ramone:
…and did you put that extra sheet on top to cover up holes in the one underneath…
It used to take at least two goes to get it right, and there was no point taking the first lot of ropes and sheets off. Some loads were roped and sheeted three or four times. If that was still not good enough, the driver went into the foreman’s hut to ask for some ratchet straps. He had to sign for these, and it was a mark of bad form. Those demountable Lancashire flats came about so that, if a driver had used up all of the ropes and sheets in the yard, and still had an insecure load, the whole lot could be craned off and put in a curtainsider. It was a case of belt, braces and clean underwear, just in case.
Perfectionists in the old days, they were.
Im just waiting for the tongue lashing from the great man [anorak] im sure it wont be too long coming
I reckon you could have got a start at the RTITB teaching roping and sheeting “ramone” defo with that description of how it’s done As the old saying goes “If you can,you do,if you can’t you teach” Plus if you ran back into our depot with your sheets rolled up as described,well before I got hold of you by the “short and curlies” the foreman shunter would have had you swinging by the “nads” from a beam in the garage eh! Then,if you still had a job you’d be subjected to some very intensive re-training with various shunters and after a dose of that discipline you would be either a “made” driver or out of the gate with a boot up the jacksie and your “comics” in your hand Oh! and your written warning is in the post by the way Cheers Dennis.
LOL, well to be fair Dennis my dad taught me how to rope and sheet and if you could rope n sheet wool you could rope and sheet anything so i had a good teacher but i was lucky enough to miss most of the wool but still did my fair share on the ropes and sheets .
ramone:
…and did you put that extra sheet on top to cover up holes in the one underneath…
It used to take at least two goes to get it right, and there was no point taking the first lot of ropes and sheets off. Some loads were roped and sheeted three or four times. If that was still not good enough, the driver went into the foreman’s hut to ask for some ratchet straps. He had to sign for these, and it was a mark of bad form. Those demountable Lancashire flats came about so that, if a driver had used up all of the ropes and sheets in the yard, and still had an insecure load, the whole lot could be craned off and put in a curtainsider. It was a case of belt, braces and clean underwear, just in case.
Perfectionists in the old days, they were.
Im just waiting for the tongue lashing from the great man [anorak] im sure it wont be too long coming
I reckon you could have got a start at the RTITB teaching roping and sheeting “ramone” defo with that description of how it’s done As the old saying goes “If you can,you do,if you can’t you teach” Plus if you ran back into our depot with your sheets rolled up as described,well before I got hold of you by the “short and curlies” the foreman shunter would have had you swinging by the “nads” from a beam in the garage eh! Then,if you still had a job you’d be subjected to some very intensive re-training with various shunters and after a dose of that discipline you would be either a “made” driver or out of the gate with a boot up the jacksie and your “comics” in your hand Oh! and your written warning is in the post by the way Cheers Dennis.
LOL, well to be fair Dennis my dad taught me how to rope and sheet and if you could rope n sheet wool you could rope and sheet anything so i had a good teacher but i was lucky enough to miss most of the wool but still did my fair share on the ropes and sheets .
Lets get the thread back on track ,we put this fine motor into service Jan '77 along with a new F88 for the K. Fell fleet they were driven by to great lads Colin Atkinson on the Bewick Sed/Atk which had the 8LXB Gardner/Fuller 95909/Group axle (which from memory didn’t cause us any problems!)The K.Fell Volvo was driven by the late great Alf Bellamy and it replaced a K. Fell Sleeper cabbed Sed/Atk which had the thirsty 250 ■■■■■■■ engine.Both these new motors were more-or-less the same price at £15000 each +VAT and had consecutive Reg. Nos. TEC 570R & 571R.
This is a depot shot of the Fell F88 when it was new in Jan '77,it came to grief in a bad accident 6 months later when it got blown across the carriageway on the M6 at Preston,it was rebuilt with a new cab and went back into service ! My wife and I were in Jersey at the time on holiday so you can imagine that I was as “sick as a Blackpool Donkey” when I was told,but the main thing was the driver,Alf Bellamy,or anyone else were unhurt which was the main thing.A Texaco tanker driver that Alf had passed further back tried to come the “acid” about the shock of seeing the accident had given him “whiplash” but the Insurers soon ■■■■■■ him off and his spurious claim !!Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Lets get the thread back on track ,we put this fine motor into service Jan '77 along with a new F88 for the K. Fell fleet they were driven by to great lads Colin Atkinson on the Bewick Sed/Atk which had the 8LXB Gardner/Fuller 95909/Group axle (which from memory didn’t cause us any problems!)The K.Fell Volvo was driven by the late great Alf Bellamy and it replaced a K. Fell Sleeper cabbed Sed/Atk which had the thirsty 250 ■■■■■■■ engine.Both these new motors were more-or-less the same price at £15000 each +VAT and had consecutive Reg. Nos. TEC 570R & 571R.
Looks like a Cpt Kirk back axle to me on that fuzzy Sed/Atk photo -
Bewick:
Lets get the thread back on track ,we put this fine motor into service Jan '77 along with a new F88 for the K. Fell fleet they were driven by to great lads Colin Atkinson on the Bewick Sed/Atk which had the 8LXB Gardner/Fuller 95909/Group axle (which from memory didn’t cause us any problems!)The K.Fell Volvo was driven by the late great Alf Bellamy and it replaced a K. Fell Sleeper cabbed Sed/Atk which had the thirsty 250 ■■■■■■■ engine.Both these new motors were more-or-less the same price at £15000 each +VAT and had consecutive Reg. Nos. TEC 570R & 571R.
Bye 'eck Dennis,got the shakes on that photo,withdrawal symptoms?
Aye your right there David it’s not a good shot is it So I must have been ■■■■■■ eh! I think this is a better shot of the same motor and the driver Colin Atkinson is at the wheel.Dennis.
Bewick:
Lets get the thread back on track ,we put this fine motor into service Jan '77 along with a new F88 for the K. Fell fleet they were driven by to great lads Colin Atkinson on the Bewick Sed/Atk which had the 8LXB Gardner/Fuller 95909/Group axle (which from memory didn’t cause us any problems!)The K.Fell Volvo was driven by the late great Alf Bellamy and it replaced a K. Fell Sleeper cabbed Sed/Atk which had the thirsty 250 ■■■■■■■ engine.Both these new motors were more-or-less the same price at £15000 each +VAT and had consecutive Reg. Nos. TEC 570R & 571R.
Looks like a Cpt Kirk back axle to me on that fuzzy Sed/Atk photo -
You’ve got thinking now Brian,but now you come to say it could be a Kirkstall 'cause we sure were sick of the Group axle by that time.Passage of time and all that crap Bri,plays havoc with the old memory cell.I’ll see if I’ve got any more descriptive shots of the motor.Cheers Dennis.
Now how’s this for a fine bit of “badge engineering”,when this new Seddon joined what was an almost exclusive ( One ERF !) Atkinson fleet we thought we should make it feel part of the “team” so we badged it up as an Atky Borderer,complete with the Big A and a Borderer grille badge It actually turned out to be a very reliable unit and as it had a higher ratio diff it could really pick it’s feet up.It had the ■■■■■■■ 220 engine fitted witha Dynair thermo fan,Fuller 610 and Group Axle.
Black and White to-night,this was a nice motor that I bought in a batch of 8 Scanias from Haydock Commercials in '91,Bob Howes a.k.a. “Edna” from West Bromwich was it’s first driver,it is shot here coupled to a TIP (?) Tautliner which we used at busy times and prior to the delivery of new trailers.
I always thought this was a great B/W shot from early 1970,Saturday at noon,the entire fleet, ready to leave the Mill at Beetham.I know I may get “some stick” from some members on the site when I can honestly say that the graft I did with that D1000 (which I was still driving at this time)enabled me to purchase the goodwill of the “A” licence on the Mastiff as well as put both of them “on the road”,it sure was hard work which I wouldn’t wish to inflict on anyone but one or two on the site will have similar memories I have no doubt
And now for something completly different,I shot this one Sunday morning when this Merc,one of 5 identical units, was just about to leave for Sheerness to catch the Olua ferry.The trailer would have been loaded with groupage for Germany.
scaniaontheroad:
One of the best looking fleets of the time dennis.
Thanks for the kind coment s.o.t.r.,it is appreciated Cheers Dennis.
I ran along side with a lot of good guys,back then.Jim varney,Lol,Mr Bateson,Del,Chuff and many more.Very sad to hear about Peter Loxam.New his family well as a lot of them from Arkholme.You had one of the best Mechanics around at the time too…
scaniaontheroad:
One of the best looking fleets of the time dennis.
Thanks for the kind coment s.o.t.r.,it is appreciated Cheers Dennis.
I ran along side with a lot of good guys,back then.Jim varney,Lol,Mr Bateson,Del,Chuff and many more.Very sad to hear about Peter Loxam.New his family well as a lot of them from Arkholme.You had one of the best Mechanics around at the time too…
I couldn’t possibly comment s.o.t.r. Cheers Dennis.
scaniaontheroad:
One of the best looking fleets of the time dennis.
Thanks for the kind coment s.o.t.r.,it is appreciated Cheers Dennis.
I ran along side with a lot of good guys,back then.Jim varney,Lol,Mr Bateson,Del,Chuff and many more.Very sad to hear about Peter Loxam.New his family well as a lot of them from Arkholme.You had one of the best Mechanics around at the time too…
As the old saying goes “If you can,you do,if you can’t you teach”
Plus if you ran back into our depot with your sheets rolled up as described,well before I got hold of you by the “short and curlies” the foreman shunter would have had you swinging by the “nads” from a beam in the garage eh!
Then,if you still had a job
you’d be subjected to some very intensive re-training with various shunters and after a dose of that discipline you would be either a “made” driver or out of the gate with a boot up the jacksie and your “comics” in your hand
Cheers Dennis.
My wife and I were in Jersey at the time on holiday so you can imagine that I was as “sick as a Blackpool Donkey” when I was told,but the main thing was the driver,Alf Bellamy,or anyone else were unhurt which was the main thing.A Texaco tanker driver that Alf had passed further back tried to come the “acid” about the shock of seeing the accident had given him “whiplash” but the Insurers soon ■■■■■■ him off and his spurious claim !!Cheers Dennis. 
So I must have been ■■■■■■ eh! 
