Home made carts!

[cashman]

Originally Posted by kestrelx

Yeh probably I don't recall the exact name of the place - I just remember it was quite a climb to get in and out, over some fences. They were off old wheel chairs and had been taken off and I think even had breaks with a lever and also metal frame/axil (some even had suspension springs but they were hard to come by) - the pram wheels didn't last as long as these - they were much stronger. I think we only did if for a year or 2 at most - bit of a fad...

That would defo be Fred Millers Kes. can remember it clearly, as was next door virtually to Sterling Dog Foods, a place we had a fad fer snaffling Dog Biscuits fer a year or 2.

[maxthecollie]

The chassis of the fred Miller invalid cars made great go carts. A relative of mine worked at Fred Millers as a mechanic and when the motability scheme came in the old invalid cars were phased out. He had the job of braking them.

[Margaret Pilkington]

what about Rose Street for trolley riders then?
Another thing we used to do was get proven sacks from Farmer Nelson and these were just great for sliding down Riley's Hill on the grass.......we used to have races......the going down the hill was great....but the run back to the top was a bit of a pain.

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by davidf

Those were the days, my dad would use a hot poker to make a hole in the centre, and a few inches from the back end, of a trolley's platform and we lads would bolt in a second trolley (minus the second trolley's front wheels bogie assembly, of course) so we'd have a double length trolley. We used to race our single trolleys down the concrete path which led from Moorhouse Avenue (I think) to Fife Street. It wasn't a long course but started off quite steeply and had three bends which didn't do large pram wheels much good!

Yeh I remember using a hot poker to make holes in the wood but don't know why we didn't use a drill!?

[davidf]

I don't know if Black & Decker-type electric drills were around (or if they were, if they were affordable) in the early 1950s, whereas most people had coal fires so a hot poker was available and didn't need a long electric cable. Plus a poker would burn a decent sized hole quite quickly in one go to fit a half inch or similar size bolt. Incidentally we tried linking together more than two trolleys, but issues such as snaking led to instability problems and low speeds, perhaps because the front trolley wasn't actually pulling the trailing ones and for some of the time it was being pushed.

[Morecambe Ex Pat]

Memories of hurtling down the freshly laid tarmac on Laburnum Drive in Ossy spring to mind and not giving a monkey's chuff if there was a car coming. Had some near do's there but nothing too serious. Worst one was avoiding a van and ending up bending a garage door but of course, that never happened - honest!

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by davidf

I don't know if Black & Decker-type electric drills were around (or if they were, if they were affordable) in the early 1950s, whereas most people had coal fires so a hot poker was available and didn't need a long electric cable. Plus a poker would burn a decent sized hole quite quickly in one go to fit a half inch or similar size bolt. Incidentally we tried linking together more than two trolleys, but issues such as snaking led to instability problems and low speeds, perhaps because the front trolley wasn't actually pulling the trailing ones and for some of the time it was being pushed.

But hand drills were cheap and in use - so we could have used them? I think we used the hot poker for the holes that the rope was thread through.

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

what about Rose Street for trolley riders then?
Another thing we used to do was get proven sacks from Farmer Nelson and these were just great for sliding down Riley's Hill on the grass.......we used to have races......the going down the hill was great....but the run back to the top was a bit of a pain.

I don't remember sacks - but I recall using good sheets of cardboard for sliding down the slopes of the coppice, which was good - I once bust a lads arm (gary davies) by accident. Also the stryofoam was used for swimming in the quarry.

[Hill Walker]

This thread has brought back so many memories (but not of Accrington – as I lived elsewhere).

There was a time when I thought I had invented the idea of the cart, I hadn't of course, I must have seen one somewhere. The idea to build one was born out of desperation. Whilst visiting relatives in the Manchester area I had seen what I now know was an extremely privileged child who's Christmas present was a factory built 'pedal car' WITH LIGHTS. I had to have one but of course it was way beyond my parents means to buy such a toy (and they would not have even if they could afford it). This was the trigger that made me 'invent' the idea. The box was no problem, cadged from the fruit and veg man who came round twice a week. I cannot remember where the plank came from, but the wheels were a BIG BIG problem. For ages the cart sat in the back yard with no wheels, but it did have lights! The lights came from my parents bicycles and the brackets to attach them from flattened baked bean tins.

It was frustrating - no wheels! My friend saw what I had built, he built one, he had wheels (from his sister's pram), my blood boiled. Eventually I found an old pram in a local stream, and I got into big trouble, I and my clothes got very muddy recovering the pram. In fact I got into trouble twice, once for getting my clothes dirty and secondly for having gone into the stream to get the pram out (dangerous). So I was grounded, had wheels, not allowed out to fit and try them!!!!

It wasn't until about 50 years later that I saw another pedal car like the one I saw in Manchester and that one was in a Museum of Childhood, they may have been available but they were only for the privileged few.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by kestrelx

I don't remember sacks - but I recall using good sheets of cardboard for sliding down the slopes of the coppice, which was good - I once bust a lads arm (gary davies) by accident. Also the stryofoam was used for swimming in the quarry.

The sacks worked in the same way, but they seemed more durable......and were easier to carry back up the hill.
I don't remember styrofoam being freely available back in my day......I am talking mid to late 50's.

[DtheP47]

Originally Posted by kestrelx

But hand drills were cheap and in use - so we could have used them? I think we used the hot poker for the holes that the rope was thread through.

We used a brace and bit to drill the holes. Handraulically powered.
The nuts, bolts and washers pinched from Lupton's yard.

[Mog]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

We used a brace and bit to drill the holes. Handraulically powered.
The nuts, bolts and washers pinched from Lupton's yard.

But Dave, you were pretty rich compered to the rest of us, besided having a brace and bit in the late fifties, you had a movie camera in the very early sixties. I got all the stuff for my cart from Jim Bullcocks scrap yard at the bottom of Crown street. Didnt last long though we didnt have any tarmac roads in our area.

[DtheP47]

Originally Posted by Mog

But Dave, you were pretty rich compered to the rest of us, besided having a brace and bit in the late fifties, you had a movie camera in the very early sixties. I got all the stuff for my cart from Jim Bullcocks scrap yard at the bottom of Crown street. Didnt last long though we didnt have any tarmac roads in our area.

Ha ha Mog...the brace and bit was courtesy of the Rawnsley lads offa' Wilfred Street think it was their uncles who lived across the back on Augusta Street.

Another note: You never see proper pram wheels these days.

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

We used a brace and bit to drill the holes. Handraulically powered.
The nuts, bolts and washers pinched from Lupton's yard.

We used to go in Cubitts (building site) for our DIY needs, after dark of course.

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

The sacks worked in the same way, but they seemed more durable......and were easier to carry back up the hill.
I don't remember styrofoam being freely available back in my day......I am talking mid to late 50's.

OK well there is 15 years difference - so maybe it wasn't available then - we used to get big blocks of styrofoam from some factory, - made a hell of a mess though when people broke them into bits.