I’m trying to keep Dennis’s thread going! Not so much a character but a situation. We were watching ‘Inside the Factory’ on BBC2 yesterday and it was from a factory in France that made iron pans for cooking, it started with pig iron, steel etc being tipped in the foundry and followed it through the whole process. My Mrs commented “You used to deliver limestone to foundries didn’t you?” and I said yes, and I have been trying to forget most of the sh*t holes we went to! 
Anyway one of the decent ones was Biwaters at Clay Cross, originally Clay Cross Works of course. At one time the foundry was fed with limestone via the Ashover Light Railway from the quarries in Ashover and Milltown but when that closed road transport was used. They had a 20 tonne load of 50mm stone almost every morning.
Tilcon got the job (from Tarmac when they went on strike I think?) and I took the first load from our quarry, weighed in and asked what the procedure was. “Down to where those gantries are and ask for Vic Brock” so off I went, but couldn’t find him. Anyway I grabbed somebody and he said “It’s snap time, he will be in that room there” so I went and opened the door. Well the smoke that came out was unbelievable, it was a total fog! 
I stood and let it clear a little, shouts of ‘shut that door’ came from inside so I ventured in. There seemed to be about half a dozen men in there so I asked for Vic and got the reply “You want Vic Brock, well you have come to the right place. I shared a pram with him, went to school with him, joined the army with him and came here with him, there isn’t a better person to ask about Vic Brock” so I casually asked where is he then? “Sitting next to me, where else would he be?” and Vic got up then and came outside! 
He showed me where to tip and put a scarf across his mouth: “It isn’t too healthy out here” he said! Considering the fog of smoke he had been sitting in I thought the outside air was actually quite good! As of a few months ago he was still living, his lad actually worked at our quarry for a while and has an ex Sam Longsons ERF unit that he shows. The works has long gone alas, demolished and just a large vacant area now. 
Pete.