toshboy:
Spardo:
essexpete:
As someone suggested: three chaps and a rope.I must have been very lucky with my first motors and also came in at the end of that era because I only have one memory of starting heavy engines by the handle. Somewhere in the eastern counties I overnighted with my Albion at a transport cafe/digs and was called outside by the older blokes before breakfast to go round all the handles with a rope starting all the wagons that needed it. They were then left ticking over, causing a large cloud to hover over the neighbourhood, while we all then went back in to our full English.
My first real introduction to the Brotherhood of the Road.
You missed the good old days then ,
i also remember in the worst of winters that some inconsiderate drivers would leave the engines running all night to save that chore in the mornings . these days they leave on their fridge units ,dont they ?-- — toshboy
I used to run the motor all night, but not in company, laybys only, but that was for warmth (very little from a Gardner) and, in those days of exhaust pipes just under the driver’s door, risked not freezing to death but suffocation. 