‘Q’ class 0-4-4 tank-engine number 136 is about to leave Westerham pulling a ‘birdcage’ set of coaches. This peculiar term was used to describe coaches with the little top-light window that the guard would use with a periscope viewer to look at the state of signals ahead – not so easy for the engine crew ...
Reference: WH0131
Another “Jolly Boys” outing waits outside Hookers ‘Herald Steam Printing Works’ in a charabanc packed to the gunwales. The term “Jolly Boys” comes from the description given to a series of drinking vessels grouped together and joined by tubes. With a couple of barrels of ‘bright beer’ tucked away in the back, ’nuff said…
Reference: WH0155
The same location, probably the same time, but different charabanc and different guys. At a guess, this might have been a conglomeration of working men from the Brewery, the Men’s Club and the Printing Works…
Reference: WH0156
The 1920s were relatively hard times due to national recovery being slow after the First World War and annual holidays had not really become established for poorer workers, so a day’s outing to the seaside was a rare treat and all that some workers with large families could afford. “Jolly Boys” charabanc trips were usually ...
Reference: WH0157
The first motor dray employed by the Black Eagle brewery was a 1921 ‘Peerless’ originally built for troop carrying in the first World War. Note this example has no windscreen! Draymen Frank ‘Cracky’ Blake and Jim Obediah Waterhouse would have suffered a chilly journey quite often. Previous drays had been road locomotives (Traction-engines) preceded by horse-drawn ...
Reference: WH0133
