Things you don’t see outside any more

[PG]

I have not seen anyone for a while when their car engine fails to start using the good old fashioned method of either:

Wonder if any try the Basil Fawlty method of swearing first then threatening before resorting to physically assaulting the car

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have just tried to upload photos of them but my laptop says they are too large and doesn't seem to want to let me compress them. If I manage to find a way round that problem I will post them on here.

Screenshot the photo with the snipping tool, save the screenshot and post that - it'll almost certainly be a much smaller file size.

Or even paste the screenshot directly intro your post. The software allows that.

 

[AM9]

Wonder if any try the Basil Fawlty method of swearing first then threatening before resorting to physically assaulting the car

That's because there aren't many Austin/Morris 1100/1300 cars on the road.

 

[birchesgreen]

With an election upcoming, you don't see the little political signs on lampposts anymore. Or cars driving around with megaphones telling people to vote.

 

[island]

With an election upcoming, you don't see the little political signs on lampposts anymore. Or cars driving around with megaphones telling people to vote.

They're still very common in Ireland. I understood the former were now deemed in breach of litter laws in the UK.

 

[birchesgreen]

They're still very common in Ireland. I understood the former were now deemed in breach of litter laws in the UK.

Indeed thats why they stopped putting them up, they used to stay up for months afterwards.

 

[Matey]

I have not seen anyone for a while when their car engine fails to start using the good old fashioned method of either:

1) Getting a group of people to push the vehicle from behind while in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine

or

2) Instead of a group of people, when facing downhill, letting the vehicle roll slightly in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine.

Both methods would only work with a manual gearbox. I am unsure if this trick would work with hybrid vehicles today.

Did this with a 22 year old Audi last month. Luckily it was at the top of a sloping village street. Plenty of those in Devon!

 

[nw1]

Yes.

At least two London boroughs - Hammersmith & Fulham and Richmond-upon-Thames - already had a lot of them in the 1970s and 80s too. In fact, as I recall in both those boroughs pink lamps, rather than the high pressure yellow sodium lamps, were the norm on side streets for many years - certainly all through the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s.

In West Sussex the 80s norm seemed to be pink lamps on main roads and larger urban roads (with yellow sodium in some places, notably the A27) and white mercury lights on the side streets. New mercury lights were still going up in the mid-80s. West Sussex didn't go in for yellow sodium as much as other counties, ironically they actually increased their yellow sodium count later in the 80s.

By contrast Hampshire was very much yellow sodium-land, both on main roads and on side streets.

The pink lamps around in 1979 survived until around 2014 in some places. Like neighbouring Hampshire, Surrey and Dorset (another former pink lamp hotspot, particularly Poole) West Sussex had a wholesale replacement of lights in the 2010-15 period.

 

[A Challenge]

I have not seen anyone for a while when their car engine fails to start using the good old fashioned method of either:

1) Getting a group of people to push the vehicle from behind while in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine

or

2) Instead of a group of people, when facing downhill, letting the vehicle roll slightly in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine.

Both methods would only work with a manual gearbox. I am unsure if this trick would work with hybrid vehicles today.

I helped attempt to push start a friend's car only last month - it didn't work though, but luckily we were able to find a person who was able to help jump start it instead eventually.

 

[najaB]

Both methods would only work with a manual gearbox. I am unsure if this trick would work with hybrid vehicles today.

As you note, it is only feasible to jump start a car with a manual gearbox. As such, it wouldn't work with most hybrids as the engine isn't directly connected to the wheels.

That said, if there's enough power in the batteries to get the electronics working, it should (in theory at least) be possible to use regen braking down a long hill to charge the battery enough to start the engine.

 

[Ediswan]

As you note, it is only feasible to jump start a car with a manual gearbox. As such, it wouldn't work with most hybrids as the engine isn't directly connected to the wheels.

According to Wikipedia, in a 'parallel hybrid', which the same article says was the most common as of 2016, the engine is directly/mechanically connected to the wheels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle_drivetrain#Parallel_hybrid

However, I rather suspect there will be something about the system which will prevent jump starting (by pushing/rolling).

 

[Pinza-C55]

Coal Mines and pit heaps. In my native County Durham you could barely go a couple of miles without seeing colliery headstocks in the distance.

 

[PeterY]

I have not seen anyone for a while when their car engine fails to start using the good old fashioned method of either:

1) Getting a group of people to push the vehicle from behind while in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine

or

2) Instead of a group of people, when facing downhill, letting the vehicle roll slightly in first/second gear and bringing the clutch up to jump start the engine.

Both methods would only work with a manual gearbox. I am unsure if this trick would work with hybrid vehicles today.

I've done this many times in the past. I'm not sure if I could do it with my Suzuki Alto though. That's why I belong to a breakdown organisation

 

[najaB]

I've done this many times in the past. I'm not sure if I could do it with my Suzuki Alto though.

If it's powered by an internal combustion petrol engine and has a manual transmission then it should work. Speaking of which, would it work with a diesel or do they still have glow plugs these days?

 

[52290]

When I go on holiday or on a trip anywhere I take my Canon T90 35mm film camera where most other people are waving their mobile phones around. I took a film for processing to Boots last week but they said they don't do them anymore, fortunately I discovered that Max Spielman still do.They also process 120 film, so I might get my Yashica 124G twin lens reflex out for a spin.

 

[najaB]

When I go on holiday or on a trip anywhere I take my Canon T90 35mm film camera where most other people are waving their mobile phones around. I took a film for processing to Boots last week but they said they don't do them anymore, fortunately I discovered that Max Spielman still do.They also process 120 film, so I might get my Yashica 124G twin lens reflex out for a spin.

Shooting film is a skill, and also forces you to be more selective - when you've got a 128GB iPhone and can take a thousand shots you end up with 995 pictures of absolutely nothing. It's completely different when you've only got 24 or 36 on the roll.

 

[DelW]

If it's powered by an internal combustion petrol engine and has a manual transmission then it should work. Speaking of which, would it work with a diesel or do they still have glow plugs these days?

My last diesel (2012 Ford) still had glow plugs but under software control not manual. On winter mornings there'd be a few seconds delay between pressing the start button and the engine being turned over.

 

[dakta]

Glowplugs won't go anywhere, getting a cold diesel running without ruining emissions is a bit of a mare

 

[najaB]

My last diesel (2012 Ford) still had glow plugs but under software control not manual. On winter mornings there'd be a few seconds delay between pressing the start button and the engine being turned over.

That might make bump starting a bit more tricky.

 

[Busaholic]

When I go on holiday or on a trip anywhere I take my Canon T90 35mm film camera where most other people are waving their mobile phones around. I took a film for processing to Boots last week but they said they don't do them anymore, fortunately I discovered that Max Spielman still do.They also process 120 film, so I might get my Yashica 124G twin lens reflex out for a spin.

You were misinformed by Boots. They don't process them instore any more, but send them away. They now quote nine days before return, against seven a year or two back, and even less time before that.

 

[najaB]

You were misinformed by Boots. They don't process them instore any more, but send them away.

Not all of them do. Mainly it's the larger stores that have a photo department.

 

[52290]

Not all of them do. Mainly it's the larger stores that have a photo department.

It was a small branch I went to. They never did them on the premises, they sent them away to a larger branch but no longer do this.

 

[najaB]

It was a small branch I went to. They never did them on the premises, they sent them away to a larger branch but no longer do this.

Yeah. And the smallest branches don't even do that any more. You can see which ones do on their store finder, add a filter under "Main Store Services" to find the ones that do it.

 

[52290]

Yeah. And the smallest branches don't even do that any more. You can see which ones do on their store finder, add a filter under "Main Store Services" to find the ones that do it.

Thanks for that information. I always liked Boots processing of my pics.

 

[david1212]

I helped attempt to push start a friend's car only last month - it didn't work though, but luckily we were able to find a person who was able to help jump start it instead eventually.

As you note, it is only feasible to jump start a car with a manual gearbox. As such, it wouldn't work with most hybrids as the engine isn't directly connected to the wheels.

That said, if there's enough power in the batteries to get the electronics working, it should (in theory at least) be possible to use regen braking down a long hill to charge the battery enough to start the engine.

Now with petrol need to get the electronics alive then as mentioned with diesel glowplugs too. When the key is turned to the start position as well as switching on the motor it may also configure the electronics for starting. Hence why a jump start works but a push or rolling down hill never will. Further while the temptation to ( try to ) start right away better to leave a few minutes to dump some charge into the battery.

 

[PG]

Glowplugs won't go anywhere, getting a cold diesel running without ruining emissions is a bit of a mare

As Scotrail suddenly realised when they started running HSTs, instead of installing shore supplies for preheating they just left them idiling for hours!

Can't remember if this has already been mentioned - Hardly ever see folk at the side of the road thumbing a lift nowadays...

 

[Busaholic]

Yeah. And the smallest branches don't even do that any more. You can see which ones do on their store finder, add a filter under "Main Store Services" to find the ones that do it.

It's a question of one Boots' website not knowing what the other one is showing simultaneously. The one I looked at before posting said simply 'take your roll of film along to your nearest Boots store' whereas the other says the service is available in 951 stores in 604 towns and cities. In my town only one of the two branches offers the service, and they are equidistant from where I live! I would guess that a lot of the smaller branches that were only rebranded as Boots in the last few years, having been independent before that, have never offered the service.

 

[Killingworth]

Has anyone mentioned wheeltappers at major stations? When did they go?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Has anyone mentioned wheeltappers at major stations? When did they go?

Presumably when steam locomotives were withdrawn from the network and/or when automated lineside hot axle box detection devices became widespread/routine.

 

[Gloster]

Presumably when steam locomotives were withdrawn from the network and/or when automated lineside hot axle box detection devices became widespread/routine.

I thought that wheeltapper’s main purpose was to check the integrity of wheels by hitting them with a hammer and listening to see if they rang true; if they had a fault the ring would be different. Presumably, better wheel manufacturing standards means that they are now unlikely to crack. Checking for hot boxes was a secondary purpose.