STEEPLEJACK'S CORNER 2012

[Stanley]

Some pictures contain more information than others. Stephen Goggins on top of Mons at Todmorden, he was demolishing it piecemeal. Notice the complete absence of any form of scaffolding or safety gear. Steve only had one leg but he skipped about on the chimney rim as though he was on terra firma. Notice the engine house, it once housed the biggest mill engine in Lancashire but that has been scrapped and the house is going. Worth noting that the building of Mons was fraught with problems because of unstable ground. When they took the engine house out they left the massive brick engine beds in because there was a good chance they were all that was holding the main mill building up!

[Steeplejerk]

Ronnie Goggins still has both legs,his younger brother Steven has only one leg,iv'e got three legs

[Invernahaille]

Tom,
So has the Isle of Man

[Stanley]

You're right Tom. Silly mistake..... Thanks, I've edited it.

[Stanley]

Mons stack coming down in 1986. There was a joke, that you could always see snow from the top of Mons chimney. So you could if you looked at 'mons' upside down and used your imagination.....

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
I have been looking at your recent posts.
The thing that strikes me is the casual manner the jacks pose for the photos. FDR once said that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. I personally have climbed more stacks than I care to remember, with the assistance of my stepfather Ronnie Bamford. I had no fear when I was with him, I had no fear at all, he had laddered the stack, and he would not have showed me how to climb it, if it was not safe. Unfortunately the thing I didnt learn was how to fix them. I suppose that is immaterial now, Jacking is more about bringing them down these days not repairing them. Comments on a postcard please.

[Stanley]

I'm not sure whether I know the difference between fear and an honest appreciation of danger Robert. I think the key is that you have to trust yourself and respect the height. Peter once told me that he was always 'afraid' and if ever you lost that you were really in danger. But I don't think he was talking about fear, more like being aware of the danger....



This is not a frightened man!

[Invernahaille]

That's great photo of Peter. With his Capstan Full Strength too. (Ronnie smoked Senior Service cigarettes, and had the same pose when he was working on stacks). Taken in the winter. I bet it was absolutely freezing on top of Ellenroad stack when the photo was taken. Typical Peter pose, Ronnie had the same bearing. Ronnie and Peter where great friends. Jacks of Peter, Ronnie, and Freds generation where a rare breed. Like you say there was a healthy respect and no doubt a self preservation instinct in them. They just approached jacking in a nonchalant manner. I must be getting old or something. When I was a child I was surrounded with these guys, and never thought until now how blessed I was to have known and met them.
Halcyon Days I suppose.

[Stanley]

Just wiser Robert and I agree with what you say. Good men, not many of them about now.... Thanks for the comment about the pic.... you can always tell when a snapper is in tune with his subject. And yes, you're right... it was bloody cold!



Peter landing on top of the stack the day I climbed it first after a 3 month lay-off. He was surprised to find me up there.

[Invernahaille]

Here a clip of Durban Mill stack felling today.


www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-34631424

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Robert. Tidy job, it fell within it's own length and in the right place....

[Stanley]

John Burlison did this pic of Durban Mill stack an hour before it was blown on Sunday 25th of October. It's loaded and ready to go. Notice the plates leaned against the base on the side where the blast will be concentrated. Though loose, they will contain any flying debris and make the operation safer. Notice the Lancashire boilers strategically placed to contain any overspill of rubble from the fall, it was a very tight site. As it was they got it right and it telescoped at the base before the actual fall, that made the debris field shorter. This is one of the occasions where blowing is better than normal felling because in the latter case the debris field is almost always greater than the original height.
Later. I asked John who had blown the stack and he has replied; "It was PDC, Precision Demolition Contractors, of Sheffield, John M Faulkner who is a explosive engineer."

[Stanley]

See THIS for some good clear footage shot from a drone showing the felling of the Durban mill stack last Sunday.

[Stanley]

John sent me this pic of the aftermath of the fall. I commented on the fact that there didn't seem to be a firebrick liner and he told me that before it was dropped he had noted that it was a double wall construction at the base and part way up the stack. Very similar to this one at West Vale but this has a firebrick inner wall.

[Stanley]

John commented on the large square apertures that had been cut in the Durban chimney. No doubt to accept the flue gases from replacement economic boilers which discharged at a higher level than the old Lancashire boilers. This cutting into the stack was quite common and has to be taken into account when felling a stack because they are obvious points of weakness. This applies even if they have been filled in afterwards with brick or masonry because you can never replicate the pressure on an infill and so, in terms of stress, they are still a hole!

[Steeplejerk]

Sometimes the large square bricked up holes are where a temporary chute was put in the chimney when the top was taken off,about 100 ft had been removed from Durban,if i remember the brickwork at the top was about 18inch so thats 2 set offs down from the original height,approx 250ft,the chute would have been made with railway sleepers and steel plates.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Tom. John has sent me this aerial pic from 1931 showing Durban Mill.

[Stanley]

By the way, when the demolition company broke into the base of the chimney to gain access for placing the explosives they found seven feet depth of flue dust in the base of the stack. Reminds me of Ellenroad where an economic boiler burning coal on forced draught had almost filled the main flue with unburnt coal and flue dust all the way to the chimney base. When Newton and I built a fire in the main flue to teach it to smoke again we inadvertently set fire to the dust and it burned slowly for over three moths during the winter. When we went back in the flues we found that the level had dropped to between one and one and half feet. It kept the flue dry as well!

[Stanley]

When Peter started work on the Ellenroad stack four months after we had run the engine and inadvertently fired the flue he commented on the fact that they were still getting fumes similar to burning coke at the chimney head. Mind you, it did a good job. Apart from getting rid of the bulk of the flue dust it kept the flue system and stack warm all winter. One thing many people forget about the difference between a flue that is in use and one that is not is that the rate of attrition from the weather on the stack is far lower when it is warm and you only need a very low temperature differential to get the benefit.
On the same subject, English Heritage once did some experiments where they embedded soil heating element in the parging used to protect the tops of the ruined walls on monuments under their care. They found that a temperature differential of a couple of degrees had a very good effect and in terms of the economics of long term preservation it would be a good thing to install the system as standard on all ruins. The problem was that Treasury Rules allowed EH to spend on the capital costs of installation but not the revenue cost of paying for the leccy so the idea had to be dropped.

[Stanley]

John sent me a further pic of the Durban felling.

[Whyperion]

More on Durban Mill, from 2014.

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/durban-mil ... 014.t91735

Comparing with what locals are reported elsewhere, describing building as 'eyesore' - but they dont necessarilly want the 2/3/4 Bed 80 dwelling houses on the site. Someone needs educating.

[Stanley]

John sent this pic of the old Lancashire boilers on the Durban site which have been converted to oil tanks.

[Stanley]

High winds and rain forecast for today. Bad weather for Jacks. Peter Tatham used to wear an ex-army heavy leather jerkin tied up at the waist with a ladder lashing. He once told me that when the flaps of his jerkin started flapping it was time to come down!

[Stanley]

We've lost a lot of chimneys and the ones I miss most are the curiosities like Atkinson's at Bingley. The bend isn't an optical illusion!

[Tizer]

Some interesting Russian pics here: `The urban explorers of the ex-USSR'
and Eastern Bloc ones here: `The abandoned buildings of the Eastern bloc'