Kempston:
“DEANB” “Kempston” Couple of oldies no longer operating. Nmp
The second photo is intresting “Kempston”. I wonder who built that tipping trailer with the sides that come off to convert to a flat bed.
True Dean, it looks bespoke to me but maybe someone else might know differently? They did mainly farm work so wondered if it’s so they could do bagged stuff as well as bulk?
There were a few manufacurers that did build them “Kempston” like Wilcox but you dont see many pic’s of them.
Bedford Vauxhall 1974.
Click on pages twice to read.
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I can remember seeing them around on regular basis Dean, I would imagine it would have been a very good job.
ERF-NGC-European:
"DEANB"Great pics of Newtown and Harveys motors Kempston.
Heres an old clipping of a T.H.Brown Mack.
A curious caption. It describes it as a ‘high torque engine’ but doesn’t tell you where the torque is or whether it is useful - perhaps it was supposed to imply high torque at low revs, but I’m not sure the Mack engine was; unless of course it had a ■■■■■■■ in it (which you could on a Mack F700)
Also it describes 7mpg as ‘low’ consumption, which I’m not sure was the case in the late '70s when 8.5mpg would have been considered low. Or am I nit-picking?
CF’s training me up to take his place
I think between 7 & 8 mpg was normal to be honest looking at roadtest results,and i dont expect he was hanging around…
I would imagine the Mack had its own engine which was called the Maxidyne and the gear boxes were called Maxitorque.
DeanO Robert and Kempston, Prier to late 1960s there were 2 engines from Mack available to the line haul industry the Mack Thermedyn recognised by a gold/bronz coloured Bulldog which signified a horse power engine and performed best with a transmission with multiple ratios example 10speed Road Ranger then when the Maxidyne arrived recognised by a silver Bulldog it was a torque engine and the 5 speed Maxitorque transmission was the recommended gearbox as the engine could be worked down to low rpm , the Thermadyn engine was phased out in the late 1960s.
ON the history of the Bedford county transport companys I believe there was a company owned by Mr Pete Bullard and was based I believe in Amptil,does anyone remember its history or was it worked under a different name.
Dig
ERF-NGC-European:
"DEANB"Great pics of Newtown and Harveys motors Kempston.
Heres an old clipping of a T.H.Brown Mack.
A curious caption. It describes it as a ‘high torque engine’ but doesn’t tell you where the torque is or whether it is useful - perhaps it was supposed to imply high torque at low revs, but I’m not sure the Mack engine was; unless of course it had a ■■■■■■■ in it (which you could on a Mack F700)
Also it describes 7mpg as ‘low’ consumption, which I’m not sure was the case in the late '70s when 8.5mpg would have been considered low. Or am I nit-picking?
CF’s training me up to take his place
I think between 7 & 8 mpg was normal to be honest looking at roadtest results,and i dont expect he was hanging around…
I would imagine the Mack had its own engine which was called the Maxidyne and the gear boxes were called Maxitorque.
DeanO Robert and Kempston, Prier to late 1960s there were 2 engines from Mack available to the line haul industry the Mack Thermedyn recognised by a gold/bronz coloured Bulldog which signified a horse power engine and performed best with a transmission with multiple ratios example 10speed Road Ranger then when the Maxidyne arrived recognised by a silver Bulldog it was a torque engine and the 5 speed Maxitorque transmission was the recommended gearbox as the engine could be worked down to low rpm , the Thermadyn engine was phased out in the late 1960s.
ON the history of the Bedford county transport companys I believe there was a company owned by Mr Pete Bullard and was based I believe in Amptil,does anyone remember its history or was it worked under a different name.
Dig
Thanks for that Dig, the Ampthill operator you mentioned doesn’t ring any bells with me unfortunately, that said there used to be a lot of owner drivers/small operators in the Ampthill/Maulden area probably down to the brickyards around the area.
ON the history of the Bedford county transport companys I believe there was a company owned by Mr Pete Bullard and was based I believe in Amptil,does anyone remember its history or was it worked under a different name.
Dig
[/quote]
Thanks for that Dig, the Ampthill operator you mentioned doesn’t ring any bells with me unfortunately, that said there used to be a lot of owner drivers/small operators in the Ampthill/Maulden area probably down to the brickyards around the area.
[/quote]
Thanks Kempston I met him when he was the workshop manager at BRS Bedford his brother Len was the charge hand he went into ownership also in the Burton Latimer Northants area.
Dig
Hi Kempston As for the LUTON ELSMERE PORT Vauxhall operation the LUTON drivers would only go as far as MORTONS [BRS] depot at ROWLEY ROAD COVENTRY. and change over with the ELESMERE PORT drivers 2 trips a shift sometimes from LUTON ,and 1 from Elsmere port .
yes they had the very best paid job anyone could want [not drivers wages like we were all on]100 percent union men in fact they were all recruited internally from the factories no outside drivers were employed in that operation .c
Back then general haulage men like we were looked on them as not proper drivers just shunters ,another department within the factories factory workers ,looking back we were the mugs.
It was own account work nothing else carried by those trucks only inter factory work ,all export case car work was done by contractors.
peggydeckboy:
Hi Kempston As for the LUTON ELSMERE PORT Vauxhall operation the LUTON drivers would only go as far as MORTONS [BRS] depot at ROWLEY ROAD COVENTRY. and change over with the ELESMERE PORT drivers 2 trips a shift sometimes from LUTON ,and 1 from Elsmere port .
yes they had the very best paid job anyone could want [not drivers wages like we were all on]100 percent union men in fact they were all recruited internally from the factories no outside drivers were employed in that operation .c
Back then general haulage men like we were looked on them as not proper drivers just shunters ,another department within the factories factory workers ,looking back we were the mugs.
It was own account work nothing else carried by those trucks only inter factory work ,all export case car work was done by contractors.
I was in a similar situation at W.H.Allens in Bedford, I was a mechanical engineer there before driving for them so kept all my skilled rates of pay etc and because we had installation engineers all over the world we got the same terms and conditions regarding night out allowance, minimum of 12 hours pay for the days you were away even if you only worked 6 hours, hotels whatever they cost or £30 without a receipt, (iirc Carlisle and Penrith truck stop were £7 per night) breakfast money, dinner money and evening meal money, we could even claim for phoning home when away. Best job I’ve ever had but the trouble is it spoils you when you go out into the big bad world and all the terms and conditions you’ve been used to are no longer there.
Hi Kempston,
I have read all of the posts in this interesting topic and yes you seem to have a very busy life did the lure of the open road get you ,men like me would have given their right arm to have had a engineering job like you had however that is life ,my brother in law also a highly skilled engineer in the aircraft industry like your self was envious of myself why i could not understand .
He worked on helicopter simulators after a time in CRAWLEY he who used to tell me about a company called NEWBREED low loaders from the BEDFORD area myself i had never heard of them before have you any info please as he got on well with the drivers i think they were double manned.
In the very early 1970s i used to load out of Stewartby bricks now their was a job not for the faint hearted 7am handball warmish bricks loads of ash and dust no breakfast no where to wash what we used to put up with as we did not know any different very rare help at the other end at the delivery i think it was about 3500 bricks for a 28 ton motor i may be mistaken .
A previous post mentioned the turning round after being half loaded how them trailers never tipped over i do not know ,a double axel,33foot,/tyre, 100 ,not super single back then, cannot remember if it had rims or not, single wheel peak trailer behind a Leyland comet the delivery’s were all London area all in 1 day and back again the next for the same again and yes the cafes were full of MARTSTONS LONDON BRICK, all down the A5 both ways. good old days [NO]
How many brick kiln chimneys were the there i used to get a different number every time i was going past.DBP
peggydeckboy:
Hi Kempston,
I have read all of the posts in this interesting topic and yes you seem to have a very busy life did the lure of the open road get you ,men like me would have given their right arm to have had a engineering job like you had however that is life ,my brother in law also a highly skilled engineer in the aircraft industry like your self was envious of myself why i could not understand .
He worked on helicopter simulators after a time in CRAWLEY he who used to tell me about a company called NEWBREED low loaders from the BEDFORD area myself i had never heard of them before have you any info please as he got on well with the drivers i think they were double manned.
In the very early 1970s i used to load out of Stewartby bricks now their was a job not for the faint hearted 7am handball warmish bricks loads of ash and dust no breakfast no where to wash what we used to put up with as we did not know any different very rare help at the other end at the delivery i think it was about 3500 bricks for a 28 ton motor i may be mistaken .
A previous post mentioned the turning round after being half loaded how them trailers never tipped over i do not know ,a double axel,33foot,/tyre, 100 ,not super single back then, cannot remember if it had rims or not, single wheel peak trailer behind a Leyland comet the delivery’s were all London area all in 1 day and back again the next for the same again and yes the cafes were full of MARTSTONS LONDON BRICK, all down the A5 both ways. good old days [NO]
How many brick kiln chimneys were the there i used to get a different number every time i was going past.DBP
Back in its heyday there were 167 chimneys in the marston valley producing 500 million bricks a year! I would guess the lorry you mentioned would have carried nearer 7 to 8000 bricks as I’m certain London bricks 8 wheelers carried just over 8000 depending on the type of brick.
I’ve certainly heard of Newbreed but had forgotten about them until you mentioned them, I seem to recall them parking in Inskips yard but I could be wrong on that.
Few old Horshoe coaches from kempston Bedford, my old school used to use these for school trips, part of the floor fell out of one on one trip, still continued with the journey nmp
Couple of pages of Stanley Thurstons fair lorries from Kempston, they now have a bigger yard just off the A603 at Willington just outside Bedford but still have the depot in kempston which I think they keep mainly for maintenance purposes. Nmp
Can just see one of Whyatts fairground lorries in the background, I went to school with Shane Whyatt or at least when he wasn’t on the road with his family, he now has some really nice equipment.
Looks like you’re right K, I didn’t notice. I only went in a S type once,as a youngster, I seem to remember the seating position was a bit like a sports car? Uncomfortable for me, God knows what it was like for a grown up
Or am I nit-picking? 
