JAKEY:
Marsden again .
I’ve walked through there a few times trying to find someone to unload the steel that they were “desperate” for!
Why was it that, whatever time I arrived there it was always break time?
And this big brother Merc actros of Charles wod oxford , both of these companys had very modern fleets in days gone by now the vehicles are looking tatty and are old .
JAKEY:
MARSDEN WARRINGTON ABOUT 2004 .
They were a batch of 54 plate DAFs 4 trucks, 4 Wheelbase Eng Trailers and 16 boxes. They were the worst trucks Silentnight ever bought.
Those pics are copyrighted to Mick Tyson, please use and acknowledge.
Thanks, Chris
Hi Chris , great pictures of the Silent night wagons , love the Dodges , did they perform well on Silent night ?
Went like stink perkins V8 I think, 14 ton chassis cruised at 70, died a bit up shap though.
They were the 1st ones to have round Marsden pods, on x reg i think
Cold Up North:
They were the 1st ones to have round Marsden pods, on x reg i think
Hi
Thank you for showing us such wonderful photos and with acknologement i have added them to Marsden-Vanplan group on Flickr.
There they will be seen by a different audiance from Trucknet.
The Commer Comando is interesting as we ran one HBR484N that was very similar. I always regret that bup till this time I have never found a photo of this vehicle, so your photo reminds me.Although it was built new by Craig’s at Darlington by Marsdens it was only just over a year old when we bought it when they closed down.
The Guy looks like an Otter. We ran three two B reg and 1 C reg, which were about 4 years old when we got them from the Cooperative Cabinate Works. They had 4 cylinder Gardner Engines. Was yours the same?
Best wishes
Carl
Not sure about the otters, they were before my time. They phased them out as my dad started driving for them in the 70’s.
We had dodge commandos, Leyland Cruisers and Scanias with the same pod/demout setup. I don’t get why people are so against pods as the van plan ones had chests of drawers in them, loads of storage space.
We still have 3 marsden demount bodies that are going strong apart from the usual back door rot.
Hi Chris (cold up north) , the Marsden pods are a lot better than the hatcher pods we had on the Daf 2500 we had on Habitat , but the factory daf pods were not to bad. I remember you lads going south when we were going North .How did you get on with the Cruisers ? , i use to like them .
Now thats a better view at 5pm . thats me looking fatttttt on the left with my part timer "donkey dillion " donkey is available to work Mondays and tuesdays but can change the days if he wants with his full time job company with a moments notice , very handy on busy days , only problem is he cant carry and talk ,its one or the other that is very frustrating when your in a hurry . 
We had a 2500 with the factory cheese wedge pod. I know what a coffin will feel like! But very well insulated!
The cruisers were fantastic 12 litre, they would just sit at 65 loaded because they were geared low. Used 2 litres of oil every week though!
We made some money with those motors, we had 2 of them, the hub reduction axles were crap though.
Your correct with the Factory cheese wedge , they were but by the time I got on Habitat we had the crappey hatcher ones . The factory ones had a wardrobe etc but the hatcher ones just had a bed and alight , i fitted my own curtains down stairs .
I wouldnt call it a wardrobe unless i was barbi…
I really enjoy this thread and as soon as I see new entries I am amongst the first to read these. Possibly because there are not as many interested in the removal trade as general haulage it does not get as many views and soon finds itself off the front page. Which is a shame, because out of sight out of mind.
I have over 600 photos of removal vans (apart from W.H.W) and thought it might help from time to time if I posted one of these perhaps people will see who either worked for, or with the company or knew someone who did or knew the vehicle and a bit about it. Photos will come from all decades and from companies that are no longer with us or some that are still trading.
I hope this is OK and if anyone has any objections I will stop doing so, but with plenty of comments this could become one of the most popular threads on this site.
Here comes the first. In this case from up here in the North East. Devereux .
I was at school, in Durham around about 1960 when I first saw one of their vans pass my school and I was at the side of the curb watching it go by. It was a Bedford SB of mid-fifties vintage and Petrol. The body, integral of course, on the passenger chassis looked very basic and amateur, and reminded me of our first 1952 SB. Ours had been built by Blake’s who were Bedford agents in Manchester, and certainly was no Marsden, which was the second of the three 1952-53 SBs we operated.
I regularly met Ken Devereux at BAR meetings in later years and in fact, he came to a house warming party with his wife that I was holding about 1983. It turned out they themselves had built the cab and body on the SB chassis and looking back although by present days standards it appeared rough to build something like this was a wonderful achievement for them
Here is a Morris with Marsden Body from about the early sixties.
Great post Carl , lets try and work together to keep this page close to the front, I will take pictures as I can and if I see a removal truck I will try and post these as well .This was a very old Oxford firm sadley now gone .
