hiya,
thanks norm thats just what i wanted to hear i’m not going to be on here anymore you’ve hurt my feelings. ta ta.
thanks harry long retired.
who shouted hurrah.
harry, you wouldn’t be able to resist, making a comment ha ha ha. While on holiday, my younger brother Reg, came Saturday evening, with the news, fred my older brother had past away, but the funeral arrangement, did not ring true, then when I phoned around, it was my nephew 60, he found out he was riddled with the big “C”, in july 2007, he was told he would not see christmas, but he lasted almost 2 years, now we go to the funeral on friday, thats about 6 this last year. Sandman Norman
hiya,
now then you ex red and rusters does any of you guys know where i can buy an old roadworthy 8 legged bristol or an octopus even, before 8 am tomorow taking the old caravan to york for a day or so and after my old lady has finished piling stuff in there three high and a binder the old car won’t pull it, so if anybody see’s me driving down the a1 tomorrow you won’t be able to miss me the wife will be pushing give us a tow or we’ll never get there, here’s in anticipation.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry, you old so and so, you are only going to York, to check up on me, and what I was doing , when I was at the races, ha ha ha. Why oh why, a bloke of your age, is not living up in a nice hotel, instead of going around, like a gypsy, you cannot keep your money for every, is it because you are near to Scotland ?, spend, spend, enjoy your life. Sandman Norman
Hello Red and Rusties
Bloomin computors , whod have em . Still having trouble Harry you still pulling danglers and Norm , you back from your jaunts , wish I had your Pensions Id have been in the South of France not the middle .
A little story , BRS Mortons of Coventry used to have 40ft single axle flats and quite a few would end up after night trunk in Southamptons Hampton Park depot and I chose the short straw and was given a job to clear out all the MT cable drums thatd accumilated at Southamptons Terminus Station and run them to Eastlieghs Pirrelli plant, getting in the yard was a laugh in itself but we managed and loaded a full load , piled three high in a binder Harry , I roped em , nailed em and fly sheeted to keep the monkies on the trailer and failed miserably , as I had to go right up through town to Eastliegh I managed to clobber the edge of a roundabout , ever so gently and one litle drum fell of at the feet of a Copper who was seeing me round , and waiting for my mishap , and he booked me to boot , when it came to Court in the Southampton Magistrates we exibited the drum and the bit that`d broke off with the nail still in it , I was done £3 for my trouble but still did four more trips that day without any more mishaps . Them trailers were always trouble , the 30ft BRS Bristol tandems were what we were used to and lovely little trailers they were too .
Regards Frenchy .
hiya,
tell you what frenchy pulling the the old caravan is the only way i can get away for a spell the old girl stands me at nothing she’s 21 years old but has as much up to date gear as a lot of newer ones and i enjoy it as does my other old girl, i think old norm is the wealthy one if as you say youv’e go nowt he does plenty of gadding about, if i ever get near his place i’ll drop in with the old OPS 6 for a sub i think he must be loaded, your’e right about the the old seagull winged bristol trailers good solid trailer and good behind whatever you was pulling them with, but did you ever see one with nice straight wings i never did, see you later.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Frenchy, I wondered where you keep disappearing to, you must keep paying your broadbanding bills ha ha ha, and Harry is so used to driving those old bangers on the old red & rust, that he converted one, and called it a mobile caravan, if you are hard up Harry, there is a job going at the Northampton rep, at christmas, it would suit you down to the ground, " Scrooge", you could have the star part, Ha Ha Ha . Myself, have to manage on a measly pension of a £1000 per mounth, my wife half of that, then my industrial pension of £57-49p per week, whoe is me, how do I manage, I never did make my first million. Sandman Norman
hiya,
the only job i want in panto is one that matches my character in real life and that would have to be prince charming,norm calling me scrooge,thats not fair i would give my last coin to charity so long as it was the poor childrens fathers beer money association of which i’m treasurer and founder member so any donations you wish to make from your red and rust pension make them directly to me and i will make sure the money gets spent wisely it won’t go further afield than my local pub and i promise i’ll give you plenty of thought whilst investing said contribrutions,scrooge indeed bah humbug.
thanks harry long retired.
Nice to hear you guys are enjoying caravan-ing around the country, good on you.
Got to admit the old wagon and drag stories are funnier though. You must have thought you’d won the lottery when you got given a proper artic.
No cabin boy to help you though, or run for your tea 
I love this thread, makes me feel like a youngster!
hiya,
nice to see someone enjoys my stupid ramblings, one trailer mate i had not for BRS was i think he was about 17 or 18 but i had a job keeping him awake, i think he spent all his spare time playing with himself, i used to have to flick a towel at him when i needed a hand braking that old girl had two handbrakes both ratchets his for the trailer mine for the eight wheeler, and the laugh was he said he was going to tell his dad about me shouting at him, which he did, next morning the lads father was there dead on seven the time i’d told the lad to be in the yard to check the motor over while (i made the tea), across the yard storms this guy about 5 foot tall looked me straight in the belly button and asked me what the shouting and towel flicking was all about, when i explained why i had to do this the kids dad set about the young lad i had to pull the dad away i thought he was going to kill his laddie,the yard foreman gave me an old guy who’d never driven but was the best trailer boy i’ve ever had, i didn’t work for that outfit very long but that kid was confined to barracks sweeping up and labouring for the fitters and i knew him for years after that event and he never spoke to me again i don’t think he ever became a driver, did i ruin his career ?, i wonder.
thanks harry long retired.
Great story Harry we all like your ramblings , you probably done the nipper a favour . Although Ive driven a few Danglers I never had to have a lad brake for me as well what was you doing snoozing . We used to get non drivers and lads for the day who we were told could do roping and sheeting , if we was loading multiple trailers down the docks we could get on and load as many as pos and youd leave them a loaded trailer to tie down while you loaded another one only to come back and find hed been in the Canteen or skiving , Used to make me bluster because the yard Forman got onto me . One day this little Musher Id taken down to help me to load fruit for the day was scoffing apples so much it gave him the galloping trots , needless to say he got bombed off as well , bet he never ate another apple rest of his natural .
Norm your positively a rich toff , surely that was`nt a BRS pension .
Regards Frenchy
hiya,
frenchy have needed a trailer mate quite a few times, even on the the old red and rust, but the lorry in question was a pre-war maudslay only a year or two younger than me, and i’m led to believe just about everything from that era had to have the trailer braked seperately, when this idea ended i don’t know but there where still some about with the smaller privateers in 1957, fortunately this old girl was confined to day trips which under the circumstances i thought was for the best as i was just 21 and hadn’t started distance work as yet,i think you’re right about old norm could he be THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE makes you wonder he can certainly talk big money, the best i can do is talk peanuts, here’s another wagon and drag tale my old mam drove a 6 wheeler pulling a drawbar all through WW2 for the ministry of supply doing a night trunk lancaster to carlisle return with ammunition for the war effort so it must have rubbed off a bit thats my excuse for joining the loony profession.
thanks harry long retired.
Right, a question for you guys with the long memories.
I started in 1969 (that’s 40 years ago!) and there were still plenty of 8-leggers about (roadshows we used to call them), although wagon & drags had disappeared really.
Here’s the question though - in 1969 we had one 40’ trailer in a fleet of over 100 units and probably getting on for 150 trailers. In the space of 3 or 4 years, 40 footers had taken over completely. I guess a change to the length or tax regulations happened sometime around then (I probably wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t remember any talk at the time) - or maybe it was just all those 40’ boxes that made it seem that way. Anybody know?
Frenchy& Harry, I told you, I never made my first million, in fact I was £986,000, short, the reason my pension was good, was so good, was my 20 plus years on “Carlsberg”, I was earning top dollar, paying the same amount, as people who earnt more,but £325 was the limit, and no one could come out with a higher one, only private company ones, and they was not safe from crooked firms, ask the daily mirror?. So my serps was almost one & half more than the fixed pension. Harry, you should have gone to " Spectsavers", if you think you are Prince charming, are you sure you never kissed Frenchy, and turned into a “FROG” Ha Ha Ha, I do not know where they come from, but you must amitt they are funny? My wife looks after me well, for if I go the income would be reduced. Sandman Norman
macdangerous:
Right, a question for you guys with the long memories.
I started in 1969 (that’s 40 years ago!) and there were still plenty of 8-leggers about (roadshows we used to call them), although wagon & drags had disappeared really.
Here’s the question though - in 1969 we had one 40’ trailer in a fleet of over 100 units and probably getting on for 150 trailers. In the space of 3 or 4 years, 40 footers had taken over completely. I guess a change to the length or tax regulations happened sometime around then (I probably wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t remember any talk at the time) - or maybe it was just all those 40’ boxes that made it seem that way. Anybody know?
hiya.
never knew much about rules and regs i just turned up and did the job but at brs consett we had all lengths of trailer from 33ft 40ft 45ft 50ft and 55ft all used on general haullage work there was longer stuff up to 75ft but these were for special loads how we got away with it i’ll never know, but they was used on a daily basis without any comebacks that i can remember, iv’e pulled them the length and breadth of the country without being pulled and cautioned been stopped for roadside checks the odd time with general cargo and nowt was ever said, this was in the mid to late 70s
thanks harry long retired.
hiya,
don’t need specsavers my old mucker i look in the mirror and like what i see, norm it’s prince charming or nowt, and i still think you’re loaded you are just trying to avoid frenchy and me turning up with the begging bowl, but i’ll just have to invest my own coinage in my favourite charity,i’m going to bed now,(hungry).
thanks harry long retired.
Thanks Harry.
Just wondering - I’m pretty sure they were legal with normal tax before then, but it seemed that suddenly all the 30’ & 33’ trailers had disappeared and been replaced by 40 footers around 72 or 73.
Great to hear your tales - though I’m still trying to work out what the ring dolly was all about. Maybe I’m getting wound-up (again)
MacD, I think you find it was later, they was still around after 75, decreased when 32tons came in, then 40 tons, said this would cut the HGV’S on the road, but some of the loads on Turkish tonka trucks, were heavier than what we had on the the artic’s, when they had wood stacked almost 15/20 feet high, and the length was unbelieveable, they even put small wheels on the end, because it touched the ground. Sandman Norman
macdangerous:
Right, a question for you guys with the long memories.
I started in 1969 (that’s 40 years ago!) and there were still plenty of 8-leggers about (roadshows we used to call them), although wagon & drags had disappeared really.
Here’s the question though - in 1969 we had one 40’ trailer in a fleet of over 100 units and probably getting on for 150 trailers. In the space of 3 or 4 years, 40 footers had taken over completely. I guess a change to the length or tax regulations happened sometime around then (I probably wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t remember any talk at the time) - or maybe it was just all those 40’ boxes that made it seem that way. Anybody know?
A whole lot of regulations came in march 1969, HGV licences the lorry weights went up,plating came in, which ment a lot of lorries were down rated, a lot of older trucks no longer met the criterea, also the medical for the HGV finised a lot of drivers, who would had their licence under grandfather rights finished, because as you probably remember eyesight, diabetes, heart problems etc, meant they didn’t pass the medical. Only thing was the wages went up, also the vehicles were better.
Harry, you and Frenchy can turn up any time, I would buy you a pint, but between you with two straws, this way you two would get drunk quicker, Ha Ha Ha. When you were younger, you never thought you would get old, but I considered that my granfather 99, my aunts 100, 91, and my mother 95, only my poor old dad died young 48, due to the fact he was shot in the leg, in the 1914-1918 war, and it took over 28 years for the lead in his blood to travel to his brain. So I thought the good die young, and I would live to a ripe old age, and refused a lump sum for my hand injury, and also took out a private pension with the “PRU” for my wife & me, so at a rough guess, after tax, we have £23,000 a year to keep our heads above water, not millionairs, but we are quite content, unless any old BRS benefactor want to leave us a few coppers in their will, you can be sure we will spend it, in the best hotels, on food and a little wine, the best, not plonk, we would not waste it? Ha Ha Ha . Sandman Norman