5thDragoon:
I worked for Adam Lythgoe during 1963/4 as plant fitter at the Shadforth Quarry chasing big money, 7 days 12 hour shifts. The quarry was owned by one man, I forget his name, and Lythgoe only had an agreement to take off overburden and sandstone to expose the magnesium limestone which was excavated, crushed and then pulverised into powder form. Apart from loads which went local, the finished product was stockpiled for movement to Seaham Docks for onward shipment to Scotland. The principle haulier was John Long from Haswell who had 5 or 6 daily, and a transport outfit from Westerhope, mainly Bedfords painted cream with orange wings. Lythgoe never had any of their own vehicles operating out of Shadforth whilst I was there.
Spoke to our Ron today to try and clarify this. Ron can remember Longâs from Haswell leading out of Shadforth but without doubt, it was a Lythgoe BMC tipper that âeasedâ him off the road at Sherburn Hill. The driver didânt or couldânt (more likely) stop to see how Ron was!
The only detail he canât confirm is the exact date. We ran this Trader from â61â to â65â, but i would guess at â63â? Ron remembers Lythgoeâs running out of Houghton quarry too. Regards Ian
Warden Law quarry (Hargreaves) and a name thatâs well known in the North East haulage business.
The problem of course when using a tipper like Trader 193 PT (long wheelbase) itâs not best suited for leading aggregate or sand onto building sites i.e lots of mud,ruts, generally uneven roads/tracks. So itâs inevitable that the chassis (because of itâs length) will suffer.
So itâs no surprise that after leading to these sites for a length of time this âweaknessâ was found out and sure enough a crack began to appear in one of the main chassis memberâs. Dad was good friends with the owner of Caldwell Garage in Easington Village and he offered to repair it. This was done by drilling and plating (non weld) After a while the same problem appeared in the opposite side but this time the repair was made by the foreman fitter in Warden Law quarry at that time and his name was Lawrence âLarryâ Thomas.
This time the chassis was plated and welded.Larry of course was one of the 3 Thomas brotherâs (with Edward and Harry) to start their own tipper business. Larry would continue with Hargreaves, as foreman and later as manager before taking the plunge into haulage from Mary Street Garage,Seaham mid sixties? Their garage was next door to Seaham Haulage Company (linked to Elgeyâs) where Fergusonâs garage is now (South of Asdaâs car park)
Larry jnr of course is the âLâ in LDS transport Seaham (Lawrence,David and Steven Thomas)
Larry snr was very good at his job as fitter/mechanic. Ron sayâs he even designed and built a âscreenâ that was used in Sherburn Hill quarry.
Can any one sort this out, talking at work about a man truck painted with Alan Shearer on the side of it, used to see it at shows what company owned it please cheers bob
blackbox:
Can any one sort this out, talking at work about a man truck painted with Alan Shearer on the side of it, used to see it at shows what company owned it please cheers bob
Blue MAN as far as know was an O/D
Also had other north east land marks on used to see it running up & down the country
bumper:
how many driver remember going through this tower arch
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Yes Jim, I remember it very well, my Miles Druce Leyland Comet was a regular through the arch until a trestle was fitted behind the cab to accommodate the long loads of steel we needed to carry. After that the arch was to tight, and we had to go around the ring road. I seem to remember I could get through with a Mark 1 Atki, but the later Borderer was just too high. Great memories!!! Thanks Jim.
Lawrence Dunbar:
There was another O/D Billy Bell from Heddon on the Wall bought a 6 wheeler Hino from them, Regards Larry.
Lawrence billy bell did have a six wheeler hino they were a very good site wagon as jt Barnes proved he bought quite a few last i herd of billy he was very poorley and could hardely walk thats a few years ago
it may have been ugly kenny but as john said it left the dafs for dead and carried nearly 2 ton more than them and better on fuel was just like driving a car
the picture of the scania is me & ivan bramwell that truck belonged to âCrowsâ before norman keenleyside bought it & yes kenny the âWhiteâ was a flying machine
keith8357:
the picture of the scania is me & ivan bramwell that truck belonged to âCrowsâ before norman keenleyside bought it & yes kenny the âWhiteâ was a flying machine
you keeping okay Kieth just getting back on my feet been very ill last 4 months thanks to bad reaction from medication barry retired yet tell him from me best job ever get take care john
first truck i got new but if you look closely the y developed the pics the wrong way round s can i claim to have driven the first left â â â â â â tk ha, armstrong when we were at liddell terrace. the rest are just random
