Fred Dibnah Steeplejack

paul39 · Apr 26, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces mentioned Fred dropping chimneys in another thread. I did some searching and found a bunch of videos about a most interesting character. As you look at videos, more will show up on the right side of your screen:

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

It hurts me to watch those beautiful chimneys and the 1800s brick mills being torn down.

Paul

Larry Dickman · Apr 27, 2020

I'm surprised that guy can walk

Tyrone Shoelaces · Apr 27, 2020

Larry Dickman said:
I'm surprised that guy can walk

He can't now, he died a few years ago.

Regards Tyrone.

ramsay1 · Apr 27, 2020

Fred Dibnah.. Gotta love him.. Completely non politically correct....He was a very fortunate man who did what he wanted though it cost him dearly but then doesn't it always? Cheers... Ramsay 1

L Vanice · Apr 27, 2020

Fred Dibnah - Wikipedia

Google Maps

Google Maps

"Not many women have a steam engine named after them." The steam roller was named Allison (first wife) and the traction engine was named Betsy (mother).

And not many men were hauled to the cemetery in a coffin on a trailer behind a steam traction engine. Well done, Fred.

Larry

Tyrone Shoelaces · Apr 27, 2020

paul39 said:
Tyrone Shoelaces mentioned Fred dropping chimneys in another thread. I did some searching and found a bunch of videos about a most interesting character. As you look at videos, more will show up on the right side of your screen:

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

It hurts me to watch those beautiful chimneys and the 1800s brick mills being torn down.

Paul

I still live about a mile from the site of the chimney felling in episode 1.

Regards Tyrone.

paul39 · Apr 27, 2020

Watching Fred laddering a chimney caused me to think he had skill, experience, and luck, not to have fallen. I don't think I could trust one of those hooks to not pull out.

Fred Dibnah laddering a chimney

1. YouTube

2. YouTube

Paul

L Vanice · Apr 27, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
I still live about a mile from the site of the chimney felling in episode 1.

Regards Tyrone.

Does that mean you can understand Fred without soobtitles?

Larry

Tyrone Shoelaces · Apr 27, 2020

L Vanice said:
Does that mean you can understand Fred without soobtitles?

Larry

Of course. My speaking voice is probably pretty similar to Fred's.

Regards Tyrone.

L Vanice · Apr 27, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Of course. My speaking voice is probably pretty similar to Fred's.

Regards Tyrone.

Tha's a'right then.

When I was in Taiwan, the Chinese TV shows and movies had Chinese subtitles because of numerous dialects for spoken Chinese, but only one written language. When I was in England, I saw no subtitles on the BBC or ITV shows. Didn't really have any problem with the TV voices, but the English National Opera sure needed subtitles even though they said they were singing in English. Fred's wisdom, on the other hand, mostly went past me, but that might be mostly hearing loss from vast seniority.

Larry

Salem Straub · Apr 27, 2020

I've really enjoyed watching stuff about Fred in the past. His line of work was fascinating and dangerous, his personality was quirky, interesting and relatable, and his fascination with steam and metalworking machinery was easy for me to identify with. He also seemed to be a posterboy workaholic and a man who put his family second in ways... traits that I can also identify with, and Fred's an example to learn from as far as what to maybe not do.

A legendary fellow to be sure, would've been a good guy to have a beer with and talk about machines, I have no doubt...

Tyrone Shoelaces · Apr 27, 2020

L Vanice said:
Tha's a'right then.

When I was in Taiwan, the Chinese TV shows and movies had Chinese subtitles because of numerous dialects for spoken Chinese, but only one written language. When I was in England, I saw no subtitles on the BBC or ITV shows. Didn't really have any problem with the TV voices, but the English National Opera sure needed subtitles even though they said they were singing in English. Fred's wisdom, on the other hand, mostly went past me, but that might be mostly hearing loss from vast seniority.

Larry

Over here old guys ( that's older than me ) would probably say " Tha's all reet then ?"

I don't need subtitles for American shows on TV over here. That's apart from one - " Lizard Lips or Licks ? ". It was about a family of auto repo men in one of the Carolinas,that was hard to follow.

Regards Tyrone.

RCPDesigns · Apr 27, 2020

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed the videos and followup comments. Fascinating guy.

pressbrake1 · Apr 28, 2020

Salem Straub said:
I've really enjoyed watching stuff about Fred in the past. His line of work was fascinating and dangerous, his personality was quirky, interesting and relatable, and his fascination with steam and metalworking machinery was easy for me to identify with. He also seemed to be a posterboy workaholic and a man who put his family second in ways... traits that I can also identify with, and Fred's an example to learn from as far as what to maybe not do.

A legendary fellow to be sure, would've been a good guy to have a beer with and talk about machines, I have no doubt...

He would have been more than happy to have a beer with you as long as you paid!

Limy Sami · Apr 28, 2020

pressbrake1 said:
He would have been more than happy to have a beer with you as long as you paid!

As I have been lead to believe, along with counting your fingers before and after doing a deal with him.

In 1994 (ish) he wanted £2500 + 1st class travel and 3 star minimum accommodation for an evenings speaking.

Joe in NH · Apr 28, 2020

I guess after Fred's passing the fate of his home/coal mine/collection of machinery got quite "muddled."

Somewhere I've seen a not too complementary description of the "infighting" that occurred, including lawsuits, "stays" and injunctions.

Perhaps Fred shared a weakness of being technical smart, but not necessarily "people smart" - or even planning much beyond the next job?

Joe in NH

paul39 · Apr 28, 2020

More about Fred:

Fred Dibnah - Wikipedia

FRED dIBNAH HOME uk - Google Search

Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre - Picture of Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre, Bolton - Tripadvisor

Paul

Tyrone Shoelaces · Apr 29, 2020

paul39 said:
Tyrone Shoelaces mentioned Fred dropping chimneys in another thread. I did some searching and found a bunch of videos about a most interesting character. As you look at videos, more will show up on the right side of your screen:

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

It hurts me to watch those beautiful chimneys and the 1800s brick mills being torn down.

Paul

Yes the brickwork being done then was in a different class to what you see these days. There are many traditional Lancashire terraced houses near me that were built about the same time as the mills. The brickwork is first class, the mortar between the bricks is really thin ( 3/16" ) so it doesn't easily get eroded by the weather. The gap in modern houses is about 3/8" so they need regular re-pointing.

Another thing people don't realise is how quickly those mills were built back in the day. They'd be up and running from laying the foundations to being fully equipped with machinery and producing cotton thread etc in less than a year.
Obviously it was a very lucrative business back in the day. I read somewhere that Shaw near Oldham in the 1870's and 80's had the greatest concentration of millionaires in the world. Shaw was were the mill owners lived.

Regards Tyrone.

Limy Sami · Apr 29, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Yes the brickwork being done then was in a different class to what you see these days. There are many traditional Lancashire terraced houses near me that were built about the same time as the mills. The brickwork is first class, the mortar between the bricks is really thin ( 3/16" ) so it doesn't easily get eroded by the weather. The gap in modern houses is about 3/8" so they need regular re-pointing.

Another thing people don't realise is how quickly those mills were built back in the day. They'd be up and running from laying the foundations to being fully equipped with machinery and producing cotton thread etc in less than a year.
Obviously it was a very lucrative business back in the day. I read somewhere that Shaw near Oldham in the 1870's and 80's had the greatest concentration of millionaires in the world. Shaw was were the mill owners lived.

Regards Tyrone.

Connected with that, many folk don't realize the sheer amount of labour used on such jobs, one such job I know of - The Kent Refinery on the Isle of Grain that was built in the 1950's Dad worked there, (and according to Mum I was 'probably' conceived there

) ......peak construction workforce was 8000 with 1500 in a camp on site.

Ref Kent Refinery - Wikipedia

L Vanice · Apr 29, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
...Another thing people don't realise is how quickly those mills were built back in the day. They'd be up and running from laying the foundations to being fully equipped with machinery and producing cotton thread etc in less than a year...

Regards Tyrone.

And to put that in perspective, Buick got a contract to build P&W engines for B-24 Liberator bombers early in 1941. The huge building, in Melrose Park, IL, cost $41 million and was ready to occupy exactly six months after the contract was signed. The B-24 was designed before the USA declared war and the first ones were sold to France and the UK. France fell before they could receive theirs, so the French order was delivered to the UK. The USA military placed orders and contracted for additional plants to be built, so that the B-24 was made in vast numbers.

After WWII, International Harvester bought the building and used it to build truck engines. There is a movie of the building being built that I saw years ago, and I have walked through that building a few times to watch the truck engines being built.

Aerial view of the building Industrial History: Buick Built Aircraft Engines in Chicagoland

Handing over the ceremonial key, 17Sep41 Completion celebration: Buick Aviation Plant, Melrose Park, Illinois-09-17-41 | Buick Heritage Alliance

The Buick-built engines were shipped to the Ford B-24 plant at Willow Run, MI. The story of that plant is worth knowing. There is an online movie that Ford produced about building the planes.
willow run b-24 plant - Video Search Results

Larry

Fred Dibnah Steeplejack

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Hot Rolled

Stainless

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