 1970s. The District Inspectors were the eyes and ears of the fleet, and much respected men. As for the Chief Inspectors, they 'spoke quietly but carried a big stick'. A fine body of men.

hq1hitchin wrote: " Hello Robert
I think The Talisman was in Walsworth Road whilst B&Q was built opposite on the site of Bowmans Mill? " ....

" .... I was amazed to see that the LM inspectors still wore bowlers, even in the early 1970s. "

If memory serves, The Talisman was on the south side of Station Approach, as / a smidgen after, it forked from Walsworth Road. It's been gone some time now, in favour, I think, of some 'attractive' low-rise flats.

I remember, in 1971 I think, seeing Marylebone DI Tommy Page still always wearing his bowler. A less likely character to wear one I thought, seeming cheery and friendly (though at the time, I was in the S&T, rather then being a signalman).