Thursday 19 September 2013

Classic Cars and Steam at the Mill

The knowledge that we’ve now sold Rock ’n’ Roll has finally sunk in - there’s no going back now and the past week was taken over by planning our next move … watch this space for more details on how we will progress our next adventure!
Etruria Bone Mill was ‘in steam’ last weekend and on Sunday there was a very interesting display of vintage vehicles.  The red bus took my fancy for a visit later … some memories there for George and I.
The classic cars were filling the green ...
… and the old working boat Linden was preparing to take passengers on short trips.
I’ll leave the pictures to tell their own stories … click on any of them to enlarge.















The driver didn’t wait for passengers to be seated before moving off!


The bell being the black strip!
Built and delivered to the PMT (Potteries Motor Traction (or public muck trucks as we used to call them)) bought back many memories for George and and I as these were the vehicles that took us shopping as small children and to school a few years later.  We reminisced about the way they swayed as they took a bend and George remembered that the faster the engine was going the slower the windscreen wipers worked making driving in the rain rather hazardous to say the least!




We walked around the outskirts of the old mill looking over the walls at the now dilapidated buildings ..


As it was nearly 1pm when the mill would be ‘in steam’ I decided a visit was necessary ...
The Five Towns of the Potteries
The boiler needs to make 20lbs of pressure before the engine can operate … it’s nearly there now ...

A short video of the working engine - I’d seen these engines before at pump-houses on the canal but not seen them working before, when the piston started to move I was gob-smacked … Wow!


2 comments:

  1. I remember those buses when I worked for London Transport. They were on routes with low bridges and I was conductor before I started driving. That sunken footwell upstairs protruded into the lower deck. People getting up from their seat downstairs would bang their head. Trying to collect fares upstairs was a nightmare stretching across 3 people to reach the fourth.
    Thanks for the memories.

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