One of the Mk1 Atkis standing at Whitehaven with a 60ft load of structral steel from IBIS Enigineers,Kendal awaiting the crane.
I love Bewicks postings, these are real old school men and motors, whether they were bought on a whim, with passion or with a purpose in mind they were bought and tended to like part of the family. There were dozens of these men around when I started in the industry, unfortunately now, the vehicles are cost units and the drivers are a fixed cost, not George, Bill and Harry anymore. 
I can remember the banter in the old style haulage yard, if someone cocked up, everyone knew, everyone learnt from it and everyone socialised together. Todays driver is more of a loner than those men of old.
Fantastic thread and subject. 
Rodney
Bewick:
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.
These old photos have so much “feel” with them if you know what i mean
Bewick:
One of the Mk1 Atkis standing at Whitehaven with a 60ft load of structral steel from IBIS Enigineers,Kendal awaiting the crane.
not much of a headboard on that one Dennis 
carryfast-yeti:
Bewick:
One of the Mk1 Atkis standing at Whitehaven with a 60ft load of structral steel from IBIS Enigineers,Kendal awaiting the crane.not much of a headboard on that one Dennis
That Mk1 didn’t have an illuminated headboard so we riveted a perspex one onto the blank front of the cab.Cheers Dennis.
Wheel Nut:
I love Bewicks postings, these are real old school men and motors, whether they were bought on a whim, with passion or with a purpose in mind they were bought and tended to like part of the family. There were dozens of these men around when I started in the industry, unfortunately now, the vehicles are cost units and the drivers are a fixed cost, not George, Bill and Harry anymore.I can remember the banter in the old style haulage yard, if someone cocked up, everyone knew, everyone learnt from it and everyone socialised together. Todays driver is more of a loner than those men of old.
Fantastic thread and subject.
Rodney
Thanks for the kind coments Rodders,that particular tractor was a real “little gem” smooth as silk and ran on the smell of derv compared to the ■■■■■■■■■■ would regularly achieve 9/10 mpg,gospel,as I used to fill it up myself,mainly after it had trunked to Rugby or Daventry and back and I have put anywhere from 36 to 39 gallon into it.Oh! and we had a good number of the drivers you describe,salt of the earth, but unfortunately many are no longer with us RIP,and along with us they wouldn’t recognise the industry to-day in comparison to the one we remember,and not with “rose tinted” glasses either as it was a lot harder years ago but more enjoyable I would contend.Cheers Dennis.
Wheel Nut:
I love Bewicks postings, these are real old school men and motors, whether they were bought on a whim, with passion or with a purpose in mind they were bought and tended to like part of the family. There were dozens of these men around when I started in the industry, unfortunately now, the vehicles are cost units and the drivers are a fixed cost, not George, Bill and Harry anymore.I can remember the banter in the old style haulage yard, if someone cocked up, everyone knew, everyone learnt from it and everyone socialised together. Todays driver is more of a loner than those men of old.
Fantastic thread and subject.
Rodney
How true Wheel Nut, never a truer word said. I just wonder iff that’s a invitation for cf to comment on?
Yes Dennis a fantastic look back through the years,keep them coming. Tony.
trunker08:
Wheel Nut:
I love Bewicks postings, these are real old school men and motors, whether they were bought on a whim, with passion or with a purpose in mind they were bought and tended to like part of the family. There were dozens of these men around when I started in the industry, unfortunately now, the vehicles are cost units and the drivers are a fixed cost, not George, Bill and Harry anymore.I can remember the banter in the old style haulage yard, if someone cocked up, everyone knew, everyone learnt from it and everyone socialised together. Todays driver is more of a loner than those men of old.
Fantastic thread and subject.
Rodney
How true Wheel Nut, never a truer word said. I just wonder iff that’s a invitation for cf to comment on?
Don’t tempt providence Lads,Matron might wake him up and log on for him,keep the ■■■■ quiet for a few hours before he gets locked up in his cell,sorry room. Cheers Dennis.
A nice 70’s shot of a batch of some of the fleet workhorses.
Bewick:
A nice 70’s shot of a batch of some of the fleet workhorses.
What was the prefered choice from the english motors Dennis or weren`t the drivers too bothered?
Bewick:
A nice 70’s shot of a batch of some of the fleet workhorses.
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the Erf 
Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the Erf
They breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “■■■■■ hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “[zb] hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
The ■■■■■■■■ Longline, in its day, was a Hawkloft. You learn something new every day.
Just for the record,we did have one Jennings sleepered A Series which we aquired via our takeover of K.Fell & Co in '76 but IMHO this was a worse conversion than on the Atky ! 
[zb]
anorak:Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “[zb] hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
The ■■■■■■■■ Longline, in its day, was a Hawkloft. You learn something new every day.
Eh? I’m not an ornithologist I’m only a Pheasant plucker and I’m only plucking pheasants till the peasant ■■■■■■ comes eh! I think thats wrong 
Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “[zb] hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
The ■■■■■■■■ Longline, in its day, was a Hawkloft. You learn something new every day.
Eh? I’m not an ornithologist I’m only a Pheasant plucker and I’m only plucking pheasants till the peasant [zb] comes eh!
Youre sounding very plucky tonight Dennis ,now what was the prefered choice of your drivers from the english motors or wasnt there 1?
ramone:
Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “[zb] hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
The ■■■■■■■■ Longline, in its day, was a Hawkloft. You learn something new every day.
Eh? I’m not an ornithologist I’m only a Pheasant plucker and I’m only plucking pheasants till the peasant [zb] comes eh!
You
re sounding very plucky tonight Dennis ,now what was the prefered choice of your drivers from the english motors or wasnt there 1?
Well “ramone” I have no doubt that if we had given our drivers a free choice of preferred motor we would have decended into chaos and ended up with every make of motor that was on the market at any given time over 25yrs plus.However,back to reality ! I was personally responsible for buying the first motor I had right through to the last new Scania I bought a week or two before we joined the WRM group.There was never a predetermined blueprint for my vehicle buying as it was always a case of 1) What we required at the time,2)what was available,3)and more to the point,what could we afford.We were never a “bling outfit” but we did maintain our fleet to the highest standards possible and we never had any complaints from the drivers about the motors they were allocated for the particular type of traffic they ran on.Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
ramone:
Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Bewick:
[zb]
anorak:Suedehead:
At first glance that looks like one hell of a sleeper on the ErfThey breed big pigeons in North Lancashire.
They are “[zb] hawks” anorak,a bit bigger bird than a pidgeon eh! Cheers Dennis.
The ■■■■■■■■ Longline, in its day, was a Hawkloft. You learn something new every day.
Eh? I’m not an ornithologist I’m only a Pheasant plucker and I’m only plucking pheasants till the peasant [zb] comes eh!
You
re sounding very plucky tonight Dennis ,now what was the prefered choice of your drivers from the english motors or wasnt there 1?Well “ramone” I have no doubt that if we had given our drivers a free choice of preferred motor we would have decended into chaos and ended up with every make of motor that was on the market at any given time over 25yrs plus.However,back to reality !
Well just looking through these great photos you keep coming up with ,those parked up at the end of their time still looked in good condition obviously you knew when their time was up,but what i was trying to say was which english motors you ran were most sought after did the drivers prefer Atkis with Gardners /■■■■■■■ or ERF with Gardners/■■■■■■■ etc or weren`t they too bothered.Sometimes 1 particular motor stands out in a fleet