Bewick:
A 26ft single axle trailer can cause lumber on it’s own without even been coupled to a tractor !!! Car park in Ambleside '76
Whats all this h&s with ropes? the loads not moved much.
regards dave.
Bewick:
This is a '73 shot of the first ERF we purchased seen here prior to entering service,a nice smooth motor but no match for the Atkinsons performance wise.
Why was that then Dennis, did the Atkis have bigger engines , i noticed you`ve stated an A Series as your favourite motor was there a reason for this?
ramone:
Bewick:
This is a '73 shot of the first ERF we purchased seen here prior to entering service,a nice smooth motor but no match for the Atkinsons performance wise.Why was that then Dennis, did the Atkis have bigger engines , i noticed you`ve stated an A Series as your favourite motor was there a reason for this?
This ERF had the same 220 ■■■■■■■ as the later Atkis,the earlier Atkis had the 205 engine,but the ERF had the 6509 box wheras the Atkis had the 610 Fuller box,but the Atkys just performed better than this particular motor.My favourite was the 180LXB A Series,I just took a liking to it as it was such a genuine motor and great to drive,obviously it couldn’t match the Atkis for outright performance but it wasn’t far behind plus it was head and shoulders above them for economy ! 
Cheers Dennis.
dafdave:
Bewick:
A 26ft single axle trailer can cause lumber on it’s own without even been coupled to a tractor !!! Car park in Ambleside '76Whats all this h&s with ropes? the loads not moved much.
regards dave.
This was the actual load of paper,16ton of unwrapped Bleached Kraft destined for Smith Bros Whitehaven,thats the driver ■■■■■) who dropped it on the car park.The old lad up on the chassis is the late,great Dudley Allen who had retired from the Mill as their shunter after many years on the road and he was our handyman at that time,went for spares,swept up,brewed up,made ropes up ect ect,turn his hand to 'owt,a great old bloke from the old school.We transhipped this load onto a 40 footer and never damaged a reel,it was a bit late getting to Whitehaven,but it got there and we got a clean signature 
Cheers Dennis.
Fantastic shots and history as always Dennis, A pleasure to read.
Love that first shot with a bit of everything in. Scania 112s and Volvo F10s, and even the FL10 hiding at the back.
dew:
Fantastic shots and history as always Dennis, A pleasure to read.Love that first shot with a bit of everything in. Scania 112s and Volvo F10s, and even the FL10 hiding at the back.
Thanks for the kind coments “dew”,aye theres nearly as much history as that of the big (very big!) “W” family from Holme/Burton/Milnthorpe/Hincaster,Levens et al Oh! and Sheernest 
Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
dew:
Fantastic shots and history as always Dennis, A pleasure to read.Love that first shot with a bit of everything in. Scania 112s and Volvo F10s, and even the FL10 hiding at the back.
Thanks for the kind coments “dew”,aye theres nearly as much history as that of the big (very big!) “W” family from Holme/Burton/Milnthorpe/Hincaster,Levens et al Oh! and Sheernest
Your telling me, unfortuantely had a family funeral last Friday and it reminds you just how many there are. We were all comparing notes! And you forgot Bootle 
Bewick:
dafdave:
Bewick:
A 26ft single axle trailer can cause lumber on it’s own without even been coupled to a tractor !!! Car park in Ambleside '76Whats all this h&s with ropes? the loads not moved much.
regards dave.This was the actual load of paper,16ton of unwrapped Bleached Kraft destined for Smith Bros Whitehaven,thats the driver ([zb]) who dropped it on the car park.The old lad up on the chassis is the late,great Dudley Allen who had retired from the Mill as their shunter after many years on the road and he was our handyman at that time,went for spares,swept up,brewed up,made ropes up ect ect,turn his hand to 'owt,a great old bloke from the old school.We transhipped this load onto a 40 footer and never damaged a reel,it was a bit late getting to Whitehaven,but it got there and we got a clean signature
I wouldn’t have expected anything less Dennis, I think you & your lads handled the situation very , very well, Of course I would have said otherwise if I thought different, Ha Ha, Regards Larry.
Bewick:
A 1975 depot shot of two Big J’s we added to fleet,the one on the left was a 1974 reg and cost me £4250,the one on the left OHA 301M? was a 1973 reg and cost me £3750 both plus VAT
My first truck was a Guy Big J 505…and I really longed for a Big J Gardner 180…until I sat into and drove a Volvo F88 
How did the Guy’s perform for you Bewick? We got excellent service from them…perhaps not the most upto date or comfortable machine around, but they were good to put money in the bank account.
Great picture Dennis , this is a true haulage company, not your modern logistics etc 
Riverstick:
Bewick:
A 1975 depot shot of two Big J’s we added to fleet,the one on the left was a 1974 reg and cost me £4250,the one on the left OHA 301M? was a 1973 reg and cost me £3750 both plus VATMy first truck was a Guy Big J 505…and I really longed for a Big J Gardner 180…until I sat into and drove a Volvo F88
How did the Guy’s perform for you Bewick? We got excellent service from them…perhaps not the most upto date or comfortable machine around, but they were good to put money in the bank account.
We ran six Big J’s in the fleet all with Gardner 180 LXB engines and 6 speed boxes,they did us a first rate job but as you say they weren’t the most up to date motor by the mid/late '70’s but the price was right and they did the job ! We also ran 4 Seddon 32/4 with the same engine as the Guy’s and they also did us a good job at the time as well.Cheers Bewick.
Probably a late afternoon shot of some transhipping from a trailer to the TK flat,the Lancer Boss fork truck was a hard worked bit of plant because we also could fit it up with a set of clamps and it was used in our Milnthorpe warehouse to tip and load '000’s of tons of woodpulp which we stored for the paper mill at Beetham.
ramone:
grumpy old man:
Don’t know why but I always preferred the Atki against the ERF. I got an 8 legger new at Fred Chappels in 1962, 150 gardner and a 6 speed DB. I spent many happy hours in that AND it took a full load of road salt UP Sutton Bank in Nth. Yorks. (very naughty driver). A great machine. Those Bewicks Atki’s looked grand.That would have been interesting to see on the hairpin bend ,did you put it in bottom gear at the bottom?
Yes, stopped and put it in No.1, and just let it do it’s stuff.I daren’t risk changes on the hill. I had to tip half the load half the way up, the rest at the top, but it had the full whack on on the hairpin. The revs dropped slightly but I was never “concerned”. My alternative was a long trail round and come down from the top, but I was young and daft so I thought “go for it”.
■■■■■■■ engines rule! Not a Gardner in site on this '75 depot shot.
How did the Atki ERF and Guy drivers react when the first F88s arrived ,did they perform much better than the ■■■■■■■ engined english motors or wasn`t there much difference .I was very young at the time but remember the F88s being very sought after .It must have caused a bit of a stir when the first Volvos in Bewick colours hit the road up in ■■■■■■■ Dennis
ramone:
How did the Atki ERF and Guy drivers react when the first F88s arrived ,did they perform much better than the ■■■■■■■ engined english motors or wasn`t there much difference .I was very young at the time but remember the F88s being very sought after .It must have caused a bit of a stir when the first Volvos in Bewick colours hit the road up in ■■■■■■■ Dennis
Hiya “ramone”,the F88’s were quite a departure for us from the British motors we had run hitherto but they were very much “on trial”.We sent one to Gravesend and one ran from Milnthorpe,but they never caused any unrest among our other drivers.I only recall one episode when we put a driver onto a later F88,temporarily, when the regular driver was off with an injury (not caused by work!) When the regular,and senior,driver came back the temp driver “took a powder”,but we got shot of him PDQ ! One thing we never tolerated at Bewick Transport was “driver antics” as we always treated them all very fair and honestly,so if any did play up they obviously didn’t wish to continue their employment with the firm so it was usually a case of bye bye and best of luck in your future endeavours .It didn’t happen often and usually after a few months away the odd one or two that shouldn’t have left were clamouring to return,which we usually accepted “back into the fold”.I could write another chapter in the book of our experience of employing drivers over the years,Happy and interesting days 
Cheers Dennis.
Im suprised with the amount of fascinating and detailed photos and tales you havent written a book on your days in transport. Were the F88s much better performers than the bigger engined english motors you operated i.e 240 Gardners and similar ■■■■■■■ ,you hear tales of storming performances from the early Swedes but was it all true.I imagine reading your last comments that you had real drivers and not cab happy fellas looking for big flash motors .
ramone:
Im suprised with the amount of fascinating and detailed photos and tales you havent written a book on your days in transport. Were the F88s much better performers than the bigger engined english motors you operated i.e 240 Gardners and similar ■■■■■■■ ,you hear tales of storming performances from the early Swedes but was it all true.I imagine reading your last comments that you had real drivers and not cab happy fellas looking for big flash motors .
The 290 F88’s with the 16 speed gearing were obviously better performers than the Gardners and the ■■■■■■■■■■■ thirstier .However,I came to be convinced that the Scania was by far the better proposition than both the F88’s/F10 Volvos or the ERF’s and Sed/Atks although we did run a small number of these motors continuously on the fleet over the years, the Scania became the dominant marque which looking back definitely proved the correct decision.Cheers Dennis.
I prefered the Scanias to Volvos from a driving point of view and i also thought the 112/113s were better than the newer 114s/124s we had .When i worked in a transport office in my last job the G400s and R420s we had were very reliable and excellent on fuel with the semi auto overdrive box, 56mph @ just under 1100rpm, which was ideal for our light work
At the other end of the scale,three tractor units parked up out of service on “death row” awaiting an uncertain fate in 79/80 IIRC.