Welcome to the 
web pages:
Robert and Barbara
Darlaston
Birmingham childhood, family scenes and steam
railway photographs,;
compiled by Robert Darlaston
PHOTOGRAPHS: Many of our recent photographs are now
in Picasa Web Albums where they can be viewed either
individually or as a
slideshow. “Right click” on the titles below, then on “open in a new page”
to view the album
of your choice:
Summer 2011 (62 photos, mainly North Wales and Cheshire)
Queen Elizabeth... (57 photos; Cruise visiting Amstedam, Hoorn, Brussels, Le Havre and Rouen in May 2011)
CornishHolidaySeptember2011 (45 photos; Cornwall, mostly in the rain and
fog!)
KESClassOf51DiamondJubilee (37 photos; King Edward’s School reunion for
boys who had started in 1951)
One a Year: ... (60 photos, One for each
year from 1953 to date – places and people from over the years) NEW
28th Oct 2011)
FAMILY PAGES
Family
Favourites: “Family Favourites
and Desert Island Delights”: Favourite
family photos from the 1940s to date,
plus our selection
of music, art and literature. New material 4/1/2011
CruiseHolidays.
: Ships and destinations from Canberra at Istanbul to Aurora in New York (New,
24th August 2011)
Family
Trees: The family back to the de Harlastons
in 1373. Seven generations of Hopkin
Smith, plus our link
with Ivor Novello. Also historical narrative about the family
with photos from 1890 – 1958
Additions
25/1/09
Memory
Lane: “Harebells on the Common” -Birmingham in
the war and 1940s: rationing, hospital, early days at school,
trams, wireless,
schoolboy nonsense, Welsh farm holidays, and Robert’s first pin-up. Additions
4/8/10
Readers might enjoy poetry by my third cousin Beryl McMullen
who sadly died in 2010. For details go
to http://www.poetrydjour.com/book.php
Amberley. Memories of Amberley Prep School, Birmingham, illustrated
by childhood mementos Updated 17/11/2011
KingEdwardsSchool: A memoir of Robert’s
school days at King Edward’s School, Birmingham in the 1950s
with contemporary
photographs, plus an account of a return to K.E.S. in 2006 (updated,
6/3/2008)
KES Reunion: 2011 activities including luncheon at the Athenaeum and
our Diamond Jubilee visit to school (Updated
30/9/2011)
Banking Years: Some mildly humorous incidents from Robert’s career, with
rather embarrassing photographs
Birmingham
Pictorial: Photos of the city
in the 21st century, including a few bits of history. Additions, 6/4/09
1959 - Revisited Colour photos from the Midlands, South Wales
and Scotland, taken in 1959 New 7/9/2009
Goostrey: Pictures of our
Cheshire village with Goostrey weather statistics from 1987 to 2011 Updated
3/1/2012
Trams: Birmingham trams photographed in 1953, plus
some old postcards of trams and trains Additions,
26/10/2011
RAILWAYS 
Over 250
photos by Robert Darlaston of steam trains from 1953-1965
Railways 50years ago: Steam in the 1950s: Birmingham and West Midlands, South Devon,
Swindon, Wales; GWR Slip Coach (new
14/2/08)
Railways1: West Midlands; train-spotting at
Birmingham Snow Hill; South Wales (incl Llantrisant and Afan valley) 1953-62 Updated 16/3/08
Railways2: Mid-Wales railway journey via Brecon in
1959 and West Country railways from 1957-62
Railways3: Railways in the Scottish Highlands in 1959
- 1961 and the Isle of Man Railway in 1965 New
material added 23/7/08.
Railways4: Birmingham New St; steam scenes from
around
Railways5: The decline of steam from 1964 to 1968. Closure
of the old Birmingham Snow Hill. New
material added 13/7/08.
Moor St and Tyseley: Scenes at the GWR stations
and loco depot in Birmingham, 1953-2010.
(New material 12/12/2010)
Welsh Highland
and others The
Welsh Highland Railway near Beddgelert; the Llangollen Rly
Spring 2009 gala, with GWR 9017; Welshpool & Llanfair 2009
with comparative scenes from 1956 (Additional
material, 17/8/09)
HOME
PAGE This
page was last updated on 4/1/2012.
OUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: robertdarlaston[at]btopenworld[dot]com (for
security reasons this is not a link: please
re-type replacing [at] with @ and [dot] with . )
Photographs may take time to download. TO VIEW FULL SCREEN press F11. Files are best viewed at a screen
resolution of 1280x1024.
If you view at 1024x768 or less, picture alignment will be improved
by reducing zoom level (bottom right of screen).
Photographs ©
Robert Darlaston unless otherwise stated
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