They were good motors the 680s. Shame they didn’t turbocharge them instead of moving on to that fixed head rubbish! You must be just about a contemporary of Bewick’s.
I remember being in the steelworks for some reason just before I bought the Comet. One of Brady’s Octopuses with the 50s cab, the one before the LAD cab, was there, it didn’t seem to be being used. I climbed up into the cab. Huge Armstrong Power Steering Wheel. My brother and I had gone with uncle Jack many a time in his George C Croasdale Beaver, BJM something, but being a passenger and sitting in the driving seat were two different things! God it seemed massive!
After Eric Poss left Brady’s he did a few loads for me. It must have been the first time he’d worked out of Bowie’s. He took a 40’ van loaded with boxes and gave me such a bollocking when he got back for not warning him to be careful when he opened the back doors. one from the top row had landed on his head!
Yes, we used to leave the trailers at ‘The Gilp’ - Reg Leader always seemed to be in there drinking tea…
That would be the Pritchett Bros trailers you remember - they were ‘The On Time Freight Line’. We were lucky never to get anything pinched! We did used to padlock them, but of course as a chum once said,‘Padlocks aren’t to stop you getting in, they’re just there to tell you you’re not supposed to be there.’
The only thefts I remember were on Hindpool road, we used to park trailers opposite Alan Cooksey’s or further down. Back lights and bulbs more than once, and someone once ran a knife down the sheets to help themselves to a couple of boxes of Andrex.
I think we were the first to run tautliners out of Bowaters. I came out to the Gilp one morning at about 5.00am to find a Campervan parked right in front of the fifth wheel plate - not another thing on the park! He wasn’t that pleased about being woken up either. It takes all sorts.
Hiya John,now you’ve shaken the old brain cell !! I knew I’d a couple of shots with your Mastiff poking it’s nose into view !!both shot in the yard in Milnthorpe village late '75 if the Granada is anything to go by.Just ignore the bloke posing by the car,it’s the Mastiff that’s the “Star”!! You can just make out that we did “Bewickize” it by rivetting an old headboard sign onto the grille,then we sent it through to Bowies for Terry Burns to use,he used to load 3 or 4 trailers a day for us and one or two for other contractors IIRC.The Perkins engine was better for shunting it ran cleaner than a Gardner so didn’t set the smoke alarms off in the warehouse .I’m not just sure what happened to the old girl,wether it came back for scrapping at Milnthorpe or Terry kept it.
Yes your right started as a trailer mate 1964 Leyland Octopus reg JEO 192
I think it was you when you had your Mastiff,s used to drop trailer,s off on
Gilpin bridge transport cafe going home unit only think the box,s had the
Motif On Time Fraightline ■■? You were very lucky you never got them robed
Here is a photo of the Octopus
0
That looks like an Ileagual immigrant that 's crawled out of that load,quick Possy lets grab him and hand him over,the authourities will ship him back to Barrow once they’ve checked him out for aids and pox !! Cheers Dennis.
It would be June 1975 if I remember rightly that I sold it to you - 'bout right judging by the hair…
It looks tiny next to the Atkis.
I did see it in Bowaters later, painted in your colours.
Can’t remember which one you got, KCK 840H or LRN 550J. KCK would only do 52 flat out, whereas LRN would do about 65.
As you can imagine engine rebuilds were more regular on LRN!
They both used to suffer from piston wear at the top, then the top ring would crack and come out through the exhaust in small pieces! I heard that happening on the M4 once, but it still got me home.
Also every time you took the heads off, they warped and had to be planed flat again or they blew the gasket shortly after.
They also tended to blow about a gallon of oil a day up the back of the cab through the breather.
Hiya John,some of you Barrovians were rough buggers with those Mastiffs you ran ! this is a shot of the two Mastiffs we ran,our first artics,we never had to touch them but we changed the oil every 2 weeks and drove them steady like ! the H reg was a 26 ton gvw and the J reg was a 28 tonner.I bought the H reg off Barton Townley,Lancaster and the other one off Hudsons at Sandside. IIRC the one we got off you was the H reg but I may be wrong.By the way you were a brave lad to apply for an “A” licence in Barrow,I was offered the chance to aquire the “A” licence off a GUY Light 8 that was operated by Furness Road Services who had run out of the Steel Works,it had been parked up in 1966 at Natland nr. Kendal where the driver lived and in 1969 I badly wanted another licence (not to run out of Barrow I hasten to add !) but it had been dormant for too long plus the Big’un said “You’ll never get back into the Steel Works Son”,as if I wanted to ! I had all the traffic I could cope with out of Milnthorpe ! Cheers Dennis.
You’re right Dennis. Seeing your motors reminded me. The H reg was a BMC and the J reg was a Leyland and I can see the BMC logo, even though I can’t see the number plate.
Yes, probably too rough! I could rope and sheet though, and you needed to be able to do that on Bowaters. That’s why I moved onto vans and tautliners! I didn’t like it! Did all right on loads back from Northfleet as well until Bill Keith (haven’t read the whole thread yet, but haven’t seen any of his motors on it) cut the rate by £30.00 - a lot of money then.
Belongs on the other thread really, but we all shuddered when BRS started a night trunk out of there. They obviously sent the wrong day man. The first load was in the sheets turning into princes street, Ulverston, and the second at Newby Bridge! I don’t think they lasted the week.
John West:
You’re right Dennis. Seeing your motors reminded me. The H reg was a BMC and the J reg was a Leyland and I can see the BMC logo, even though I can’t see the number plate.
Yes, probably too rough! I could rope and sheet though, and you needed to be able to do that on Bowaters. That’s why I moved onto vans and tautliners! I didn’t like it! Did all right on loads back from Northfleet as well until Bill Keith (haven’t read the whole thread yet, but haven’t seen any of his motors on it) cut the rate by £30.00 - a lot of money then.
Belongs on the other thread really, but we all shuddered when BRS started a night trunk out of there. They obviously sent the wrong day man. The first load was in the sheets turning into princes street, Ulverston, and the second at Newby Bridge! I don’t think they lasted the week.
My H reg had 26 tons gross on the plate, and oddly enough, the J reg didn’t have a GVW stamped on it. However, the guy at the testing station in Barrow agreed that it was 28 tons GVW. I’m certain he also said I could get the H reg upgraded if I applied. Can’t remember if I did or not.
It was only the Perkins I ever had trouble with, everything else was strong enough - IIRC they were basically a guy apart from the cab.
John West:
You’re right Dennis. Seeing your motors reminded me. The H reg was a BMC and the J reg was a Leyland and I can see the BMC logo, even though I can’t see the number plate.
Yes, probably too rough! I could rope and sheet though, and you needed to be able to do that on Bowaters. That’s why I moved onto vans and tautliners! I didn’t like it! Did all right on loads back from Northfleet as well until Bill Keith (haven’t read the whole thread yet, but haven’t seen any of his motors on it) cut the rate by £30.00 - a lot of money then.
Belongs on the other thread really, but we all shuddered when BRS started a night trunk out of there. They obviously sent the wrong day man. The first load was in the sheets turning into princes street, Ulverston, and the second at Newby Bridge! I don’t think they lasted the week.
HA HA,
I often wondered why BRS disappeared as fast as they appeared at Bowater Scotts Barrow mill and they were supposed to be “the bees knees” must be they got out of their depth when trying to compete with them that could sheet and rope !! That BRS shunter obviously couldn’t “sheet a single bed never mind about a double” Bewick.
truckfing:
Very nice CG, glad to see you’ve grown out of the Stobart fixation and moved further afield
with your photography.
Hi “Truckfing” ,
Be very careful about commenting about the S (hauliers name) word ,........or youll set D.T.R. off again.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Here you are C W M just for you. Just to keep you happy. Also this thread has become quite interesting again with some good posts on it. We wouldn’t want to spoil it, by putting silly comments on it, would we ?
Cheers Dave.
How right, Dennis: a wooden spoon in a bucket. If you’re going to have a brew, you may as well have a decent one. I can’t be doing with these whimpy little pint mugs!
truckfing:
Very nice CG, glad to see you’ve grown out of the Stobart fixation and moved further afield
with your photography.
Thankyou Truckfing still a passionate Stobart photographer like but I’ve always been interested in other wagons but just not had the opportunity to snap them as much as Stobarts
I’m back on Trucknet for good and I aim to post some more photos soon!!!
.I’m not just sure what happened to the old girl,wether it came back for scrapping at Milnthorpe or Terry kept it.
