keith 2:
can some of you 88 drivers look at the f88 site and up date them what you know about air wipers ect,jack,alan,an both stuarts,i know a bit but was a lad then,keith
That’s easy Keith, they were crap, and that’s the only update on air wipers you’ll get. Jack.
I see that if it wasn’t for Keith this thread would not exist, so for anyone looking on I have some news, John Robinson the guy I met up with last year is visiting the UK I belive next week, and he would like to meet up with me, if anyone from A One is interested to meet up with us I’ll let you all know when were meeting, it’s all down to phone calls just now so I dont yet know which day. Jack.
Jack Graham:
I see that if it wasn’t for Keith this thread would not exist, so for anyone looking on I have some news, John Robinson the guy I met up with last year is visiting the UK I belive next week, and he would like to meet up with me, if anyone from A One is interested to meet up with us I’ll let you all know when were meeting, it’s all down to phone calls just now so I dont yet know which day. Jack.
thats true jack i met keith the other day we had a good chat about a.one and our dads who were both long timers out of jack lane
jeffrey ellener:
Jack Graham:
I see that if it wasn’t for Keith this thread would not exist, so for anyone looking on I have some news, John Robinson the guy I met up with last year is visiting the UK I belive next week, and he would like to meet up with me, if anyone from A One is interested to meet up with us I’ll let you all know when were meeting, it’s all down to phone calls just now so I dont yet know which day. Jack.thats true jack i met keith the other day we had a good chat about a.one and our dads who were both long timers out of jack lane
Hi Jeff, I must admit I’m also not on this thread as much as I used to be, has everyone ether emigrated or gone back to work, my excuse is at weekends I’m usualy busy away racing my bikes or doing shows, in fact the only reason I’m at home now is because I’m skint, the engine on my van went bang in a big way 2 days before Christmas, and it’s cost me a fortune to rebuild it, “broken rubber cam belts and VW LT35s dont mix”, I should have bought the Merc Sprinter instead, at least it has a chain driven cam and injector pump.
John Robinson the guy I went to see in Florida last November is flying over on the 15th and will be coming up to our area 21st, he’s going to call me on his way up, he’s related to JMR and he’s a real nice guy. :-Jack
I,ve been following this thread for a while and at the moment i,m reseaching for a book i,m writing on wool haulage, i,ve been in the job all my life as i was brought up in a family firm.I was sent a photo from cornwall of an A one volvo loaded with wool but unfortunatly it is of poor quality and not good enough for the book,ill port it on hear maybe someone can tell me something about it.While i,m on do any of you lads have any photos of motors loaded with wool that you would like to go in the book? The only other photo i have of an Aone motor is one in the background on the truck park at santhia, italy .Iwas taking a photo of my own motor at the time but also got part of the Aone trailer on it,it was a merc and the driver was a big lad with a beared and grey hair but i didn,t get talking to him so don,t know his name.
scud:
I,ve been following this thread for a while and at the moment i,m reseaching for a book i,m writing on wool haulage, i,ve been in the job all my life as i was brought up in a family firm.I was sent a photo from cornwall of an A one volvo loaded with wool but unfortunatly it is of poor quality and not good enough for the book,ill port it on hear maybe someone can tell me something about it.While i,m on do any of you lads have any photos of motors loaded with wool that you would like to go in the book? The only other photo i have of an Aone motor is one in the background on the truck park at santhia, italy .Iwas taking a photo of my own motor at the time but also got part of the Aone trailer on it,it was a merc and the driver was a big lad with a beared and grey hair but i didn,t get talking to him so don,t know his name.
Hi Scud, if you look back on some of A One pages there are a few photo’s but not all of A One, there some of the companies from Bradford area loaded up with wool, the problem is that not many of so long ago carried cameras, we were too busy working to take pictures, but I can guarantee it was hard work, I cut my teeth on wool at Jack Fielders/ Chapmans/ and then onto A One when they bought us out. Jack.
Cheers for that Jack ill have a good look ,you say you worked at fieders in the 60s my dad had two motors von for jack fielder at that time guy warriors they were cut down into artics by fielder we did dock work and also butterfield tanks steel out of dunlops and paper from tadcaster papyrus.As a young lad i went to all these places with dad.I n the 1980s we put a four wheeler on at aone in bradford working fir Maurice Eccles dad new him from Bells in the 50s.At that time they stil had some bedford km with clifford parott on the door ,an old mate of dads was Raymond Collaunge.
scud:
Cheers for that Jack ill have a good look ,you say you worked at fieders in the 60s my dad had two motors von for jack fielder at that time guy warriors they were cut down into artics by fielder we did dock work and also butterfield tanks steel out of dunlops and paper from tadcaster papyrus.As a young lad i went to all these places with dad.I n the 1980s we put a four wheeler on at aone in bradford working fir Maurice Eccles dad new him from Bells in the 50s.At that time they stil had some bedford km with clifford parott on the door ,an old mate of dads was Raymond Collaunge.
Wow! your bringing back memories now, I started in the early 60’s at Fielders after I came out of the army, and your right, we did steel from Dunlop & Ranken, also Papyrus Tadcaster, National Glass from York, Butterfields were one of our main contractors, we did all there work and had a few on contract in there colours, but the main work was pulling wool from the docks from Hull, Goole, Liverpool, Southampton, London Etc, we also did Fowler’s Tractors Leeds, and lots more, but my memory is not quite so bright as yours, because I’m an old git now just like most of us our brains slow down, but still good old memories, Thanks .:-Jack
Hi Jack…was it Ray Collaunge who got the AEC V8 that was at the Earls Court motor show, the one with the trailer that had the varnished floor.
 I remember one of the 4 wheeler lads telling how he was told to go to Papyrus at Boston when he first started. He rang up to say he couldnt find them. They told him they were on the Taddy road out of Boston Spa so no wonder he couldnt find them in Boston Lincs. Can you remember who it was who delivered a Butterfields tank to a farmers field. They put down straw bales to catch it when they barred it off the side. Unfortunately they forgot about the inspection hatch on top, when it hit the ground it bounced over the bales, rolled down the field and ended up floating in the canal at the bottom. Seem to remember we did a lot out of Albright and Wilson, Wakefield. I think it was mostly sulpher dioxide, both powder and gas. Them green and yellow cylinders could be a pain to load sometimes especially those with the flange on the bottom. Cant remember whether it was Granville Dains or Con Tyson, who one day there, lifted me and the cwt bag of cemicals I was carrying and threatened to dump me in the river if I didnt stop making sarcastic comments about them being too slow. There was Synthetic Chemicals of Knottingley as well. Did we also do another glass works in Knottingly, Redpaths seems to ring a bell. Those were the days we worked hard but had fun times to compensate…Dave Robson
ddrbsn:
Hi Jack…was it Ray Collaunge who got the AEC V8 that was at the Earls Court motor show, the one with the trailer that had the varnished floor.
 I remember one of the 4 wheeler lads telling how he was told to go to Papyrus at Boston when he first started. He rang up to say he couldnt find them. They told him they were on the Taddy road out of Boston Spa so no wonder he couldnt find them in Boston Lincs. Can you remember who it was who delivered a Butterfields tank to a farmers field. They put down straw bales to catch it when they barred it off the side. Unfortunately they forgot about the inspection hatch on top, when it hit the ground it bounced over the bales, rolled down the field and ended up floating in the canal at the bottom. Seem to remember we did a lot out of Albright and Wilson, Wakefield. I think it was mostly sulpher dioxide, both powder and gas. Them green and yellow cylinders could be a pain to load sometimes especially those with the flange on the bottom. Cant remember whether it was Granville Dains or Con Tyson, who one day there, lifted me and the cwt bag of cemicals I was carrying and threatened to dump me in the river if I didnt stop making sarcastic comments about them being too slow. There was Synthetic Chemicals of Knottingley as well. Did we also do another glass works in Knottingly, Redpaths seems to ring a bell. Those were the days we worked hard but had fun times to compensate…Dave Robson
ddrbsn:
Hi Jack…was it Ray Collaunge who got the AEC V8 that was at the Earls Court motor show, the one with the trailer that had the varnished floor.
 I remember one of the 4 wheeler lads telling how he was told to go to Papyrus at Boston when he first started. He rang up to say he couldnt find them. They told him they were on the Taddy road out of Boston Spa so no wonder he couldnt find them in Boston Lincs. Can you remember who it was who delivered a Butterfields tank to a farmers field. They put down straw bales to catch it when they barred it off the side. Unfortunately they forgot about the inspection hatch on top, when it hit the ground it bounced over the bales, rolled down the field and ended up floating in the canal at the bottom. Seem to remember we did a lot out of Albright and Wilson, Wakefield. I think it was mostly sulpher dioxide, both powder and gas. Them green and yellow cylinders could be a pain to load sometimes especially those with the flange on the bottom. Cant remember whether it was Granville Dains or Con Tyson, who one day there, lifted me and the cwt bag of cemicals I was carrying and threatened to dump me in the river if I didnt stop making sarcastic comments about them being too slow. There was Synthetic Chemicals of Knottingley as well. Did we also do another glass works in Knottingly, Redpaths seems to ring a bell. Those were the days we worked hard but had fun times to compensate…Dave Robson
Hi Dave, it was Peter Scollick that got the V8 Mandator first, I had one on nights but it was a demo on trial, and belive me, they were the start of power we’d never been used to before, they went like rockets, but fuel consumption was about 10 yards to the gallon, but boy did they pull and go. The glass from Knottingley was Redfern Glass, and yes we did Albright & Wilson from Wakefield, the stuff in bags set on fire if they got wet, but the drums were big heavy things and you had to get them right or they fell off, I dont know about the tank that went into the canal, but I dropped on off at a filling station, but they hadn’t dug the hole, so the owner told me to drop it off on the pub car park next door so it stopped against the wall between his filling station and the pub, but it bounced over the wall and flattened one of his pumps, but I made sure he signed for it before I dropped it off, and I left him to sort out the mess himself, but that’s how it was in those days, no-one gave a toss as long as we got our wage every week everything was OK. :-Jack.
Hi Dave, it was Peter Scollick that got the V8 Mandator first, I had one on nights but it was a demo on trial, and belive me, they were the start of power we’d never been used to before, they went like rockets, but fuel consumption was about 10 yards to the gallon, but boy did they pull and go. The glass from Knottingley was Redfern Glass, and yes we did Albright & Wilson from Wakefield, the stuff in bags set on fire if they got wet, but the drums were big heavy things and you had to get them right or they fell off, I dont know about the tank that went into the canal, but I dropped on off at a filling station, but they hadn’t dug the hole, so the owner told me to drop it off on the pub car park next door so it stopped against the wall between his filling station and the pub, but it bounced over the wall and flattened one of his pumps, but I made sure he signed for it before I dropped it off, and I left him to sort out the mess himself, but that’s how it was in those days, no-one gave a toss as long as we got our wage every week everything was OK. :-Jack.
Hi Jack … that V8 certainly went like a bat out of hell, at times coming over from Liverpool they only got about 4mpg. I took my HGV test in it when the schools Leyland broke down the morning of the test. All the way round the test I was on edge keeping the power off to keep to the speed limits. Dave
ddrbsn:
Hi Dave, it was Peter Scollick that got the V8 Mandator first, I had one on nights but it was a demo on trial, and belive me, they were the start of power we’d never been used to before, they went like rockets, but fuel consumption was about 10 yards to the gallon, but boy did they pull and go. The glass from Knottingley was Redfern Glass, and yes we did Albright & Wilson from Wakefield, the stuff in bags set on fire if they got wet, but the drums were big heavy things and you had to get them right or they fell off, I dont know about the tank that went into the canal, but I dropped on off at a filling station, but they hadn’t dug the hole, so the owner told me to drop it off on the pub car park next door so it stopped against the wall between his filling station and the pub, but it bounced over the wall and flattened one of his pumps, but I made sure he signed for it before I dropped it off, and I left him to sort out the mess himself, but that’s how it was in those days, no-one gave a toss as long as we got our wage every week everything was OK. :-Jack.
Hi Jack … that V8 certainly went like a bat out of hell, at times coming over from Liverpool they only got about 4mpg. I took my HGV test in it when the schools Leyland broke down the morning of the test. All the way round the test I was on edge keeping the power off to keep to the speed limits. Dave
Hi Dave, the V8 I had on night trunk was supposed to be a 32toner, but I never weighed it off, but my guess it was more like 38/40 ton from London to Bradford, I was always the first home because there was nothing on the road to keep up with me, “it was the sign of things to come”, people said that when the Scannia V8 came out it was a copy of the AEC, but I dont know about that, but I do know we had the brains in this country to build them but didnt get on with it, had they built a good cab like Volvo / Scannia they would have sold like they did, but it’s all in the past now and too late. :- Jack
Hi Dave, the V8 I had on night trunk was supposed to be a 32toner, but I never weighed it off, but my guess it was more like 38/40 ton from London to Bradford, I was always the first home because there was nothing on the road to keep up with me, “it was the sign of things to come”, people said that when the Scannia V8 came out it was a copy of the AEC, but I dont know about that, but I do know we had the brains in this country to build them but didnt get on with it, had they built a good cab like Volvo / Scannia they would have sold like they did, but it’s all in the past now and too late. :- Jack
Hi Jack… yes its hard to believe, we had the ideas but they went abroad to be realised. Came up from London for a week at Chapmans driving school. We went on a tour of ERF and Gardiner, boy did they have their heads in the sand. Id driven the new Volvo 86 Arthur had on night trunk, it was a massive leap forward from the 150 big J (MUM 478 F) wed had. At ERF we just shook our heads when they showed us how proud they were of their glassfibre B series cabs, then Gardiners engineers sang the praises of their straight 8s. They told us turbos would never take off as they wouldnt stand the test of time. While at ERF we saw a new 4 wheeler that would of wipped the floor with the competition. We were told it was a test chassis and cab for a fire engine and no it would never be sold as a commercial motor as it might confuse drivers who saw it into thinking it was a fire engine. Crazy or what…
Dave
jeffrey ellener:
ramone:
keith 2:
ramone:
Here`s 1 for the oldies anyone remember it?smashing photo ramone,remember my dad bring them eight leggers home,k2
Thats the 1 i mentioned before Keith it
s on Peter Daviess new AEC dvddo you know where could get that dvd my dad jack ellener drove 6166UM from new, he delivered the wooden piles for the woolich ferry in that wagon, allso the new emley moor tv mast.
Put PD Truck photos into google and the picture is on the AEC dvd there`s a few Longs on there too ,sorry for the delay only just read it
Hi Jack when we were going down memory lane the other day i got to thinking do you remember Lenny who worked in fielders office in liverpool there was also a younger bloke in there but i dont remember his name ,it was always Lenny who my dad sent me to get collection notes from then it was off to join another que. Iwas in my teens and could only watch as dad put 56 monties or BAs gunshot and roll four times on but i got the chance to learn to rope and sheet it , then it was up millars bridge down walton hall avenue and onto the east lancs and home ,good memories .i,ve been given a photo of a volvo f86 with some other stuff for the book i.m writing on wool haulage so i,ll attatch it . cheer,s.
scud:
Hi Jack when we were going down memory lane the other day i got to thinking do you remember Lenny who worked in fielders office in liverpool there was also a younger bloke in there but i dont remember his name ,it was always Lenny who my dad sent me to get collection notes from then it was off to join another que. Iwas in my teens and could only watch as dad put 56 monties or BAs gunshot and roll four times on but i got the chance to learn to rope and sheet it , then it was up millars bridge down walton hall avenue and onto the east lancs and home ,good memories .i,ve been given a photo of a volvo f86 with some other stuff for the book i.m writing on wool haulage so i,ll attatch it . cheer,s.
only ever loaded wool twice,once out of mid wales and once out of north Scotland both to a place nr bolling back lane Bradford,both times nearly spewed my guts up with the smell,feel sick now thinking about it 
keith
You have to learn to breath through your mouth only when dealing with wool ,or maybe you just get used to it ,cheer,s
scud:
Hi Jack when we were going down memory lane the other day i got to thinking do you remember Lenny who worked in fielders office in liverpool there was also a younger bloke in there but i dont remember his name ,it was always Lenny who my dad sent me to get collection notes from then it was off to join another que. Iwas in my teens and could only watch as dad put 56 monties or BAs gunshot and roll four times on but i got the chance to learn to rope and sheet it , then it was up millars bridge down walton hall avenue and onto the east lancs and home ,good memories .i,ve been given a photo of a volvo f86 with some other stuff for the book i.m writing on wool haulage so i,ll attatch it . cheer,s.
Yes Scud, I do remember Lenny he was Liverpool manager for J G Fielder, the office was an old pub, but the cellar was flooded half way up the steps, he was a good bloke and did look after us better than Fielder did back home, we were always sure of an extra overnight off him when we were skint, 56 Monties were a full load, some of them 1/4 ton each, they sent them down in a sling and you were on you own, and you had to get them right first time, and god help you if one fell over the side of the trailer, that’s why your hands were full of blisters all the time. I had an 8wheeler Seddon and the gear stick broke off at the lights on the East Lancs, I had a full shoot on, and I can promise you I wasn’t the flavour of the day with the police because I couldn’t move, I had to wait untill they came from Bradford with a new one, but as we said there all memories now. :-Jack
Hi Kieth, loading wool was a job on it’s own, there were so many different bales, so many shapes, and so many sizes, your Ozzie’s and New Zealand bails were almost alike, but some were doubles, two bales fastened together with wire banding so they weighed twice as much, most of them came in through Liverpool/Hull/ Goole, but they also came in through London/ Southampton and Portsmouth.
They always said your not a wool man untill you’ve had a load off, my first one was in Hull on Hesstle Road it was a copper who stoped me to tell me I was cleaning all the vans as I went past them, and second was on my way up from London both with my Seddon 8 wheeler, it was when they started using man made fiber to make the bagging, it was so slippy it was almost impossible to keep on, it didnt grip like the old sacking, Thank god they started using containers, they were safe inside rather than being on open lorries, in Halifax they used to charge £1 per bail, and they were always falling off at the bottom of the hill turning left down King Cross st, But I was lucky mine were in Hull and cost me nothing except a bollocking from Harold Priest, the time they came off from London I’d managed to get it to Tonys at Grantham, it was taking 2 lanes up they had spread out but still inside the sheet but too dangerous to go any further, so they sent another trailer out to transship half the load. the best bails were the press packs from the mills in Bradford, they were like big solid bricks but never moved once they were loaded, but they were heavy, China Bales were half the size of a normal press pack, but just as heavy, if you loaded to cab height you had your weight on, there was no need to go on top and they were as solid as a brick and heavy. :-Jack
