1982, Den Thompson (R.I.P.) & myself (aged 18, just got my Class 3) in French services on our way to Rome with 2 Mini Metro’s for a Motor Show. I was chuffed to bits, Den let me drive all the way there & back, he never got behind the wheel once. Who cares it was a Clydesdale, I loved every minute of it!
Weekended somewhere in Southern Spain. I say somewhere cos 1 I can’t remember exactly, 2 because I do remember the sea was 50 yards to the nearside & there was a Bar/Restaurant just across the road, so life was sweet!
Hi chris , thankyou buddy , yes the erf was brandnew too Paul collett , it was bought to pull a drawbar with a 290 ■■■■■■■ in but Paul did not like drawbars but his mate who had 273 did , but his only had a 250 ■■■■■■■ in , the sister was 274 who the late Jock fulton had this from new but this was a 180 baby ■■■■■■■ in and had a taillift on , That erf you drove went like hell fire . 
. Also den was a legend around our yard with his roadtrain . .Also Hebborns , very good friends of mine , I use to help them from 8 years old to 16 .
Buffalo V Motorway bridge support, only gona be 1 winner there! Hi Jakey, ref your earlier question, it was David “Diddy” Jakeman, always just did local shunting never wanted to go up the road, really nice bloke.
Remember these used to park in the railway yard by the bridge on the Garsington Rd? 1 of my stops when I was a schoolboy on my pushbike riding round all the transport yards at the weekend lorry spotting!
Delicate old load! These trailers were brilliant for their versatility, obviously as a normal flat-bed, but if you look at the landing legs you see they were designed to raise & lower the front of the trailer, you un-pinned the headboard & it layed flat making a 40ft long ramp for loading vehicles. They were called Jumbo trailers & we had 2 of them at Cowley, one was powered by a Donkey engine, the other had a lead to plug into & hook up to the units batteries.
Load of Moggy Minors! Trailer was made for carrying show cars/prototypes/classic cars etc. Den Thompson who’s Roadtrain it was is nearest the back of the trailer, right to the end when he lost his battle with cancer he never lost his enthusiasm for lorries, hardest working man I ever had the privelage of knowing & working with!
Hi Chris , Dens roadtrain was ther pride of the fleet by far , long after you finshed they had one 75 series on the fl;eet , think its a n reg , thats still going you know , its a bit of a mess but its a road shunter for dhl at Cowley .
adr:
Delicate old load! These trailers were brilliant for their versatility, obviously as a normal flat-bed, but if you look at the landing legs you see they were designed to raise & lower the front of the trailer, you un-pinned the headboard & it layed flat making a 40ft long ramp for loading vehicles. They were called Jumbo trailers & we had 2 of them at Cowley, one was powered by a Donkey engine, the other had a lead to plug into & hook up to the units batteries.
This type of trailer was developed by my old boss Philip Mousley of Mousley Trucking Coventry, it was call Jumbo Legs, I had the pleasure of using the prototype on one occasion to take a KP Dodge unit and a rigid to a truck dealer in melton mowbray with a 1418 merc under it, I always thought the trailer should have been developed more as it was a cracking bit of kit, to unload it, you uncoupled the unit, fired up the donkey, pull the leaver and as it lowered the headboard folded forward to form a ramp, and yes it still worked with 20 ton on board. Phil Mousley’s nick name was “Mungo” hence we christened it " Mungo Legs"
HI Dieseldogsix;
Thanks for the info on the Jumbo trailers. Like you I could never understand why they did not get used by more hauliers, particularly on General Haulage as it would have given a usefull option, certainly when looking for back-loads, I can’t see that there would have been that bigger weight penalty that would have made them un-economic! As you can see from this pic we used to put a 40 ft container on them as well no problem!
I remember in the mid 70s coming down regularly from Trafford Park to Cannons at Milton with my Dad in a Sabrina cabbed Foden (Claribel Carriers) delivering Shell Oil to them for wholesale. I think they use to have a couple of D series, then we would backload out of Pickerings Foods at Didcot. There were always Berkshire Vale and Champs motors in there loading, I remember being amazed at the Champs trucks as they were running 110’s and F88’s and we ha to sleep over the bonnet in the Sabrina. That was a days work then Manchester down tip and load, sometimes we had digs at the parents of one of the lads that worked at Cannons. Cant make my mind up weather they were better days or not…
Hi adr read your posting about old roadtrain that was at cowley and driven by Mick Hooper, dont know if you were aware that sadly Mick passed away a couple of weeks ago after long illness, his funeral was last week. I used to Caravan with Mick with Morris Motors Caravan Club, Couple of other drivers in the club who you probably know were Bill (bing) Jones and Mick Talboys Cheers Butlerboy
Does anyone remember a firm called Trux that were based at Dixs’ pit, Stanton Harcourt? Ran 8 wheelers with muck-bodies, white cabs, red signwriting and blue tippers. They ran Mercedes SKs and at least one Actros driven when new by Ray Beachamp (ex Smiths and PJ Meagher).
Hi Butlerboy,
No I didn’t know Mick had passed away, thankyou for letting me know, but I very sorry to hear it, I heard he had been ill for some time. I had a fantastic 5 years on B.L. Transport Dept. Mick was one of the men that took the time & patience to teach me things, laugh with me & take the p**s out of me, & kick me up the arse when I got too cocky or cheeky! R.I.P. Mick, thanks for the time you gave me & the things you showed me!
Yes I remember Bill, & Mick, so many men on Transport Dept. so many different characters & personalities! Sadly so many of them no longer with us.
Regards Chris
Muckaway:
Does anyone remember a firm called Trux that were based at Dixs’ pit, Stanton Harcourt? Ran 8 wheelers with muck-bodies, white cabs, red signwriting and blue tippers. They ran Mercedes SKs and at least one Actros driven when new by Ray Beachamp (ex Smiths and PJ Meagher).
Yeah I can remember Trux flying about, always seemed to be in a hurry.
Hi Sepo,
This horse might bring back some memories for you, Berkshire Vale F10, (this one was the regular wagon of Ron “Squibby” Coles, a good friend of mine & one of a dying breed nowadays, a proper transport man!) , seen here pulling a trailer marked up Pickering Foods.
Sepo, you said you used to come to Cannons with Oil from Trafford Park, I used to load at Shell, Barton Dock or Shell, Stanlow to return to our bottom yard, here I am loading at Stanlow, nice easy load with deck load of drums & all the smalls up top. Stanlow was usually pretty quick to load & not too bad at getting your paperwork done, Barton Dock you could be loaded in a hour, but then it took them 3 hrs to do your paperwork! We used to bring the loads back to our bottom yard & drop the trailer, then the load was broken down & loaded onto our 16 ton Volvo F6 rigids to do multi-drop round garages/factories etc.
Another blast from the past from the Pickering Foods days, Champs Transport, now those boys did fly, all rope & sheet too, very often clocking up hundreds of miles & sheeting up 3-4 times a day too!
Another regullar load for Cannons with my trusty old F7, paints/chemicals etc from Glasurite in Abingdon. You would have a load of something to somewhere in the morning, London/Southampton/Bristol who knows, then when you got back you would go back to the yard & bunker, wash down, pick up an empty tautliner & take it to Glasurit, there you would pick up your(hopefully) pre-loaded trailer for the Charthire Depot in Leeds. you would then take this up that day. If I was late leaving I would usually stop at Jacks Hill Cafe, Towcester & have a meal, then run straight on up, but if I got away reasonable I would run straight thru to Leeds & park outside Charthire ready to tip in the morning, I walk up to the top of the road, go in the boozer & have a couple of pints then get some fish & chips. You would tip the following morn’,the load being tran-shipped onto a couple of Charthire rigids for onward delivery, you might have a couple of direct drops on for Huyton, Liverpool or Bolton/Bury etc, then you would load Oil from either Shell Stanlow or Manchester for return to Didcot, nice couple of days work!