HARD WINTER ?

[Pete Grey]

Oh yes winter 1963, i was a 20 year old apprentice working in a steel works, it was a struggle to get to work but when i did...........oh f**k........

The furnaces were all fired with Heavy Fuel Oil B, which had to be kept above 50C, at ordinary temperatures it was like jelly, you could float a house brick on it. The oil storage tanks were heated with steam and all the oil pipe work had a steam line running with it inside insulation to keep the fuel flowing.

............at the worst of this time i was working permanent nights and we were working outside, in 18 inches of snow, where the oil pipes ran from the oil tanks to the furnace shop, blasting extra steam from steam lances on the oil pipes to keep the oil running.

I’ve never been so cold as i was then, after work i spent most of my time in bed, the only way i could get warm.