P Way Junction renewal - the old way
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- čas přidán 25. 02. 2013
- Old B&W film of relaying Railway Permanent Way. Includes making the baseplates from scratch and building an S&C layout piece meal. Some say the old ways are best!! they certainly knew what they were doing.
Bit of dud film in the middle but does not spoil it too much - Krátké a kreslené filmy
No cellphones, no internet, no GPS, Just good old engineering, craftmanship, and hard work, the best !!!!!
In my country, Sudan, some are made since the British colonization at 1890 and still perfectly functioning to date.
@Anne Frank Vape Pen sad to say that you are probably telling facts.
@Anne Frank Vape Pen Really? Think pyramids. I still think no, lol. Roman aqueducts, roads, buildings, The Great Wall and the Pyramids. Now those have lasted... Civilizations rise and fall. As an Italian, modern Italy may not be much anymore, but my ancestors really changed the world.
Roman Empire may not be around but it's legacy (along with various Chinese Dynasties) will outlast that of the British Empire/UK.
The Hoover Dam will probably be the only structure from the modern era that will be present for thousands of years.
Now, when it comes to something like the industrial revolution, then the world should thank you Brits, lol, as it's an important step in human progress.
At least they weren't made in China 😅
Dry climate?
Nonsense. Unless it’s never used it will have been renewed, replaced or refurbished
I worked in the peeway from 1984 until 2004 and as i look back now it
was the happiest job i ever had, hard dirty work at times but you were
part of a gang who looked after their section of track and you all
pulled your weight, they were hardwroking bunch,even the old railway
guys who were in the 60s could put you to shame with the work they could
do.............such happy times believe it or not, digging out beds and
replacing sleepers, replacing rails, changing plates, oiling the points,
it was more akin to being part of a army squad than a job to be honest,
great days.
Enjoyed my 26 years working on the p way
Happy days.
True to this day I work with a couple of 60-70 year old trackmen and they honestly put the 20 year olds to shame
Fascinating glimpse of the old ways: child labor (perhaps apprentices?), little protection for workers from some huge pointing and punching machines, and tedious checking and rechecking by hand and simple gauges. A crisp no-nonsense narration. You could just about rebuild a civilization from films like this.
Hard to argue those young boys had it rough. I am sure they grew up probably scaling a mountainside in southern France.
Not a hard hat in sight
Classic 1930s commentary, BBC English delivered in that patrician and reassuring style,alongside plenty of technical jargon to keep the Great Unwashed enthralled and firmly in their place.Job done,and train passes sweetly over the new junction at Chester General...now let's have a nice cup of tea.Utter respect for these men,my father worked as a shunter and track repair ganger for 15 years,including through the harsh winter of 1963.
I like how the narrator talks about the “electrically driven screwing machine” almost reverently. Electricity being something special.
My wife's got one of those.
@@rogerking7258, my wife doesn't need one.......
“Elect-tric-ally” !
The stinky government has now become an "electrically-driven screwing machine".
"Screwing Machine."
Thanks for this.
I will say again - it is SO refreshing to have there British videos that have little/no silly music and have a voiceover done in a matter-of-fact manner.
Far better then American/Canadian ones of the period that usually have annoying, happy music and voiceover people that talk to you like you are 6 years old.
Blah.
Great piece. True workmanship. "So, old chap, what attire shall we use for this heavy engineering work", " Why a suit of course"
Gordon Urquhart Ah, but he is The Surveyor !
I saw more than just the surveyor wearing a suit. I'd guess they were told this was going to be filmed for a documentary and when the wives heard about it they told their men they had to look nice since they were going to be in a documentary. Probably one of the more exciting events in their lives.
@@scottwright8354 "Laying the frog, take two!!"
All calculated with paper, pencil, and rulers, very impressive.
I'd love to see how they route all the switching rods and levers to the switch house.
That's engineering at its finest. Indeed, it'd be great to see all that heavy work done. Then, I'd have to go the chemist to buy aspirins.
I live in Sandiacre where all of this was filmed. Most of the Taylor Brothers works is now a discount supermarket and a housing estate, although part of the foundry still exists and is now run by Balfour Beatty - still making railway track. No-one who lives there, nor anyone who calls in to the shop, has any clue about the history of hard work and industry which lies right under their feet. I have an old Chesterman steel ruler from the works, engraved with the company name and address. The foundry's phone number was Sandiacre 56. Not many phones back then.
I was wondering where it was. Thanks.
This is unbelievably educational and answers several questions I’ve had sleepless hours wondering about for over 50 years, and I’m only 60!
Extraordinary-and not a laser beam or computer in sight! Thanks for posting. What a business! :-)
hffp1 Unfortunately H+S Nazis are needed because workers have a tendency to do stupid things and get injured.
hffp1 , you do seem to have a bee in your bonnet about white collar workers , bit of a lefty eh ?
What do you mean? I was admiring all the effort and planning i evolved all done witness no modern technology!
@@TERRYBIGGENDEN it was modern technology when this was filmed.
@@TERRYBIGGENDEN I think he was replying to the other poster.
Fascinating to see how it was done by hand. Brilliant engineering to work it all out on paper. Loved the work clothes, suits and macs. Dangerous work and a round of applause to all of them.👏👏👏👏👏👏
that kid is working harder than any kid ever has now
Really Great Video Thanks 41 years engine driver and never knew how they did this. All the measuring and work involved ;-)
That’s a tough job from start to finish it certainly gets my admiration.
Facinating. In an era when men were men......and so were the women. This is the type of toil and effort and ingenuity that helped make this country a great one.
Where to start - my God. It's a mess of trackwork to be sure. Accomplished before we had the tools and luxuries of today is a real testament to the talent and craftsmanship of all the trades and people involved. I'm at a loss of words to describe how awestruck I am by that trackwork. While there are plenty of examples of crossings and switches; this is the first one I've seen that's so unique and complicated. It all looks so beautiful!
Those Engineers, Planners and Workers really had to know what they were doing...No Faking It!!!
Suit coat and tie work clothes no less. wow!
Yep, no winging it.
Like 13:20 "Not with a hammer please" LOL :)
Nice old film. Greetings from Switzerland
Absolutely fascinating to learn about all of the unseen work that went on behind the scenes in days gone by!
Thanks for sharing this. Sure reminded me of my childhood days when I'd go to the tracks and watch the trains. Then if any track-work was to be done, this was how they did it and many times they also used "convict labor" to do this work alongside the actual railroad workers.
Just watched a track re-lay quite a few years back and rarely is ANYTHING done anywhere near like this today, pretty much all automatic equipment and jointed rail making way for long slender rail that gets welded together.
Pretty soon those clickety clack sounds will also become something of yesteryear. And I'll sure miss those sounds of the metal wheels rolling over the joints.
Along with these new idiotic quiet zones, that I think are putting people into more dangerous situations trackside, than if they allowed the railroads to use their horns and bells on the locomotives when needed!
I’ve built about 35 turnouts and two double slips in my time. This is beautiful work and fascinating to watch.
bigkiwimike me too! In HO scale.
Did you get to do the latest ones, where one lever slipped all of the points at one time?
It was interesting to see half moving the other way, but at least the were no more derailments!
@@danieljones317 Hi. Are you referring to a double slip where one lever each end moves four blades instead of two?
@@bigkiwimike the last one I saw had one really long lever, and it moved all eight blades, or points.
It was away from the yard on a really long siding lead.
I was 14, I think, and I actually worked that lever several times.
It didn't take a lot of effort, and I saw that either way, any traffic would not derail, as in the older ones.
The train either went straight through, or it slipped to the other track, on both routes, and both routes were the same, very safe arrangement.
Not really changed much in all these years. Renewing a large junction like this we would prefabricate at a yard similar to the one in the video. Although the bearers would be concrete not wood and the tail would be different. The layout would be split into panels and lifted into place with a crane. What is different is that we would excavate all the ballast and replace and once all fitted together it would be welded and stressed. Also a mechanical machine called a tamper would lift and the the layout. So some differences for modernisation but the principles are the same.
Worked Pleck Junction as part of the S&T years back. Was quite something to be involved in.
Still be wood s&c timbers today
Yes they still pre-build all junctions away from the line. Nowdays they are shipped in huge chunks and craned into position to make renewal really fast.
@@andthenightcame8959 what wood is most commonly used for rail tracks?
@@andthenightcame8959 Both are still in use with more emphasis on concrete.
It's just like How It's Made!
Except for the lack of goofy background music, and the fact that this guy can pronounce all the words...
No computers no fancy equipment. Just very clever hardworking men doing a task with such skill and precision no red tape and bureaucracy on time and on budget I would imagine u have to respect. It's a shame this country is no longer capable of such feats the likes of this, H&S driven madness undoubted cost overruns and to many Clueless managers with no idea of how to do it and do it right.
@Tim Moran - don't forget the slide rules, Tim; tricky to learn how to use them, but saving a huge amount of time once you got the hang of it; and, of course, log tables (another lost art!). Up till 50 years ago, no engineer or draughtsman would be without them.
This has slightly blown my mind - I grew up just up the road from this factory - and would watch this processes in action from the road - it is so familiar brings back such a rush - this is the sights and sounds of my childhood 60 or 70 years ago!
I watched that with a mixture of delight at the nostalgia and horror at the lack of safety gear.
Especially the total lack of gloves..
My grandpa said the good ole days weren't always so good. Also notice the boys working in the foundry.
Yeah. I also noticed that. Thanks for pointing that out.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having boys (they looked to be around 10-14 years) work, so long as the workplace adheres to basic safety standards and they are paid a fair wage. There are arguments that having a large percentage of your adolescent youth engaged in some form of labor teaches discipline, time management, money management, imparts a (theoretically) valuable skill earlier in life resulting in a longer productivity period in their life, thus more (comparative) wealth accrued.
One of the largest hurdles that modern male youth (in general, there are exceptions of course) faces is the fact that upon reaching their majority (usually considered around 18 years or so in most places) is that they have no actual value to society when compared to older males. They have little to no accrued wealth or property. They have limited, if any, institutional knowledge or understanding of their chosen field of labor, and little to no practical experience as well. What practical skills they may have are very limited or untested (for the most part) and hiring them for a trained position is often a relative crapshoot (far more so than hiring an established male) that many employers would rather not make if given any alternative.
Starting boys on a career path earlier in life is a fairly tried and true method of giving them what amounts to a "leg up" on life. I cannot imagine what I would have done without the experience imparted to me by my Grandfather and brothers growing up. When I tell modern fellows about my own youth and early adulthood, the most common comment is that they think my Grandfather was some sort of greedy monster using us for "child labor", which he (the "child labor" part, not the rest of it) was. But unlike them, by the time I was 18 I knew how to (and even more importantly HAD EXPERIENCE WITH) lay masonry, plumb a wall, build the wall, lay and repair plumbing, take up and put down a shingled roof, install plumbing fixtures, and some basics of electrical wiring.
These skills allowed me to get a fairly decent job with a contractor immediately after leaving high school, and paid my bills when I went to school to be certified in the things I already knew. It also helped immensely with the classwork as I not only knew what the instructor was speaking about, but had several years of experience with putting the instructions into practice. Today, I have my degree in mechanical engineering and own my own general contracting company. I will never be rich, but I have my own home that I even helped build, my son and daughter work with me both in the office and on-site, and they themselves will have a rich foundation of experience upon which to build their lives. They will have the tools they need for both survival and success when they reach their majority, and should something unforeseen happen to me as it did my father, I will know that they will have at least the same chances I did in their position.
@@taunteratwill1787 Child labor never "went away", it is still very much the norm in the world outside the bubble-wrapped (First World) communities most of us live in. I would hope that you are not one of those silly fellows that fantasizes that happiness and leisure is a right, or that childhood is supposed to be some kind of journey of innocence, but for the vast majority of the world, the privileges that you enjoy as a result of outsourcing your problems is not shared by those that have to produce the goods you use and purchase each day.
From the sweatshops of India and China to the fields of coffee and tea in Central and South America and Southeast Asia, children daily take their place next to their parents in the long lines of humans grinding out their lives in an effort to fill their bowl with just enough food to survive till tomorrow. The conditions are horrendous and often lack even the most basic of health and safety regulations. All of this is done to ensure that the plentitude of goods and services produced are available for a very cheap and accessible price for you and I. The poorest and most downtrodden person living in the First World is far better off, with an availability of resources that is unfathomable to the majority of humanity.
One of the factors that brings this situation about is the foolish modern ideology that places emphasis on the emotional enjoyment of life and the drive to preserve that enjoyment at any cost above the need to engage in work that is dull or dangerous, but necessary to the society. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen the Mexicans out in the fields picking strawberries or peppers or green beans with their kids, and that's in California, in a supposedly First World nation, with laws against the very things I'm looking at. The Mexicans do it because they make more money doing this than they'd ever make in Mexico or Guatemala, the kids do it because they know that their families need the income, and the farmers do it because cheap labor is necessary to produce foodstuffs with a marketable price point and still turn a profit.
The point is, that "child labor" still exists, has always existed, and will always exist. Much like prostitution, alcohol consumption, and drug use. Making silly laws against it still will not address the underlying economic and societal pressures that drive it. Instead of driving it underground, making it the realm of criminals and tyrants, why not regulate it? Ensure that the working conditions are safe and equitable for them. Make sure they are being paid a fair wage, like the adults. Ensure that working hours and job requirements are fair and non-exploitative. Personally, I'd set the cut-off at 12-14 years, perhaps 6-8 hours a day, 4 days a week, schooling availability permitting.
@@vishnu79 Stop writing already!! You bore the flying shit out of everyone! Do you really believe there's anything new in your comment? Anything we don't know yet? You want to make a difference? Go to these fucked up areas and be an activist over there and stop playing the blabla goeroe over here where it save to be against these practises. Wannabe world healer!
@@taunteratwill1787 Vishnu79 spends time explaining from his own experience what is happening outside the first world bubble where you no doubt live. He shares some pragmatic views on child labour outside that bubble, in a world where the urgent need for food and clothes ends up taking priority over the need for education. Then suddenly you arrive on the scene with nothing meaningful to say, have a fit of pique and insult him. Are you arrogant, rude and foul-mouthed like this all the time?
People did this all in suits, ties, and dress shoes. That just blows my mind.
Don't forget the vest!
...and the flat caps!
British gotta be properly dressed as gentleman at any point in their lives.
They all probably knew they'd be on camera at work that day. I doubt they usually dressed like this.
@@dansw0rkshop They did always dress like shown.
Back when men were men and worked hard for a living. Not like todwhere people live on a damn phone and think their entitled. This is amazing work with an awesome out come. The men who built America.
Well at one time that was state of the art. I loved the metal planning machines in the machine shop.
no millinials there
Abom79 would like the shaper segment.
@@tonymartin4255 what are you insinuating?
A couple of years ago they replaced the old wooden sleepers with concrete one near the Barrier Highway here in Australia. I meant to take some to plane down. It was an incredible amount of wood and labour. This was a very long stretch and they were working their way up North West. It felt like stacks of history. That wood survived decades in the rain, cold, and ambient temperatures of 40/45 C. not to mention the direct sun.
I don't know if this is an international phenomenon but in South Africa, they manufacture magnificent furniture from recovered sleepers. Google railway sleeper furniture.
I have a fence made out of Duglas Fir and its 40 years old and no rot and hard now to drive a nail into. Here in Ireland you cannot use anything treated with creosote in children's play grounds or schools etc. You can but sleepers made from Yarra sometimes called Rhodesian teak, and Yarra was also found in Australia, I understood theses came in up to 22 foot lengths for junctions etc and this stuff never seems to rot and wasn't treated (am I wright) I bought some German pine sleepers for a raised bed and they rotted in no time!
The (wonder full) EU decreed a few years back all sleepers on passanger lines had to be concrete, thus the line near me was torn up and the 1 year old creosoted oak sleepers were shipped off to Germany (we weren't left buy them) to be incinerated, what a waste.
Over here in continental Europe selling wooden impregnated sleepers is forbidden and they have to be treated as toxic waste which costs a lot to dispose them.
Peter Perigoe jarrah is a fantastic tough timber,and a beautiful color too.🇩🇰
I live in sth Aus near Port Augusta. A mate of mine works on the railways up north. He's been bringing sleepers back with him from work for years now. He would have hundreds of them. Im not sure what he plans to do with them, i think he just takes them because he can... Probably end up as fire wood.
Brilliant piece of historical time. Lots of solid, polished shoes, waistcoats and caps. The chap on the right @3.40 looks like he walked into the sharp end of a sleeper!
Or maybe his girl friend's husband!
Very cool to watch. I enjoyed that alot
That were real men. They worked without safety equipment. And they layed the base of our life. Greeting from Germany.
06:39 I love that one of the workman is wearing a bowler hat!
"I'll pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today!"
I liked the surveyor in the bowler hat, very stylish.
The lads would have been about 15 , the same age as me when I started at Beyer and Peacock in 1963
Wearing a coat and tie, too!
Priceless! only the British could do that (and perhaps the Belgians?). :-)
The bowler hat was a status symbol, worn by the foreman. Ordinary workers wore a flat cap.
Love that theodolite work. Surveying sure has changed a lot :D
Love watching the time gone by era,
The original idea of the double headed rail was that when the rail head was worn, the rail could be turned over for a new rolling surface. In practice dents were worn and hammered into the lower head, making it unsuitable for turning over. Subsequent rails had reduced size lower heads to save metal.
Bullhead rails and chairs have been obsolete for decades. It serves on secondary tracks, side tracks, industrial sidings until it is worn out. Large stocks of bullhead rail, chairs, wedges and screws from abandoned lines and lines where the bullhead rail has been replaced by flat-bottomed T rail are available for maintaining heritage railways and sidings. Bullhead rail will be in service for many years to come.
Love this footage. A gone -by age when men really knew what hard back breaking work was, were proud, and teenagers were apprentices,
Let us imagine it is winter with snow and ice and there are bombers overhead, and they are relentless! Those are the shoulders on which we stand! Best of luck to all of us! Thanks for the video!
EXCELLENT video. A great piece of history. Many Thanks.
All machinery work done without C.N.C. machines????. . No hard-hats, no safety shoes, no gloves, no eye and face protection , almond without personal protective equipment ....... Hard-working humans are at their best.....Just wow....
Marvelous !!. very impressive ..
Hats off to the engineers and workers for their share in the communication process.
OMG, Ibet the smell in that place was AWESOME. Creosote always reminds me of the smell of the railway line at the bottom of my garden on a hot summers day.
Amazing that no matter your job, still rocking a 3 piece suit.
Absolutely fascinating! The hard hats and high vis. are noticeable by their absence!
back then, the lack of ... Ahem. Elf and Sayftee, meant that there was more time getting the job done, and with more work, meant more back-breaking labor so you had it done right because fuck if you got it wrong theylll make YOU move it to the right place. now it's mostly meetings (I've had big jobs done quicker - including the rig and derig of my crane - than it took to do the 'Induction', which didn't even tell us WHAT we were doing. there was a whole sixty-page document for THAT. Of which only two pages were useful - the drawing (if there was one) of where the crane would go (that probably wasn't even of a accurate detail level to actually tell me when looking at the actual site 'oh thats where I'm going, next to x y detail on picture that exists for real' too often the 'drawing' was like what a two year old would do with just the box and line functions in MS Paint in less than a minute. leaving one page - that says what I'm lifting. Except too often it'd have "and miscellaneous lifts of weights not to exceed crane lifting capacity". Like. DUH.
I've been sent OFF SITE for not wearing a helmet... on a site where the only 'heavy machinery' was my crane which wasn't even rigged, and the only works going on at head height or higher was the thought process of "BUT HAT!" . there wasn't even a building. (I was there to lay the GROUND FLOOR slabs, which were laid on the ground no more than two layers deep so didn't even reach above knee height, no hammer-and-nails, nothing that would necessitate head protection).
Yet I've also seen "Put your hat on" site managers not wear them in places where they'd actually DO something. like say, indoors, when someone's on a step ladder doing stuff in the ceiling space. not wearing them because 'but, I'm INSIDE". There are situations where indoors is helmets OFF and situations where its HELMETS ON. Then there's sites were I've walked past, not as a contractor but IM ON MY DAY OFF GOING TO THE BANK and shit's constantly dropping from the scaffolding above the public-footpath-that's not "on site"- and its repair works to the TOWN HALL like FOR FUCKS SAKE THE ONE PLACE YOU THINK HSE WOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
This is why I prefer getting paid a third of the wage as a PIZZA DELIVERY DRIVER to being a crane operator. It's too stressful and I spent too much time in my childhood being driven insane by shitheads at school to accept being driven insane in the workplace. The money was NOT worth it, especially because it actually has monetary costs in the long run that negate that cost - like FUCKING RED LIGHT RUN CAMERAS RUN BY COUNCILS THAT SAY OH THE LIGHTS CHANGED TWICE WHILST YOU WERE ON THE JUNCTION THATS TWO FUCKING RED LIGHT RUN FINES. So... just so you know, WINSFORD, CHESHIRE CAN GET FUCKED. after that I drove the crane down the DANGEROUS ROAD to avoid A FUCKING CAMERA whenever I had a job that way. SIX TRUCKS ended off the road having to swerve out of the way of the wider-than-a-truck mobile crane that was driving with its own left-side-mirror in the bushes but the right side wheels where ON and not inside of the white line. a crane that, at the speed limit of the road the camera is on DOESNT EVEN TRAVEL ITS OWN LENGTH in one second. (30mph).
and 30mph was TOO FAST for that road given the VEHICLE and design and layout and shit of that road - so 20mph would have been more suitable but I didn't want to get THREE red-run tickets.
Sorry these things get me RILED UP so fucking much I'm 32 and need a goddamn chill pill because of shit like that and already 'retired' from the job because its so fucking stupid and NOT FUCKING WORTH IT... SIGH.
@@AlMcpherson79 been there, done that.
I was the laborer for a small company one time, and wore a ton of different hats, so to speak.
For the jobsites, I wore a WHITE helmet, because half the time I was running more than what crew we had.
Also, I have a knack for building things, so I was also the guy that did the bids, and had to do all the measuring and surveying.
Toughbjob, but I always loved operating the equipment, and I can thread a needle with a 600 size excavator, and shave fingerprints from a sheet of paper with a D12.
Too effective on the ground, so never got an operator's card...
One good look at a print, and a year later, I could fine grade a ten acre area with a 650 Deere, and all they did was run a rock rake over it, and throw seed down...
Yea, did so well that the boss cut my throat for $25 bucks an hour on prevailing wage work.
Went over the road for a decade, the employers there are just as bad.
No more big companies for me.
I'd rather die penniless than be some minimum wage slave doing work that commands $30 per hour.
You want fries with that?
Very cool video. Thanks for posting and have a nice day too.
Amazing the old managerial class system that was in place in those days. Bowler hats v flat caps..!! ;-)
Brilliant video thankyou. They were the days of WORK eh.
Awesome! Design, build, tear down, reassemble in one day. Impressive.
Beyond amazing, people think the pyramid builders were unbelievable and all they did was stack rocks.
@@3superpar someone has speculated that the outer stones were poured...
I heard something of that about a decade ago, it's just starting to hit mainstream.
Maybe that's why the Egyptians didn't want anyone on the pyramids?
Very nice video and fun to watch. Have a nice day.
Absolutely fantastic.
This was back breaking labour, no two ways about it. Imagine doing that for years on end from being a young man. You'd be shagged by 40. And what did they get paid? Not much. What happened when they got injured on the job? Not much. The process is a testament to human ingenuity for sure, but the human costs were very high....
Imagine the working conditions for those who did the same work without machines.
My great grandfather was in a panel gang in 19th century Cheshire. Fascinating to see these films. For those who survived, WW1 was a chance for men like my grandfather to get away from it. Life expectancy not great. Welfare state began when people worked from 14 to 60ish then died about 68
@@cuebj Men went to war for the elite ruling class then came home if they were lucky and did back breaking work for them. Still goes on to this day just different work.
You are absolutely right my friend how very astute you are for seeing that. That kind of work if you survived it put you in a casket.
Interesting to see the mass production of the basic sleeper units though - chairs onto sleepers - at one time that would have been done by hand and on site.
Very nice video. Thanks for posting and have a nice day too.
If the presenter's voice sounds familiar, it was that of Frank Phillips who played the news reader in the Dam Busters film and also lots of other BBC stuff in the 50's and 60's. Just the timbre of his voice takes me back to when I was just a lad in short-pants.
If aliens watched this old documentary and took notes about the human condition they would have absolutely no idea that women existed.
Awesome project management.
Psychiatrist: you've got to keep your life on track
My life: 0:02
They took a deep pride in the job that they were doing,
No high visibility vests back then. Great video. 👍🙂
Amazing. Everything is so bespoke.
I pass the old Taylor Bros site in Sandiacre, Derbyshire often, and some parts of the place are still there now, when you stand on the hill, at the side of Toton Sidings. I would guess due to it's proximity, most of the metal came from the Stanton Ironworks just up the road.
a fettling bench and fish plates. what more could a man ask for?
A dolly cup is essential! (12:57)
I'd fettle til I went blind.
I worked at that factory in the 1990's, when it was called Balfour Beatty. Bit more technically advanced then. I operated a planning machine probably one that was shown. Plus we didn't use bull-head rail then, it was flat bottoned
Bullhead has been gone for many years. Though I'm sure there are still some sidings using it. Not to mention some preserved lines.
A great piece of pointwork in the titles! Not so many like that today :-)
It's a miracle! I can't understand how they managed to do it without Hi-Viz jackets and hard hats.
And NO protective ear muffs or leather gloves. Them Wuz REAL MEN.
Workplace accidents were exceedingly common in industries such as this in those days. You can do amazing things if you disregard safety measures, but good ethics forbids this method of improving productivity and profets.
I am exhausted!! They did it hard back in those days..
Good ol days when they didn't rainbow flags and crosswalks...
Impressive (a understatement)
Que ingenieria ferroviaria! Cuanta preparacion para los durmientes y la fundicion de los soportes para las vias, cuanto calculo para la ubicacion correcta de todos los elementos felitaciones a esos ingenieros y trabajadores ferrovioarios que con los elementos de esa epoca construyeron el tendido de las vias ferreas con los complejos diseños de vias para tomar diferentes destinos los trenes que circulaban en ese entonces, felicitaciones por el video, simplemente hermoso!
What a freakn job, now days everything is done by machine!!! 💯👍
These days, computers control the machines that cut and shape these elements to within thousandths of millimetres. Back then they did it exactly.
Thank-you!
What men they were!
Jolly good off you go then.... splendid job
Loved watching that
As others may have said, “ Many hand make lite work.”
The complex construction of this railway is incredible...Adelaide can't even get a tramline to integrate a right turn function at an intersection even though there used to be one in the 40's. Says something about the abilities of this generation...useless.. it's called the dumbing down of up and coming generations. I just added this bit because I thought the so-called engineers in Adelaide might be able to watch and learn how they can fix the "problem" here.. doubt it though...🤣🤣😁🇦🇺👍🏻
I bet in the 40s they knew how to use apostrophes correctly too!
Great vid. They were great men.
Amazingly meticulous with a beautiful result. Engineering!
I absolutely concur with you, old chap. Engineering at its finest. I'm sure all the blokes went to the local pub for a few rounds of good Guinness and dartboard matches. The good ol days.
When you see all the abandoned rail yards,think of all this work to make them work at one time
Tyne Yard is a classic example, it was redundant before it was completed.
Nice to see Chester station in LMS days. Can just spot the large signal Gantry that used to be there.
Gorgeous!!
Muy interesante. Gracias por el vídeo
Not much changed in Australia either Except - The main issue of replacement is making sure there is access UNDER the 1500kv catenary wires.
So on the weekends, whole sections of track are turned off and travel is replaced by busses.
Junctions are prebuilt by the side of the place of install, but the catenaries would also make it more difficult to lift as there are crosswires all over the place so no way a conventional crane could be used.
I'll have to check next time there's one near me .. there's at least 3 prebuilt points which is greater than a flatbed truck so there must be another method to slide the track under the wires..
I'm surprised the British didn't steal people from other countries ,to fo their dirty work oh my bag they stole people and they did all their dirty work and never pay them a freaking dime.
can't believe so many worked in suits!
they did everything in suits. It is what men wore. Boys wore suits too, perhaps if under thirteen in short trousers, but suits just the same. My great uncle stubbornly wore his three piece brown woolen serge suit whilst sitting in his deck-chair on the beach at Weston-super-Mare. It was blazingly hot, and we were all in swimsuits. It was 1960, that's what happened.
proper - As Fred Dibnah once said teaching a small boy to make a cake as school is no way to run an industrial empire
He also said, "did ye like that?"
Amazing how it all fitted together really. Funny seeing them all working in their suits and no H&S either of anything whatsoever by the looks of things. Must have been a few bad accidents I suppose
Those were the days when you could tell who the "new guy" was by looking for the one who still had ten fingers...
That crane operator didn't believe in "easy down." He basically dropped everything.
I've operated one. The winch drum brake is only a 3-inch wide band of steel-backed wood or compact fibre (like a car clutch-plate) and operates via a foot pedal. It works well enough at lighter loads but when you're lifting heavy stuff and the brake is either 'On' or 'Off' then controlling the drop can get a bit fraught . . .
Thank God for Plasser machines !!
Amazing accuracy
Amazing.
AH. The good old days. No rain gear. No safety gear. No machinery for lifting and setting. And you always knew where the kids were. Yes, there was no time for the youngsters to get in trouble making molds and doing the casting at the foundry.
And Mother had a life of leisure too. She had all the time for her self when the chores were done. Chores like laundry scrubbed by hand. I bet those railroad stains took some heavy scrubbing. And don't forget to rinse and hang out to dry. Better get to the market for tonight's dinner. And bring in some wood or coal for the stove so you can cook it. Start cleaning the house too. Don't forget to make the beds Mom. The men will be home from the rail yard soon. Better set the table with all the goodies so everything will be ready when the dinner is done. And then before you knew it the men were home from work. Everyone was scrubbing up from the soap and water and towels Mom set out. Clean towels from the previous day's laundry. After dinner, everyone helped with the dishes. Then bath time was ready when the water was hot on the stove. Off to bed to get some sleep. And wake up in the morning and do it all again. AH! The good old days when workdays were twelve hours or more long.
And just before she drifted off to sleep Mom remembered that she needed to get up early to split some wood for the cook and the heating stoves. She didn't mind. She knew how hard it must be lifting steel all day long. And Mom drifted off to sleep saying her prayers. And thank God for such a wonderful family. And looking forward to the one day off the men had. Yes, thank you, God it is a wonderful life.
"Don't forget to make the beds Mom." Slobs should do it themselves. Get up and make the bed, all in one go. Not so hard unless you are a pampered slob.
You also couldn't marry someone who was a different color than you. Workplace injuries were common.
Ah, yes and don't forget all those lovely times with Dad spending all his paycheck money at the pub then coming home drunk, yelling at the kids, and hitting the wife.. the good old days.
@Demo He is going back to his childhood only remembering the good bits.
Does all that work then dad comes home from the pub at 8 and wonders where his dinner is so he gets a bit physical with mum who's trying to explain she is about to heat dinner up for dad but she didn't know what time he was going to get back. Nostalgia is a load of nonsense. Those rose tinted spectacles just have shit smeared on them
Nene Valley Railway still use a steam crane for track repairs renewals. It is sometimes just put into use as a showpiece.
First time I have seen bullhead rail chairs and hardware in close detail.
They are long obsolete. Flat-bottomed T-rail, invented in the USA by Robert L. Stevens, is almost universally used worldwide.
As no rolling mills in America were capable of rolling the rails, it was ordered from England. The first T-rails arrived in 1831.
A life time's experience.
All men, any youths/young men?
The Shaping Machine is the 1st one that starts the improver off in the trade.
Keep at it to get your Bowler!
I didn't get a Bowler, I got out and into the Drawing Office!
Modern day drawing office worker here! I do the cast crossings specifically.
The lack of younger workers might be because of the Great Depression. Many companies, such as railways, struggled just to keep their own workers employed. Consequently the lack of younger workers. Also, the way they dress ages them to our eyes. I suspect the heavy work also aged them prematurely. I wonder how many of these men ended up with hernias?
Great workmanship
when I worked MOW BNSF some of this same ole track is still holding strong....believe it or not....I found nails from early 1900's near Hobart yard, commerce, pico, los neitos through san pedro junction Los Angeles area....
Dudes voice giving me shop class flashbacks.
EXCELLENT!!! 2 thumbs up!
I absolutely love steam cranes.
Thanks!
Armstrong Addison at Sunderland dock had a small vertical boiler crane in the yard, when it closed I tried to buy it but they chose to send it to the scrap yard, I heard later it had been rescued but cant verify that.
Great video!