Great Western Coffee Shop

This is a station. The rails that run from here are 5' 10" gauge.....

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/wwit.jpg)

Cliff railway of some kind?  ;)

Warm.....

That lovely warm red brickwork, those pagoda style roofs - it all suggests somewhere in Kent to me.  :P

Warmer....

Oh, pick me! I've finally got one. First time ever! :)

I know: you go ahead!  ;D

I had a feeling you would, I'm terrified that I could be wrong now!

Is it Leas in Folkestone? Please, please don't be wrong!

Correct EBrown!

The Leas Lift Cliff Railway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leas_Lift) in Folkestone.

Couple more pics:

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/llcr1.jpg)

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/llcr2.jpg)

And a short video of it in operation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQCP93cMd8&feature=youtu.be

I'd wandered down to Folkestone Harbour to take some pictures of the mothballed line and station than runs from the harbour and wasn't looking forward to the walk back up the hill. So I took a stroll along the Prom (Prom, Prom) but there was no band playing 'tiddly-on-pom-pom'! I stumbled on the Cliff Railway by accident whilst looking for a path back up the cliffs that wasn't too strenuous.

Back into Folkestone town and I discovered possibly the best fitted out Wetherspoons. The 'Samuel Peto' (incidentally named after a famous railway engineer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morton_Peto#Railway_works)) is in a converted Baptist chapel.

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/SamPeto.jpg)

A pipe organ flanked by two oak panelled pulpits, balconies with stained glass dividers between seating booths, chandeliers, cast iron semi-spiral staircases and a frescoed ceiling. Couldn't get that last feature in the pic.

At risk of courting controversy, it's nice to see a church being converted into something useful...  :o :-X

Here, here. Would almost make me want to visit Folkestone.

The last time I was there was a weeks holiday from Southampton all the way along the coast by train!

Watched 4 or 5 R1s push and pull the boat trains up to the junction

A panorama pic of the 'Samuel Peto' along with some images of the line to the harbour:

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/PetoPanorama1.jpg)

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/FKH2.jpg)

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/FKH.jpg)

Going off topic somewhat, but without looking it up, anyone know/care to guess where the world's largest operating pipe organ is? Small clue (the pipe organ in a pub is what made me think of this): it's not a church or cathedral. And it's not a million miles away from the world's absolute largest pipe organ, although that one's part-knackered and only semi-functional.

As a result of blatantly not looking it up: the Royal Albert Hall?  :-[


and I know that feeling, by the way ...  ::) ;D

In the 60's I used to service Hammond organs and had a customer in St Austell who had built his house around a large pipe organ - had full timpani too.

 

'Fraid not. It's a rather more improbable building than that! And also about 3,500 miles to the west... ;)

I cheated and looked it up..... may I answer?

OK. I cheated.  ;)

Macy's City Center, Philadelphia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker_Organ)

Interesting history about the original department store Wanamaker's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker%27s) as well. Located on the site of an abandoned Pennsylvania railroad station.

28,000 pipes. Bet that takes some pumping!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQfeUAqCqtI