Saturday, June 25, 2005

100 years ago

From July 1 1905, the London and North-Western Railway Company would introduce, for the first time in their history, a service of non-stop express trains between London and Liverpool. From the same date the distance of 196 miles, between St Pancras and Leeds, would be accomplished by certain of the Midland Company's trains, without any intermediate stoppage, in 225 minutes, compared with 210 minutes required by the fastest of the Great Northern trains between King's Cross and Leeds, and would travel the 176 miles between London and Wakefield without a break. The Great Central Company, whose previous fastest timing for the 164 miles between Marylebone and Sheffield had been 177 minutes, would perform this journey without a stop in 170 minutes. As additional time was to be taken in running over the Metropolitan Company's metal from Quainton-Road to Neasden, the 126 miles between Sheffield and Aylesbury were to be covered in the record time of two hours, a speed of nearly 64 miles an hour.

50 years ago

There was a colourful start to Rowntree's annual sports and gala, as competitors in the fancy dress competition walked in procession from the factory to the firm's sports ground where the athletic events were held. The parade was headed by the Cocoa Works Prize Band and on arrival at the sports ground, competitors in the Rose Queen competition were judged by members of York Repertory Company. There were good entries for all the events and owing to the large numbers, which were received for the children's races, it was impossible to stage them all on the central course. A total of 18 Rowntree departments vied with each other in the long programme of events, which included track and novelty competitions. Among the novelty events was a race for members of the firm's band who had to march down the sprint track, playing their instruments and the winner was the man stopping nearest to a pre-determined spot.

25 years ago

The introduction of pedestrian-only streets in the city centre had cost a York store £22,000 in a year. Mothercare in Feasegate said it was unable to take delivery of all its stocks in the hours when the foot street regulations were not in force. The store had had to arrange for all its goods to go to Hull first for redelivery to York first thing in the morning. A public inquiry in York Guildhall was to decide whether the city's experimental traffic measures should be made permanent. Objections had been received from a number of firms and organisations, and five individuals.

Updated: 15:52 Friday, June 24, 2005