Zooming along back from the West Country, cruise on, in the inside lane, about to pull out to overtake a white van, approaching Bridgewater or somewhere, helo clouds, helo sky, pooh er gosh, *what* a pong.
Is the aircon on fire?? Slow down.
No, the white van's rear offside is flat, and a slight but increasing blue haze is apparent. Decide not to overtake, but play "Tail End Charlie". The smell, chiz, and haze become denser for about a mile, and the van pulls off along the slip road at 45MPH, on its' wheel rim, tyre smoking furiously, weaving mildly from side to side.
He made it! Well, it saved a recovery, I suppose...
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Once you get the smell it's too late to hit the recirc button.
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Funny you say Bridgewater - there used to be a plastics factory or something down there and you always used to ge an unpleasant whiff on the way past
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I think the most alarming smell is from lorry brakes. They have a particularly horrid burnt resin/plastic taint, and seems to linger in the air long after the lorry has gone, leading to the automatic conclusion that something is smouldering in the car.
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Is it still Asbestos in Lorry brakes?
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When I was in Castleton in the peak district on Saturday there was a distinct smell of clutches! But the road into and out of Castleton is very very steep!
Rob
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Even unburnt, friction bits smell terrible :-(
EDIT: up close anyways...
Last edited by: CraigP on Tue 20 Apr 10 at 22:14
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>>Decide not to overtake>>
Perhaps better to pass, I once had a smashed headlight (remember glass lenses) and bent bonnet from a section or truck tyre that decided to delaminate in front of me.
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>> Funny you say Bridgewater - there used to be a plastics factory or something down
>> there and you always used to ge an unpleasant whiff on the way past
>>
"When I were a kid" I was evacuated to Bridgwater (no first 'e' in that town's name), during WW2, in fact Woolavington and I was made aware that there was a Cellophane factory there as indeed my mother used to tell me and that omitted some strange smells, I can tell you
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...in fact Woolavington...
A friend of the family lived for many years in Puriton.
When the M5 was being extended south west, it ended at nearby North Petherton for quite a while until the next bit was ready for use.
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The faint smell of rubber has allowed me to get on the hard shoulder with a punctured lorry tyre many times before it has finally blown.
I've also landed on the hard shoulder only to check and find it wasn't me, but I invariably passed someone else with a blow out not far up the road!
Pat
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Pat -- My nose is bothering me :-P Do lorrys carry spares onboard?
How do you change one, is it a driver duty or always a call out from the AA equivalent?
What about a trailer tyre if it goes? There must be a lot of weight in a loaded trailer to jack up? Do they have really big jacks or is it something fancy like airbags?
Final question (sorry!) how are the double wheels attached? Is it just a case of sit the inner wheel on the hub then mount the second wheel turned inside out against that and bolt them up, or is it more complex than that?
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We used to have to change them Craig, many years ago but spares are no longer carried on UK only vehicles.
It is all done on a call out system now and most mid to large haulage firms have a contract for tyres to be supplied and repaired both at base and up the road.
There is a lot of weight in a trailer and it's usually jacked up with the sid of a compressor from the tyre companies van now but was responsible for lorry drivers having muscles in the past!
The double wheels are attached exactly as you describe but the tightening of the wheel nuts is crucial and has to be done with a torque wrench.
They also have to be re-torqued after 30 miles or so.
I used to but a length of pipe on my wheel brace and jump on it, but it's not allowed anymore.
I've only ever had to change one trailer wheel and thankfully it was empty and in the 1980's, but it's surprising what you can do when there is no other option!
Pat
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>> ...in fact Woolavington...
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>> A friend of the family lived for many years in Puriton.
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Ah, Puriton! Yes of course I'd forgotten that name. That's where the Cellophane factory was, I believe. I was only about 6 years old when 'I were there'.
We lived on a farm that, amongst other things, made cider and I remember falling into a dry ditch full of stinging nettles - my god it wasn't half painful. I also split my lip whilst crawling around the floor and also caught whooping cough and was quite ill - happy days!
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British Cellophane was on the eastern side of Bridgwater, not far from the motorway. Factory and smell now a memory. If you want to be bored hearing more about the place just ask.
The operation you remember at nearby Puriton was probably the Royal Ordnance factory. In my memory they made plastic explosive but once made ammunition. Don't know if it still exists but I seem to remember it was sold off to someone like British Aerospace some years ago. You can see the buildings from the motorway and near the Dunball interchange there's a railway bridge over the motorway (or there was) that carries a goods line to the ROF that doesn't appear on any railway map.
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No more reminiscing other than that I remember the buses were gas driven and towed behind them a trailer containing the necessary gas.
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>> Funny you say Bridgewater
Having re-done the trip, it was more likely a junction or so west of Swindon.
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"What's that *smell*?" On the motorway... - bathtub tom
