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Hmm.... K & C were on the boards since c.1959, long befiore the Metro was dreamed of.
Today for some reason I was broswing wikipedia and ended up on their page on the metro. I noticed in a extensions section this little bit:
Now, what stands out to me is that it says this was planned since the metro was on the drawing board.... Does anyone have anything from the 'drawing board' days of the metro? Any bizzare plans which they decided against doing?Killingworth and Cramlington have been planned since Metro was on the drawing board but would require widening of the busy East Coast Main Line to four tracks, which would be expensive, or on a new alignment involving street running.
I do, but I'm afraid it's of such poor quality that scanning it would have resulted in something more or less illegible. Unfortunately too there wasn't any 'artist's impression' to go with the story. I also have some notes from the Town Planning Committee a bit earlier in 1956-57 where there was discussion of proposals to rebuild the Royal Station Hotel in situ, with the possibility of creating a new public square. I'll type those up when time permits*^^
Now, that's one I hadn't heard of before! I assume you don't have the actual paper (or 'cutting' from the paper) Wilf, or you would probably have posted a scan.
I have very little from 1957 myself, but next time I'm in the City Library (or at Thomson House) I'll have to make sure I have that date with me, to see if I can see a copy, and/or print it off from the microfische, or whatever its called!
I do have the original newspaper, but I'm afraid it's of such poor quality that scanning it would have resulted in something more or less illegible. Unfortunately too there wasn't any 'artist's impression' to go with the story. I also have some notes from the Town Planning Committee a bit earlier in 1956-57 where there was discussion of proposals to rebuild the Royal Station Hotel in situ, with the possibility of creating a new public square. I'll type those up when time permits*
City-centre helicopter stations seem to have been seen as the gold standard of modernity in 1950s city centre schemes - Coventry and other places had fantasies about them.
I think the location for this should be chosen wisely. Transport infrastructure generates footfall, and there are plenty places in the city that could use it. I think the current location is a no-no as that whole triangular block could be redeveloped as a whole at some point. Plus I think it needs to be nearer a metro station, as on the few times I have used it, its been a bit of a bugger to get to.^^
We STILL don't have the bus and coach stations situation in the City Centre properly sorted yet, have we?
NH, is that you?!A vision of what might have been
May 6 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
The forces which have forged how Newcastle has developed have long fascinated Mike Tilley.
NH, is that you?!![]()
Interesting to note that the piazza option was "all steps" - no notions of disability access, even as recently as 1979! How times change, and in the case of access for all, much for the better (I'm presuming there is a ramp to Cardinal Bas round the side, behind the red minicab).