RickAns
Dedicated Member
Was not sure what to title this thread. The following video inspired this post thread.
What happened to Gasometers ?
An interesting video from some guys on gasometers from around Manchester, Bradford Colliery. I remember seeing structures like these in various British shows over the ages and wondered what they were. A few years back I discovered they were for storing gas (in vapor form) in a huge 'flexible' tank that would rise and fall depending on how much was in it. I think they would fill them up overnight when there was less demand. Then let them deflate during the day under use.
At the 4:35 mark there is a picture of a car designed to run on the gas. Not to be confused with the shortened word of 'gasoline' as we here in the U.S. like to call it versus 'petrol' from our cousins overseas ;-) . There was an episode in Dad's Army where they converted Jones the butcher's van to gas like this. Which at the time I watched it thought they were doing that for comedy effect. Nice to see it was something that was actually done or tried.
I also did not realize the differences between local coal gas versus North Sea gas. I do remember and episode in Rising Damp where Rigsby and Ms. Jones were talking about converting from one company to another. References in several shows about cooking with varying pressure and their gas stoves. All things I had little context for until watching this mini documentary.
They have some nice pictures of older and more current Manchester area. I can see some say that these may be an eye sore. Yet it does seem like losing a bit of 100+ year old history with the structures being torn down and paved over. I also realize letting the structures decay through disuse is not a good option either. What a tough and hard work job for those that mined the coal and did the gas works.
Did any of you grow up around gasometers or have thoughts on them?
What happened to Gasometers ?
An interesting video from some guys on gasometers from around Manchester, Bradford Colliery. I remember seeing structures like these in various British shows over the ages and wondered what they were. A few years back I discovered they were for storing gas (in vapor form) in a huge 'flexible' tank that would rise and fall depending on how much was in it. I think they would fill them up overnight when there was less demand. Then let them deflate during the day under use.
At the 4:35 mark there is a picture of a car designed to run on the gas. Not to be confused with the shortened word of 'gasoline' as we here in the U.S. like to call it versus 'petrol' from our cousins overseas ;-) . There was an episode in Dad's Army where they converted Jones the butcher's van to gas like this. Which at the time I watched it thought they were doing that for comedy effect. Nice to see it was something that was actually done or tried.
I also did not realize the differences between local coal gas versus North Sea gas. I do remember and episode in Rising Damp where Rigsby and Ms. Jones were talking about converting from one company to another. References in several shows about cooking with varying pressure and their gas stoves. All things I had little context for until watching this mini documentary.
They have some nice pictures of older and more current Manchester area. I can see some say that these may be an eye sore. Yet it does seem like losing a bit of 100+ year old history with the structures being torn down and paved over. I also realize letting the structures decay through disuse is not a good option either. What a tough and hard work job for those that mined the coal and did the gas works.
Did any of you grow up around gasometers or have thoughts on them?