Fire scare in rail carriage – but train only 22 minutes late

A fire on board the London-to-Perth express delayed the service as it was on the final leg of its journey to the Fair City.

Flames were seen coming from an unoccupied compartment of the train as it left Stirling. The locomotive continued to Gleneagles Station where Auchterarder Fire Brigade doused the fire and detached the affected carriage. According to the Observer of February, 1950, the compartment was burned out – and the train was only 22 minutes late.

●A record catch by one angler fishing the River Teith was established by Mr W Dean, manager of Deanston Mill. Casting his line at Deanston Dam, he hooked seven salmon weighing a combined 115 and a half pounds. The weight of the fish ranged from nine pounds to 20 pounds.

●Gartmore suffered its worst flooding for many years, the Observer of February 1950 reported. Much land in the Kelty and Forth valleys was under water and many sheep drowned near Gartmore Station Road.

●Instances of children playing football in the street in the Stirling area were on the increase, the Observer noted in February 1950. A particularly noticeable feature, said the paper, `is that so little respect for Sunday is held by both parents and children’. Street football is against the law but the greatest annoyance comes from the raucous voices of the players.

Old people and men on shift trying to get a rest were the biggest sufferers. The paper called on magistrates to impose substantial fines on the parents of children caught playing football in the street.

`In any case’concluded the Observer, `what are parks for?’