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That's the view from my old bedroom window.

 

Well OK I didn't grow up on the towpath but I could see the footbridge and the gas tower and holders (tbf they were hardly missable). Despite the redevelopment of that site as the Ricoh/Coventry Building Society Arena that footbridge still stands.

 

We used to call the rough ground on the towpath side of the canal the 'Red Hills'.

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40 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Buckby Locks, has explained, as has Mark Baldwin, that these chutes were built for coal transport from Coventry Colliery and were separate from the gasworks site

 

The footbridge spans the Coventry to Nuneaton railway which separated the canal from the gas holders. The town gas works at Foleshill was actually on the opposite side of the railway to the gas holders and was a short distance to the south of where this view was taken. There were railway sidings adjacent to the coal chutes but I don't think they were linked. The coal chutes were accessed by road through gates at the end of Grindle Road, which has since been extended onto the site and built upon.

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5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

This was Kensal Green.....when you could still moor without being 3 deep.

Contrasts at Kensal Green

 

 

I nicked that image and whacked it up the gasholder appreciation society site!   

Edited by mark99
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3 hours ago, mark99 said:

Thanks Ray. Will repost on the gasometer appreciation page. Credit to Ray T.

 

Hey Mark, my dear old departed Dad used to say one of the gas holders in the Hayes/Northolt/Uxbridge area had a huge white "NO" painted on the top back in the 60s. This was supposedly because airline pilots relied on one of them as a landmark for landing at Heathrow and sometimes used the wrong one. This eventually led to it getting the big "NO" painted on top, to distinguish it from the right one nearby.

 

Is there any truth in this story? 

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Pan American Boing 707 Lands At RAF Northolt By Mistake.

On October 25th 1960 a Pan American (Pan-Am) Boing 707 jet with 41 passengers and crew on board landed at RAF Northolt by mistake! 
 
The approaches to Heathrow and Northolt were similar in that each approach, when heading over London, had before them very large and similar in appearance gasometers. The pilot it seems saw the gasometer and then beyond it the runway and assumed it was Heathrow, when the gasometer was in Harrow. The Heathrow approach has a gasometer in Hounslow.

In order to try to prevent the same thing happening again on the Harrow gasometer in very large letters the two letters NO (for Northolt) were painted on it and on the one in Houslow LH (for London Heathrow) where there are pictures of them below. The South Harrow one has since been removed.
 
There were fears that the runway at Northolt would not be long enough to get the plane airborne again but with a light fuel load it subsequently took off and made the short journey to Heathrow.
 

https://www.ruisliponline.com/707-lands-at-raf-northolt

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30 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Pan American Boing 707 Lands At RAF Northolt By Mistake.

On October 25th 1960 a Pan American (Pan-Am) Boing 707 jet with 41 passengers and crew on board landed at RAF Northolt by mistake! 
 
The approaches to Heathrow and Northolt were similar in that each approach, when heading over London, had before them very large and similar in appearance gasometers. The pilot it seems saw the gasometer and then beyond it the runway and assumed it was Heathrow, when the gasometer was in Harrow. The Heathrow approach has a gasometer in Hounslow.

In order to try to prevent the same thing happening again on the Harrow gasometer in very large letters the two letters NO (for Northolt) were painted on it and on the one in Houslow LH (for London Heathrow) where there are pictures of them below. The South Harrow one has since been removed.
 
There were fears that the runway at Northolt would not be long enough to get the plane airborne again but with a light fuel load it subsequently took off and made the short journey to Heathrow.
 

https://www.ruisliponline.com/707-lands-at-raf-northolt

 

I am not sure why they had such fears. Only a year earlier a De Haviland Comet, landed and took off from RAF Northolt when participating in the Daily Mail London to Paris Race. I lived in South Ruislip less than quarter of a mile from the end of the main Runway at RAF Northolt,  and witnessed the Comet taking off.

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11 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

 

Hey Mark, my dear old departed Dad used to say one of the gas holders in the Hayes/Northolt/Uxbridge area had a huge white "NO" painted on the top back in the 60s. This was supposedly because airline pilots relied on one of them as a landmark for landing at Heathrow and sometimes used the wrong one. This eventually led to it getting the big "NO" painted on top, to distinguish it from the right one nearby.

 

Is there any truth in this story? 

 

Yes deffo.

 

 

NO was for Northolt Airport, painted on side of South Harrow MAN type Gasholder.

 

 

image.png.0e1ad2fa1e92ef5750053267034b6557.png

 

LH for Heathrow Airport painted on side of Southall MAN type Gas holder.

 

image.png.f91327b1cc24f1ca65c16c51bafcd08a.png

 

To prevent any more mistakes!

 

Both the gasholders were rare-ish waterless M>A>N types ie they never collapsed like most do - just big bean cans with piston inside and could be mistaken I guess.

Edited by mark99
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This is the view you get from Southall - looking over to Heathrow.  300+ foot high. Inside, at the top was terrifying when the piston was on the floor.  Climing from the top down a wobbly old victorian collaps-able staircase.

 

 

sgw.jpeg

Edited by mark99
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9 hours ago, mark99 said:

 

Yes deffo.

 

 

NO was for Northolt Airport, painted on side of South Harrow MAN type Gasholder.

 

 

image.png.0e1ad2fa1e92ef5750053267034b6557.png

 

LH for Heathrow Airport painted on side of Southall MAN type Gas holder.

 

image.png.f91327b1cc24f1ca65c16c51bafcd08a.png

 

To prevent any more mistakes!

 

Both the gasholders were rare-ish waterless M>A>N types ie they never collapsed like most do - just big bean cans with piston inside and could be mistaken I guess.

 

Blimey, the planes would have to be flying very low to read those markings... 😂🤣

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