Someone in one of the threads asked about these unique (to this country anyway) trailers that have the main chassis frame on the outside. They were a Northeast based company, Arrow Construction Equipment Ltd, Cowpen Rd, Blyth, Northumberland. The type of trailer in question was named the Target as the company did other standard types also. Most older Northeast drivers will know the Target trailer well as just about every haulage firm ran at least one and the three larger firms I worked for had several of them, Ouseburn Transport, Van Hee and Fergusons of Blyth, I believe Fergusons may have had something to do with the company as all their trailers built by Arrow had the Ferguson name profiled into the rear crossmember. I haven’t got a picture of the trailer handy but I did a model of a 33ft Target to show what it looked like. Anybody got any further info on these trailers, they were loved or hated, being strong, good brakes and floor but heavy and awkward for roping due to the hooks being right under the outer chassis members and the rear axles were set at the rear of the trailer so cut in on corners, the landing legs also had a different set up for the handles using a hexagonal headed shaft so an ordinary handle was no use on these.
Cheers Franky.
Hi,
Carrimore’s at Harelaw,Stanley built trailers of a similar design in the late 60’s early 70’s.Easily damaged if not loaded
correctly ,Harry long retired or transporter man will confirm this
Hiya…i don’t know if these trailers was Arrows. Carmans transport (brit european) had some trailers
with the chassis on the outside…i got the same answer as you wrote, far to heavy. this would be in the
late 60’s. At that time i thought they was for steel so a well could be fitted easier.
John.
Hi Franky, Clarky’s had two of those Target trailers when I worked there.They were a right pain as you say with the rope hooks under the chassis. Ours had twistlocks fitted and you had to ■■■■■ about underneath to fasten them up. Also when you put kickers on the floor you had to make sure you lined them up with the crossmembers or else when you put the load on they would go through the floor, there being no chassis down the middle. Here’s a pic of some of Clark’s wagons on Sunderland docks with a Target trailer amongst them.
That’s right Bri and if I remember they didn’t have chock rails, the inner chassis only went a little bit further than the running gear so there wasn’t any central support under the floor like a normal flat apart from crossmembers for the flooring to screw to, however those outer chassis rails were solid, hence the extra weight. Also it was a pain if somebody before you had wound the legs all the way down on the deck to drop it as they were slow to wind up even in the high gear, we used to drop them onto higher than normal timbers to save winding too much. At Van Hee’s we ran 19 Ton winches from Clarke Chapman to Barrow for the Submarine dock and these were put right on the back end, coming back empty one day the red line blew out the relay valve and I came to a rather sudden stop, glad it done it when I was empty, imagine seeing one of those things sliding up the bed towards you, happy days! Franky.
paw123:
Hi,
Carrimore’s at Harelaw,Stanley built trailers of a similar design in the late 60’s early 70’s.Easily damaged if not loaded
correctly ,Harry long retired or transporter man will confirm this
You are right paw123 they built two and we ended up with both of them, one was written off in Consett Iron Company when they dropped a 20 ton ingot into the middle of the trailer due to worn points on the tongs. The trailer crossmembers bent down pulling the side main chassis members in, the chassis ended up touching the floor in the middle.
Hi,
We also ran a Target 40 footer, chassis no.10087 which we converted to tri axle,it came from Thomas Swan,Crookhall,
with the two twinsteer Atkinsons PDC 946 & 947 H which originally belonged to ICI.
transporter man:
paw123:
Hi,
Carrimore’s at Harelaw,Stanley built trailers of a similar design in the late 60’s early 70’s.Easily damaged if not loaded
correctly ,Harry long retired or transporter man will confirm thisYou are right paw123 they built two and we ended up with both of them, one was written off in Consett Iron Company when they dropped a 20 ton ingot into the middle of the trailer due to worn points on the tongs. The trailer crossmembers bent down pulling the side main chassis members in, the chassis ended up touching the floor in the middle.
I see there’s one for sale in this months Heritage Commercials from the Northeast, a 33 footer, might need a bit of work too it has no headboard I noticed, one of these would look good though on the preservation scene. Franky.
I think Dunkerleys ran some Arrow Trailers on Block work with rolling cranes.