Commer Carnival Float 1956
Commer Superpoise Artic from 1953
Crate’s Marshal. I’m reliably informed that the reason why loading with the lorry in a trench was because the arms of the loader could not get enough height.
Crane equipped Concrete Carrying Marshal
Cropper’s Seddon. Oh dear, that axle again, and that engine judging by the badge on the grille. 
CWS Silvertown, Octopus handball loading (and unloading at the customer). 240 x 140lb sacks for 15 tons.
gingerfold:
Cropper’s Seddon. Oh dear, that axle again, and that engine judging by the badge on the grille.0
You on the “wind up” again “GF” 
Ah! Croppers, probably the finest paper makers in the UK a great firm, I worked there from leaving school for two and a half years, but as transport operators nah! pass ! They ran a fairly large transport operation for years which was dominated by George Sandham RIP Fleet Engineer and Arthur Oates RIP the despatch manager. Their first fleet was built up from the late 50’s at the time they more-or-less stopped using BR and one or two local hauliers. The first motors were Seddon 6 wheelers with the Leyland engines 375/400 's the last 6 wheeler they ran was a 600 powered one and was driven by the late Frank Forrest a good pal of mine. They then moved onto artics in '65 again using the Leyland 600 engine, George wouldn’t hear of using the Gardner " Can’t stand oil leaks" ! I recall one day when I shunted a load of pulp into Croppers with our first new Atki in '71 which we had brought up from London and out comes George and his lads from the workshop to give it the once over, very critical but all he said was " We can’t afford to buy Atkis" Plus they were “■■■■■■■ that we were there in the first place with a consignment of 100ton of pulp with this being the first load ! They went on to buy the 32/4 in '68 the first one ( FJM 422F) being driven by a Pal and neighbour of mine Colin Veevers. It had the RR220/DB6:600/ Group axle , what noisey ■■■■■■■■ they were. They would probably run about 14 32/4’s plus one ■■■■■■■ engine Sed/Atk driven by Alan Cowperthwaite. Then they finally converted onto Volvo F10’s which I think was after George retired and his Son took over. Croppers was one customer that I would have dearly liked to have got hold of but it just never happened, I used to get badgered by the Deputy Chairman of J. Bibby A.G. Thompson often during those years to “Get your backside up to Croppers and sort them out they are paper makers not bloody transport operators” but it wasn’t for the lack of trying but they are a very close family firm who didn’t make quick decisions ! Anyway I had all the traffic we could handle at times so it was no great loss ! Just a case of “what you’ve never had you never miss Eh!”
That Commer of Cropper and Colthrop brings back memories, I had forgotten all about their large fleet of rigids and artics yet saw them almost daily when I was younger.
Pete.
Lawrence Dunbar:
0
So what weight was on that 4 in line Larry 15ton ? The good old days! to-days “jockey’s” would crap themselves if they were asked to drive that motor, never mind having to sheet and rope it first like eh! Cheers Dennis. 
Bewick:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0So what weight was on that 4 in line Larry 15ton ? The good old days! to-days “jockey’s” would crap themselves if they were asked to drive that motor, never mind having to sheet and rope it first like eh! Cheers Dennis.
Well Dennis its looks like its a heavy load going off the clearance on the unit rear wings, There 200 hundred and odd bags on its back I wonder what each one weighed, A back breaking load IMO, But thats what we did to earn a living in the good old days, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Bewick:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0So what weight was on that 4 in line Larry 15ton ? The good old days! to-days “jockey’s” would crap themselves if they were asked to drive that motor, never mind having to sheet and rope it first like eh! Cheers Dennis.
Well Dennis its looks like its a heavy load going off the clearance on the unit rear wings, There 200 hundred and odd bags on its back I wonder what each one weighed, A back breaking load IMO, But thats what we did to earn a living in the good old days, Regards Larry.
The tractor unit has 8 stud wheels so it would be 20 ton gross So perhaps a payload of 12/13 Ton, Regards Larry.
How many of those were you behind on a long bend when on one of the inside wheels tucked up, so that it was only on three?
John
Think Bradshaws are still on the go they must be one of the oldest Lincolnshire firms . That pic was in one of the vintage magazines a while ago with a picture of the driver , well in his eighties but still looked hard as nails ! Regards Geoff
Corah and Harris. John Corah, former driver for Harris & Miners, author of From Moorlands to Highlands, and the late, legendary Brian Harris at the book launch at Bovey Tracey in July 2002. It’s hard to believe it was 15 years ago, but it was a fantastic occasion for those of us fortunate to be there. What a grand bunch of men those former drivers were, and are. 
(I also had a fantastic bar bill to pay as well. 
Bewick:
gingerfold:
Cropper’s Seddon. Oh dear, that axle again, and that engine judging by the badge on the grille.0
You on the “wind up” again “GF”
Who would want to wind you up Dennis?..thanks for the “gen” about Croppers. I recently re-joined my former employer to establish a refrigerated depot in Manchester and I share an office with the containers division, (now there is a mysterious sector of transport), and they frequently send containers to Croppers for loading.