George Formby © Andrew Abbott cc-by-sa/2.0 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

2012

SC3875 : George Formby

taken 14 years ago, near to Douglas, Isle of Man

This is 1 of 3 images, with title starting with George in this square

George Formby

George Formby

By the sculptor Amanda Barton

© Copyright Andrew Abbott and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts City, Town centre

1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright

1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright

TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping

Grid Square: SC3875, 960 images (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer: Andrew Abbott (more nearby)
Date Taken: Monday, 10 September, 2012 (more nearby)
Submitted: Friday, 21 September, 2012
Subject Location: OSGB36: SC 380 753 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:8.9029N 4:28.8317W
Camera Location: OSGB36: SC 380 753
View Direction: North-northeast (about 22 degrees)

Clickable map

NW	N	NE
W	Go	E
SW	S	SE

Image classification(about): Supplemental image

This page has been viewed about 106 times

☰

Home
View
- Search
- Marked Images
- Maps
- Browser
- Explore
- Showcase
- New Images
- Collections
Interact
- Games
- Discussions
- Blog
Contributors
General
- FAQ
- Help Pages
- Sitemap
- Contact Us
- Support Us

Discussion on SC3875

I went to my first Manx Grand Prix in 1979, just a few weeks after Dr Neil Clifton took his picture of the Victoria Pier extension tramway. Before we were allowed to journey home everyone riding a motorcycle was herded into the bleak, dank, windswept shed in the right background of his picture to await our ferry.
In those days the Isle of Man Steam Packet company had a much bigger fleet than it does now and the sheer number of ships meant that at times there wasnt room for them all within Douglas harbour so some had to tie up outside the harbour, on the Douglas Bay side of the Victoria Pier. In those days the fleet were all side-loaders, with a car deck down in their depths that were accessed by a spiral ramp at the stern with entry and exit doors on each rotation that meant the loading ramp could approximate the height of the quayside at any state of the tide.
Our ferry home (The Manx Maid?) was one of those that had to tie-up on the Douglas Bay side of the pier. It was quite rough in the bay and the ship was rising and falling by three or four feet, which meant that every bike had to pause at the foot of the loading ramp while the rider tuned themself into its rhythm before making a heart-in-mouth charge up the ramp.
The introduction of stern-loaders means things arent that bad nowadays, but the IoMSP still hasnt quite got used to the fact that it takes longer to load and unload several hundred motorcycles than it does a few hundred cars.

Posted by mikemorley on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 (1 comment)

🔍︎