Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Sept 14, 2019 8:02:09 GMT
Great Pictures Gene. I love the small chimney he built in his back garden, and the fact he had a metal workshop that was more or less totally steam powered. Didn't he have a Pit Head there too?
It's sad looking at those photos, knowing he's no longer with us.
That Chimney at India Mill still gives me the creeps - especially the section at the top where the ladders stick out about 6ft. Yikes.
Yes, I love these pics, I've been past the house on Radcliffe Road a few times. How he was able to get up India mill chimney with the ladders leaning backwards at over 200 feet is beyond me, I'm scared of heights. He did have a small version of pit head winding gear in his garden, it was about his last project, he wanted a coal mine, and started digging the shaft which was lined with brick. The council refused planning permission though and it only got to 20 feet down as far as I know
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Sept 14, 2019 11:20:07 GMT
Great Pictures Gene. I love the small chimney he built in his back garden, and the fact he had a metal workshop that was more or less totally steam powered. Didn't he have a Pit Head there too?
It's sad looking at those photos, knowing he's no longer with us.
That Chimney at India Mill still gives me the creeps - especially the section at the top where the ladders stick out about 6ft. Yikes.
Properly bloody frightening! Fascinating bloke, would have like to have met him.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on Sept 14, 2019 11:51:50 GMT
Always felt a bit sorry for his wife, I seem to remember she always looked a bit downtrodden. He was very good at technical drawing I remember. Also recall the clip of him in a graveyard that local kids had vandalised. Yes I remember this. I think it's from the mid 1980s.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Sept 14, 2019 12:13:19 GMT
Reminiscent of Oz in Auf WP when he mentions the Ayatollah cutting hands off
The way he casually climbed up that ladder, especially with that bundle bouncing on his back, clearly he had no fear of heights. Not sure when he first started climbing these structures but I'd guess it's like driving, the earlier you start the less fear you have.
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Sept 15, 2019 16:40:51 GMT
Fascinating stuff! Not something I'd like to even watch let alone try! He really was a unique character old Fred! I hadn't really watched or appreciated his TV series, but he clearly was dedicated to what he enjoyed doing. He obviously was a great fan of the history of those strucutures too. I believe he was married 3 times, so yes felt a bit sorry for his wives too!
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Sept 17, 2019 18:16:11 GMT
Reminiscent of Oz in Auf WP when he mentions the Ayatollah cutting hands off
The way he casually climbed up that ladder, especially with that bundle bouncing on his back, clearly he had no fear of heights. Not sure when he first started climbing these structures but I'd guess it's like driving, the earlier you start the less fear you have.
Fred was well known for having a decent liquid lunch in a local pub, and then he'd return to work and clamber 200ft of ladders.
He seemed very laid back when it came to Health & safety; though I think that was the way the TV shows was edited.
I read a number of obituaries from his colleagues following his death - and every one of them made a point that Fred was very H&S savvy and would never cut corners or leave anything to chance. All ladders / ropes /scaffolding was regularly inspected. And Fred would never climb ladders rigged by someone else, unless they had earned a bucket load of trust!
Did any one see the episode "How to build Scaffold on a chimney" and "How to put up Ladders on a chimney". Quite an eye opener!
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Sept 17, 2019 18:40:00 GMT
I did wonder how they'd managed to fix the ladders to that tower. I hate heights, even looking at a camera point of view shot from the top of a high building on tv can give me the horrors.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Sept 20, 2019 12:29:39 GMT
I did wonder how they'd managed to fix the ladders to that tower. I hate heights, even looking at a camera point of view shot from the top of a high building on tv can give me the horrors. Yes, I did too. I never realised they just work their way up the outside, bit by bit, bashing irons into the mortar and tying off the ladders.
I remember Fred explaining that when the Victorians built the Chimneys, they worked from the inside. Every so often they would put in wooden beams, board it over, and fit a trap door - like in a windmill - and lift up the bricks and mortar through the centre - gradually working their way to the top. I suppose it makes sense really.
They built the Croncrete TV Mast at Emley Moor nr Huddersfield the same way - working up the centre. (Though it wasn't Victorian men in top hats building it!)
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Post by Davy Freeth on Sept 23, 2019 23:16:10 GMT
Remember him doing one in Accrington in the early 1990s .It was crazy the way he did it a fire at bottom then ran as soon as it started moving lol no health and safety there . I worked in a textile factory in Blackburn and he did the chimney next door we were told just to keep working we have a deadline lol Not any lets evacuate the building there's a chimney coming down next door lol that was in the mid eighties .
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Sept 24, 2019 6:02:30 GMT
Remember him doing one in Accrington in the early 1990s .It was crazy the way he did it a fire at bottom then ran as soon as it started moving lol no health and safety there . I worked in a textile factory in Blackburn and he did the chimney next door we were told just to keep working we have a deadline lol Not any lets evacuate the building there's a chimney coming down next door lol that was in the mid eighties . Any modern H and S guy would have a fit! They probably use those films as training aids.
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