The subject of ERF trailers was recently mentioned by ‘ERF-Continental’ on another thread, and since then other references have been made, so I thought I would start a thread to see what happened. Googling this subject, I notice that there is very little out there… Robert
Here is another clue in this picture of a '70s ERF NGC pulling an ERF trailer with a difference…Robert
And here is what ‘John3300’ had to say earlier today on the subject: I report it here because I do value John’s insight/memories/knowledge about these things. This quote is a fantastic piece of ERF history. Robert
This is what he posted:
''Hiya…news on the ERF trailers. they was assembled at Jennings ERF had taken over Jennings to get more factory space.
it took a few years to finish all the ordered horse boxes liberties caravanetts and god knows what else we built.
the main chassis legs come ready made, Jennings made the cross members and bearers. the running gear was Rubery Owen.
the trailers was welded up by Fred Bossons jennings welder in house…Yes he was good. another chap Arthur Banton come later from the rail sheds at Crewe.it was Fred that did the trailers. they was only 36 ft long as i remember. the brakes was first class as i car shared with a test driver, he told me how good they would stop.there is a photo of a ERF trailer behind a Bakers heavy haulage ERF on the scrapbook site…the only photo ive seen. there was no production line, after a horse box had been built and moved into the pain shop the trailer was assembled and moved out another trailer was started a few months later.
everything at Jennings was hand made.if i was to put my head on the line i,d say no more than 6 maybe 8 trailers was made
it was nt a big issue as i remember. they was built to TIR standard as tilt trailers.as i remember in 1967 a 36ft trailer was as big as you had.40 ft ers may have been for special work.but come along in maybe 1972 or 73.
John’’
Robert I did think that John Thomas has one of these trailers ,they do crop up for sale in classic commercials mag now and again all as flats and in need of love .
ken Thomas ERF usually with matching Erf tr
parkgate iron & steel ran eight ERF trailers,with five of these gardner 180 Erf tractors,i remember they were heavy trailers compared to a couple of scammel trs and M&G trailers
Good detective work Dan and Revman! Robert 
When Iain and I were looking for a tank trailer for our Castrol ERF, we came across an ERF flat trailer on a farm in Cheshire, I think it was somewhere around Macclesfield. Regards Kev.
That would be David at Alderley Edge With the E16 s .
Now there’s a memory jogger,ERF trailers ! IIRC a Milnthorpe based owner driver’s(John E. Ion) garage in the middle of the village was only long enough to accept his first LV ERF unit and trailer if the trailer was only 31ft 6" long,it had been OK for his previous AEC Mustang and his ERF 8 wheeler.He used to pull right in and touch the far wall with the bumper of the unit.Now not 100% certain after all these years but I believe the short trailer was an ERF built one.When he finally had to go to 40ft he was knackered and he asked if he could drop his new CF trailer in our depot,which he did but moaned like ■■■■ at the £20 a month I charged him for the priviledge ! He was a greedy ■■■■ by the way as one of his tricks was if we were say staying at that cafe where the A5 goes under the M1 at Markyate and the grub was manky anyway,Big John would wolf his down then sit watching what any of us left (which was usually plenty) then he would polish off what we had left !! We only stopped there periodically because you could get a knock at any time if we had a 6 am tip at Dickinsons Hemel Hempstead etc.Cheers Bewick.
The thick plottens!! Robert
Bewick:
When he finally had to go to 40ft he was knackered and he asked if he could drop his new CF trailer in our depot,which he did but moaned like [zb] at the £20 a month I charged him for the priviledge ! Cheers Bewick.
No wonder your pension fund is so damned huge! 
I paid thirty shillings a week, plus a shilling a week for the hose pipe and another shilling a week for the fuel tank.
And I thought I was being robbed! 
I posted a double page article out of an old cm on one of the threads on here last year on ERF Trailers, can’t remember which one though, would have thought scrapbook but not sure. Posted it on facebook as well. I have just looked through about 100 copies of cm and can’t find it, I’ll keep looking though. Might try the cm archive might be easier 
I realise that this is a thread about ERF trailers but I think it is worth mentioning another short lived small volume manufacturer of trailers,namely Keltrail that was part of the Chris Kelly empire albeit a very small part ! I recall buying 6 40ft tri-axle coilers from Keltruck which they had parked up and which were little used and in excellent condition.They were on BPW air suspension and were very well built,they had been designed,I believed,by and ex CF Engineer but I don’t think the operation lasted very long and I’m not sure how many Keltrails would have been built.I bought them “right” and shipped them to Grahams of Gildersome where Barry Simpson the former Bo-Alloy Sales director had joined.I got them all converted with new curtainsider bodies and they worked out about 2 thirds of the cost of new.This was at a time when I was needing many extra trailers at a time of increasing permanent traffic flows from new customers but I also had to keep the capital cost reasonable so the Keltrails helped in that respect.Cheers Bewick.
@Robert…I agree less is to be find on the web but progress over here is going well!
No documentation available? How long was it a success?
robert1952:
The subject of ERF trailers was recently mentioned by ‘ERF-Continental’ on another thread, and since then other references have been made, so I thought I would start a thread to see what happened. Googling this subject, I notice that there is very little out there… Robert0
Hiya Robert my good friend Mick Thorpe of Earnest Thorpes has a couple of ERF trailers he tried to sell me one last year but I wanted something more from the 70s early 80s
I said if you’d sell me one of restored Atkys I might have had a deal
The next time I pop and see him I’ll take some photos
gazsa401:
robert1952:
The subject of ERF trailers was recently mentioned by ‘ERF-Continental’ on another thread, and since then other references have been made, so I thought I would start a thread to see what happened. Googling this subject, I notice that there is very little out there… Robert0
Hiya Robert my good friend Mick Thorpe of Earnest Thorpes has a couple of ERF trailers he tried to sell me one last year but I wanted something more from the 70s early 80s
I said if you’d sell me one of restored Atkys I might have had a deal
The next time I pop and see him I’ll take some photos
Great stuff! Yes, I imagine ERF only made its handful of trailers in the '60, and, as John3300 hints, possibly early '70s. Robert 
As Bewick has mentioned the ERF trailer can best be described as “solidly built”. Peter Foden told me that their trailers were built to last but ultimately could not be produced in sufficient numbers to compete at competetive prices and weights in a very fiercely contested market.
Whilst on the subject of minority trailer manufacturers does anyone remember Farnworth Trailers made by John Charlton of Farnworth, Lancs?
Then the 1974 JLG35N ERF NGC had the ‘last’ ERF trailer?
ERF-Continental:
Then the 1974 JLG35N ERF NGC had the ‘last’ ERF trailer?
Fair point! I wonder, though, if that double drop-side trailer ‘system’ was an ERF trailer super-structure concept (ie body only) or if the whole trailer was conceived and built by ERF. It would be interesting to know. Robert