H73 CKM (FLEET NO 73) another erf e series this one was fitted with the 365 ■■■■■■■ and the samt gearbox.
originally new to john barrett but he left after a few months of taking this vehicle from new it then allocated to ron goldsmith.
like many other of the day fleet this was mainly used on supermarket work to sainsburys,tescos,asdas,m&s and also waitrose on the distribution of fresh produce.
return loads for these fridge van vehicles on supermarket could somtimes be empty produce crates from the local tray wash to the original supermarket rdc.crisps from corby to paddock wood,ice cream from gloucester to ashford or even soap powder from proctor & gamble at west thurrock into kent & surrey where we were the designated haulier for proctor & gamble(we even managed to educate proctor & gamble to load fridge trailers,it did take some time though)
any vehicles that went into yorkshire or lancashire the return loads were sorted by the rochdale depot (unless we had a load up north to collect for export to the continent) those loads given out by rochdale depot could be biscuits from foxs biscuits at batley west yorkshire or could be a load out of proctor & gamble at trafford park(which would have to picked up out of rochdale depot as trafford park wouldnt load fridge vans so a rochdale shunter would pick the load up on a tautliner,note i say tautliner as all of the trailer bodywork was by boalloy of congleton,so we had tauliners or insuliners)
Chris may well know better, but I don’t think Henley’s were ever involved in carrying woodchip, at least up until about 1980. As far as I recall the Shepton Mallet bulkers sometimes reloaded stone out of the Somerset quarries, but where this went I have no idea.
I only drove RKJ160M the once I think, and this was merely to get me back to Spelmonden, while my lorry was being loaded for an early start and also to drop it off at the workshop for service. Other than as already written about it, my only impressions were that it was a nice, smart, new(ish) lorry, that was an improvement on the five pot Atkinson, but more cramped and quieter than an AEC. It like most of the vehicles, carried out a mixture of the various work with the exception of Dempsons paper bags, which was virtually limited to the Mercury artics.
I took a tea break in the workshop portacabin, at the time of the Commercial Motor Show which had unveiled the ERF B series and the Seddon Atkinson 400. There was quite a lively discussion going on about the merits of each, it being commented upon that mounting the 400’s headlights in the bumper, was likely to cause a spate of complaints about alignment following even the slightest nudge. The DAF 2800 was also shown for the first time at this show and the sturdiness of the chassis build was noticed.
Henley vehicles had for some time had double bumpers, so when the first 400s and B series arrived very shortly afterwards, David Colvin was given the job of making the first 'roo bar bumper for these tilt cabs and these became a distinguishing Henley feature which was soon to be seen on other fleets.
the roo bar fitment was copied by several others but it was always and always will be one of henley transports trademarks.
i can remember many years ago i sent one ouf our drivers martin kemp up into the newcastle,which was unusual as kent connection always done our north east work but on this occasion they were short of vehicles in kent.
i then had to find a return load back,the company who loaded us back was elddis of consett (fellow transport association members) when i first called them up to enquire if they had a spare backload the chap in their traffic office was so excited,you have to try and put a north east accent to the elddis mans words
myself, hello henley transport of paddock wood here we have an artic tautliner tipping in your neck of the woods,have you a load to come back down south please?
eldiss , one moment then in a very broad north eastern accent i heard him say to his colleague i got henleys from down south on the phone you know the ones with the funny brown colour erfs, you know, the ones they got those big roobars on the front man,his colleague then replies oh yes henleys with the roobars i know.
as i say you have to try and put an excited north east voice to the words it was quite funny at the time.
they ended up loading us out waverly ? vintners with a load down to harlow essex,which was quite handy as he then went in proctor & gamble west thurrock for a load to deliver to maidstone in the afternoon.
I seem to remember one of the ERFs rolling over at Kings Hill roundabout some years ago. I think he may have had a load of soap powder on at the time.
Mark R:
I seem to remember one of the ERFs rolling over at Kings Hill roundabout some years ago. I think he may have had a load of soap powder on at the time.
yes mark you are correct one did roll over at the kings hill rounabout just outside west malling.
we had just started to use agency drivers,this happenend on a sunday afternoon on his way to tescos at byfleet in surrey,i cant remember the registration of the e series erf though
I remember seeing the ERF’s/MAN’s etc pulling tautliners,insuliners,fridges and the odd flat trailer.Were there preferred trailer manufacturers at Henley Transport or did they buy from all and sundry?
When the trailers were nearly all flats Crane Fruehauf was no 1. The tautliners were all from Boalloy and virtually all the rigid bodies were from Ellis’s at Five Oak Green. Many of the 4 wheelers had a permanently- fitted detachable extension, which ensured that 14 pallets could be carried even if the goods overhung the pallet a bit. This was also very useful for sheeting up and especially at the market if it was a handball off.
Going back to an earlier post showing Atkinson Borderer SYF400N, this was a Goudhurst vehicle which had an 8LXB and the David Brown 8 speed range change 'box. It was also used when new pulling the only tank trailer Henley’s had, carrying Domecq Sherry in bulk to Luis Gordon’s . This was a single compartment tank so was quite lively. At the same time as these two arrived on the scene, the firm’s first fridge trailer appeared too; the body of which now stands, in remarkably good condition, in Coolchain’s yard in Teynham being used as a workshop store.
the sherry job now that reminds me of another reg greenfield story.
the sherry came over from spain by boat the load was then discharged off the ship into a tanker trailer and then ran up to luis gordons in maidstone and then discharged there for bottling.
one day reg got a tug and the authorities were all over him like a rash,one thing reg didnt bargain for was them opening up one of the hatches.reg used to suspend a bucket inside the tank on an s hook so when the sherry was pumped into the tank the bucket would fill with sherry,when the load was discharged at maidstone the bucket was full,and later on reg did his own bit of bottling with the contents of the bucket.
as soon as the bucket was discovered they said to reg whats this all about then? to which his reply was quick as a flash its for qc mate you know quality control,just to make sure its ok before bottling.
reg got away with that one typical old school no flies on him
Chris, am I right in thinking that the boat came in at Newhaven? Also I can’t remember the name of the original driver of SYF. I know he was based at Goudhurst and would have been about 30 then . Tall, thin guy with dark curly? hair and a very pleasant and mild- mannered character. Would he have been another Richard?
Also I can’t for the life of me recall what the fridge trailer was first used for, was it hanging meat to Turners?
Here’s a couple from the 1989 Kent County Show. Was this a tradition to let dealers display Henley trucks?
Neither truck has been sign written with fleet numbers. I think the ERF became fleet no 28.
Did the Cargo run with this registration number or did it become fleet no 63
cav551:
Chris, am I right in thinking that the boat came in at Newhaven? Also I can’t remember the name of the original driver of SYF. I know he was based at Goudhurst and would have been about 30 then . Tall, thin guy with dark curly? hair and a very pleasant and mild- mannered character. Would he have been another Richard?Also I can’t for the life of me recall what the fridge trailer was first used for, was it hanging meat to Turners?
hello cav 551,
the boat with the sherry on did come into newhaven.
the driver of syf 400n i am stumped on,going on the description could it possibly have been john mayo who went onto tomkinsons just after dad in 1978.
the original fridge van was one of two,the other ended up at company called summerfruits which was sold out to t j poupart(summerfruit were based at new st farm great chart at ashford and were a henley customer in the late 80s / early 90s,the fridges were originally used for meat as i can remember my dad telling me that when he was up the road with a load on he would always drop the trailer and park up against the back doors of the trailer to try and get some sleep (in an atkinson borderer) no chance surely?
tyreman:
Here’s a couple from the 1989 Kent County Show. Was this a tradition to let dealers display Henley trucks?
Neither truck has been sign written with fleet numbers. I think the ERF became fleet no 28.
Did the Cargo run with this registration number or did it become fleet no 63
the erf was g280 oko even though by this time jack had purchased many e series erfs this was the first one with the full sleeper cab allocated to steve willsdon.
the ford cargo was never on the road with that registration is was to become g630 oko (we already had a 180 that fleet no 18 b180 ykk an man 22.321 tractor unit driven by brian penfold)
the company had vehicles at a lot of the kent county shows from the 60s to through to the 90s,it was good for the company to show off its new vehicles not only to the public but also others in the same industry and also people in the farming world (after all thats what the henleys originally were and still are)
it was good free advertising and also something else for the dealers because if you had sold jack henley a lorry as soon as the deal was done the salesman went away with the cheque in his pocket,i know this for a fact as i knew through a friend the old atkinson then seddon atkinson salesman who lived in east peckham called mike jeffreys,he was always chuffed to pieces when he sold jack a lorry
Hmmm, hops, looks like six high, on a four- in- line, now that would be an interesting ride in either direction from Spelmonden - some nasty cambers in places.
Jack absolutely hated seing his radiators masked off, but as this is the pukka thing and as a “D” reg would have been 1963 in Kent, ‘Father’ would have been in charge then.
cav551:
Hmmm, hops, looks like six high, on a four- in- line, now that would be an interesting ride in either direction from Spelmonden - some nasty cambers in places.
I’ll try to resize the old hops photo and repost it later…
Hi Lawrence, Here is a photo of RKJ 160M after restoration into my former company livery, also attached a photo of the Foden I bought from Rowlands of Sittingbourne in 1967. Formerly it was operated by Johnstons Chilham Estates
Mark R:
I think the picture shows an early frigde box (second unit in )this may be the tea hut now at teynham?? /
Andy L:
Mark R:
I think the picture shows an early frigde box (second unit in )this may be the tea hut now at teynham?? /
the early fridge box was the one of two original ones,it was only kept as a get us out of trouble trailer