Always keeps a smart operation Ritchie’s, the book about the company by Bob Tuck ‘Ritchies of Hetton-le-Hole’ is a good read and worth having on the book shelf, one of today’s survivors too. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Always keeps a smart operation Ritchie’s, the book about the company by Bob Tuck ‘Ritchies of Hetton-le-Hole’ is a good read and worth having on the book shelf, one of today’s survivors too. Franky.
Great family owned company Franky, I used their yard as my operating centre for quite a few years. Regards Kev.
received the sad news today that another ex van hee driver has died george lewis R-I-P mate
Sorry to hear that Jim, I got on well with George, any info on funeral etc. Franky.
bumper:
received the sad news today that another ex van hee driver has died george lewis R-I-P mate
I don’t think I ever saw Geordie without a smile on his face . R I P.
couple of van hee lorries on M/E duty.big kris. billy boden and Trevor turnbull were the drivers.
Shame when young Cockney blew the 89 engine, it should have been repaired instead of being dumped in the scrap corner. I remember the look on Tony’s face when he returned from his sailing trip to see it abandoned, he wasn’t happy. Who was driving it in the ME pic Jim? Here’s another of CMR 593L and your Scania from the Van Hee brochure, was your Ford PTY 260S. Franky.
franky when that photo was taken jimmy hill was the driver, if you look on the photo taken with the transcon next to it that was simon don’t know his second name he drove it after tony did the first m/e trip with it, note spot lights fitted on photo with jimmy no spot lights jimmy came back from a trip said they won’t work so fella cut the wires and took light’s off, problem fixed yes I did have PTY260S, had Volvo 86 KNL650L went on holiday someone smash it up right off, transcon was standing in garage tony said put you gear in that, had to wear a stab proof for awhile. when I fine out will let you know when george funeral is
Ha ha, aye I bet you had burning ears for a bit Jim. I remember people mentioning Simon but he wasn’t there when I started and Dickie Bright had gone, thank the lord, I heard plenty tales about him though! Yeah if you find out any details for George let me know ta. Here’s a pic of PTY not sure if it was one of yours anyway Jim and the J Reg Scanias. Cheers Franky.
I was looking through the early pages of this thread, lots of the photos are deleted thanks to photobucket!! The first six pages are totally devoid of any pics, I never had an account with them so my few early shots are there, it might be an idea for any of the contributors to try to repost and bring the thread back to its great standard. By the way Franky, You mentioned “fella”. I came across him in the early seventies, he was well known for his " innovative and unusual" solutions to repairs and maintenance 
even then. I remember him stripping down and repairing? a Scammell gearbox, he was left with a couple of spare bits that he despatched to the “not necessary bin”. Needless to say it was a bit of a disaster and eventually had to go to Leylands on the Team Valley to be sorted. Regards Kev.
franky that photo of PTY260S is one of Gorden Mitchell’s photos think jimmy heppell drove it when that photo was taken, had JVK363J that one broke the grankshaft started to knock going down hill at abberford A1, stop it rang in from the shell garage tolled to drive it home, refused
Aye Jim I should have done that with WOK when it started to knock coming out of Armstrong’s on the Valley, Alan Tune insisted I drove it back so I presumed it would be repaired but no it never got out of the dead corner, shame because it was still in good condition as you know TC looked after it when he had it. Kev I don’t know how ‘Fella’ got where he did after listening to all the tales of his disasters ha! Cheers Franky.
Some lovely photo’s there Servo and i’m sure you help Kingsley wash and polish that lovely Skania every weekend 
paulycats:
Some lovely photo’s there Servo and i’m sure you help Kingsley wash and polish that lovely Skania every weekend
Wish i could just climb up into it paulycats
Nice to see this Geordie Blackett 111 over on the Paul Gee Photo thread, I was wondering if any motors from our neck of the woods would show up amongst his pics. Was this the only artic Blackett had, I saw plenty of his tippers about. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Nice to see this Geordie Blackett 111 over on the Paul Gee Photo thread, I was wondering if any motors from our neck of the woods would show up amongst his pics. Was this the only artic Blackett had, I saw plenty of his tippers about. Franky.
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Hi Franky, IIRC They ran two Scanias, Plus they had a LAD Cabbed Dodge artic, Theres a picture of it on this thread I posted some time ago, Regards Larry.