Bewick:
Anyway,as Mike P says “get the thread back on track”, so here’s a 74/75 shot of two Bewick trailers and a McGuffie trailer standing on the little trailer park we had adjacent to the A6 at Milnthorpe.The load of Rebar is from Sheerness Steel and heading further north.The other two trailers are loaded with Libby tinned food,Bewick for the S.East and the McGuffie I would think for either Tesco,Winsford,or possibly Kwik Save at Prestatyn.Cheers Bewick.
Dennis,you’ve been called a god !!! At my most creative I never thought of that expression, Ps I could be slightly dyslexic (or ■■■■■■■ and can’t read it properly. Best regards Kev.
Well said Dennis, Like you say a lot of the remarks on this thread is just good old banter, You made good in the haulage game as we knew it years ago, I did very well myself but it was bloody hard work I must say, But at the end of the day we made made a good living out of it & salted a few bob away for our senior years like lots more hard working haulage men, It must be bloody hard in the haulage game to-day to make a relaxed living, All the new rules & regs is beyond me, Buts that’s the way it is sadley to say, Regards Larry.
Mr. Bewick, thank you for the shot of your ancestors, only there doesn’t seem to be a picture to back up the words, the only shot I have is of my father who is now in his 87th year loading brewers grains out of a railway truck at Truemans’ Brewery, Burton on Trent, into a Thames Trader, he sometimes did 3 loads a day of this kind of work, loading by hand then unloading at a farm by hand too, this photo was taken by Truemans’ for one of their newsletters, we as a family did not record on film any of our earlier days in the transport industry, this is a regret many people have today, my father still has a longing to work hard every day but like yourself the years are beginning to take their toll, however one thing I did learn off him was how to run a haulage business. I am now in my 26th year as an owner operator so four more years & I will have equalled your achievement albeit on a smaller scale, I still like the phrase less is sometimes more.
Thank you Mr. Dunbar for your encouraging comment on the pictures I posted, positive comments like yours make the effort worthwhile.
Thank you for a great photo of you old man doing his bit for king & country, The good old days Eh, My late Grandfather drove Steam Engines & Steam wagons The The Famous Scammell, I ran my own haulage firm for 28 years & loved every minute of it , rough & smooth, But I allways came out on top, Even If it meant working around the clock, Well I surpose most hauliers in that era did the same, Regards Larry.
1970commer:
Oh dear Mr. Bewick you do seem to have started something with your derogatory comments about “The Big Wheel Road Runner” and ■■■■■■ Hauliers (zb)ing up a hitherto sensible thread, I was always taught to respect my elders’ and as you rightly point out you are older than both myself and my friend and work colleague Mr. Punchard, but, as you seem to belittle us both without knowing anything about either of our backgrounds in road haulage I find it hard to show you the respect you think you deserve, however I will fill in the details to allow you to make amends in your ill informed judgement of us. We do not belong to some second class small haulier club who would (zb) up a sensible thread, we are both owner operators in our own rights, we both learnt the skills needed to run a successful haulage business from an early age, from people similar to the ones you refer to in your previous post who were valuable members of staff at Bewick Transport. We both own our vehicles outright and mostly work for our customers on a direct basis, we are both CPC holders and each have an operators licence to run from our operating centres which we also own outright, we both have full workshop facilities to maintain and repair our own vehicles and the ability to do this too, we both take a pride in our vehicles and in the service we offer to our customers, we are also proud of the heritage behind our respective firms, which goes back longer than Bewick appear to have been trading, however if the information I have been given with regard to your trading status is misinformed I apologise, we are both Class 1 heavy goods licence holders and also hold licences and certificates for various other types of plant and machinery used in connection with our business’s, we generate our income through hard work and a keen eye for business, I feel sorry for you that you seem to think you could judge us without knowing us and worse still the fact you think so little about small vehicle operators, as I said in a previous post, sometimes less is more, we do not run these vehicles because we can’t drive a “proper lorry” or we can’t sheet up a full load of paper, because, I have done both when the need has arose, we run them through choice, have you ever heard the phrase “Big Wheels = Vanity but Small Wheels= Sanity”? To prove a point about driving a big lorry Mr. Bewick, although I don’t have to sheet it up, here is a picture of vehicle I drive for another friend of mine when he needs my help, you see you can poke fun at us mini wheeler men if you like, but when we have a quick change of overalls most of you are glad to see us, (Mike P you don’t know its me but I always flash my lights & put my hand up if I meet you)
I await your informed reply Mr. Bewick
Forgive me “Commer” if I fail to comb through every post on the various threads but it’s really only a bit of light hearted banter to me these days.So if I do pass any comments that causes you and others to “take a powder” so what ! I’m no longer involved in the industry even though I spent over 30 years “man and boy” rising from trailer mate to large fleet operator in the process,and no,I wasn’t handed anything on a plate !!My comments and opinions are my own,and just that ! Others will,and do,hold equal and opposite views(mostly wrong ) to mine which they are fully entitled to do.Anyway,I will welcome your comments on this early 1900’s shot of my Great grandfather and great uncle,no doubt you will be able to produce an earlier shot of your forebears! Cheers Bewick. Mr.Bewick.
Sorry,I got involved with other things so didn’t get the photo posted.
As it happens today was a wet day (the first in Sydney for some weeks). If you’re wondering why I mentioned that allow me a slight digression for a tick…
I got back into the driving game a few months back after almost 20 years away from it, and landed a job driving for a mob that do all sorts of finished board - MDF, particle board (chipboard) in all sorts of finishes, all sorts of plyboard etc. etc. It also so happens that most of the wagons on the fleet are tautliners, except a couple of short 6-tonner Fuso flatbeds and the 14-tonner Merc 2328 flatbed that I drive (it’s a 6-wheeler about 11.5m long). Typically I do 15-20 drops around town in a day, mostly forklift off but handball jobs are not uncommon. But back to today…
Luckily the rain held off for the first half of my early run, but I knew as sure as [zb] stinks and makes the garden grow I was going to have to stop at some point and get the load covered up. At one drop, as I was dragging sheets of 2400x1200x25mm finished MDF board from under the sheet (or tarp as they’re called here) off the wagon I admit I coveted the cushioned lives of those in the many semis and B-doubles carting containers that passed me - all they had to do was sit and wait while someone else loaded one or more 40’ metal boxes onto them, drive their 144s/ FH16s/ KWs/ Western Stars across town and sit around while some other body took the metal boxes off. As the rain rained and I got ever wetter I thought to myself, “here I am partway through my 6th decade still lugging stuff off by hand while peole who weren’t even born when I was in my 20s sit on their arses in all day in ease and comfort. How come?” (I had other thoughts along similar lines a bit later).
But then I remembered the bedraggled bloke who’d been parked outside the yard gates when I turned up for work at 5.15am, a well-weathered KW towing two flatbed trailers, both fully and properly tarped up.
And thanks to your photo (which I’m sure is one of thousands and thousands of similar shots) I remembered that it wasn’t so very long ago that I worked a lot harder all day every day on removals than I do now, and that by comparison with your old man even removals (which is still hard work, even today) would look like a cushy number. No matter how hard some days are, everyone in the driving game has it so much easier these days and it’s useful to remember that.
PS no I am not going to post photos of my sheeting efforts today. There is no point, since you cannot ever ever make things look tidy if you’re doing 20 drops a day around town in a 36’ flatbed, and they won’t pay me my time to do a proper job of it anyway.
Like I said before sheet over the headboard and nothing gets wet
doesnt matter how high it is. And leave Mr Bewick be, you certainly cant find fault with any of his staff
for their Roping & Sheeting of the loads they carried, all first class IMHO.
Jakdaw:
Like I said before sheet over the headboard and nothing gets wet
doesnt matter how high it is. And leave Mr Bewick be, you certainly cant find fault with any of his staff
for their Roping & Sheeting of the loads they carried, all first class IMHO.
Thanks for the kind testimony “Jackdaw” However,by the looks of his loads it dosen’t matter if he has not sheeted over the headbord as there’s nowt on the floor to get wet,I wonder fancy his chances of getting a load of paper to it’s destination,dry,if he sheeted his motor like that Cheers Mr.Bewick.
Big wheel Albion parked on the Blue Boar M1 southbound in early 1970,loaded IIRC,for Brooke Bond Redbourne,and note the cab high headboard fully sheeted.
Jakdaw:
Like I said before sheet over the headboard and nothing gets wet
doesnt matter how high it is. And leave Mr Bewick be, you certainly cant find fault with any of his staff
for their Roping & Sheeting of the loads they carried, all first class IMHO.
Thanks for the kind testimony “Jackdaw” However,by the looks of his loads it dosen’t matter if he has not sheeted over the headbord as there’s nowt on the floor to get wet,I wonder fancy his chances of getting a load of paper to it’s destination,dry,if he sheeted his motor like that Cheers Mr.Bewick.
Jakdaw:
Like I said before sheet over the headboard and nothing gets wet
doesnt matter how high it is. And leave Mr Bewick be, you certainly cant find fault with any of his staff
for their Roping & Sheeting of the loads they carried, all first class IMHO.
Thanks for the kind testimony “Jackdaw” However,by the looks of his loads it dosen’t matter if he has not sheeted over the headbord as there’s nowt on the floor to get wet,I wonder fancy his chances of getting a load of paper to it’s destination,dry,if he sheeted his motor like that Cheers Mr.Bewick.
[/quote]
Oh dear Mr. Bewick, you are beginning to sound like a Very Bitter Old Man, as you have spotted, there is nothing on the floor to get wet on most of my pictures, but if there was I would sheet the load appropriately as I have the sheets available and the ability to use them just as well as you or any of your drivers, old, young or in between. You seem to be obsessed with the fact that because we are younger than you we are somewhat lacking in ability to do the job that we have been doing since childhood, I well remember wagging days off school to go in the passenger seat with my dad or my uncle or anyone else who I thought I could learn about road haulage from. I was a very good learner as if someone was trying to show me how to do something I watched what they were doing, listened to what they told me and then tried to put it into practice, I did not always get everything right first time but I asked advice along the way and learnt from my mistakes. As for your ill informed taunt about my chances of getting paper to its’ destination dry shall we ring Fergusons at Kitty Brewster Quay, Blyth, Northumberland, as if I had tipped in that area I often rung them for a return load, they never had a problem with me taking paper out on my Leyland Clydesdale flat because I had the ability to sheet it and get it to its’ destination in the same condition that you or any of your drivers would have done, when my father was fetching cattle feed back from BOCM Trafford Park he used to take the sheets in the cab if it was raining on the way there, he also had an old sheet to put on the floor of the lorry to stop the paper bags soaking up the water off the lorry floor, these are the standards I have been brought up with, in fact I would have made a good driver for Bewick Transport don’t you think, I have various sized sheets from a 16’ by 10’ that I have had 24 years (that’s looking after your kit you see) to a couple of 30’ by 18’ mains and various sizes in between, if a rope on one of my sheets frays I splice a new length on, I like my sheets to be as good as the rest of the equipment I have at my haulage business, you do not seem to be able to accept the fact that your senior years does not give you an automatic right to ridicule anyone who is trying to make a good job of the same profession you were so good at. You could perhaps learn a little from your very good friend Mr. Dunbar ,who did make complimentary and encouraging comments about my sheeting, If I had taken pictures of all the loads I carried in the past I would proudly post them here for you and everyone else to see, but alas my camera did not do as many miles as my sheets or ropes. If you could have seen them you would be applying for an operators licence again so you could resurrect Bewick transport and employ me as a driver.
Jakdaw:
Like I said before sheet over the headboard and nothing gets wet
doesnt matter how high it is. And leave Mr Bewick be, you certainly cant find fault with any of his staff
for their Roping & Sheeting of the loads they carried, all first class IMHO.
Thanks for the kind testimony “Jackdaw” However,by the looks of his loads it dosen’t matter if he has not sheeted over the headbord as there’s nowt on the floor to get wet,I wonder fancy his chances of getting a load of paper to it’s destination,dry,if he sheeted his motor like that Cheers Mr.Bewick.
Dont want to sound pedantic but its Jakdaw
Please accept “my humblest” "Jakdaw ,purely a slip up on my part as I am always very careful to address folk correctly as I often see the name Bewick with an “r” inserted,sorry.Cheers Bewick.
) to mine which they are fully entitled to do.Anyway,I will welcome your comments on this early 1900’s shot of my Great grandfather and great uncle,no doubt you will be able to produce an earlier shot of your forebears! 
Cheers Bewick. Mr.Bewick.
However,by the looks of his loads it dosen’t matter if he has not sheeted over the headbord as there’s nowt on the floor to get wet,I wonder fancy his chances of getting a load of paper to it’s destination,dry,if he sheeted his motor like that 
Air cooled maggie loaded for France ,Erf loaded with compost,not sure what’s on the trailer.