Sunday, July 27, 2014
Torbay Express, England, 1931 art
The Great Western Railway's Torbay Express – headed by the first of the company's Class 6000 or King Class from 1927, King George V. They were 10 wheelers and 31 were produced from 1927 to 1936.
This one was shipped to the United States in August 1927 to feature in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's centenary celebrations. During the celebrations it was presented with a bell and a plaque, carried to this day. This led to it being affectionately known as "The Bell".
The engine was officially preserved, being restored to main line running order and based at Bulmer's Railway Centre in Hereford; in 1971 it became the first steam engine to break the BR imposed mainline steam ban that had been in place since 1969.
tram near the Willis Street/Lambton Quay corner, Wellington, circa 1910
Two more visible further back. For lots more scenes like this, see the book Wellington Transport Memories.
early Zagreb tram, Croatia
An Austrian stamp intended more to show the Kaiserliche Königliche (Kaiser Royal) Post Office building of the time. Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1919.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Austin Princess, late 1970s promo
A product of British Leyland, this was originally marketed as the Austin / Morris / Wolseley 18–22 series. In 1975 the range was renamed "Princess" as a new marque although the name had previously been used for the Austin Princess limousine from 1947 to 1956. The Princess was dropped in 1981.
"Princess sales, although strong for the 1976 model year, tailed off more quickly than forecast, primarily because of quality and reliability issues."
restaurant heritage tram In Christchurch
A postcard from the good old days before 2011. They should return, however.
Capital Books in Wellington to close at the end of August
An e-mail we received yesterday is below. It is another unfortunate manifestation of a trend which, as mentioned before, is affecting everyone in the industry, and in this case Capital Books has been one of the few bookshops run by people with a good knowledge of and real interest in books.
The NZ Government's decision in 2010 to make the rate of GST (VAT/Sales Tax) on books the second highest in the world after Denmark was a big blow to the book business, but it isn't the only factor.
We have often pointed this issue out to retailers in NZ/A and suggested the obvious thing to do is stock local titles which people can't get cheaper from online retailers in other countries, but do they listen?
*******************************
25 July 2014
Dear Supplier
It is with great sorrow that we have decided to close Capital Books at the end of August 2014.
As you will no doubt realize, we, like yourselves, have found trading conditions very difficult over the last few years. Regretfully neither we, nor our financial advisors can see this improving in the future. The impact of people buying online, particularly offshore and thus avoiding GST, has been significant.
In addition we have both had significant health issues and this has caused us to refocus. At this stage we are not sure what our ‘life after Capital Books’ will comprise but hopefully a little more leisure time and a lot less stress.
It is our intention to start our ‘Close down’ sale on 28/7/14 – we anticipate that the sale of our existing stock and outstanding debtors will allow us to meet all our creditor liabilities.
We ask that you cancel any backorders that cannot be supplied before the end of August.
Following the commencement of the sale we may contact some suppliers about returning SoR stock.
We would like to thank you all for your support and occasional forbearance over the last 18 years of trading together. We wish you, your staff and company all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely
Tim and Glenda Skinner
Directors
The NZ Government's decision in 2010 to make the rate of GST (VAT/Sales Tax) on books the second highest in the world after Denmark was a big blow to the book business, but it isn't the only factor.
We have often pointed this issue out to retailers in NZ/A and suggested the obvious thing to do is stock local titles which people can't get cheaper from online retailers in other countries, but do they listen?
*******************************
25 July 2014
Dear Supplier
It is with great sorrow that we have decided to close Capital Books at the end of August 2014.
As you will no doubt realize, we, like yourselves, have found trading conditions very difficult over the last few years. Regretfully neither we, nor our financial advisors can see this improving in the future. The impact of people buying online, particularly offshore and thus avoiding GST, has been significant.
In addition we have both had significant health issues and this has caused us to refocus. At this stage we are not sure what our ‘life after Capital Books’ will comprise but hopefully a little more leisure time and a lot less stress.
It is our intention to start our ‘Close down’ sale on 28/7/14 – we anticipate that the sale of our existing stock and outstanding debtors will allow us to meet all our creditor liabilities.
We ask that you cancel any backorders that cannot be supplied before the end of August.
Following the commencement of the sale we may contact some suppliers about returning SoR stock.
We would like to thank you all for your support and occasional forbearance over the last 18 years of trading together. We wish you, your staff and company all the best for the future.
Yours sincerely
Tim and Glenda Skinner
Directors
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)