Old Travel Blog Photograph Stationmaster Queen Street Railway Station Glasgow Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a steam engine and the Stationmaster wearing a Top Hat in Queen Street railway station in Glasgow, Scotland. This Scottish railway station was built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and opened on 18 February 1842. The adjacent Buchanan Street station of the rival Caledonian Railway closed on 7 November 1966 as a result of the Beeching axe and its services to Stirling, Perth, Perthshire, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen transferred to Queen Street. From the late Victorian era onwards, station masters became prominent figures in local communities. Invariably they would be provided with a substantial house and, in rural communities particularly, would have significant social standing. The uniforms worn by station masters, whilst varying widely between different railway companies, often incorporated gold braid embroidery, and peaked caps with gold banding, giving the office holder a high profile in the community.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Sailors Rest Greenock Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Sailors Rest in Greenock near Glasgow, Scotland. The Sailors Rest Society was formed on 18 March 1818, as the Port of London Society. Following mergers with two other societies, the name was changed to The British and Foreign Sailors’ Society. In 1925 it was changed to The British Sailors’ Society. In 1995 the name was changed to The British and International Sailors’ Society. The Society is an interdenominational charity and has close links with many of the mainstream Protestant Churches in the United Kingdom, such as the Baptist Union, Church of Scotland, United Reformed Church, and the Methodist Church. The charity's head office is in Southampton, England. The Society is international and in addition to its presence in the UK it operates in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Curaçao, Ghana, Réunion, Russia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Ukraine.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Cottage Wanlockhead Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of girls outside a cottage in Wanlockhead, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. This village is located in the Lowther Hills and one mile south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands. It is Scotland's highest village. Wanlockhead owes its existence to the lead and other mineral deposits in the surrounding hills. These deposits were first exploited by the Romans. The village was founded permanently in 1680 when the Duke of Buccleuch built a lead smelting plant and workers cottages. A branch railway also the highest in Scotland, served the village from 1901 to 1939.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Beach Portnahaven Island Of Islay Scotland

Old photograph of cottages and houses by the beach in Portnahaven, Island of Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. This village is within the parish of Kilchoman. It is located at the southern tip of the Rinns at the southern end of the A847 road. The A847 follows the coast from Portnahaven to Port Charlotte and Bridgend. Its harbour is sheltered by the island of Orsay and its smaller neighbour Eilean Mhic Coinnich.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Tonley House Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Tonley House by Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. When Robert Byres was accidently drowned in Dublin Bay, his widow, Jean Sandilands from Cotton, at Aberdeen, bought the Tonley estate in 1716 and moved in with her young family, Patrick and James Byres. Patrick Byres was an ardent Jacobite and Major in the Tonley company of Stoneywood’s Aberdeen Regiment, raised by his brother in law Moir of Stoneywood in support of the 1745 Rising which ended at the Battle of Culloden. Patrick survived the slaughter on the moor of Culloden, evading death and capture he escaped back to Aberdeenshire where he hid in Cluny Castle until able to escape to France where he joined the regiment led by Cameron of Locheil. Patrick eventually judged it safe to return to the Vale of Alford. His family motto was, Marte suo tutus, Safe in his own prowess, and so it proved.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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