Another company not based in Tamworth but not a million miles away were Distillers who had a depot in Coleshill, in this picture is one of their AEC Mercury tractor units, picture taken in the Brewery at Burton on Trent. Circa 1982.
Morning tam1
Use to drive one of them for a fellah called alec kinson had a farm out drayton basset way, it dosent bring back many happy memories
Gunny
thegunner:
Morning tam1Use to drive one of them for a fellah called alec kinson had a farm out drayton basset way, it dosent bring back many happy memories
Gunny
I dont know what your problem was with the old AEC Mercury Gunny the 505 engine was bullet proof the cab tilted and the vision was good. On the other hand the gearbox was painfully slow and the cab was susceptible to going rusty. But overall a good reliable work horse.
i remember that motor but i cant remember who drove it lol couldve been either stan or jim
Hi carl
It could have been any of them jim.Stan.George.Ken.Maybe mally smith,maybe me but i was mainly the shunter roper/sheeter.I know ken & stan used to volunteer for the carnivals. Dont no if you no stan passed away 4/5 years ago. jim & george retired Mally runs the tavern me & ken still there.
Distillers ■■■■■■■ powered Seddon Atkinson with refurbished tank, in the back ground one of there older Atki borderers arriving at the Coleshill depot, picture taken 1981.
Superb thread lads, and some excellent pics.
Thoroughly enjoyed trawling through it, and can remember most of the old firms on here !
Specially the Simon J Sargent pics, can remember his maiden voyage with his brand new 1st Magnum, the red one. And Truck magazine were present at Pinnacles yard in Narborough photgraphing his every move . I was running france on traction for Pinnacle International Leicester, and we all ran down to dover together about 91’.
theres some familiar faces in them pics tam1. i didnt know about stan, gunner thats a shame.seeing the salford van hire t shirt reminds me of the story when they fetched the f88 from manchester and it beat the car back to the mill lol
the fella with the mug in his hand did he drive the shovel loader that was at the top of the yard
the fella with the mug in his hand did he drive the shovel loader that was at the top of the yard
Yes Carl the fella with the mug Jimmy Bamber did drive the shovel loader in the top yard.
jimmy bamber thats him cheers tam1
tam1 question for do you remember the blue 141 with iirc yellow and red stripes on it that pulled out of the mill,gunner mentioned mally smith was it his
gunnerheskey:
Superb thread lads, and some excellent pics.
Thoroughly enjoyed trawling through it, and can remember most of the old firms on here !
Specially the Simon J Sargent pics, can remember his maiden voyage with his brand new 1st Magnum, the red one. And Truck magazine were present at Pinnacles yard in Narborough photgraphing his every move . I was running france on traction for Pinnacle International Leicester, and we all ran down to dover together about 91’.
hi gunnerheskey dont know if youll remember my dad aswell he did work for pinnicale with simon sargent too doing germany and swiss iirc he had the red n white 1635 or a red n white f12 maybe…we park in the same yard now as simon
Hi gunnerheskey
Jimmy had progressed to a driver at this stage, had a few mihaps though, one friday he was cleaning his cab out because it was going for service & he parked his car in front of his unit then for some bizzare reason he uncoupled & drove straight into his car, i thought i was going to go to a&e i was in agony from laughing.
There is so many mad things he did, But he has not been that well for several years now couple of brain tumors,it hasnt stopped him drinking though.
Gunny
gunner it were me that asked about jimmy lol,do you buy any chance remember my dad vin.not sure if youve seen this pic but this is my uncle trev in the f10
my whole family worked at the mill at some point
Hi Carl
Its just dawned on me yes i remember both, niether where drivers if i remember wasnt vinny from mile oak and trev ended up living in atherstone
thats right mate my dad was yard man fireman and ran the canteen on a saturday morning with me mom,my dad sadley passed away 7 years ago trevor lives in mile oak now,i worked for smurfit for a short while at birch coppice i drove the merc old 1114 on the security shredding job,jimmy was still driving and yam yam when i were there 
too old i bet bet but looks like the box rocky had