LB76:
I would love to scan and post those pictures on here norman, let me know
Bill
Thanks Bill…I would be glad of some advice as I don’t understand the system yet. The pics are about 6x4 size…four of them. I have tried to upload a photo before, but for some reason it failed…haven’t got a clue why!! cxheers …Norman.
roadcommander2:
I would like to see those clippings as well Norman.If you need help with uploading, Im sure we can sort it out.
Cheers
Mark
Thanks Mark, I 'm not having any luck with uploading photos, but with a bit of help I might eventually crack it!! LB76 has also offered to assist so might manage it sometime soon. When the pics are posted , I can write a description of the events as they were reported in the local papers at the time. I was only six at the time, but I still remember it making the front page, and my Dad talking about the good mate they had lost in the accident. All the best …Norman
norman long:
5516UB:
Norman,I lived in Lincolnshire in the 60’s.Stan Darby snr.lived in Louth,he died about 1967.Hi 5516UB,
The Darby brothers that I managed to contact were Stan, who is around 84, and lives in Ely Cambs., and John, who is about 70, and lives in Sutton Cambs., which is the small town where their yard was in the 1950’s. They were kind enough to answer an appeal from me in the local newspaper about Darby’s Sand and Gravel Co., and they sent me some very interesting information covering all aspects of the firm’s operations right from the early days when they were using steam wagons for long distance haulage. They also had steam agricultural engines and rollers, bulldozers,draglines and chase-sides in the sand pits at Mepal when I was lucky enough to go there in my Dad’s tipper about 1950.
The firm not only did haulage, but also drainage work and road surfacing for Cambs C.C. and all sorts of work on farms. It grew into a very large operation, and they brought a lot of jobs for the local population. cheers…norman long.
I just had to upload this picture sent to me from the Darby family in 2012. In fact I like it so much that I use it as my desktop background. It shows two of Darby’s trucks with their drivers. I would guess it’s early to mid 1940’s as the trucks are W type Bedfords? I am also guessing that it was probably taken at Mepal gravel pits… norman long
norman long:
norman long:
5516UB:
Norman,I lived in Lincolnshire in the 60’s.Stan Darby snr.lived in Louth,he died about 1967.Hi 5516UB,
The Darby brothers that I managed to contact were Stan, who is around 84, and lives in Ely Cambs., and John, who is about 70, and lives in Sutton Cambs., which is the small town where their yard was in the 1950’s. They were kind enough to answer an appeal from me in the local newspaper about Darby’s Sand and Gravel Co., and they sent me some very interesting information covering all aspects of the firm’s operations right from the early days when they were using steam wagons for long distance haulage. They also had steam agricultural engines and rollers, bulldozers,draglines and chase-sides in the sand pits at Mepal when I was lucky enough to go there in my Dad’s tipper about 1950.
The firm not only did haulage, but also drainage work and road surfacing for Cambs C.C. and all sorts of work on farms. It grew into a very large operation, and they brought a lot of jobs for the local population. cheers…norman long.I just had to upload this picture sent to me from the Darby family in 2012. In fact I like it so much that I use it as my desktop background. It shows two of Darby’s trucks with their drivers. I would guess it’s early to mid 1940’s as the trucks are W type Bedfords? I am also guessing that it was probably taken at Mepal gravel pits… norman long
Sorry…my mistake…it was sent to me in 2010…norm.
Stanfield:
Hi Norman and welcome to the trucknet site.
A couple of photos here of a company called French,could this be the one you mentioned.
transportphotos.com/road/photos
Two H reg D Series Ford 6 wheelers10
Hi John…YES… you are right , and thankyou very much. By a sheer fluke, I was looking at some pictures of old Contractors transport vehicles, and there was a photo of three old buses with the white diamond logo of W&C French. This rung a very distant bell in my memory, so I looked up the firm on the internet, which said they operated in East Anglia, and did quite a bit of aerodrome runway work at one time. This ■■■■■■■ with the fact that my father, while driving for French in 1951, had a nasty accident with a faulty airline which caused the split rim of the lorry wheel to blow out. He was badly smashed up, and with a broken arm and leg, he couldn’t drive a heavy vehicle again. This all happened on a runway, we were told as children (I was about 6yrs old then), and I’m almost certain the tipper was a Dodge Kew. The last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place ! Cheers… Norman Long
Hi Norman Here are a few more trucks belonging to W&C French (photos taken by Adrian Cypher and are on Bob Hobbs brilliant site) transportphotos.com/road/photos
Stanfield:
Hi Norman Here are a few more trucks belonging to W&C French (photos taken by Adrian Cypher and are on Bob Hobbs brilliant site) transportphotos.com/road/photos210
Hi John,
Yes… brilliant pictures, especially the caterpillar quarry tippers. I’d like a go in one of those! I found the website NA3T a while back , and agree that it is really good. There is a photo of a Hall’s Aggregate Bedford O tipper, and the driver is levelling the load with a shovel before setting off, which I can remember my Dad doing.
When I was a child in Ely, there were lots of tippers carrying beet to the Sugar Beet factory at Queen Adelaide, and they were always piled so high that the beet would fall off when they went round the corners. I could always find one or two as a treat for my rabbits along Prickwillow Rd. After a few complaints they had to put nets over them, so my pets had to get by on dandelions and sow thistles!
If anyone out there wants to see and hear what it was like to drive a Bedford OY 1942, there is a 7 minute clip on youtube. It’s really good, except for the gear changes ( I hope he gets better!) All you have to do is search Bedford OY Road Test …or jester8249224 it’s well worth a look and it’s another vehicle I’d love to drive because it takes me back to Darby’s Sand and Gravel with my father at the wheel. that’s all for now… Norman
Hi there, i used to work for Darbys in the early 80’s and from what i recall they had an ERF that pulled a pipe trailer for the land drainage and a Leyland that pulled the low loader. The tippers were mainly Bedfords, and there were 2 yards next to one another split by a little house, i will try to remember some of the drivers names. Hope this helps. Regards Geoff.
gattar2:
Hi there, i used to work for Darbys in the early 80’s and from what i recall they had an ERF that pulled a pipe trailer for the land drainage and a Leyland that pulled the low loader. The tippers were mainly Bedfords, and there were 2 yards next to one another split by a little house, i will try to remember some of the drivers names. Hope this helps. Regards Geoff.
Hi Geoff,
My Dad drove a Bedford OSBT 5 ton tipper for them about 1950, and worked out of Mepal Pits when we lived at Ely. Then he changed jobs and drove a Dodge Kew for W&C French. I’ve posted a photo of a Foden pulling a drawbar low-loader with a traction engine on the lorry, and another on the trailer which you might have seen. I wouldn’t know any of Darby’s people from the 80’s, but it might ring bells for others who check out the forum. My Dad took me into Darbys yard at Sutton once, which I remember quite clearly, although I was only about 5 or 6yrs old…Norman
Hi Norman, great picture of all the trucks lined up in the yard at Sutton. As i said before, i was there in the early 80’s but my father worked there also in if my memory serves me right the late 60’s-early 70’s. I used to go with him in the school holidays and i’m sure he drove a short wheel base thames trader tipper and he done quite a lot of work carting sludge from Ely beet factory which would be loaded by a dragline operated by a chap called Fred Whitehead. then in the summer i’m sure he drove a long nosed bedford on tar and chipping with a standing board built on the back for the operator to stand on. all the best Geoff.
gattar2:
Hi Norman, great picture of all the trucks lined up in the yard at Sutton. As i said before, i was there in the early 80’s but my father worked there also in if my memory serves me right the late 60’s-early 70’s. I used to go with him in the school holidays and i’m sure he drove a short wheel base thames trader tipper and he done quite a lot of work carting sludge from Ely beet factory which would be loaded by a dragline operated by a chap called Fred Whitehead. then in the summer i’m sure he drove a long nosed bedford on tar and chipping with a standing board built on the back for the operator to stand on. all the best Geoff.
Hi Geoff,…nice to hear from someone who remembers Darby’s. Have a look at the youtube clip-- jester 8249224 and listen to the transmission whine of an old petrol engined Bedford OY. It brings it all back to me, and I remember the draglines at Mepal pits. Later on, I went on a guided tour of Ely beet factory…boy, did it stink! As you say, lots of sludge from the washings. Just for you, I will post a photo of two of Darby’s really old tar sprayer lorries. The pictures were sent to me by one of the Darby family who answered a letter I sent to the local paper about the firm, so I feel sure they won’t mind it going on the forum rather than all be forgotten. Shame the pictures weren’t in colour, just very glad someone took them at all…Norman.
gattar2:
Hi Norman, great picture of all the trucks lined up in the yard at Sutton. As i said before, i was there in the early 80’s but my father worked there also in if my memory serves me right the late 60’s-early 70’s. I used to go with him in the school holidays and i’m sure he drove a short wheel base thames trader tipper and he done quite a lot of work carting sludge from Ely beet factory which would be loaded by a dragline operated by a chap called Fred Whitehead. then in the summer i’m sure he drove a long nosed bedford on tar and chipping with a standing board built on the back for the operator to stand on. all the best Geoff.
Hi. Please forgive me for resurrecting an older thread. I do searches from time to time for anything that comes up related to Darby’s and have just spotted this thread from last year. My interest is predominately plant, and I have an elderly road roller (not steam) from the 1940’s that used to belong to Darby’s.
My searches so far for any working history of my roller have drawn pretty much a blank. However, I did find this link which may be more of interest to the transport fraternity, of which there is no mention in the thread so assume you are possibly unaware. In 2009 the Haddenham Steam Rally had a big display of ‘all things Darby’, I found a thumbnail pic of the stand at this link:
fensvintage.co.uk/shows/hadd … nm2009.htm
I did contact the chap who ran the stand, a Mr Trevor Brown, an ex-Darby employee, who was extremely helpful, but have not managed to turn up any additional information on my old roller. I still have his contact info if any genuine enquiries come my way.
I would really welcome any thoughts of information as to where my roller might have been, and I would LOVE to see any pics of it if there are any lurking around. Only yesterday I scraped some paint off the water tank and found Darby’s signwriting underneath the layers of paint. I have absolutely zero history on the roller, apart from the fact it was supplied new to the Ministry of Supply in 1944, and that when Darbys had it, it was still in military olive green. It’s an Aveling Barford 8-tonner, and would probably have had a Ford V8 (from a Trader/Pilot) petrol engine fitted at the time.
This first pic shows the roller as it may have appeared at the time. I am in the middle of fabricating a new canopy for it. It is currently missing its’ large water tank which stood forward of the canopy between the angled stays.
This second pic shows the water tank mentioned above, which yesterday I scraped back layers of paint to reveal Darby signwriting
This third pic is an ‘enhanced’ black & white image of the roller from when I first got it. It is fitted with the wrong canopy in this pic, BUT if you look very closely on the water tank, you can see the remains of a roundrel which reads ‘Darby’ around the top and ‘Sutton’ across the middle. It was this roundrel I was hoping to find evidence of when scraping the paint off the tank, but there was nothing left at all - I suspect it was just a mark left by the glue from a sticker.
It only appears to have been signwritten on one side. Was it perhaps static ‘advertising’ at the entrance to some works? All thoughts welcome!
Cheers - Mike
what engine does it have now , frem
fredm:
what engine does it have now , frem
It’s currently fitted with a 4 cylinder diesel from a Fordson Major E1A (very similar I think to the Ford 4D engine).
Are you familiar with these machines?
Can’t help with whereabouts now, but believe a chap called Albert Baker may have driven it or one like it. My dad was on Darby’s with Albert Baker’s son Brian
and they drove some of the first JCB’s circa 1965? Probably doesn’t help much.
Hi jcb3c … thanks very much indeed for the reply. All information welcome and appreciated!
Not sure what info you would really like, but during the 70’'s Darbys was taken over by May Gurney of Norwich, who are still trading.
If you want names of people who worked there during 60’s 70’s and 80’s, Ican certainly help.
I’m not yet sure when Darby’s owned my roller sadly, so identifying even a decade for trying to contact ex-employees is difficult.
My roller was built in April 1944 for the war effort and it’s first owner was the Ministry of Supply. It is probably safe to assume it at least saw out WW2 in military hands, which takes us to 1945. I assume that Darby was the next owner, as it was still in military olive green when signwritten for Darby, and I see no evidence of previous signwriting.
I do note that the signwriting on the side of my water tank it would appear is written a 4-digit telephone number, yet I note on the Darby advertisement posted earlier on this thread they still had a 3-digit 'phone number, perhaps this could be a way of establishing a rough range of dates for when Darby signwrited(?) my roller. I’ve had a quick trawl but not been able yet to establish when this area might have changed from 3-digits to 4-digits.
Does anyone remember or recognise the roundrel on the black and white pic I published just earlier, or perhaps when it might have been introduced? It would be safe to assume my roller was still in Darby’s hands when this was introduced, I guess. I’ve not seen it anywhere else yet.
Second photo…shame about the glare from the flash…Norman
