FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Tripps]

Was the HGH registration a military one?

I don't think so - here's more than anyone needs to know about vehicle registrations.
Reg numbers

Sorry link doesn't work on here , but it does for me when activated from elsewhere.

It seems that GH is a London registration.

Whilst on the subject - they say new car purchases are down recently, and I have only seen one vehicle on the road with the new 67 indicator. This started on September 1st 2017. I've been actively looking for another for the past month or so. I drive nearly every day, and have made a few long journeys in the period, but no success.

[Tizer]

Same problem when I extract your link and post it here using the usual icon:
Reg numbers
but if I simply paste it in directly, it works:
www.cvpg.co.uk/REG.pdf

Perhaps Panbiker can explain?

[PanBiker]

It looks like you need a fully qualified URL including the http:// header if you use the insert link function.

Reg Test Link

[Stanley]

2929 WX was the funniest one I ever had. WX was West Riding.



My old AEC tanker was a personalised plate. J E Hall Dairies bought the block JEH 1 to 30 and used it on their vehicles. When Associated Dairies bought them out we got two identical AEC tankers at Marton, JEH 28 and 29. Danny Pateman had 29....

[Stanley]

One name in Barlick Road Haulage that always intrigued me though I knew nothing about them was Stockbeck Haulage. I have an idea that later Harry Smith was involved. I used to hear about them in Glasgow funnily enough. They evidently had a contract with Rolls Royce and did a lot of work out of the Rolls factory near where I got a lot of work through Jimmy McCall on Clyde Street. They made refrigeration units which were light, couldn't be stacked more that two high and so a flat full was ten tons capacity rate for about three tons total. I have an idea they favoured Guy Motors wagons.
which reminds me.....



A preserved Silentnight Guy Otter delivery wagon. This was one of the most under-powered motors ever built! It had a Gardner 3 cylinder LW series engine that on a good day could poke out 60hp. Not a big disadvantage when carrying mattresses of course but Silentnight had a supplier of the plastic covering for the head boards somewhere near Bacup and if a wagon had been delivering that way they called in and brought some of the heavy rolls back to Barlick. A young, inexperienced driver did this one day and as he was descending from Deerplay Moor into Burnley he realised his brakes were badly overheated so he stopped, found a telephone and rang in to Barlick. A fitter went out and sure enough the brakes were almost burned out. The driver was very upset about it in case he was blamed but the fitter, who had looked in the back and found an enormous load of the plastic, way beyond the capacity of the van, said "Never mind that! What I want to know is how you got up the hill onto the moor from Bacup!" The lad must have been in crawler gear all the way up and it was a bit of a miracle. History doesn't record what happened to him but I'll bet he didn't make that mistake again.

[Stanley]

Wendy's pic of Dennis and Sparky in 2014. This came to mind when I saw the dire forecasts for the next blast from the Arctic. It's a while now since we had a good clap of snow. (Why a 'clap'?) I can remember the day when I was younger when it was a welcome diversion but I'm sorry to say that these days I think it's better on Xmas Cards!



Snow in King Street in 1982......

[Wendyf]

My boys bless 'em, they do like a bit of snow, are we expecting some? Not forgotten corners yet though!

[Stanley]

Wendy, according to the Express!...... LINK

[Stanley]

Remember the days of pop in big glass bottles? Haworth's wagon delivering on Frank Street in 1980. The Ford 4D was a very popular wagon then, it used basically the same engine as the diesel tractor and was very reliable.

[Stanley]

100 years ago our local council was responsible for many of our local services, gas, sewage and roads amongst them. They bought a steam roller like this one and used it for maintaining the roads, many of which were still the old water-bound Macadam finish. Notice at the rear there are large spikes that can be lowered to scarify the surface. If a road was becoming rutted, these spikes tore up the top surface, it was spread level by hand adding new stone if necessary and then rolled flat to make a smooth surface. Rain and traffic used to tend to move any loose stones into the gutter and ongoing maintenance was to shovel up the loose stone and spread it by hand on the crown of the road where it was rolled in by the wheels of the horse drawn vehicles. Later on hot gas works tar was sprayed on the surface and a layer of chipped stone spread on the tar and rolled in. 'Tarring and chipping' was the standard maintenance method for many years. In the 1950s a firm called EARAT (East Anglian Roadstone and Tar Company) used to appear annually in the district. Their technique was a bit more drastic. They had a large hood which had inside it oil-burning jets and as they passed slowly over the tarred and chipped surface it melted it. Fresh chipping were spread on it and rolled in giving a brand new surface. The gang lived in a large living van and were a rum bunch! I suspect that pub takings went up significantly while they were here because they were free spenders. Rumours abounded that the source of this income was the sale of red diesel to the farmers but I couldn't possibly comment on that. The company still exists but under a different name (LINK)

[plaques]

Not everything goes to plan.
This 13 ton boiler was in transit from Manchester to Nelson when it had this little mishap on Finsley Gate Burnley. (1907).

Burnley Finsley Gate..jpg

[Stanley]

Nice reminder P of what was quite a common occurrence when we first started to put heavy wheel loadings on roads that were not built to support them. In addition, many houses had cellars that extended under the street and these were often the culprits, they were OK with light horse drawn traffic but once you brought weights like this into play you had a problem!

[chinatyke]

Not everything goes to plan.
This 13 ton boiler was in transit from Manchester to Nelson when it had this little mishap on Finsley Gate Burnley. (1907).

Finsley Gate is very steep at the bottom as you go into Burnley Centre. I'm guessing this was a runaway or wheels sliding on the cobbles. Lucky there was a house there to stop him.

[Stanley]

Very true China.



I've been in that situation. I have a very clear impression of me and John Ingoe on Annie sliding out of control down a short brew paved with setts in light rain in Glossop. We stopped just before we reached the District Bank building...... We had no brakes beyond reverse gear and the driving wheels were steel shod. Inevitable actually!

[Bodger]

A traction engine without traction Stanley !, see link you weren't the only traction engines in Glossop,I remember these in the 1950s i never heard of Tiger engines ?
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... eam-912370

[Stanley]

We were there as part of the Victorian Weekend. There was no differential so when we were on soft ground that was dry we only drove on wheel, on slippy surfaces and the road we put the pin in on the driven wheel and had the benefit of both but steel on wet granite setts is a very low coefficient of friction! If you look at road rollers they had the same system, if you had both back wheels driving steering became very problematical to say the least!

[chinatyke]

Same with diff-locks on trucks, makes them go in a straight line. Inter-axle locks, fitted where you have 2 driven axles, are a different thing and you retain steering.

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

That made me think of my VW Golf which has `auto stop start' where the engine is supposed to cut out when you stop at, say, a junction and then restart when you next let the clutch out. But if you slow down, almost stop but still roll forward with the clutch depressed then the steering locks up. Very disconcerting when you first encounter it! Yes, I know you're not supposed to do such a thing but when you've been driving conventional cars for 55 years you end up with habits that don't play well in this modern world.

[Big Kev]

Same with diff-locks on trucks, makes them go in a straight line. Inter-axle locks, fitted where you have 2 driven axles, are a different thing and you retain steering.

It tries to make them go in a straight line, usually it just makes a mess of your tyres and the road surface

[Stanley]

I hate any vehicle that makes decisions for you!

[Stanley]

It's a while since this image popped up. It's the bottom of Westgate in about 1910. The building on the right is the end of John Street and all the houses on the left were demolished for road widening after 1950.



Here's the 1892 OS of the area.

[Stanley]

'Club Row' at Townhead. Built by the Barnoldswick Friendly Society in 1828 and condemned as unfit when the other houses on Westgate were demolished. They escaped the axe and are now some of the most desirable houses in the town. My old mate Ernie Roberts bought one of the cottages for £500 on rental purchase.... A good move as things turned out.

[Stanley]

Newfield Edge on what was Folly Lane. This was in 1910. For many years it was the home of one of the most influential man in Barlick, William 'Billycock' Bracewell, who for a long time held the town in an iron grip. I found out during my research that not only was his empire based on debt but that he never owned this house. It was still the Property of the Rev Fawcett who first built it.

[Stanley]

Two pics of the Methodist Chapel and Sunday School in Wapping in 1982. Known locally as the 'New Ship' after a fiery sermon during a funding dispute during which dissenters from the chapel policy were told to find a 'new ship' to sail in. Financed largely by Billycock Bracewell and seen by many as being the chapel of choice if they wanted to keep their jobs! It has a notable organ which has recently been refurbished. They don't build them like this now and the scale and excellence of the mason's work gives an idea of how important religious life was in the town in the 19th century. Very hard for us to comprehend these days.