Did Henley’s operate any MAN cabbed ERF’s (Nuremburg built with ERF grilles) ?
no we didnt
roolechat:
Did Henley’s operate any MAN cabbed ERF’s (Nuremburg built with ERF grilles) ?
Hi, I’ve just found this thread,what a fantastic read,I was saddened to read that Terry Barden had passed away, I worked with him on Geoff Hart Transport pulling trailers for Heritage Int.Iirc he used to love listening to military band music at full volume
Does anybody have any details of when he passed away ?
Thanks
[q1uote=“beau”]Hi, I’ve just found this thread,what a fantastic read,I was saddened to read that Terry Barden had passed away, I worked with him on Geoff Hart Transport pulling trailers for Heritage Int.Iirc he used to love listening to military band music at full volume
Does anybody have any details of when he passed away ?
Thanks
[/quote]
11th March 2012.
Was talking to John Foreman last night another exHenley Transport driver who started there in the early 60s and is 79 years of age.
It got me thinking to how old the oldest Henley driver is alive I know my Father is a good contender at 86,the only other one I know who is still alive is Eric Stanley (specs) so I will have to find his age out.
Dennis Mills must be getting on a bit.
GKR 310Y it was only on the road with us for about 4 months then it went back to ERFs at Sandbach and was converted to 6 x 2 by them there first in house coversion.
A newish looking ERF C series day cab CKN 400Y.
This was used at night on changeovers with the Rochdale depot and In the day would tip the load out from the north west (Proctor & Gamble , Lever Bros and Robert Mcbrides were all regular south bound work ).
In the early part of the afternoon it would be reloaded with anything from 6 collections and up to 20 deliveries split between wholesale markets and the odd one or two day drops in the North West.
This was used at night on changeovers with the Rochdale depot and In the day would tip the load out from the north west (Proctor & Gamble , Lever Bros and Robert Mcbrides were all regular south bound work ).
In the early part of the afternoon it would be reloaded with anything from 6 collections and up to 20 deliveries split between wholesale markets and the odd one or two day drops in the North West.
One of the last ERF EC series (out of a batch of 5 ) that Jack bought prior to selling up)
Taken in the main trailer park in Paddock Wood.
Taken in the main trailer park in Paddock Wood.
Lawrence did you see the article in last months Heritage Commercial with regard to ERF 4 wheeler RKJ 160 M which I sold on to Mike Bonner in Torphins Aberdeenshire?
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
Lawrence did you see the article in last months Heritage Commercial with regard to ERF 4 wheeler RKJ 160 M which I sold on to Mike Bonner in Torphins Aberdeenshire?
Cheers, Leyland 600
Sadly not I gave up with the vintage magazines a couple of years back.
I read an article about a Volvo F10 and the chap who had it moaned about the bunk being too narrow , when the F10 came out they were the business and if you had one you was bloody lucky and you had nothing to complain about.
The last AEC Jack got and the only 6 wheeler AEC to be fitted with a Tautliner body (the only other with a Tautliner body being a 4 wheeler Mercury).
This Marshal KKL 600P was new to Charlie Creasey .
This Marshal KKL 600P was new to Charlie Creasey .
L74GKK one of a pair of ERF EC8’s with Gray & Adams fridge bodies new to Henley, which later passed to Coolchain, and as seen here with Fowler Welch/Coolchain fleetnames. It was taken off tax on 1/5/2007
ERF-NGC-European:
0
Another one of these were purchased RKL 370W and were both ran on the Kent end of the night operation with Rochdale depot.
All of our other tractor units were 240 Gardner’s and Jack wasn’t impressed with the fuel consumption of the Leylands no where near what the rep said was going to get,they soon became history.
Years later we had a batch of ERF EC series land at Paddock Wood the ERF rep came over along with another rep to pick up the delivering drivers,the 2nd rep was the one who originally sold Jack the Leylands,and in true Jack Henley style he gave the rep such a rollicking years ago over the Leylands at the time he also told him he would never be welcome at Henley Transport so consequently he had to wait in his car out on the road!
Lovely story about Jack, a man who has never suffered fools gladly and always calls a spade a spade.
BTW what engine was in the Leylands? Rolls, ■■■■■■■ or the TL12?
A famous saying which stuck for quite a while was when Jack had a meeting with a rep from one of the fuel companies and he had a run in with him.
Jack says I am arrogant I am a very arrogant man and I know that but ive never met a man as f in arrogant before as you !
Needless to say after the words that were said he never came back around.
E330 WKP one of two ERF E series 4 wheelers we had fitted with Boalloy insuliner bodies.
The drivers for these would come in about 9am in the morning would go out and do between 2 or 3 local farm collection runs bringing fruit in for the artics then at the end of the day would end up doing a run to a local rdc along the lines of Tesco Snodland or Sainsburys Charlton or Hackbridge.
The drivers for these would come in about 9am in the morning would go out and do between 2 or 3 local farm collection runs bringing fruit in for the artics then at the end of the day would end up doing a run to a local rdc along the lines of Tesco Snodland or Sainsburys Charlton or Hackbridge.
NMP Now to go back in time, despite what is on the front of the photograph this is a copy of an original from Jack Henleys collection.
A photo I would date from the very early 60s of Aec 1 LKK , this would have been either Loftys or Sootys motor taken up the top (as we knew it down in downtown Paddock Wood) at Spelmonden on the companys estate.
As far as we concerned down in Paddock Wood there was up the top yard and down the bottom at Spelmonden as the A262 cuts through part of the land.
Up the top where the photograph was taken shows packhouse , hop picking shed , cold stores and just creeping into the shot to the left is the lorry shed obviously where in the early days the fleet was parked up in there , where you can see the Aec you could go round to the back of the buildings and there was the place where the Goudhurst based drivers would park their Lorries.
The estate was the Spelmonden Estate Company Ltd in Spelmonden nr Goudhurst which was owned by Jacks father Percy which grew arable crops fruit and hops , Percy was a very big noise in the hop industry in his day.
Down the bottom half at Spelmonden was the estate office which at the time would have been run by Percy and Brian (Jacks brother) Jacks office the oast house for drying the hops the vehicle workshops and also Percy and Audreys (Jack and Brians parents) residence.
In the early days going right through to the early 80s Jacks office would be at Spelmonden some 7 miles away from the Nerve centre in Paddock Wood , it seems rather strange looking back but Jack wasn’t exactly an operational man nor were his people skills towards employees that good !
however it worked fine especially for those down in Paddock Wood as Jack wasn’t there to interfere even though he had every right to.
Jacks strong points were in the vehicles how they worked as he had a great mechanical knowledge and of course his business skills it was often said Jack had the midas touch along with being a good negotiator with suppliers and customers.
In the early 80s an extension was into the warehouse down in Paddock Wood and a new office was built for Jack along with new offices for accounts,
but Jack still kept his office at Spelmonden!
Throughout the companys history from the late 50s to 1994 when he sold the business the workshops were always based at Spelmonden where all servicing and maintenance took place , even the Rochdale depot lorries had to come down to be serviced at Spelmonden this wasn’t too much of a problem as a Rochdale lorry would come all the way through on the night trunk , if it was for a Rochdale based journey man he would be sent south with a load and be given another motor for a couple of days and work out of Paddock Wood until his was done.
As far as Jacks maintenance standards were they were second to none as a vehicle went in the workshop it was closely inspected nothing was left to next time even if they thought it would last it was done immediately it wasn’t unheard of for a vehicle to be off the road for 2 to 3 days just for a service.
As far as mots were concerned we had a set bookings down at the Hasting test centre every Friday morning for a vehicle and trailer and on some occasions additional booking for trailers.
The mot prep vehicle would arrive on the Friday prior and a driver would steam clean it off , as far as was Jack concerned it was a waste for a fitter to steam clean with their talent (truth was it was cheaper to get a driver to do it than a fitter) we had 2 or 3 drivers always prepared to do this and it was additional overtime for them as they would have been on the road early hours sunday morning (what with produce being our work early supermarket runs on a sunday) so they were off the card for the following weeks work to commence.
Once the vehicle was steam cleaned it was parked up on the Friday and wait for a fitter to finish his work , the mot prep was normally started Saturday morning or if not by first thing Monday morning then the fitter would have 4 clear days to work on it and take it to test on the Friday morning, as stated previously nothing was left untouched by the workshop staff.
Sorry for the long ramble this morning Good luck Chris Lawrence
A photo I would date from the very early 60s of Aec 1 LKK , this would have been either Loftys or Sootys motor taken up the top (as we knew it down in downtown Paddock Wood) at Spelmonden on the companys estate.
As far as we concerned down in Paddock Wood there was up the top yard and down the bottom at Spelmonden as the A262 cuts through part of the land.
Up the top where the photograph was taken shows packhouse , hop picking shed , cold stores and just creeping into the shot to the left is the lorry shed obviously where in the early days the fleet was parked up in there , where you can see the Aec you could go round to the back of the buildings and there was the place where the Goudhurst based drivers would park their Lorries.
The estate was the Spelmonden Estate Company Ltd in Spelmonden nr Goudhurst which was owned by Jacks father Percy which grew arable crops fruit and hops , Percy was a very big noise in the hop industry in his day.
Down the bottom half at Spelmonden was the estate office which at the time would have been run by Percy and Brian (Jacks brother) Jacks office the oast house for drying the hops the vehicle workshops and also Percy and Audreys (Jack and Brians parents) residence.
In the early days going right through to the early 80s Jacks office would be at Spelmonden some 7 miles away from the Nerve centre in Paddock Wood , it seems rather strange looking back but Jack wasn’t exactly an operational man nor were his people skills towards employees that good !
however it worked fine especially for those down in Paddock Wood as Jack wasn’t there to interfere even though he had every right to.
Jacks strong points were in the vehicles how they worked as he had a great mechanical knowledge and of course his business skills it was often said Jack had the midas touch along with being a good negotiator with suppliers and customers.
In the early 80s an extension was into the warehouse down in Paddock Wood and a new office was built for Jack along with new offices for accounts,
but Jack still kept his office at Spelmonden!
Throughout the companys history from the late 50s to 1994 when he sold the business the workshops were always based at Spelmonden where all servicing and maintenance took place , even the Rochdale depot lorries had to come down to be serviced at Spelmonden this wasn’t too much of a problem as a Rochdale lorry would come all the way through on the night trunk , if it was for a Rochdale based journey man he would be sent south with a load and be given another motor for a couple of days and work out of Paddock Wood until his was done.
As far as Jacks maintenance standards were they were second to none as a vehicle went in the workshop it was closely inspected nothing was left to next time even if they thought it would last it was done immediately it wasn’t unheard of for a vehicle to be off the road for 2 to 3 days just for a service.
As far as mots were concerned we had a set bookings down at the Hasting test centre every Friday morning for a vehicle and trailer and on some occasions additional booking for trailers.
The mot prep vehicle would arrive on the Friday prior and a driver would steam clean it off , as far as was Jack concerned it was a waste for a fitter to steam clean with their talent (truth was it was cheaper to get a driver to do it than a fitter) we had 2 or 3 drivers always prepared to do this and it was additional overtime for them as they would have been on the road early hours sunday morning (what with produce being our work early supermarket runs on a sunday) so they were off the card for the following weeks work to commence.
Once the vehicle was steam cleaned it was parked up on the Friday and wait for a fitter to finish his work , the mot prep was normally started Saturday morning or if not by first thing Monday morning then the fitter would have 4 clear days to work on it and take it to test on the Friday morning, as stated previously nothing was left untouched by the workshop staff.
Sorry for the long ramble this morning Good luck Chris Lawrence