One for Pete
I seem to have lost the top half of this page 
so apologies to Eddie and Chris for ignoring the discussion about pits and coking plants. I remember almost all of those places but I couldnât lead you to their sites nowadays. But all our loads were southbound to London as we at Bulkliners were setup to use the Freightliner terminal at Beeston (Notts). Thus all the open top containers on tipper chassis, 30 and 20 footers, could go on the train. Trouble was that Freightliner couldnât cope so often a great convoy of us set off down the MI in the morning to tip at various places round the capital. We then loaded back from scrapyards for the steel mills of Yorkshire.
It wasnât a bad job, especially in my case as the manager shared an office with Philip Smithâs Haulage. They had a contract to deliver all the heavy castings from Beeston Boiler, just round the corner. When I went in for the job I didnât know which of the 2 would interview me and one of them made a start. The first question he asked was âhow strong are you lad, these castings are no lightweight you knowâ. At that time only a couple of Smithâs wagons had cranes and I suddenly realised what was happening, so I said âwell not very strong really but I thought you didnât need to be for containersâ. 
Taking the hint he said âyouâre talking to the wrong side of the desk, Tony there is your manâ. At which point, with a great sigh of relief, I turned in my chair and got the Bulkliner job. 
It also ably illustrates the shortage of drivers in those days, both of them had vacancies.
Back to the pits and plants. We also did a lot of work out of the Warwickshire ones, Daw Mill was a very large one that comes to mind.
Bulkliner and Smithâs were owned by that firm of green Atki tippers that was based opposite Ollerton pit. Canât remember their name now though.
Franglais:
dave docwra:
tyneside:
Car Rally somewhere in Northumberland, can anyone identify the make / model please
TynesideI believe that is a Porsche 356.
Looks like it to me too.
Genuine ones are worth a small (or large) fortune. Some replicas and copies/kit cars out there I think.
It is a 356. And I can remember when they were worth peanuts. As a lad in the '60s I spent most of my spare time working on my cars in the street. A neighbour had a Porsche 356 fixed head, got me to fill up all the many rust holes with fibreglass and blow it over with an aerosol 
Bernard
Buzzer:
Buzzer
Scania with the exteeended cab?
Cant tilt the whole cab can you? So, if the front cab still tilts, but the sleeper stays put? Still walk through from driving seat to sleeper? And if front half is still on springs and the back half isnt? Lots of squeaks, rattles, and even water/dust leaks?
How does it all work in the real world?
Franglais:
Buzzer:
BuzzerScania with the exteeended cab?
Cant tilt the whole cab can you? So, if the front cab still tilts, but the sleeper stays put? Still walk through from driving seat to sleeper? And if front half is still on springs and the back half isnt? Lots of squeaks, rattles, and even water/dust leaks?How does it all work in the real world?
Iâd say that itâs a day cab so no problem tilting. Stand alone living compartment at rear hence the door
Franglais:
Buzzer:
BuzzerScania with the exteeended cab?
Cant tilt the whole cab can you? So, if the front cab still tilts, but the sleeper stays put? Still walk through from driving seat to sleeper? And if front half is still on springs and the back half isnt? Lots of squeaks, rattles, and even water/dust leaks?How does it all work in the real world?
With the consideration that there is a seperate door to the side,I think the sleeper module is totally seperate without any access from the drivers position,could be wrong of course!
David
5thwheel:
Franglais:
Buzzer:
BuzzerScania with the exteeended cab?
Cant tilt the whole cab can you? So, if the front cab still tilts, but the sleeper stays put? Still walk through from driving seat to sleeper? And if front half is still on springs and the back half isnt? Lots of squeaks, rattles, and even water/dust leaks?How does it all work in the real world?
With the consideration that there is a seperate door to the side,I think the sleeper module is totally seperate without any access from the drivers position,could be wrong of course!
David
Could be that.
Not much of an access ladder back there? But if only using it once or twice a day, it might be OK.
And that`d be OK in nice warm,dry, Oz, but not much fun in the UK on a February night !
Franglais:
5thwheel:
Franglais:
Buzzer:
BuzzerScania with the exteeended cab?
Cant tilt the whole cab can you? So, if the front cab still tilts, but the sleeper stays put? Still walk through from driving seat to sleeper? And if front half is still on springs and the back half isnt? Lots of squeaks, rattles, and even water/dust leaks?How does it all work in the real world?
With the consideration that there is a seperate door to the side,I think the sleeper module is totally seperate without any access from the drivers position,could be wrong of course! David
Could be that.
Not much of an access ladder back there? But if only using it once or twice a day, it might be OK.
And that`d be OK in nice warm,dry, Oz, but not much fun in the UK on a February night !
Not much fun on a South Australia winterâs night either!
[ Back to the pits and plants. We also did a lot of work out of the Warwickshire ones, Daw Mill was a very large one that comes to mind. ]
Iâd completely forgotten about Daw Mill .
I would imagine it would have been around 1986 or thereabouts when I was working on the brick job for Steetley out of Ravenhead , that the area manager based at Chesterton, a Mr Ken Welch , or Welsh , I never saw his name in itâs written form , but he was known to all as â Taffy â , retired from his position as area manager and was replaced by John Jones .
Taffy had been there since the days of Downing , and was pretty laid back , as were most of the long
serving Downingâs employees.
John Jones however , was from a different mould . I donât know where he came from , but he was a tipper man through and throughâŚI canât say that I disliked the bloke , although he seemed to me to be hungry , ambitious and maybe a tad bit ruthless , but quite affable .
However , over the next few years , he gradually managed to sub out the brick work to o/ds and transfer most of the old time Downingâs drivers onto tipper work .
Being based up at Skem and out of the way , I enjoyed another year or two on the brick job with ten days holiday at Christmas , in line with the building trade , until the fateful day that Jonesey engineered some kind of contract with someone or other to supply coal from Daw Mill to the power station that used to stand adjacent to the A 446 near Coleshill , I forget the name of the place .
To my dismay , I ended up back on the tipper job . To be fair , the job wasnât killer . It was just boring .
Half a dozen of us on a merry-go-round , running six or seven loads each a day from Daw Mill to the Coleshill stocking ground . Start at 0700 , last load at 1530 , then park up for the night in the middle of Coleshill . Five nights out every week and sweet FA to do . Sweet Jesus .
I think I stuck it out for a fortnight then threw the towel in . â â â â that for a game of soldiers.
Just googled it ⌠Hams Hall , that was the name of the former power station near Coleshill . Itâs a large commercial site nowadays, and the last time I was there would have been around 2005 or thereabouts, when I would have been driving for one of the agencies , delivering something or other to some RDC or other on the site . I forget who , what , or where precisely.
lurpak:
Spotted on the M4 last month
2
1
0
Ade
Looks like 3 generations of Ford Capris. Maybe member of a club going to or coming back from some event?
Try pulling out a middle one of all those Stevenâs trailers. 
Eddie Heaton:
Just googled it ⌠Hams Hall , that was the name of the former power station near Coleshill . Itâs a large commercial site nowadays, and the last time I was there would have been around 2005 or thereabouts, when I would have been driving for one of the agencies , delivering something or other to some RDC or other on the site . I forget who , what , or where precisely.
Used to trunk to Hams Hall for Argos who had a depot there.
Thanks to Buzzer, tyneside, Suedehead, robthedog and lurpak for the photos some good tales going on as well
Oily
Buzzer bus photo OJO reg ex City of of Oxford Motor Services working in rural Aberdeenshire.
Used to trunk to Hams Hall for Argos who had a depot there.
[/quote]
Speaking of Argos . I ran those swap bodies of theirs backwards and forwards between their depot on Lockett road at Bryn ( M6 J25 ) and their ( at that time ) relatively new distribution place alongside the M6 at Stafford for a while .
This was agency work as well by the way .
I also , rather stupidly in retrospect , allowed myself to be coerced into doing the home deliveries for a period âŚâ Weâll pay you class one rate â is what I was told . Bloody hell , if theyâd paid double what they did , I would have almost been nudging minimum wage .
And God Almighty , what a poxy job that turned out to be . A dozen or more a.m. deliveries followed almost immediately by an equal amount , if not more , of p.m. deliveries to the self same area , delivering trash such as Chinese made exercise machines to old codgers who couldnât even muster the energy to assemble the bloody things , leaving me to do it for them .
And donât even get me started on the items of Jerry built furniture that Argos flog .
We always carried a box of tools in the cab as we ( myself and my co-pilot that is ) often had to remove doors , and even windows on occasions would you believe, in order to cram the garbage into their council houses . And if it was a bed or a mattress for instance , we would frequently be expected to drag the â â â â thing up into the bedroom ⌠I kid you not .
Thinking back , and I suspect Iâm not on my own in this respect , but I havenât half had some crappy jobs over a period of 45 years . Still , being philosophical, itâs all been a part of lifeâs rich tapestry I suppose .
We stopped using Argos 30 odd years ago after I bought a watch for my wife from there. It stopped working after a few weeks and, as they didnât guarantee the life of the battery inside took it to a reputable jeweler (after Argos had said âwe donât do batteriesâ) who opened the back and pronounced the batteries perfect and that it was the watch that had failed.
Back to Argos who refused to contemplate a replacement or refund 'because the scratches on the casing proved it had been opened, âwhich was in breech of the warrantyâ. I should have taken it further but left it after a big row so everyone in the place could judge what a bunch of crims they really were.