I was thinking thank god he retired before he dismantled the forth rail bridge. Looks like it was almost too late 🙂
He reminds me of my grandfather, who used to have many vhs tapes of his stuff.
My uncle Eddie won a pork pie off Fred in an arm wrestle in 1975 in Blackburn in a pub called the Lamb and Flag. Fred was apparently so upset, he tried to slap Eddie, but Eddie was fast – he splatted the pork pie round Fred’s chops and the whole pub erupted in laughter. This didn’t happen, I just like to write nonsense online; I’m very lonely.
Of course I can paint it, twenty quid and a packet of Woodies. How’s Tuesday?
That series where he did a national pub crawl on a traction engine is some of our nations finest TV.
Remember him bringing down a massive chimney in Leicester near to our school. The guy was insane and amazingly talented!
I know a bloke who also has a steam train in his back garden, and has built a railway line to test it. I’m sure he took inspiration from Fred.
He had a fully operational steam powered mine shaft in his back yard!
Was in Bolton the day of his funeral, the steam engine procession was quite a sight, and fitting tribute
Oh ey
A great traditional Talented, man
Legend, absolutely, but he was also a fucking lunatic. I shit myself just watching him climb those chimneys lol
I still watch his videos. Legend.
I remember being at my Grandads house and him getting excited that Fred Dibnah was on TV and we should definitely watch him. I asked “who’s Fred Dibnah?” and my Grandad, beaming, informed me he was a Steeplejack that likes Traction Engines. I didn’t know what a Steeplejack was or share my Grandads generations love of Traction Engines but I sure learned that night. Good Times.
Here in his home town of Bolton he even has a statue near the town hall.
“all you need is a sledgehammer and a bit of lunacy”
And beat his wife so badly and for so long that she fled with his kids and they wanted nothing to do with him
I spent a lot of time watching Fred as a student. Odd hours, only 5 channels etc. I grew to love him 🥰
This is how I learn that the Fred Dibnah everyone is always calling a legend is not the guy that presented How 2.
He’d say things like, This Scottish wonder of engineering made it the biggest cantilever bridge in England.
There’s a part in the documentary where he is asked if he has ever been injured as a steeplejack. He proudly answers that the only time he as ever been hurt is falling off a set of steps decorating his daughters bedroom and hitting his head on a pillar drill. That means that in Fred’s daughter’s bedroom there was a pillar drill…
Not only did he have a steam engine in his back garden. That steam engine powered all his workshop machinery, which was in constant use by Fred. He used all his steam powerd tools to make replacement parts, not just for his beloved steam engines, but to also make parts for a great many of his fellow steam enthusiasts, non working or broken machinery.
Along with his vast knowledge of steam engines of all types, whether it is a traction engine or static engine, he was also a very talented artist and could draw up his own blueprints to be used for machining parts.
Fred also started digging his own coal mine while still fighting cancer.
His flat cap almost killed him. He dropped it in a tank ”full of dead pigeons and God knows what else”, wrung it out and put it back on his head, but he picked up a really nasty infection off it and landed in hospital.
Still miss him .
I have no idea how he was able to so deftly climb all those enormous chimneys. You’d think his enormous solid steel balls would have weighed him down.
28 comments
… What?
Balls of steel. Need to watch this again… https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOL7CqrT-HyuzsWQquttMJ2TqOnlcXgo6&si=8hen4HgOWZ_rrvHR
I was thinking thank god he retired before he dismantled the forth rail bridge. Looks like it was almost too late 🙂
He reminds me of my grandfather, who used to have many vhs tapes of his stuff.
My uncle Eddie won a pork pie off Fred in an arm wrestle in 1975 in Blackburn in a pub called the Lamb and Flag. Fred was apparently so upset, he tried to slap Eddie, but Eddie was fast – he splatted the pork pie round Fred’s chops and the whole pub erupted in laughter. This didn’t happen, I just like to write nonsense online; I’m very lonely.
Of course I can paint it, twenty quid and a packet of Woodies. How’s Tuesday?
That series where he did a national pub crawl on a traction engine is some of our nations finest TV.
Remember him bringing down a massive chimney in Leicester near to our school. The guy was insane and amazingly talented!
I know a bloke who also has a steam train in his back garden, and has built a railway line to test it. I’m sure he took inspiration from Fred.
https://preview.redd.it/62uqlxq4fpge1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=feb9689233a87fb9de8c33b32a8f4b85ba3ce7cb
He had a fully operational steam powered mine shaft in his back yard!
Was in Bolton the day of his funeral, the steam engine procession was quite a sight, and fitting tribute
Oh ey
A great traditional Talented, man
Legend, absolutely, but he was also a fucking lunatic. I shit myself just watching him climb those chimneys lol
I still watch his videos. Legend.
I remember being at my Grandads house and him getting excited that Fred Dibnah was on TV and we should definitely watch him. I asked “who’s Fred Dibnah?” and my Grandad, beaming, informed me he was a Steeplejack that likes Traction Engines. I didn’t know what a Steeplejack was or share my Grandads generations love of Traction Engines but I sure learned that night. Good Times.
Here in his home town of Bolton he even has a statue near the town hall.
“all you need is a sledgehammer and a bit of lunacy”
And beat his wife so badly and for so long that she fled with his kids and they wanted nothing to do with him
I spent a lot of time watching Fred as a student. Odd hours, only 5 channels etc. I grew to love him 🥰
This is how I learn that the Fred Dibnah everyone is always calling a legend is not the guy that presented How 2.
He’d say things like, This Scottish wonder of engineering made it the biggest cantilever bridge in England.
There’s a part in the documentary where he is asked if he has ever been injured as a steeplejack. He proudly answers that the only time he as ever been hurt is falling off a set of steps decorating his daughters bedroom and hitting his head on a pillar drill. That means that in Fred’s daughter’s bedroom there was a pillar drill…
Not only did he have a steam engine in his back garden. That steam engine powered all his workshop machinery, which was in constant use by Fred. He used all his steam powerd tools to make replacement parts, not just for his beloved steam engines, but to also make parts for a great many of his fellow steam enthusiasts, non working or broken machinery.
Along with his vast knowledge of steam engines of all types, whether it is a traction engine or static engine, he was also a very talented artist and could draw up his own blueprints to be used for machining parts.
Fred also started digging his own coal mine while still fighting cancer.
His flat cap almost killed him. He dropped it in a tank ”full of dead pigeons and God knows what else”, wrung it out and put it back on his head, but he picked up a really nasty infection off it and landed in hospital.
Still miss him .
I have no idea how he was able to so deftly climb all those enormous chimneys. You’d think his enormous solid steel balls would have weighed him down.
*built a steam engine in his back garden
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