the top pic was taken at widness the other one i think is at wymington nice truck that 3300
volvo runner:
hi found some more of your old mates trucks
jd426:
Great photo of GNM 967F volvo runner! Can’t quite see who was driving it.
Must have been taken around 1968-69. This particular vehicle isn’t one I remember but I see it has a front mounted muffler, so it’s probably petrol regs and, like a lot of Chett’s trucks, ex-Shell-Mex.
It also looks like its been stretched a bit and had a heavier front axle installed to run at higher weight. Chetts used to do all sort’s of mod’s. to their Scammell’s. Anyone remember KTM 391G with the experimental Perkins V8-510/Allison?. Chetts. built that in 1968-9 and it was still being used in the '90’s.
Back to the photo, the trailer looks like one of the first big (tandem!) alloy bulkers and (the rig) would have been running at 32 ton. Check out that Lister on the side!. I’ll bet they were still running that trailer when Ditchford closed… They still ran one or two Scammell 4-in line allloy bulkers (manf’d in 1967!) in the the mid-90’s.
The bloke who could really tell us all about Chetts. in the 60’s and '70’s is Tony Sales, who was the fleet engineer at the time. Tone still lives in Rushden, so if somebody could nip round and get the full sp off him it would be most interesting! (I would love to as Tone’s an old mate, but its a bit of a job from NZ…)
and the other one is the 2500 told dougal not to use the ■■■ lighter
volvo runner:
the top pic was taken at widness the other one i think is at wymington nice truck that 3300
volvo runner:
hi found some more of your old mates trucks
jd426:
Great photo of GNM 967F volvo runner! Can’t quite see who was driving it.
Must have been taken around 1968-69. This particular vehicle isn’t one I remember but I see it has a front mounted muffler, so it’s probably petrol regs and, like a lot of Chett’s trucks, ex-Shell-Mex.
It also looks like its been stretched a bit and had a heavier front axle installed to run at higher weight. Chetts used to do all sort’s of mod’s. to their Scammell’s. Anyone remember KTM 391G with the experimental Perkins V8-510/Allison?. Chetts. built that in 1968-9 and it was still being used in the '90’s.
Back to the photo, the trailer looks like one of the first big (tandem!) alloy bulkers and (the rig) would have been running at 32 ton. Check out that Lister on the side!. I’ll bet they were still running that trailer when Ditchford closed… They still ran one or two Scammell 4-in line allloy bulkers (manf’d in 1967!) in the the mid-90’s.
The bloke who could really tell us all about Chetts. in the 60’s and '70’s is Tony Sales, who was the fleet engineer at the time. Tone still lives in Rushden, so if somebody could nip round and get the full sp off him it would be most interesting! (I would love to as Tone’s an old mate, but its a bit of a job from NZ…)
Volvo runner you mentioned Simprim. Were they from Mkt Harborough way evolved out of Federated.
hi cassicman yes you hit it on the head they use to do a lot of work for Croda
classicman:
Volvo runner you mentioned Simprim. Were they from Mkt Harborough way evolved out of Federated.
Is this anywhere near the one you had Volvo runner?
hi
Simprim were based in corby , near the power station , i worked for them for a year, and thats a good photo of B700LBC. that was the first c series L10-250/eaton rtx that colin davis bought . closely followed by about 5 others . I drove B105MJU L10-250 but with an RTO roadranger box( the RTX fell apart in London). He did buy an L10-290 (B723LUT) cracking tool that one, 38 tonne 9 mpg plus and top gear up Keele bank, he offered it to me as swap for my motor,but i kept B105 , i was too comfortable with her to change motors, and the gearchange in B723 wasn’t as quick and crisp as the roadranger.
I think the first ERF from the left in this photo is B723… which is about allI could see when it was enlarged
oh yes , i was there that day!. having looked REALLY closely my B105MJU is the fourth ERF in , i can just see the L10-250 plate and the letters are crunched where one of the others reverswd into it.Them 92’s kept banging half shafts out ,favourite place being the chip shop half way up the hill coming out of accrington brick works, and one of the 92 3 axle t/units ended up with a fuller roadranger box.
i had one of the 92’s (c143)stretched into a 6 wheel rigid with a brick crane on the back. i had the intention of eventually persuading colin to get a drawbar trailer , but he made me redundant first.
My B105 was replaced by an ex TNT 112 (b254bok)
volvo runner:
hi tony the david abbott you said about was it the day cab one
tonyj105:
the books were only a short run by northamptonshire round table . there were only 3 in the series. they were full of photos of northamptonshire transport from 1900 onwards.
■■■■■■■ are the best , we had 220 in a couple of guys at finedon and nothing could touch them, we had a 250 in an ex david abbott B series , that had done the anglesey and back job, and still had loads of life in it , another 220 in an MW steel cab ERF, i had a Borderer with a 205 in it, and when i worked at Davis in corby i had a c series with an L10 250 running at 38 tonne, and an e series with an L10 290 at Simprim. apart from the Atki which had a ZF 6 speed and the Guys were AEC 6 speed i think , all the rest were roadranger/twinsplitter, best driving combination ever.
found the photos of OOB, as she was and how she finished up after my uncles accident
there were some threads on here a while ago about monks international/calor transport , well trawling through my dads photo albums i came accross these beauties, the Scania 110 was ex monks, the scammell was ex Sheltons, and the ERF was brand spanking new LHD and a 335 ■■■■■■■■ all were resprayed into calor colours
wow nice to see her again she was on the anglesey for 3 years and did not miss a beat. they never did paint in in abbotts colour until it went on general haulage it was blue with a whie roof and a blue rig sticker on the door .i do remember one night we took out one of pritchard bro"s f12 on the A5 he said on the cb that 290 goes well he was most upset when we told he it was a 250 she was a great truck .
tonyj105:
volvo runner:
hi tony the david abbott you said about was it the day cab one
tonyj105:
the books were only a short run by northamptonshire round table . there were only 3 in the series. they were full of photos of northamptonshire transport from 1900 onwards.
■■■■■■■ are the best , we had 220 in a couple of guys at finedon and nothing could touch them, we had a 250 in an ex david abbott B series , that had done the anglesey and back job, and still had loads of life in it , another 220 in an MW steel cab ERF, i had a Borderer with a 205 in it, and when i worked at Davis in corby i had a c series with an L10 250 running at 38 tonne, and an e series with an L10 290 at Simprim. apart from the Atki which had a ZF 6 speed and the Guys were AEC 6 speed i think , all the rest were roadranger/twinsplitter, best driving combination ever.
found the photos of OOB, as she was and how she finished up after my uncles accident
you’re right OOB was a special kind of motor. i thought ERF’s were rubbish , then dad bought OOB off David Abbott as a spare, and that was it,i became a lifelong fan of ERF’s. I had the injector timing and other bits and pieces done at ■■■■■■■ in wellingborough and then she just flew. Was just a superb lorry to drive.
hi all , hi volvo runner reading 250 on a5 must have been fair machine. i presume you were fetching back from j p woods. we used have a truck came to woods at craven arms from your area every day. i could be wrong but i think he was called chick crosselly.
hi
my uncle (keith bull) used to do the craven arms run for chick crossley with a DAF 2300 drawbar .
hi Tonyj105 rember daf well, i sure they came up at nights as well as days. i was on livestock and we used to run to wellingbourgh on nights.the abbatoir was a bit awkward to get to with double decker. i rember it wasby railway line. could be wrong but did crossley had artic.
hi
you mean moss waltham on irthlingborough rd, just down the road from where i live.long gone now.not an expert on chettles work,you could smell the place from my front door though.i do know most of it was 24hour. chick crossley did have artics.there were a lot on it, chick crossley/davella/hornigold/tony sales/pc howard.
yes that was the abbotoir, i rem 1st time going there and it was icey made me sit up on those back roads. it is a long time since J P WOODS finished craven arms.they were a big employer in this area and them closing shocked a good few. rem davella s dafs i know howards bt cannot rem them on that job. enjoy reading and pics onyour pages as most of livestock days were in northampton area.thanks charlie
hi yes that erf 250 was one hell of a truck . and we use to do ckuckie chicken on anglesey.we ues to run with a livestock wagon a lot called moo moo shifter.
charliemjp:
hi all , hi volvo runner reading 250 on a5 must have been fair machine. i presume you were fetching back from j p woods. we used have a truck came to woods at craven arms from your area every day. i could be wrong but i think he was called chick crosselly.
Growing up in Rushden I well remember a few companies that had gone to the wall (some of them thankfully!!) or sold out long before I started my driving ‘career’. Braybrookes Transport down on Northampton Rd (near Sprigg’s) with their distinctive orange and white (as I recall) livery (gone pre-1980■■). Turners Transport just across the road had a really bad reputation (say no more!), Wilkinsons Transport up in Higham Ferrers, Ailey’s (now Freightroute) in Wymington and Raunds. Harborne’s of Wellingborough. David Pack over in Cranford didn’t have the best reputation either, but my Dad knew him and I would occassionally ride shotgun with one of their Drivers down to Hull to pick grain up or similar in one of their F12’s (as per the pic above). One of my first Driving jobs post HGV licence pass, was with Toseland’s Building Supplies of Rushden. The local adage amongst Drivers was ‘if you can drive for Toseland’s, you can drive for anybody…’…I lasted only a few months! 
