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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
21/01/2009
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17:11
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This is a continuation of Steeplejack's Next Corner. Click on this link for the older topic:
Jacks Corner Part 3
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Bodger
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Posted - 22/09/2009 : 14:10
And i always thought the capping served a useful purpose, and that steeplejacks were honest ?, scroll down to Victoria Mill, Miles Platting,
http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/mills.html
"You can only make as well as you can measure"
Joseph Whitworth
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Tizer
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Posted - 22/09/2009 : 20:04
Just got back from a week 's holiday in Cornwall and saw your posts about things dropping into bogs etc. There's a story in Penzance of an old wagon driver (horse & cart) who was a big drinker and once, while under the inffluence, backed his cart off the quay (the Albert Pier). The tide was part way out and he, the cart and horses all landed right way up in the water, so he just drove up the shore and went on his way as if nothing had happened.
Now here's an interesting fact for that bloke who lives in Blackpool. I happened to have a need to find out when the International Space Station (ISS) would be passing overhead (don't ask) so looked at the NASA web site to get a timing. They have a natty web page where you choose your location, anywhere in the world, and then it gives a prediction for times of forthcoming transits across the night sky. There's a drop down menu from which you can choose your city. Obviously there has to be a limit to how many cities they can include because it's a global thing. I scanned down it and found a few British cities - London, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Leeds - and lo and behold, Blackpool. Someone in Blackpool must have a direct line to NASA! (Perhaps Blackpool Tower reminds them of a Saturn rocket.)
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 23/09/2009 : 09:02
Nice to see you back Pete. Did any of you notice the news item yesterday about fines levied on firms who had been colluding in the tendering process? Surprise surprise! What they didn’t mention was that in many cases this is actively encouraged by officials who have the job of commissioning a contract and want to make sure that a certain firm gets it because they already have a relationship with the firm. In some cases this is because backhanders were flying about but in many more cases it was down to some sensible bloke wanting to make sure he wasn’t trapped into being forced to take a bum firm on just because they put a ridiculously low tender. The way you do that is select your preferred contractor and get him to arrange for higher competing tenders. The end result can be the best job by the best firm at a reasonable price and of course, over the long term this is the cheapest way of achieving the result. I will freely admit that I have set contractors on using tendering methods that were sometimes questionable in strictly legal terms but the result was always the best job at the right price and the years have proved it was the most economic way of doing the job. I always remember that when Peter Tatham retired and Keith Batley inspected the stack before tendering for the next job he told me that the top on Ellenroad stack was as good a job as he had ever seen and he wanted to know how Peter had cast the top ring. We all know that it is the top course that fails first with the passage of time. That ring is perfect, the segments are all bound together with inch thick copper bars and the joints are free, there is a layer of bitumen in between the segments so it can move slightly. The mix was granite dust and cement and I’ll bet it’s like glass now it’s completely set. I reckon it’s a thousand year job. Now the question is, if that job had been put out to open tender and the lowest tender accepted would it have been as good a job? Dishonest tenders do need to be barred but at the same time there has to be flexibility to allow the best job at the proper price. In the end it’s the cheapest way. Littlewood’s Home Shopping had a very inflexible tender process in that once a contract was awarded, if any unexpected extras came up they wouldn’t allow the original contractor to have the work. Overall they reckoned that this rule was an economic benefit to the company but agreed that sometimes it led to very strange results. A case in point was when REW were given the job of re-tubing a boiler but when they got into the job they realised that the stay tubes were buggered. A rival form was given the task of fitting new stay tubes and then REW put in the rest of the tubes. The interesting question then arose about who was responsible for the last minute expanding of tubes when doing the hydraulic test. In the end both REW and the firm who put the stay tubes in were given indemnity and left the job. Yet another firm had to be found to commission the boiler and accept responsibility. Not surprisingly they charged a fortune for doing it. Littlewood’s wouldn’t budge from their rules and it cost them. A bit of common sense and flexibility would have been in order I think.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
TOM PHILLIPS
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Posted - 23/09/2009 : 20:59
Nice steeple Bob,they're not grafting,justposing for the cameras,hehe,not like us aye .
Bodge,you want to see the size of the stones on Victoria mill in Miles Platting,bet theres over 30t of stone up there..
"Work,the curse of the drinking class" |
Bodger
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Posted - 24/09/2009 : 18:02
What do you think should be done ?.
http://www.aislingobeirn.com/millchimney.htm
fireworks in Bacup.
http://www.bacuptimes.co.uk/rossmill.htm
Bad night in Rochdale.
http://www.link4life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=c.showPage&pageID=1026
Fred in America ?
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Md8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA548&dq=mill+chimney+collapse&as_brr=3#v=onepage&q=mill%20chimney%20collapse&f=false
"You can only make as well as you can measure"
Joseph Whitworth
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swifty
Regular Member
275 Posts
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Posted - 24/09/2009 : 18:47
interesting pics of ross mill bodge i live very near that old site was only 7 when it was knocked wondering if n and r demolished the old girl stanley you might know that , work is well underway on our church demo in gt harwood took off all slates and got 3 trusses out and 3 arched windows palleted ready for shipment to ireland ,
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blokman
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Posted - 24/09/2009 : 19:19
Dave, yes pretty sure that NR dropped Ross, Iwas working for Caygill on Newline during the demo and got some good tackle off the lads on site...
www.robinsharples.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/09/2009 : 07:15
Yup. I'm pretty sure N&R dropped Ross. Swifty, was it a Catholic church? Sounds like Rome saving what they can from the church.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
bob hulin
" its going leg it "
1800 Posts
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Posted - 25/09/2009 : 19:47
SWIFTY, I BET THE LEAD DIDNT GO TO IRELAND DID IT,
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bob hulin
" its going leg it "
1800 Posts
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Posted - 25/09/2009 : 20:09
 22RB DRAGLINE BUCKET. Great for pulling down chimneys.
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TOM PHILLIPS
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Posted - 26/09/2009 : 08:49
The lead went too Rome,hehe,the pope needs a new frock..
Swifty ,i see a load of scaffolding has gone up on the mill at Woodnook,put your machine away and get cobblin', hehe
"Work,the curse of the drinking class" |
Tizer
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Posted - 26/09/2009 : 11:11
Bodger, the story of the Oldham soap works fire is amazing - the journalists could write well in those days. And just imagine the sight: "The fire was most difficult to subdue owing to the inflammable nature of the contents of the soap works - tallow, fat and paraffin wax. At times molten paraffin wax from the doomed building ran in scorching streams." It must have been like a volcano!
I didn't know that old copies of magazines like Popular Mechanics were available on Google Books - thanks for the link. Just scrolling down through the pages is great entertainment. For example, page 570 "The British SubmarineAccident" and the "Machine to Demonstrate Gearing".
Bob is that bucket in a contractor's yard or is it an art museum somewhere?
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AlanMc
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Posted - 26/09/2009 : 20:21
Hello Chaps,
I've been absent for a while promoting my new book: HISTORIC STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS - which I am pleased to say is selling extremely well.
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk
Recently a close hoppo of mine, Eddie Whiteside - otherwise known as "THE LANCASHIRE SALVAGER" wrote, what I consider is a most wonderful ode to old mill and factory chimneys. Here it is in all its glory:
REMEMBERING OUR MILL CHIMNEYS
EDDIE WHITESIDE
"The Lancashire Salvager"
HUNDREDS HAVE BEEN DROPPED LADS
SOME, WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON
THEY ALMOST MADE A SPORT OF IT
IT WAS LIKE A HUNTING SEASON.
NOW DIBNAH DROPPED NEAR NINETY
& THAT MAN HE WAS NO CLOWN
HE LIKED TO REPAIR & POINT THEM UP
NOT KNOCK THE BUGGERS DOWN.
IF THE STEAM ENGINE WAS THE MUSCLE
& THE FURNACE WAS THE HEART
DON’T FORGET THE CHIMNEY
IT ALSO PLAYED ITS PART.
BUT THEY’RE NOT ALL GONE YET
THERE’S SOME REMAINING STILL
STANDING UP THERE PROUDLY
THE BACKBONE OF THE MILL.
IF THEY COULD ONLY TALK BOYS,
THE SIGHTS THEY MUST HAVE SEEN
FULL EMPLOYMENT THERE FOR EVERYONE
BUT COTTON FAMINE WOULD INTERVENE.
AND WHAT OF THE MEN WHO BUILT THEM
WHO HAD NO FEAR UP HIGH
THEY WENT & BUILT A MONUMENT
RIGHT UP INTO THE SKY
THE LADDERS THAT THEY’D CLIMBED UP
SCAFFOLDING OF WOOD
BRICKS PULLED UP BY GIN WHEEL
HARD GRAFT, YES, BUT GOOD.
THE SWEAT THAT HAD DRIPPED OFF THEIR BROWS
THE ACHING OF THEIR BACKS
THEN STANDING BACK TO LOOK UP HIGH
AT THOSE WONDROUS CHIMNEY STACKS.
PERHAPS A PINT ON THEIR WAY HOME
THAT’S IF THEY HAD THE BRASS
IF NOT JUST SHRUG THEIR SHOULDERS
TONIGHT THEY’LL HAVE TO PASS.
IT WAS DONE, ALL TOPPED OUT TODAY
WALK HOME & NO TRAM RIDE
WALK!! THEY’D MARCH!! THEY’RE TEN FEET TALL
HEARTS BURSTING OUT WITH PRIDE.
JUST THINK OF THAT ACHIEVEMENT
TO THOSE MEN WHO HAD NO FEARS
TO BUILD A BRICK COLLOSUS
THAT WOULD LAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS.
I’M GLAD THEY WON’T KNOW WHAT WE’VE DONE
& WHAT WE’VE LAID TO WASTE
BEAUTY, STYLE & ELEGANCE
ALL RIPPED DOWN IN BLOODY HASTE.
THERE’S ONE NEAR ME, I’M GLAD TO SAY
THOUGH IT’S SYMETRY’S ALL PAST
TELECOMMS NOW DEFORMED IT
NOW IT’S JUST A RADIO MAST.
BUT PEOPLE DO APPRECIATE THEM MORE
& IT’S BRINGING ME GOOD CHEER
I CAN STAND BACK, LOOK UP & THINK
I’M GLAD THAT IT’S STILL HERE.
PRESERVATION ORDERS ARE WHAT THEY NEED
THEN TO TOUCH THEM WILL BE A CRIME
SO THEY WILL BE EVER-LASTING SKY SCRAPERS OF THEIR TIME.
Edited by - AlanMc on 26/09/2009 8:29:24 PM
Edited by - AlanMc on 26/09/2009 8:30:55 PM
Edited by - AlanMc on 26/09/2009 8:31:59 PM
 www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk |
AlanMc
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Posted - 26/09/2009 : 20:55
THE LANKYBOILERMAKER PROMOTING HIS NEW BOOK AT KELHAM ISLAND MUSEUM, SHEFFIELD.
www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk |
bob hulin
" its going leg it "
1800 Posts
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Posted - 26/09/2009 : 21:20
BELTING STUFF. Alan
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Steeplejacks Corner Part Four
