Chapelcross Atomic Power Station - National Landmark or Unsafe Eysore?

A nuclear power station may not seem the most obvious subject for a postcard but take a quick look at any website selling cards and you'd be surprised at how many there are and they are reasonably collectable.
Chapelcross nuclear power station in Annan, the subject of this card was commissioned in 1955 and building was completed in 1959. It is the sister site of the still extant (as of December 2017) Sellafield in Cumbria.
The plant was designed with two functions in mind, the production of weapons grade plutonium for the military, and electricity production for the civilian market.
Looking at the history of the place, it does not make for pleasant reading. A partial meltdown in 1967 resulted in the reactor being closed for two years, there was also a fatal accident in c. 1978 for which they were fined £200 (equivalent to about £1400 in today's money) but trying to find any more information about that is proving impossible.
There were further incidents in the late 1990s and early 21st century such as the discovery of hairline cracks, fuel elements being dropped and workers being exposed to irradiated fuel elements.
Power production ended in 2004 but the iconic 300ft  towers which can be seen in the postcard above, dated 7th May 1961, remained intact until almost exactly 46 years after the card was sent. They were destroyed in a controlled explosion lasting less than 10 seconds on 20th May 2007.
Thousands of spectators turned up to watch the event, and not surprisingly in the Internet age a webcam was installed so the destruction could be viewed on-line. The footage of the destruction can be found on YouTube. (just type in Chapelcross Demolition)

While many people can be heard clapping and cheering in the footage, the demolition of the towers was not without controversy with many people seeing them as a symbol of local heritage and a local landmark. Looking at the pictures below it is hard to disagree with that sentiment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6673905.stm

One city, 3 names, 100 years

This will be a postcards only post in commemoration of the October Revolution which took place 100 years ago today going by the new style calendar.

As so much has been written about it already there is nothing which this blog can add, so just enjoy the postcards, all from the same city over a 100 year period.

The first card is from 1911 when the city was still known as Saint Petersburg.

The next is still pre revolution, but from circa 1915 after the city had been named Petrograd.

Still known as Petrograd, this card was sent in December 1917, shortly after the revolution.  The card below that is from a pack celebrating the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution and by this time the residents lived in Leningrad. The final card is from the early 21st century with a return to Saint Petersburg. 

Buffalo Central Terminal 1929 - 1979

Some of you may have seen picture of today's subject matter in something of a sad and sorry state on a few websites which detail abandoned buildings.
This blog likes to redress the balance a little and show the places "in happier times" although I'm not sure if there were that many happy times in the timeframe of the station's existence.  The glorious Art Deco building (you must know by now about my fondness for those) can be seen looking shiny and  fairly new  on this 1940s card below.

Buffalo Central Terminal was a working station for 50 years, with around 200 trains a day coming and going in its busiest era . The station was opened on 22nd June 1929 and over 2000 guests attended. Services began the next day, only hours after the revellers had stopped celebrating. It wasn't particularly good timing for the station as the Wall Street Crash which happened only a few months later, followed by the resulting Depression had a negative impact on the number of people using the vast station. Increase in car ownership in the 1930s also meant fewer passengers travelled by train.
Activity picked up during WWII but soon declined again after the war was over. The station was put up for sale in 1956 but negotiations fell through and 10 years later dismantling of parts of it were already being dismantled.
Passengers did continue to use the station until 1979, the last train to depart from there was on October 28th 1979. Ironically ,at around the same time , in my home town 150 years of the Rainhill Locomotive Trails had just been celebrated.
The station was neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair during the 1980s and 1990s but repairs began in 2003 and tours of the place began.  Restorations have continued and many planned events are due to take place there this year. The first, the traditional Polish and Ukrainian Dygnus Day,  will be held on Easter Monday in  couple of weeks' time. 
I do hope that this is one story with a happy ending. I don't know if trains are likely to run from there again but I do like the idea of these gorgeous buildings being used for something.    
You can read about the restoration here
http://buffalonews.com/2016/06/25/central-terminal-is-given-a-temporary-face-lift-thanks-to-marshall-crew/
You can find out more the station here
http://buffalocentralterminal.org/

The Beresford Hotel, Glasgow

Today I'm looking at a building which is still in existence, in fact it's a listed building, but which has had several incarnations since being built.

It's an Art Deco building which I'm sure you all know by now are my favourites.

You probably can't read the card but it states Beresford Hotel Glasgow, Scotland's Newest Hotel. Standing proudly on the famous Sauchiehall Street it was known as Glasgow's first sky scraper and was the tallest building erected in the city during the interwar period. The designer, William Beresford Inglis took inspiration from contemporary cinemas.  

It was built in 1938 for those attending the city's Empire Exhibition which took place between May-December that year. The event attracted 12 million visitors but it's unknown how many of them made use of the hotel. What  is known is that it was a popular venue for American Servicemen during WWII.

It continued as a hotel until 1952 when demand for such accommodation began decline and for the next 12 years was Scotland's HQ for ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) before being sold to the University of Strathclyde in 1964 to be used  as student accommodation.

I have to say I'm quite envious of the students who lived in such a lovely building. My own Halls of Residence in Manchester were a rather less lovely 1970s building though I was quite fond of the place at the time. Initially they were only open to male students until the 1980s when female students were permitted to live on the top floor.

In 2002 they were sold again and now contain 112 private flats. Again, I'm quite envious of the people who live there.

The postcard is not dated and has not been posted, but from the description on the front I'd say it was from shortly after the hotel was built.

  

News

Please check out the sister blog to this.


http://cardsofextinction.blogspot.com/

Gorky - A Closed Soviet City

I have mentioned previously that places which have changed their names will feature in this blog. Nearly all of these places, including today's, will be from the former USSR.
Gorky was the name given to Nizhny Novgorod from 1932 until 1990 when it reverted back to its original name.
I'm actually quite surprised to find that these cards exist as from the end of the Second World War until the dissolution of the USSR, Gorky was one of the Soviet Union's many closed cities.
Westerners were not allowed to enter the city, meaning it was used as a place of exile for Soviet dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov.
The town did not appear on any maps and although it was a popular tourist spot for many Russians, street maps were not sold until the mid 1970s which makes it all the more surprising that this set of postcards(some of which have street names on the back), published in 1973 exist.

This one depicts a good view of one of the entry points of the town which could have proved dangerous should it have fallen into the wrong hands.

Here we have the station which would have been another strategic position.

Here we have some later ones from 1982, one showing the Kremlin and another showing popular department store "Children's World" None of the cards have been sent, which is a shame as it would have been interesting to know who bought and received the cards.

Unlike some cities since the dissolution, the Lenin Statue does still stand, though it was nearly destroyed by a man last year who managed to tear off the left arm before being stopped by police.

Canadian Pacific

Happy New Year everyone. 
The January blues are  reality for many of us and I know a lot of people like to think of getting away during  these times so I thought I would take a look at a couple of airline issued postcards this week.
Aeronautica and postcards do seem to go hand in hand, perhaps because they are both associated with holidays. I do know people who have amassed large collections solely of plane related cards. I'm not one of those but I do quite like airline related cards.
You don't tend to see airline issued postcards anymore. I don't know if it is a security issue or if postcards just are n't  considered a good method of advertising anymore. While modern ones don't seem to exist, vintage ones are not hard to find. 
Today's card is an advert for Canadian Pacific airlines. While searching for further information about them I did notice that items relating to them seem  very collectable. Canadian Pacific airlines were founded in 1942 and operated flights all over the world, pioneering the polar route to the Far East. They were renamed CP Airlines in 1968 until 1986 then reverted back to their original  name before being taken over by PWA a year later. The merged airlines were renamed Canadian Airlines before they too were taken over and merged into the still extant Air Canada.
There is no date on the card below but judging by the fashion I would say early 60s.

Now, I don't normally advertise in my blog but it would be remiss of me not to mention that the card above is from https://postcardinalclub.com/
If you're stuck for a gift for the postcard lover in your life or if, like me, you want to get something cheerful in the post then you can subscribe to get one or two vintage cards monthly or a single one off card.