"SOPHIE Bennett braved the snow this morning to walk her St Bernard, Nala, in Collingwood Road, Hartlepool"

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/Sn ... 6643285.jp

Because its a bit woof

Thats my family youre talking about Compo

But WHY is it news

He didn't ask if it was anyones family

Are you sure Mr Groovy? You don't look anything like a St Bernard.

This just highlights to me that the snail should be a weekly paper there isnt enough news in the town for it to be a daily.

When I lived in Ellesmere Port their local was a weekly paper and it actually was an ok read not about people growing large veggies, people walking their dogs and stupid letters about the history of panacalty done by Mr Hall of Mowbray Road

... or maybe the Mail should get off it's backside and become a proper local paper and start reporting on things that reflect local issues, instead of what it is now... bonnie Rottweiler competitions, air headed gossip and dross. Do they have any journalists anymore, because if they have, it doesn't show.

On the odd occasion I read a copy it usually crosses my mind how bad it has become.
It was never the best read but it used to be a lot better than it is now.
It's on its way out I'm afraid which is sad because, with a bit of effort, it could easily survive.
I never understood why the footy mail died the death cos when I lived in the town that was a must buy.
Sign of the times I suppose.

It's local news. It's supposed to be made up and boring.

In Medway, we have one paper now for Monday to Thursday (Monday) and another paper for the Weekend (Friday).

When the local paper was published daily, sometimes there was hardly any news, but I still think a local paper should be published daily.

I went into a proper bus station recently ( that's what they used to call them before some smart arse decided the name interchange sounded cool) You were warm and inside, there was somewhere to sit, catering, travel information centre, the buses actually went somewhere and it was adjacent to the local shopping centre. Mind you, ours has a long windswept 'state of the art' bus shelter... and er... that's it.... no buses of any consequence and oh I forgot, a small but growing community of not very talented skate boarders, who keep falling off ... and the tumbleweeds stick to your leg.
It screams ... BUY A CAR!

The train station does look a lot better but an upgrade and tidy up was long overdue.
The bus stop is what it is...........a bus stop.
Whoever designed that has never seen an interchange..............sorry.

Fact is it's no longer a local paper and hasn't been for many years, since they moved production to Sunderland.

There use to be 2 editions a day, the county( mainly for the out-lying areas in particular the villages) and the town final which concentrated on news within Hartlepool. Although still not good it at least give us news happening in the town.

You can now buy the Hartlepool Mail in the town somewhere around 11-1130, which means it's nearly always news that possibly a day old. It must go to press for 9am which means if anything newsworthy happens after that you hear it on here or local news on tv before the mail even has a chance to print it.

Train Station is well smart these days, buying tickets is easier, whole place is a lot smarter.

But as chip says whats the point if you can't get a fuckin train.

I agree about the train situation, having just one platform surely doesn't help. When was the other platform closed? I have used trains on a semi regular basis for about 15 years but can never remember the far platform being open. The lack of trains is also a nightmare but I guess that just comes down to demand.

As for local transport I think it is time that the town got into this century. Too much time is taken up by waiting for a ticket to get on a bus, surely an oyster style system (like in London) would make things a bit more fluent, or even a one price per journey depending on what service you get on.

Didnt their used to be a bridge taking you over to the other platform? Or am i just making that up?

The good old days of the football Mail. My Dad used to only get 15 minutes to take action photos at Pools before returning to the office to develop them for inclusion into the footy Mail, which if I remember right was on the shelf of your local newsagents on the way home after the match,,,,,,,, Now that was hot off the press!!

No, you are correct.

Only time I can remember the bridge being open was for trains for the FA Cup match at Ipswich. I'm sure there were people on both platforms.

I have never seen or been on the other platform at the train station. Its just stupid the transport links to Newcastle, the closest major city to me is Cambridge which is approx. the same distance away, there are buses that go every hour and last bus back is at 12:30 and I think the train is about every 15minutes.

I used to go to pools, get the number 6 back home to king oswy, and by the time i got to hindsys at king oswy shops the footy mails were there ready to deliver.

its the same to get back to the burn from boro...total joke
no buses, last train is slightly later at 10.00pm - no good for gigs that!

It must be longer than I thought, since I was last on Hartlepool railway station, because I'm sure the bridge was still there.

there used to be a bridge and a lift and a tunnel going under the tracks and another lift on the other side

You probably just have to walk over the tracks, these days...a new policy to help keep unemployment figures down.........

The bridge was derelict and boarded off for years but they finally got round to knocking it down a year or two back.

The service from Middlesbrough to Newcastle and back was an hourly service in the fifties when it was steam. When they changed to diesel there were six carriages on each train. Extra trains were put on at peak times.
There were other trains going through the station which went through Stockton, Eaglescliffe etc going south ( much the same as the grand central does now). There was a regular train to Northallerton, York, London, Birmingham etc etc. You could go by train to just about anywhere without much fuss or changing.
The last time I travelled from the far platform was 1973 on a direct train to London. I'm not sure when the last train went from the far platform.
Trains that started or finished at the station went from ( to the north) a platform to your left as you walk in, which is no longer there and a platform to your right ( going south) which is still there.
There used to be a service from West Hartlepool to Hartlepool as well.
There were stations at Hart, Blackhall, Horden, Easington going north and Greatham going south.
If the powers that be got together a proper service could be run through these places picking up passengers similar to the Metro ( which stops at Sunderland). Extend the metro down to Teesside, stopping at these places and see where that takes us. Fund it from a central pot initially with each community putting up some cash, get the timetables right and bingo you have a north east overground/underground.
Worth a try or not?????????????

I believe there is currently (or was before the CSR) a proposal for something similar. The sticking point from Hartlepool's point of view was that they wanted us to stump up up front but Phase 1 wouldn't extend to us (it'd be all Borer, Darlow etc) and there was a fair chance that Phase 2 wouldn't happen after we'd chipped in to pay for their shiny new system.

Ah.............disagreement among politicians eh...........now there's a surprise !!!!!!!!!!

Not only was there a footbridge to the other platform but I think there was a cargo lift as well. I cannot remember if it went up or down, I think it was up.

Surely it would have went up and down, a one directional lift is a loser, but hey, that's just my opinion.