Throwback Thursday: My Kilgrew’s train set from 1964 still works perfectly

That delightful tale by Helen McCormack (nee Coughlan) in Throwback Thursday last week about the thrill of buying a doll’s pram from Kilgrew’s one Christmas at the age of four, and insisting on wheeling it all the way home to Horgan’s Buildings, prompted John O’Leary to make contact.

“Hi Jo. Having read with interest about the lady and her pram from Kilgrew’s toy shop in Merchants Quay, I’m attaching photos of a train set I got from Santa via Kilgrew’s at Christmas, 1964. It still works perfectly and it’s all intact.

“I also remember sitting up in bed on New Year’s Eve, hearing the ships’ horns blasting away at midnight.

“Your weekly column certainly evokes great memories.”

Now we have to admit that we got suspicious of such a lovely train set in such good condition and still in its original box, so we wrote back immediately and asked John if he had in fact ever used it? Oh yes he had, he assured us.

“I certainly used it, Jo, it had to go in once to have the spring replaced, I wound it too tightly. My dad sent it back to Hornby and they sorted it out.”

Now that should evoke memories for many readers on at least two counts: overwinding a beloved Hornby engine (all too easy to do when you are young and enthusiastic) and those golden days when you could send something back to have a problem fixed.

These days, it seems, anything that has stopped working is just dumped, and a new replacement bought. We have seen perfectly good tricycles, fairy cycles, and more, thrown into the scrap metal container at a dump, when back in the day they would have continued to offer service for years to come.

What happened to the second-hand cycle shops we used to have in Cork?

In any case, thank-you so much John O’Leary for those pictures – and also for your recollection of the ships moored up along the Lee hooting to mark midnight on New Year’s Eve.

I mentioned this to my brother, Tom, and he added another piece to the colourful jigsaw that is the Cork of older days.

“We lived then further down on Summerhill, in Adelaide Terrace, but Grandma, who lived in Mount Verdon, overlooking the river, would ring up when a ship was getting ready to leave,” recalled Tom.

“I was fairly young at the time, but I would leg it up to Mount Verdon, rush down to the bottom of the front garden, where you got the best view, and see the ship turning in that wide space where the two branches of the Lee meet, and then setting off down the river.

“I still go out to that self-same spot on New Year’s Eve to see the fireworks.”

It’s all part of the maritime heritage with which we grew up, and of which we should be so proud. Branches of the Lee which “encloseth Corke with its divided flood”, as Spenser wrote, and of course its many bridges, especially those which once opened to let ships upriver and closed again to allow the West Cork train to pass from Kent Station over to Albert Quay.

And speaking of bridges, do you remember that I made a personal query a few weeks back? I will repeat it here for convenience:

“Can anybody else recall a Bailey Bridge being swung across the north channel of the Lee somewhere near the North Mall, back in the 1950s? Or is that very decorated footbridge which is there now the original Bailey Bridge which was put up while the North Gate bridge was under repair? I can certainly remember coming down in the family car (aka, The Kerrigan Bus) from Sunday’s Well direction and crossing over that rather narrow and shaky structure, and would like to hear from anyone who has more information on it. Or did I imagine it all?”

Well, Fintan Bloss, bless him, that magician of North Mall folklore, was right there immediately.

“Hi Jo. Bridge erected in late 1957. You were not imagining it. Had two pedestrian sides to it, over the years reduced to one (the left side going over from North Mall to Batchelor’s Quay), the right side having been removed from wear and tear deterioration.

“Directly opposite the bottom of Man’s Lane (formerly apparently Dead Man’s Lane) on the North Mall, the bridge was put in place whilst the latest North Gate Bridge (or Arthur Griffith Bridge to give it its proper name) was under construction.

“A Dutch engineer working on the bridge stayed at our house, and mother used to say he kept his clogs inside the front door which he put on when he returned from working on the bridge.”

Gosh what great detail. And not only the facts, but De Pictures Too! The first one taken by Fintan himself from the roof of No 15, North Mall. And then a wonderful composite of the putting in place of said structure, pictures taken by Fintan’s brother, Tony. They might be a bit small for you to see the detail here, but they’re part of our rich history. Thank you so much, Fintan.

Incidentally, if you look up this bridge online, you may find a wide -ranging variety of dates for the images, but the original was definitely back in 1957.

The confusion, which seems to have arisen around dating pictures, probably results from several other Bailey Bridges being brought into use over the decades, when one or another of our city river crossings required urgent attention (Parnell Bridge for example, even Patrick’s Bridge).

The wonderful heritage and history of Cork as a great port and huge harbour (one of these days we are going to challenge Sydney in Australia for its claim that it is just a bit larger, and then the fisticuffs will fly!), caused this writer last week to launch forth fairly vociferously on the frightening proposals being made for the “development” or “improvement” of our docklands.

It is something about which a lot of us feel very strongly indeed. Certainly, expat Tom Jones wasn’t long in writing from Key West to give his views on the topic.

“In alignment with comments expressed on your recent Throwback Thursday pages, which I enjoyed reading, I wholeheartedly agree with much of what was stated and presented,” said Tom.

“I too feel compelled to offer these thoughts of my own in reflection of times past and present, as what we say and do today will be forevermore recorded in the annals of the times in which we live. Not just on the way we were, but as a progression of how our city should present itself moving forward. Such as integrating our rich maritime heritage along with modern development in a more symmetric formula.”

Tom added: “While recently looking at the Cork Dockers Website and the photos presented there, in regard to the redevelopment of the once industrious Cork Docklands, I am sad to say that so far they demonstrate that we are not living up to that premise or approach or standard.

“I agree that all we see today are faceless meaningless structures devoid of colour and vibrancy. While comprehending, or conceding, that the logistics of commercial shipping are better served by moving operations closer to the entrance of the port, I feel the proposed redevelopment to replace them is lacking in imaginative design.

“Architecture with stronger aesthetic qualities would be more appropriate all along the waterfront.

“Also, if water traffic as suggested, such as cruise ships or other vessels is to have a future coming closer to the city centre, then obviously a more attractive and appealing waterfront has to be considered as to first views and impressions of the city.

“The waterway could also be put to more effective use for water taxis, or as a tourist trip from the city centre to Cobh and Crosshaven, and on to the edge of the outer harbour, where after all the Titanic made its last port of call.”

Tom continues: “Horgan’s Quay, long-time berth of the old Innisfallen, is an area in particular that is steeped in Cork history. This was where my uncle, Stan Jones, once worked as a docker, along with many other unsung working-class heroes of the Cork Docks.

“Then, later, he himself worked on the Old Innisfallen itself, and the newer B&I Innisfallen that sailed from Tivoli. But Penrose /Horgan’s Quay is a place in time, where many young people, including myself in the late 1960s, set off on a course of adventure or otherwise. Not forgetting of course, the generations who preceded us who unfortunately set off as a course of necessity.

“I can’t help but wonder what thoughts would have run through their minds as the ship pulled away from the quay. Not, perhaps, the traditional romantic image of ‘Now is the Hour when we must say Goodbye’. Rather something such as, to paraphrase a line from a ballad called The Rare Ould Times:

“So, Fare Thee Well My Lovely Lee,

I can no longer stay

And watch the cold glass cages

That rise up along the quay.

“Even that noble Penrose House building, once the office of the Cork Steam Packet, is now besieged, dwarfed, by vast, unimaginative, and unattractive architectural design,” comments Tom.

“To be blunt, building designs like this are an affront in aspect, in respect to the history of this part of the city. Some may even be moved to call it a Desecration Of All It Once Held Dear.

“Again, digesting the fact that modern building design is based primarily on maximising space and efficiency, yet please, please let’s not rush in to simply construct glass-fronted, skelatorial-built, square block, uninspiring, high rise commercial office structures.

“Or indeed residential apartments of a similar design for that matter. Including some that may be portrayed, marketed, or presented as luxurious for-rent-only apartments with a waterview!

“There has to be a more aesthetic imagery presented here, in particular as to the facade of the buildings, thus recognising its past history of functionality as An Important Seaport, by incorporating the old and the new in its planning permission of design, while still aligning itself along such lines as a new modern development.

“The South Street Seaport, and Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan is just one of many that has done a nice job of this type of renovation. As indeed did the Temple Bar area of Dublin to recreate itself first as an artistic community which later became a tourist attraction.

“So I plead, as one that loves the city of his birth, let’s make a better effort at renovating than what we are now seeing. (Christ, I wonder how much criticism the mention of Temple Bar will attract?)”

Tom, you speak, as always, straight from the heart, and nobody could doubt for a second that the self-same heart still has cords tying it to the streets and landscape of the place where you were born and reared. Thank you for that trumpet call!

And the rest of you, let’s hear your views. It is we, the people who love our city, and have a huge pride in it and its long history, who should be shaping its future. Not as some cloned copy of an industrialised urban landscape in Berlin or London, but our own unique and much-beloved Cork.

Send us your thoughts! Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com or leave a comment on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/echolive.cork.