Hauliers around the Ashton in Makerfield area

[bewick]

Eddie Heaton:
0Apologies for the delay in my response Dennis, the Invincible was equipped with a Gardner 150. I think this particular vehicle had a ZF gearbox. Straight 6 obviously, no splitty [zb] back then. The 8 wheeled rigid had a David Brown box. Nothing between them in my opinion apart from the fact that the gear positions were in reverse. I’ve got another photo here of the same motor. This time the location is Brackley colliery. Just up the A6 from Little Hulton. This was taken when they were constructing the M61 motorway and Mc Alpine’s had their plant there. This would have been around about 1970. This was my motor, but the lad in the passenger seat was John Bennet and the other guy’s name was Derek Southworth. Isn’t it it strange that you can remember the the names of people that you barely knew almost 50 years ago and yet I couldn’t tell you what I did this morning. At the close of play, all I am is an ex wagon driver, and an inebriated one at that.

Cheers. Eddie.

Thanks for the gen Eddie and the great shot of the Guy,I can recall a similar D reg. Guy artic from 66/67 that belonged to a firm called Clarks from Millom and they ran out of the Iron works, this Invincible had the ■■■■■■■ NH180 and it did about three round trips to Sheffield a week, Pig Iron out and scrap moulds back to Millom, it wasn’t a tipper but a short tandem flat with little one foot side boards. Oh! and the drivers name was Bob Wright who me and my mate on the Brady Octopus used to come across when we stayed at The Kelmscott café near Chorley. Bob used to be at Kelmscott three nights a week IIRC. Cheers Dennis.

[john_west]

Eddie Heaton:
It’s always nice to see your name come up on the forum John. I’ve got several photos of Pritchett’s warehouse that I’m waiting to post. Don’t get too excited though as they may have been taken before your time, and if I’m being honest, they’re a bit boring, to say the least.

Speaking of 5 a day, Tesco were doing a deal on Southern Comfort last week. So according to my reckoning, if I have a yoghurt now, that’ll be my limit for today.

I was in Fleetwood yesterday and had a clear view of the Barrow shipyards. I now have a yearning to revisit historical locations. John, this may be a good time to consider a trip to Benidorm or suffer the consequences.

Eddie.

Eddie!

Looking forward to the ‘On Time Freight Line’ pictures!

You are of course welcome anytime!

If you have a sleeping bag over your shoulder and a suitcase in your hand… You might be faced by my wife asking for a view of the return ticket!..
John

[eddie_heaton]

I actually made it as far as Lancaster on the bus today John. I don’t drive anywhere these days. Driving’ s for losers. Next stop .Milnthorpe… Be afraid…Be very afraid.

Eddie.

[eddie_heaton]

I can’t say that I remember the Kelmscott cafe if I’m being honest Dennis. I assume it would have been on the A6, but was it north or south of Chorley ?

Prior to the M61 being completed, that section of the A6 would have been vital to you long distance Barrow lads, whereas at that time, our main traffic consisted of coal from either Yorkshire or Nottinghamshire and stone from either the Peak District or from the quarries round Burton, Horton and Ingleton.

Consequently, I was more familiar with the trans pennine routes like Standedge, Woodhead, Snake, Cat & Fiddle, etc, and the fleshpots that those routes had to offer.

Just out of curiosity Dennis, since you must have used the A6 quite a lot back in the 60’s, do you remember Fred Rose’s place in Blackrod ? It was on the left heading south.

He ran a tidy fleet of KV cabbed ERF 8 leggers, as well as one or two Seddon artics and they did a lot of work out of Cooke and Nuttall’s paper mill in Horwich. They also had a London depot, somewhere on the A5 near Bedford.

On reflection, it may have been a little bit before your time, as I think they closed down around about 1964 or thereabouts. The place was taken over by Dean’s, a Manchester firm. Green wagons. It’s all gone now though and they’ve built a care home on the site.

As my mate from North Wales would say, just a useless bit of info.

Cheers. Eddie.

[atkiman]

Eddie Heaton:
This one was taken right at the bottom of your garden Jamie.

heres number 1 works now eddie -or whats left of it

[atkiman]

Where the f12 was pictured

[atkiman]

from the top platform

[eddie_heaton]

Many thanks for the photos Jamie, I’ll show them to Tony next time I see him. I have to say, I barely recognise the place. I suspect it’ll only be a matter of time now before they start building houses on the place. At least they won’t have to travel very far to get the bricks eh ?

Cheers. Eddie.

[eddie_heaton]

While we’re still on the topic of places changing over the years, here’s a few for Mr West that I took today.

Apart from the vastly superior security setup, the old Pritchett Bros site hasn’t changed that much. At least it’s still recognisable.

It appears to be bigger than I remember it though.

You’ll notice that ’ the beach ’ has been surfaced with macadam now John, and there’s only one wagon parked there, and a Spanish one at that.

Cheers. Eddie.

[john_west]

Eddie Heaton:
012While we’re still on the topic of places changing over the years, here’s a few for Mr West that I took today.

Apart from the vastly superior security setup, the old Pritchett Bros site hasn’t changed that much. At least it’s still recognisable.

It appears to be bigger than I remember it though.

You’ll notice that ’ the beach ’ has been surfaced with macadam now John, and there’s only one wagon parked there, and a Spanish one at that.

Cheers. Eddie.

Thanks for that Eddie. Yes, cosmetic changes - there was no fence around the yard, and no shutters on the office, but otherwise doesn’t appear much changed in 40 years! I think the top warehouse bay has been added since our day?

Bill Spragg and his secretary had the upstairs corner office and the front door had a hallway with open stairs and an entrance to the traffic office - all glass I think. The drivers entered from the side and there was a hatch to try and poke your head through to get your delivery notes, typical of most transport offices. If I remember rightly Arthur Wilson had the hatch half covered because he wanted to stop the drivers poking most of their upper bodies through! That was a step too far for me - I just started going into the office from the front.

John

[john_west]

When I used to deliver to Riding and Anderton’s in Wigan, another lad I used to see regularly there collected sawdust from them. His name was Plevin, but I can’t remember his first name. I later saw that they seemed to have quite a few sawdust carriers, but the name seems to have disappeared now. We got quite friendly, and he said that his family owned a club in Manchester called ‘Oceans Eleven’ he gave me his card and said that I should go in and mention his name, but I tended to go back to Barrow at the week ends, so never did. I often wondered what the club was like.

John

[eddie_heaton]

No use asking me John, if in fact that’s what you were doing , as I tend to steer clear of clubs. Joking aside though, I also remember seeing Plevins motors knocking about although I’d completely forgotten the name until I read your post. So I got my google out and came up with these photos. It appears they’re still about and judging by the state of the fleet, they appear to be doing quite well. Wouldn’t you agree ?

Eddie.

[john_west]

Eddie Heaton:
01No use asking me John, if in fact that’s what you were doing , as I tend to steer clear of clubs. Joking aside though, I also remember seeing Plevins motors knocking about although I’d completely forgotten the name until I read your post. So I got my google out and came up with these photos. It appears they’re still about and judging by the state of the fleet, they appear to be doing quite well. Wouldn’t you agree ?

Eddie.

Well Eddie,

Looks like my mate did alright! Now I know where I was going wrong - instead of carrying timber in I should have been carrying sawdust out! I wonder if anyone knows how Oceans Eleven went on…

John.

[eddie_heaton]

Now then Barry. I haven’t heard anything from you for quite some time , so I’m posting this old photo in the hope that I may get some kind of response. It’s a photo of Trevor Rac’s farm in Booths Brow road in Downall Green. In a previous post, I seem to recall you stated that you delivered quantities of stone to the place in the 70’s.
Actually, this photograph was taken long before any one of us existed, certainly long before it fell into the hands of Trevor. I’m not sure of the year, but trust me, it’s the same place.
Literally, 200 Yards away, across the road and at the other side of Millington brook lie the remains of his mother, Margaret, and his father Bill.
As you yourself would say Barry. ’ just a useless bit of info ’

Cheers mate. Eddie.

[eddie_heaton]

By the way, for Millington brook, read Millingford brook. It’s this ■■■■■■■■■■■ iPad spellchecker. It caught me out the other day when it substituted arctic for artic. Made me look like a channel 4 newsreader.
Eddie.

[b_waddy]

Hi , Eddie I remember i well but it had been pulled pieces no windows ,doors just a shell that was the time of the big bust up Bill wanted Trevor to lease it from the firm somthing rediculose like a pound a week , Trevor was not having it he wanted it for his new lady friend iirc he took it for his part of the firm ,Cheers Barry

[eddie_heaton]

You’re probably correct about all that Barry, in fact I’m pretty sure that you are. Of course, my status as hired help didn’t qualify me for a position on the board of directors so therefore I wasn’t privy to the day to day politics surrounding the company, although I suspect there was a certain amount of acrimony in the camp following Bill’s death.

Getting back to the photo of the farm however, and this has nothing whatsoever to do wagons or the driving of. When I was a kid of about 12, I had a paper round, and this farm was the last delivery on my round.

This would have been about 1960 and in my memory, the farm was more or less exactly as it is in the photo.

Always nice to hear from you Barry. Go steady mate.

Cheers. Eddie.

[eddie_heaton]

Oh, just one more thing Barry, you mentioned in one of your posts that someone working out of Rac’s subbied for Smith of Eccles. Well I’ve been scratching my head for months over that one. Anyway, I’ve been up to Low Bank road this afternoon chatting with Alan and it turns out it was Ernie Morris. A tall bloke with a moustache who lived in Orrell. I knew him well, although obviously not well enough as I never knew he worked for Smiths.

Cheers. Eddie.

[b_waddy]

Hi ,Eddie , That was the man a very nice bloke he was always in the yard working on his motor ,he used to call Bill , John will next time you see Alan tell him the Waddys are askin g for him , Cheers Barry

[eddie_heaton]

I found this photo on a local site and thought it might fit admirably onto this thread.

It’s a photo of the Thomas Crompton and sons fleet, they made locks and hinges by the way. Photograph taken sometime in the 50’s I believe.The wagons were parked in York road in A in M. The building on the left was Record mill, I actually worked shifts there in the 60’s, making plastic dustbins and other such ■■■■ stuff for a company called Injection Moulders, part of the GKN group.

If nothing else, it shows the relaxed attitude of the general populace towards wagons, in the days before the nouveau riche disappeared up it’s own arse. Imagine having two dozen wagons parked in your street nowadays. Now that wouldn’t result in a few phone calls to the council would it ?

Thomas Crompton and Sons became incorporated into the GKN group sometime in the 60’s and were renamed as Crompton Nettlefold and Stenman, CNS. At around about the same time I suspect, the decision was made to get rid of the fleet and hire in subcontractors.

This would have been around about the time when the likes of Rac’s and Pennington’s moved in.

I know both companies had wagons in there. Rac’s probably had a dozen or more. In fact, I used to do the Scotch run for a while for Rac’s. Load on Monday, set off on Tuesday. 4 or 5 drops round the hardware stores in Glasgow, something similar around Edinburgh, all handball by the way, then over the bridge to Kirkcaldy, Brechin, Montrose, Dundee, working up the coast to Stonehaven and Aberdeen then across to Forres, Elgin and Inverness, with possibly a few boxes for Kinross on the way back down. Get back home Friday, or Thursday even , if you wanted to bend the rules a little. What a cracking job. And all for about forty quid a week, including nights out.

Cromptons were a major employer in the Ashton in Makerfield area for many years, certainly from the 30’s. They had three manufacturing plants that I know of, Ashton, Haydock and Downall Green, as well as having their own rolling mill at Edge Green, near Golborne.

It’s all gone now though. The main factory in Ashton is a shopping centre. The Downall Green site is housing development. It’s the same story all over. And now we buy everything from China.

If you’re the slightest bit curious about what happened to this country, the same thing happened to it ,as happened to Thomas Crompton and Sons.