Love the picture Mark , would of loved to have the one on the right ,is it a leyand with a vancraft body ?
john , you know Old Alan as we call him is a great bloke to know ,he only finished on Woods because he heard some of there staff moaning about him being so slow slow he was 75 then !!!, give him the kitchen and it will be spot on and packed as it should be ,today I will drop him off and pick him up later as he cannot and never has drove.
When he first started in the game it was with us but he wanted European trips and my dad did not ,so he went to Lukers on Swiss for years then Charles Wood ,the day he walked out on Woods he came straight here on his bike looking for a part time packing job, how could I refuse that .
He only gets paid what hours he wants ,ie if he comes in for four hours that’s it, he goes when he is tired, he is not allowed to double carry but he does if you need a quick lift.
He is still chomping about going to France in a few weeks as he said it would be most likely his last trip .
Hi Steve,
No the integral to the right is a Bedford Vanplan…old Alan done the rounds with you Oxford boys then Steve…take my hat off to him !
Nice pic of your truck there mate…got no time to wash mine at the moment.
Hello mark , nothing worst that driving a dirty truck , mine is a bit dusty at the moment ,I try and wash it at the week end if its a bit cooler , Yes Old Alan has done the rounds , he talks a lot ,so best to shut him in the kitchen and try not to talk to him !!! , we might have to carry him in a truck on his final journey , just like me dad did .
Mark , No I wont get a chance to do the France, even my part time packer another (ex Charles wood porter) has been in and bagged a ride out with Phil , he wants to assist unloading , No PAY !!! ,he so loves going out with us ,No family at all ,lives on his own and gets bored ,No hobbies ,just misses Removals ,infact he is in this week packing and next week , the only trouble he does not stop talking !!! ,Phil has told him he can go to France if we get the job ,and I told him its ok as long as you wear your uniform.
I will pay him .
Oh I forgot to say he is 78 but a young 78 .
hi Jakey,
Here’s a photo of one of our Bedford marsdens NGR168T loading a removal from the South of France to delivery to Stockton On Tees almost 40 years ago. Like you say luck doesn’t usually allow you one over & one back. In this case we used two drivers and they took a load of divan beds down to our London depot and travelled the rest of the journey over empty. I would not have remembered had it not have been the two drivers reminicing at a recent reunion. You say about using young staff, and the photo was taken by Gordon Ball the Co driver, with Alan Brown at the time carrying a what aoppears to be a dvan base onto the van. Both are now in their 70s and Alan now is huge. It just illustrates how removals keep you fit.
I myself had the pleasure about 45 years ago bringing a removal back from Naples (Mid Summer) and what you cannot estimate is how the heat slows the loading. I was wondering if others have experienced the problem of loading inheat
Hi Carl,
It’s still the same in that part of the world…I was down in Toulouse a year ago now took a job out to Foix just below Toulouse and picked one up just outside Toulouse to come back to South Wales…the heat was unbearable sleeping in the cab was realy uncomfortable we slept with both windows down it was 41deg…like you say loading is slower in that heat…I bet those lads of yours back then in that lovely integral must have been roasting in that cab…lovely photo there Carl…they have a fair load on there to by the looks of it to.
I’ve attached a pic of me loading the job just outside Toulouse to come back to South Wales last year…it was 41 deg had to tranship it out to…even worse.
Did you go over into Europe much back then Carl ?
Hi Mark, About 10 a year almost all removals. Strangely as almost as many back as over, and not always into North East, which was surprising in those pre internet days. We got our first TIR registered van from Marsdens in 1969 but had done a bit prior to that.
Yes that is what I was meaning by heat. I had gone to bring a removal back from Naples to experience problems so I would know what our drivers would experience at customs posts etc,in those pre EU days, but what I did experience was the incredible heat we had to work in whilst loading the van.
I was just thinking about Jakie’s comment of young drivers and it reminded me of one of ours. We started a lot as porters ex school and taught them to drive non-HGVs and one of these when he must have been 18-19 was a guy called Erik Nelson. One of our customers who made expensive Desks Chairs and office furniture had a small load for Paris. It was to a newly opening shoe shop on the Champs Elesee. We got to know when they started making the order so we got about 4 days notice. Eric had never been abroad so we sent him off to Liverpool to get a passport and off he went to Paris with a one of our small non HGV vans. No sat navs in those days and Eric had never heard French spoken never mind learnt the language. I remember asking him how he would go on.‘I’ll manage’ , he said. Its wonderful what youth and determination can achieve. Eric now will be approaching 70 years old.
Hi Mark, a bit ago you mentioned tail lifts. From about 1973 onwards all vans we had either Marsden or Vanplan build for us had tailifts mostly Radcliffe. The biggest problem we had was the rams were fitted up at the top of the rear and the mechanism including the metal ropes ran down rails on the side pillars, which left the backs of the vans looking untidy and all the dirt from splashing etc got into the mechanism which needed greasing to stop it seizing which again looked awful.
About 1977 I talked to Marsden about that problem and they designed (As seen on that van) a way of putting the ram inside the top, where when as previously we had used roller shutter & tailboard, the shutter rolled into and the mechanism inside the back frame inside the van. This necessitated full length rear doors (as you see with that van) which enclosed everything and the tailboard just closed over the bottom of the doors. This produced a very tidy rear but kept the tail-lift mechanism weatherproof.
In that case they appear to have the tailift tailboard at a height that made a handy step, and so as such weren’t using it. However It would lift almost to the top of the van which was handy if packing a tight load up to van height at the rear. This was often handy when taking furniture in and out of upstairs windows. Left vertical the taillift could be dropped to floor height so for places you may need to load or unload with a loading dock you could reverse up drop the tailboard without opening & then open the doors & you had a straight through floor.
So all in all making the van very vercatile. However like everything mechanical they did go wrong but that was greatly reduced by Marsden’s new design.
Hi Mark, a bit ago you mentioned tail lifts. From about 1973 onwards all vans we had either Marsden or Vanplan build for us had tailifts mostly Radcliffe. The biggest problem we had was the rams were fitted up at the top of the rear and the mechanism including the metal ropes ran down rails on the side pillars, which left the backs of the vans looking untidy and all the dirt from splashing etc got into the mechanism which needed greasing to stop it seizing which again looked awful.
About 1977 I talked to Marsden about that problem and they designed (As seen on that van) a way of putting the ram inside the top, where when as previously we had used roller shutter & tailboard, the shutter rolled into and the mechanism inside the back frame inside the van. This necessitated full length rear doors (as you see with that van) which enclosed everything and the tailboard just closed over the bottom of the doors. This produced a very tidy rear but kept the tail-lift mechanism weatherproof.
In that case they appear to have the tailift tailboard at a height that made a handy step, and so as such weren’t using it. However It would lift almost to the top of the van which was handy if packing a tight load up to van height at the rear. This was often handy when taking furniture in and out of upstairs windows. Left vertical the taillift could be dropped to floor height so for places you may need to load or unload with a loading dock you could reverse up drop the tailboard without opening & then open the doors & you had a straight through floor.
So all in all making the van very vercatile. However like everything mechanical they did go wrong but that was greatly reduced by Marsden’s new design.
Hi Carl,
That must have been fantastic experience for young Eric Nelson back then Carl…in all fairness back then was a bit different to how easy it is today at ports and borders…also to drive into Paris for the first time it’s always been like a race track…I’ve had many conversations with some of the retired lads who also ran Europe in the 70s. …they always said it was as busy in Paris then as it is now.
Did Eric Nelson go on to drive the HGV trucks with you back then Carl ?
Marsden and Vanplan were with out doubt the best in the business Carl in there time…a lot of top removal body builders today model themselfs off as it was at the end Marsdenvanplan…some of the ideas they came up with after concerns like yours would be raised with them…they brought the removal body styles of today into the industry. …they built huge fleets of bodies for companies large and small like your company with integrals …Carl i remember you were the main contractor to Thorne EMI. …I also remember Marsden and Vanplan built a lot of integrals for Hadfields with tailifts. …didn’t they also deliver appliances to ?
Late 80s photo , we must of been using the three Sherpa vans on this day , biggest wagon we had was to the left 18ooft Dodge commendo , 9t Dodge in the middle (the great Raymondo wagon) ,right Renault Commando 7.5t , (dad never did get a pod put on )
Hi Steve,nice looking pic mate them pods were nothing special I had 2 trucks with them on just a mattress and a hatch which you had to pull yourself in ,I remember the days when you slept across the seats ,I got woke one night in London in a 7.5 delivering remploy I parked up this road not knowing it was In Regent’s Park in the 90,s two gun cop cars banging my door 1 in the morning getting me out with just my pants on I explained what I was doing they gave me a bollocking and let me get back to sleep good job I didn’t have a pod then
JAKEY:
Late 80s photo , we must of been using the three Sherpa vans on this day , biggest wagon we had was to the left 18ooft Dodge commendo , 9t Dodge in the middle (the great Raymondo wagon) ,right Renault Commando 7.5t , (dad never did get a pod put on )
Hi Steve,
Lovely line up there mate…classic 80s shot there of the Dodges…would love to see another pic of that 1800 ft Dodge…how big was the chassis under that body Steve ?
You can tell you were near a British Leyland plant with the Morris Ital in the pic
smallcoal:
Hi Steve,nice looking pic mate them pods were nothing special I had 2 trucks with them on just a mattress and a hatch which you had to pull yourself in ,I remember the days when you slept across the seats ,I got woke one night in London in a 7.5 delivering remploy I parked up this road not knowing it was In Regent’s Park in the 90,s two gun cop cars banging my door 1 in the morning getting me out with just my pants on I explained what I was doing they gave me a bollocking and let me get back to sleep good job I didn’t have a pod then
That was a learning kerv for you John…You wouldn’t get anywhere near there today mate Regents park…was that Jones’s D series 7.5 you were driving at the time ?
Just posting a pic of this Leyland DAF 65 at the end of here life in our yard…she was taken off the road at the end of last year…bloody good servant and still lovely to drive at 22 years old.
Poor old DAF ,Looks so sad covered in green algie , do they still start her ? wear are you this week Mark ? we are mainly local apart from a load going to Tiverton , I send one driver as I have NDR North Devon Removals helping tip .
smallcoal:
Hi Steve,nice looking pic mate them pods were nothing special I had 2 trucks with them on just a mattress and a hatch which you had to pull yourself in ,I remember the days when you slept across the seats ,I got woke one night in London in a 7.5 delivering remploy I parked up this road not knowing it was In Regent’s Park in the 90,s two gun cop cars banging my door 1 in the morning getting me out with just my pants on I explained what I was doing they gave me a bollocking and let me get back to sleep good job I didn’t have a pod then
That was a learning kerv for you John…You wouldn’t get anywhere near there today mate Regents park…was that Jones’s D series 7.5 you were driving at the time ?
Hi mark no it was one of wynford Norths trucks he took over remploy and I was put on it didn’t stay long though I think I’m on Swansea tomorrow as there Plymouth Cardiff and Swansea see when I get in
smallcoal:
Hi Steve,nice looking pic mate them pods were nothing special I had 2 trucks with them on just a mattress and a hatch which you had to pull yourself in ,I remember the days when you slept across the seats ,I got woke one night in London in a 7.5 delivering remploy I parked up this road not knowing it was In Regent’s Park in the 90,s two gun cop cars banging my door 1 in the morning getting me out with just my pants on I explained what I was doing they gave me a bollocking and let me get back to sleep good job I didn’t have a pod then
That was a learning kerv for you John…You wouldn’t get anywhere near there today mate Regents park…was that Jones’s D series 7.5 you were driving at the time ?
Hi mark no it was one of wynford Norths trucks he took over remploy and I was put on it didn’t stay long though I think I’m on Swansea tomorrow as there Plymouth Cardiff and Swansea see when I get in
No probs mate they are there with Dean when your ready to collect mate
JAKEY:
Poor old DAF ,Looks so sad covered in green algie , do they still start her ? wear are you this week Mark ? we are mainly local apart from a load going to Tiverton , I send one driver as I have NDR North Devon Removals helping tip .
Busy, busy ,busy
I don’t think she’s been started since about January…but for sure would start no problem with a little jump start help…I’m off tommorow but I’m pretty much local then for the rest of the week…but plenty of away work for other crews and trucks…but yes it’s getting busy again for sure Steve…makes sence if your busy to get Labour for your Devon run !
What’s the story with those bodies on the Dodges you once had Steve ?
Ref: bodies on the Dodges , the only one I know for sure was the Renault (my brothers wagon), this body was built by js frasers of Oxford, Dad did intend to put a pod on but never got round to it, it did have a night heater and curtains in the cab.
The middle Dodge and the later big Dodge were built out of Oxford ,I know the big Dodge body builders went under whilst in build and Dad had to find some one else to finish it.
To be fare these Dodges were good wagons and we never had any trouble out of them at all .
he was 75 then !!!, give him the kitchen and it will be spot on and packed as it should be ,today I will drop him off and pick him up later as he cannot and never has drove.
, just like me dad did .
