My Idea of bliss !

[Chuffer]

Sadly I can't drink it for medical reasons. So I've not drunk alcohol in about 10 years now. Wife doesn't drink alcohol either - she can drink it (aka no medical reason), but isn't interested.

I can however sniff super unleaded and "steam engine smells", so I'm still good there

The problem with not drinking alcohol is --- when you wake up in the morning it`s the best you`re gonna feel all day !!
As a remedy I will send you a bottle of steam cylinder oil to sniff and a large pot of au de `Welsh Steam Coal ` esscence !

 

[CaptainK]

The problem with not drinking alcohol is --- when you wake up in the morning it`s the best you`re gonna feel all day !!
As a remedy I will send you a bottle of steam cylinder oil to sniff and a large pot of au de `Welsh Steam Coal ` esscence !

You are quite correct - first thing in the morning is when I feel best.... right up until that moment when I realise I have to go to work .

Sadly, the problem WITH drinking alcohol is that its likely to bring on my epilepsy, which means a ban from driving for a year AGAIN, which means no more V8 smells and sounds, which makes for the worst feeling ever. Especially as I live in the sticks and car is the only viable means of transport to get anywhere. Thanks to due vigilance (and a lot of luck), I now have what most normal people have - a full unrestricted driving licence. Previously had a 3 year medical one, needing to be renewed every 3 years - which involved a lot of faffing, medical examinations, paperwork, but mostly DVLA letdowns. It takes about 10 years of "being clean" to restore your licence back to a normal one. So I'm not risking it again.

Don't get me wrong - I used to love ales and classic beers (NOT lagers!) and occasional shots etc. But its not worth it. In my youth I ignored the docs and kept drinking, but when I got older I realised I was being stupid. Its a similar issue with coffee - love the taste, but can't drink it as it rockets my body rate and I'm like a crazed druggy bouncing off the walls with my eyes wide open looking for my next fix. Doubt it affects my epilepsy, but as it buggers up my body then I don't want to risk it. Tea on the other side is just not that pleasant.... don't know why people drink it.

I don't know what it is about "steam engine smells", but my wife and I both love it. Maybe they should bottle the smell and make a deodorant / perfume out of it?

 

[Roscobbc]

You are quite correct - first thing in the morning is when I feel best.... right up until that moment when I realise I have to go to work .

Sadly, the problem WITH drinking alcohol is that its likely to bring on my epilepsy, which means a ban from driving for a year AGAIN, which means no more V8 smells and sounds, which makes for the worst feeling ever. Especially as I live in the sticks and car is the only viable means of transport to get anywhere. Thanks to due vigilance (and a lot of luck), I now have what most normal people have - a full unrestricted driving licence. Previously had a 3 year medical one, needing to be renewed every 3 years - which involved a lot of faffing, medical examinations, paperwork, but mostly DVLA letdowns. It takes about 10 years of "being clean" to restore your licence back to a normal one. So I'm not risking it again.

Don't get me wrong - I used to love ales and classic beers (NOT lagers!) and occasional shots etc. But its not worth it. In my youth I ignored the docs and kept drinking, but when I got older I realised I was being stupid. Its a similar issue with coffee - love the taste, but can't drink it as it rockets my body rate and I'm like a crazed druggy bouncing off the walls with my eyes wide open looking for my next fix. Doubt it affects my epilepsy, but as it buggers up my body then I don't want to risk it. Tea on the other side is just not that pleasant.... don't know why people drink it.

I don't know what it is about "steam engine smells", but my wife and I both love it. Maybe they should bottle the smell and make a deodorant / perfume out of it?

Perhaps the reason why the ' old boys' that seem to typify the steam engine 'movement' (whether its full size, narrow gauge or model steam rail, traction engine - whatever) always seem to wear grease encrusted boiler suits or bib 'n' braces..........perhaps when things 'warm-up' a little the clothing 'exudes' the requisite odours......?

 

[Vetman]

You are quite correct - first thing in the morning is when I feel best.... right up until that moment when I realise I have to go to work .

Sadly, the problem WITH drinking alcohol is that its likely to bring on my epilepsy, which means a ban from driving for a year AGAIN, which means no more V8 smells and sounds, which makes for the worst feeling ever. Especially as I live in the sticks and car is the only viable means of transport to get anywhere. Thanks to due vigilance (and a lot of luck), I now have what most normal people have - a full unrestricted driving licence. Previously had a 3 year medical one, needing to be renewed every 3 years - which involved a lot of faffing, medical examinations, paperwork, but mostly DVLA letdowns. It takes about 10 years of "being clean" to restore your licence back to a normal one. So I'm not risking it again.

Don't get me wrong - I used to love ales and classic beers (NOT lagers!) and occasional shots etc. But its not worth it. In my youth I ignored the docs and kept drinking, but when I got older I realised I was being stupid. Its a similar issue with coffee - love the taste, but can't drink it as it rockets my body rate and I'm like a crazed druggy bouncing off the walls with my eyes wide open looking for my next fix. Doubt it affects my epilepsy, but as it buggers up my body then I don't want to risk it. Tea on the other side is just not that pleasant.... don't know why people drink it.

I don't know what it is about "steam engine smells", but my wife and I both love it. Maybe they should bottle the smell and make a deodorant / perfume out of it?

The perfume could be named ‘Smut’.

 

[Chuffer]

Perhaps the reason why the ' old boys' that seem to typify the steam engine 'movement' (whether its full size, narrow gauge or model steam rail, traction engine - whatever) always seem to wear grease encrusted boiler suits or bib 'n' braces..........perhaps when things 'warm-up' a little the clothing 'exudes' the requisite odours......?

Captain K can borrow one of my boiler suits or my spare set of drivers bib `n brace and jacket and sniff them at will !
My dear wife moans like mad when I come home from a day working on the locos and stuff my smelly gear in the washing machine . By far the worse smell is the parafin or kersene we use for dissolving the thick grease and grime off all the `mucky bits ` before carrying out maintenance or restoration work . It soaks into your boiler suite and clothes and takes forever to get the stink out !!

 

[Roscobbc]

When I did my engineering apprenticeship and spent time in the auto capstan shop and toolroom these of soluble oil 'Mystic' machining coolant permiated the factory atmosphere, your clothes, hair, everything.....but you were oblivious to the smell. It was only when getting home my mother would insist on me changing my clothes.

 

[Chuffer]

You are quite correct - first thing in the morning is when I feel best.... right up until that moment when I realise I have to go to work .

Sadly, the problem WITH drinking alcohol is that its likely to bring on my epilepsy, which means a ban from driving for a year AGAIN, which means no more V8 smells and sounds, which makes for the worst feeling ever. Especially as I live in the sticks and car is the only viable means of transport to get anywhere. Thanks to due vigilance (and a lot of luck), I now have what most normal people have - a full unrestricted driving licence. Previously had a 3 year medical one, needing to be renewed every 3 years - which involved a lot of faffing, medical examinations, paperwork, but mostly DVLA letdowns. It takes about 10 years of "being clean" to restore your licence back to a normal one. So I'm not risking it again.

Don't get me wrong - I used to love ales and classic beers (NOT lagers!) and occasional shots etc. But its not worth it. In my youth I ignored the docs and kept drinking, but when I got older I realised I was being stupid. Its a similar issue with coffee - love the taste, but can't drink it as it rockets my body rate and I'm like a crazed druggy bouncing off the walls with my eyes wide open looking for my next fix. Doubt it affects my epilepsy, but as it buggers up my body then I don't want to risk it. Tea on the other side is just not that pleasant.... don't know why people drink it.

I don't know what it is about "steam engine smells", but my wife and I both love it. Maybe they should bottle the smell and make a deodorant / perfume out of it?

Sorry to hear about your epilepsy , that must be a nightmare to live with . As for bottling that special smell , we all used to say on the railway that if we could bottle it and sell it to the punters we could make a fortune . The charm does wear off a bit at the end of a 10 or 12 hour shift when you have dig a load of red hot `clinker` out of the firebox and chuck it out the cab door and and rake out the ash pan into a pit plus shovel up to six wheel barrow loads of ash and char out the the smokebox. No wonder I have had a chesty cough that comes and goes for years now !!
Imagine doing it every working day of your life like railway men did in the old days . The cavernous gloom of smoky , oily steam locomotive depot really sums up the `atmosphere ` They were a very special breed of men , the like of which we will never see again .

 

[Chuffer]

When I did my engineering apprenticeship and spent time in the auto capstan shop and toolroom these of soluble oil 'Mystic' machining coolant permiated the factory atmosphere, your clothes, hair, everything.....but you were oblivious to the smell. It was only when getting home my mother would insist on me changing my clothes.

Ah yes , the wonderful smell of `Suds` as we called it . I spent many months of my apprenticeship in the massive machine Shop at Express Lift Company working on capstan lathes , turret lathes and milling machines . Like you said Ross , you become immune to it . We even used to wash our hands under the suds tap on our machines before tea breaks . No namby pamby H&S at work in those days !!

 

[Roscobbc]

Ah yes , the wonderful smell of `Suds` as we called it . I spent many months of my apprenticeship in the massive machine Shop at Express Lift Company working on capstan lathes , turret lathes and milling machines . Like you said Ross , you become immune to it . We even used to wash our hands under the suds tap on our machines before tea breaks . No namby pamby H&S at work in those days !!

My apprenticeship was at Colverns. They were at that time industry leadera in manufacturing wire wound potentiometers for radio, tv, radar, marine and aerospace industry. That 'Suds' was 'orrible stuff - I always had a skin reaction to it - inbetween the fingers I'd have a permanent rash. Much the same with the paraffin wash that the brass spindles for the 'pots had to go through after being 'turned by the capstans.
The company was typicall a really low paying employer employing women on assembly, and the capstans with a part-time retired part-time old boy as labourer'odd-job in the machine shop (he was probably younger then than I am now! )
The spindles of all different lengths were churned-out in their hundreds off the 6 to 8 manual and auto capstan lathes. Typically, even though the capstans had guards around them the 1/4" diamter brass when turned always comes off as chips (rather than curls of sharp swarf of steel) - anyone working near the capstans would seem to get the chippings in their clothing, shoes, trouser cuffs, pockets, especially at low level and over the floor .
The old boy on the paraffin wash would take the metal baskets full of spindles and rinse them in the paraffin tank. The baskets would then be loaded on a hand card then go up the end of the machine shop to go through the final electrostatic perchlorethene wash (later to be another H & S issue).
When the tea break bell sounded and most of us would disappear to the khazi's to wash our hands before eating our sandwiches, rolls or cakes and a drink a mug of tea the old boy would sit down beside the paraffin tank and actually wash his hands-off in the tank, then try to dry his hands by wiping them down his already filthy work coat.
He would then remove his dentures, place them in the side pockets of his work coat and procede to eat his sandwich!
None of us in the machine shop could ever figure out (when replacing his dentures after finishing his sandwich) how he coped with the inevitable brass chippings that would be in his pockets - or never seems to get infections........weird! TBH we all tried to look away when this was going on as it tended to make us all rather queesy!
Just thought I would share that with you all. Hope you all appreciate the above insight in to typical British factory life in the mid/late 1960's.

 

[Chuffer]

Your reminiscences bring back happy memories of my apprenticeship and factory days 1968 - 1973 . Express Lift was a world leader in lift manufacture at the time . We built the worlds fastest lift at the time for the GPO Tower in London with its revolving restaurant on the top and other prestige installations for all over the world . I will remember a set of lift cars for some Sultan or other with gold plated fittings and opulence beyond belief . Now all sadly long gone like most British industry . Only the test tower built in the 1970`s and nick named Northampton Lighthouse by Terry Wogan still survives and is ` listed ` . Everything else was demolished and is now flashy apartments .
Express Lift was owned by GEC under the leadership of Arnie Weinstock in the 60`s and was as tight as a ducks arse when it came to spending money !! Pay was not brilliant but their apprenticeship scheme was second to none along with British Timken Bearings the other big engineering employer in Northampton ( also sadly long gone ) .
The suds was vegetable oil based from memory and dematitis was an occupational hazard back in those days . I remember inadvertently scratching a spot on face when I was about 18 and working in the Machine Shop and ended up with half my face covered in a big rash and scabs . I was on Penecilin for a week or two .
The real place to avoid if you could was the Electroplating Workshop that was known as `The Dippers `. It was a narrow dingy hell hole more akin to a medieval dungeon . There were open vats of electolyte bubbling away and everything from the steel window frames , door handles , light fittings and even paper clips and the metal tip on a Biro pen were corroded by the atmosphere . No face masks and respirators in those days , the guys who worked in there permanently just got a free pint of milk a day to line their innards !!
Your tails of the grubby old boy ( every factory had one didn`t they ? ) reminded me of our Machine Shop labourer named `Willie `. He was a a very short hunchback and took loads pf `stick ` from us apprentices . He was a disgusting individual that picked up cigarette buts off the filthy factory floor and relit them to get one last `drag` or two . He also scavenged half eaten sandwiches out of the bins and would eat them . One day as a prank we bought a Pork Pie from the canteen and carefully cut the crust off the top , filled the pie with bearing grease and put the crust back on the top and left in a bin where he would spot as he did his bin emptying rounds . We then went back to our lathes but kept an eye out for Willie to come along . We fell about laughing as choked and spat the lot out on the floor !!
Happy days and definitely character building because all apprentices were the butt of the other blokes jokes . They would call it Bullying and Victimization these days and a disciplinary offence !! Like being sent to the Stores to ask for a box of sparks for the grinding wheel or ask for a Long Weight . That one had many a rookie caught out as large weights were used as counter weights on the Lift car pulley cables so was almost plausible . The Store man was in on it of course and would keep some first year apprentice fresh out of school waiting at the counter for ages !!

 

[CaptainK]

The charm does wear off a bit at the end of a 10 or 12 hour shift when you have dig a load of red hot `clinker` out of the firebox and chuck it out the cab door and and rake out the ash pan into a pit plus shovel up to six wheel barrow loads of ash and char out the the smokebox. No wonder I have had a chesty cough that comes and goes for years now !!
Imagine doing it every working day of your life like railway men did in the old days . The cavernous gloom of smoky , oily steam locomotive depot really sums up the `atmosphere ` They were a very special breed of men , the like of which we will never see again .

I can quite imagine the charm wearing off quickly. I'm still waiting for the WSR to announce their driving training days (wasn't on last year) so I can find out for myself. I couldn't have been one of the railwaymen back in the old days - mostly because I would have died at birth due to lack of technology to save me from my birth defects

 

[Chuffer]

I can quite imagine the charm wearing off quickly. I'm still waiting for the WSR to announce their driving training days (wasn't on last year) so I can find out for myself. I couldn't have been one of the railwaymen back in the old days - mostly because I would have died at birth due to lack of technology to save me from my birth defects

Hope you get on the Driver Experience Course on the West Somerset Railway . You will have great time , especially up the 1 mile long 1 in 80 incline up Crowcombe Bank going in the Bishops Lydeard to Minehead direction . The return journey will keep you busy too if its your turn `on the shovel` as its a continuous 7 mile climb from Watchet Station to the summit at Crowcombe with much of it at 1 in 100 gradient . Just make sure you don`t let go of the shovel as you bale the coal in the firebox !!

 

[phild]

Thanks to Chuffer and Roscobbc for bring back memories of my apprenticeship with Ford. I always liked the smell of the machine shop, I always was a bit odd.

 

[Roscobbc]

Thanks to Chuffer and Roscobbc for bring back memories of my apprenticeship with Ford. I always liked the smell of the machine shop, I always was a bit odd.

As a young apprentice and perhaps yet to find ones ways in the rights and wrongs of life........add the fact that I was also a biker riding typical old British bikes that would exude oil from many crevices..........the protection against the weather that oil soaked jeans and boots gave did have it uses.........however, being perhaps impervious seemingly to the 'odour' of 'suds', Duckhams soaked clothes and footwear did mean frequent exclusion from gathering places...........It was a bit like being a fish merchant or working in a fish and chip shop.......irrespective of daily bathing or showers seemingly many would run the risk of carrying the related odour around permanently!

 

[Chuffer]

Now us `Oldies` have done the whole apprenticeship nostalgia `trip` , here is another trip down memory lane for you steam buffs who recall the good old days . I received a tip off today from a railway mate about a programme on` That`s TV ` channel at 13.05 pm today titled ` Waterloo Sunset ` ( Remember the Kinks hit ? ) . It was a one hour programme covering the last three years from 1964 to 1967 of regular steam loco services out of London Waterloo on the old London & South Western Railway routes to Southampton , Bournemouth and Weymouth and also to the West Country via Salisbury . Not brilliant quality as it is all cine film shot by amature enthusiasts . A real memory jurker for me though . I don`t normally do daytime TV but this was too good to miss on gray miserable January day and took me back to the journeys me and my mates made from Northampton down to London just to hand out at Waterloo and and `Bunk` Nine Elms Loco Depot then travel on down to Eastleigh on the train and then onwards to Bournemouth where we would also `Bunk` the Loco Depot at Bournemouth too . `Bunking ` was the term used to gain access to railway depots without a permit . Sometimes we got thrown out by the Shed Master but towards the end of steam they tended to be more lenient to genuine enthusiasts .
It was great to the hear the very distinctive soft syncopated 3 cylinder exhaust beat of a Bullied Pacific working hard compared to the staccato exhaust of the more usual 2 cylinder locos . It sure took me back to one of my `ultimate` experiences firing a West Country Class Bullied Pacific down from London via Woking , Basigstoke , Worting Juction and Salisbury that all feature in the film . Was that really 20 years ago now ? It was great to hear just how many of the locos seen in all that film footage have survived into preservation today . Also some nice shots of Bournemouth`s trolley buses that I remember well . ( Green transport of the day !!! ) .
I am sure it will on `catch up` if anyone is interested .