The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club

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The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club was a British television variety show made by Granada Television in the mid 1970s. It was set in a fictional working men's club in the North of England and was hosted by comedian Colin Crompton. Also regularly featured was comedian Bernard Manning who also sang most weeks in a surprisingly effective manner.

The show featured acts regularly seen on the Northern club circuits and often acts which were on the last legs of their popularity, like fifties crooner Johnnie Ray. It also gave newer comedians such as Cannon & Ball, The Grumbleweeds and magician Paul Daniels their first TV exposure.

Other artists to appear on the show included Roy Orbison, Lonnie Donegan, Lyn Paul, Tessie O'Shea, The Three Degrees, Buddy Greco, George Roper, Jim Bowen, Nana Mouskouri, Freddie Garrity and Frank Carson.

It can still occasionally be seen in the more obscure parts of the satellite TV network in the UK.

The show was produced by Johnnie Hamp at Granada Television in Manchester. It was once filmed at the Layton Institute in Blackpool.

1 Trivia
2 Wheeltapper
3 Notes
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Trivia

Actress Elizabeth Dawn appeared as a waitress prior to her role in Coronation Street.
An extract from the show can be seen in the film 24 Hour Party People, where Shaun Ryder, in his formative years is seen watching Karl Denver perform Wimoweh.

[edit] Wheeltapper

The West Somerset Railway Web site remarks that:

"a wheeltapper was employed at large railway stations to check that the wheels on the bogies were sound and that the axle boxes were not hot. By using a long handled wheeltapping hammer he would strike the wheels of the bogie and hear if it ‘rang true’ (a wheel with a crack in it would give off a dull sound), and with the back of his hand he would determine whether the axle box bearing was running hot." ^[1]