Hi yes I as far as I am aware Beedmans garage was in Ravenstone.At the cross roads Wash lane and Coalville road.
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I knew Frank little chap with poor eyesight…bardon road garage when I write my autobiography I will devote a whole chapter to that fine establishment !!
Yes that’s the man . Must be 6 year’s since I last saw him.
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nick lambden:
Hi yes I as far as I am aware Beedmans garage was in Ravenstone.At the cross roads Wash lane and Coalville road.Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk
That will be the one, I remember Patrick (the son) showing me an old b&w pic of it and it was on a X roads.
Pete.
I ve just found two excellent videos on u tube 1 bardon village 2 coalville goes smokeless 1963…makes me very homesick Wayne R
Just looked at the Bardon one it’s a great video.good footage of post office,and the old school. Think the quarry were in a hurry to demolish them in case they had a preservation order on them.The old row is a lorry park now.
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The second video shows more like a holiday brochure ….I know the third speaker is a bloke called Harold Lindsay a friend of my uncle who at the time was chairman of the coalville urban district council both were staunch labour men both would probably turn in their graves if they could see me now. I grew up opposite whitwick pit and went to school next door to snibby and once went down snibby with a friend of minein the 1970 s I m quite aware of what life was like in a pit town
I worked for Bexton and Smith in the Early 70s I drove the first 8 wheeler they had.An Atkinson bulk tipper.VBF118J Ex Smith Bros.Tamworth.
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How do you do it, all you blokes who reminisce even with precise registration numbers? 
If I have to fill in a form which has something to do with my current car, I have to go to the window and look at it first. 
Come to think of it there is an exception. My Grandad died in 1954, I think it was, and my Mum inherited his car.
It was an Austin 12, registration number DNE 911, and was the first car our family owned.
There you go, I’m as daft as the rest of you after all. 
DNE Manchester 1937
robinswh:
DNE Manchester 1937
Bloody hell, Grandad did well with that one then, didn’t he? I don’t think Dad kept it long though, no more than a year I think and then he had a real variety. A Singer, a VW, a Jaguar (one wheel of which came off in Stockport and he had to retrieve it from the butchers’) and an MG, when brother and I were off the payroll, so to speak. Years later a Capri, brand new and just before he was transferred to Tokyo, too late to cancel so he asked bro and I to take it for a spin now and again so it didn’t ossify. Of course we obliged, a lovely motor. 
When you have filled a log book every day and told the weighbridge Clark a few times a day it sticks.I do struggle with my car.
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Re bexton and smith…did nt know much about that company thought they were coal merchants on flat beds like the NCB I saw an atkinson artic with a four in line trailer on this website once. We dont have the same problem with number plates as they travel round with the owner from vehicle to vehicle and theres no front plates differs from province to province. I got my hgv and psv licences in 1975 after working overseas for three years and for the first time in my life having a few bob. When I came here I couldnt even drive a car so I had to do it all again there is only one licence with different classes on it…mine is a 1 and 6 covers me for artics buses cars and motorbikes …a class one ik for buses so you dont have to take a separate test. I drove only bulk fuel tankers here until 2008 scary stuff with horrible winters , flammable cargo and mountains to the west of here…pay excellent though…western canada and northwestern united states.I ll put a picture on but probably will get my knuckles rapped because it the only thing about it thats a leicester bygone is the driver.
That’s a great rig. I don’t like driving artics on ice and snow they are not easy to control. Bexton and Smith were coal merchants but branched out into bulk haulage.My Atkinson was the first.
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This is known as a super B came legal early 1990 gross out to 63500 KG .load about 58000 litres gas or 47000 litres of diesel …not really a problem on ice except occasionally I would get a split load unload the pup first and go on to a second delivery then the rear end would lock up. Also with 2 5th wheels bend really nice I ve been into really tight gas stations with them. Reversing takes a bit to master but generally not necessary in this kind of work …easier than the old a trains
This photo was taken by me at Cluny alberta on indian land on the trans canada highway. This company lost a huge esso contract in 1993 went from over 30 trucks to about 8 a couple of years later sold out. This photo about 1990 tractor kenworth 425 bhp CAT in her 18 speed . I finished my driving career with another carrier
robinswh:
This is known as a super B came legal early 1990 gross out to 63500 KG .load about 58000 litres gas or 47000 litres of diesel …not really a problem on ice except occasionally I would get a split load unload the pup first and go on to a second delivery then the rear end would lock up. Also with 2 5th wheels bend really nice I ve been into really tight gas stations with them. Reversing takes a bit to master but generally not necessary in this kind of work …easier than the old a trains
This photo was taken by me at Cluny alberta on indian land on the trans canada highway. This company lost a huge esso contract in 1993 went from over 30 trucks to about 8 a couple of years later sold out. This photo about 1990 tractor kenworth 425 bhp CAT in her 18 speed . I finished my driving career with another carrier
That’s spot on .Makes British trucks look a bit small. We are not set up for ice and snow.l had a Foden with a cat engine.Nice to drive.
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robinswh:
This is known as a super B came legal early 1990 gross out to 63500 KG .load about 58000 litres gas or 47000 litres of diesel …not really a problem on ice except occasionally I would get a split load unload the pup first and go on to a second delivery then the rear end would lock up. Also with 2 5th wheels bend really nice I ve been into really tight gas stations with them. Reversing takes a bit to master but generally not necessary in this kind of work …easier than the old a trains
This photo was taken by me at Cluny alberta on indian land on the trans canada highway. This company lost a huge esso contract in 1993 went from over 30 trucks to about 8 a couple of years later sold out. This photo about 1990 tractor kenworth 425 bhp CAT in her 18 speed . I finished my driving career with another carrier
Interesting you should say that a B-train is easier than an A, I have heard this many times but as I have only driven A-triples myself I would have thought they were easier in a tight situation. This is because a drawbar swings the front of the drag wider thus following the preceding trailer/tractor more closely.
I would have thought. 
But as I say, I have never driven a B, double or triple. 
Good looking no nonsense workhorse nevertheless. 
BTW, re thread drift, as a former captain of the Leicestershire Petanque Association petanque team, does that qualify me as a Leicester Bygone too?
I ve never pulled triples only the old type of a trains the front axle of the pup is not a converter ……triples are probably easier to turn as they have three fifth wheels…….also if the tractor is a cab over better still…cabovers are few and far between here I ve only driven one in the last 30 years
robinswh:
0I ve never pulled triples only the old type of a trains the front axle of the pup is not a converter ……triples are probably easier to turn as they have three fifth wheels…….also if the tractor is a cab over better still…cabovers are few and far between here I ve only driven one in the last 30 years
With fear and trepidation at the thread drift , I can see why that particular type of A train is less effective corneringwise. That is because, with the bogie right at the arse end like that, there is no advantage of out swing of the rear of the first trailer to lead the pup in a wider arc and its wheels nearer to the track of the the first trailer.
I once saw a video of a B-double when the driver had lost his way in an urban Australian situation and strayed off the designated road train route. He came to a right angled corner in an ordinary industrial area and could not get the 2nd trailer round. He had to reverse up and park, unhitch the 2nd trailer, go away and drop the semi, return and collect no. 2, take it to where the semi was and then put the whole lot back together again. I know for a fact from what I could see of the available space that an old fashioned A-train with a normal overhang behind the bogie of the semi, could have got around with no trouble. I also base this opinion on my personal experience moving around a tight site at Toray in Nottingham with both artic and drawbar outfits. The latter was much easier, less cut in.
Back to Leicester. Did I ever mention that I was the reluctant shop steward of Econofreight at Markfield during the great big useless strike of '79? Still desperately searching for Bygone qualification. 
