hiya,
AN 80 DENNIS, don’t ring me I’ll ring you.
thanks harry long retired.
Bloody Hell !! Cronaspan done a few back loads out of there in the late Eighties i remember turning up there once i tipped out Leeds from Greece i was sent in to there with a Tilt !! and yes they loaded it after i stripped half the Trailor think i loaded for Hunter Plywood in River Way Harlow,cos after tipping i had to drop trailor outside parkes or could been in Hayford & Beasley yard in River Way then i had to go up the road to Burnt mill ind estate and pick up a trailor from Ukon Trucking for Milan,no hanging about then straight out to Dover then. 
Roping and Sheeting was an Art and for all you Youngsters im not joking it realy was people think yeah yeah you all wore gloves etc,not so i can assure you you couldnt wear the bloody things,yes we used to get sore hands but once you were finished you could stand back and think kin ell i just done that and you would be proud of it,how many drivers out there used to drive along and see other loads with sheets flapping about and ropes hanging over the Trailor close to the wheels ■■,they were the Lazy Drivers who couldnt be bothered as they were always in a hurry.And who remembers Tilbury or Avonmouth Docks on Bloody windy days when they wouldnt let you into the sheds to sheet up ■■?.I wonder how many Drivers would put up with that now God ! they realy were the hard days but still the Best !!.
Bewick:
stevecook:
Here is a quote from VOSAs latest attack on truckers:(6)
This is always poor practice but there may be no other suitable attachment points.This refers to using ropehooks to attach ‘lashings’ and carries an advisory warning if you are caught using them!!!
If I could turn the clock back I would like to rope some of those Vosa [zb] onto a flat platform and set off down the road to London ! I’ll gaurantee non of the tossers would have escaped or fallen off during the trip !! and we’d hear no more from them about unsuitable “lashing” points.They seem to have the affrontry to suggest that all the '000 of loads that were carried under sheets and ropes years ago would have been unsafe,based on VOSA’s “vast” knowledge of the craft of sheeting and roping !! I can sum their knowledge up in one word as----Bollox ! Cheers Bewick.
You are dead right there dennis.What i was implying by my earlier quote [dying art] is that most of the younger drivers dont seem to have much interest in learning the art of r/s even though some loads still require it.
regards dave.
Us youngsters in lichfield still love it and do it every day , cheers mike.
dafdave:
Bewick:
stevecook:
Here is a quote from VOSAs latest attack on truckers:(6)
This is always poor practice but there may be no other suitable attachment points.This refers to using ropehooks to attach ‘lashings’ and carries an advisory warning if you are caught using them!!!
If I could turn the clock back I would like to rope some of those Vosa [zb] onto a flat platform and set off down the road to London ! I’ll gaurantee non of the tossers would have escaped or fallen off during the trip !! and we’d hear no more from them about unsuitable “lashing” points.They seem to have the affrontry to suggest that all the '000 of loads that were carried under sheets and ropes years ago would have been unsafe,based on VOSA’s “vast” knowledge of the craft of sheeting and roping !! I can sum their knowledge up in one word as----Bollox ! Cheers Bewick.
You are dead right there dennis.What i was implying by my earlier quote [dying art] is that most of the younger drivers dont seem to have much interest in learning the art of r/s even though some loads still require it.
regards dave.
It really is just a generational thing between two distinct forms of load carrying,one that was predominant prior to the introduction of Curtainsiders when the accepted method was Sheets and Ropes and after the “revolution” Curtainsiders rapidly took over and the former methods and skills were consigned to history.However,what the modern day “curtain puller” fails to understand when mocking the methods of yesteryear is that sheeting and roping was the “only game in town” during that time.Furthermore,you could pick out the firms/drivers who took a pride in their S & R skills.Theres not a finer sight than to see an immaculately sheeted and rope motor passing by!!!I always use to take great pleasure in looking back through the corner cab window in the Octopus when we would be running up out of South Wales loaded with 20ton of tin plate,and admiring the faultless sheeting of both waggon and trailer,sheets as tight as drums and every eye on the hitches in perfect line,magic !! Nowadays you haven’t got a clue whats behind the curtains,loaded or empty and apart from ,say,having a clean set of curtains,there can be no pride or skill in opening and closing curtains surely.I would also add that it was immposible to wear rubber gloves and sheet and rope properly so yes the old hands did take a battering especially in winter and the salt got into the cuts, we wern’t soft buggers it was just part of the job and you just got on with it.What about this for a regular load,24 ton of baled trim and waste!!!Bewick.
Enough to bugger a good sheet up with snagging the wires around the bales and walking over a net 15’ up was a hazardous occupation 
HERE HERE DENNIS
No problems with loads like this in the ponsonby camp
hope you are keeping well, anyway back to the traffic book speak soon, Mike.
Bewick:
It really is just a generational thing between two distinct forms of load carrying,one that was predominant prior to the introduction of Curtainsiders when the accepted method was Sheets and Ropes and after the “revolution” Curtainsiders rapidly took over and the former methods and skills were consigned to history.However,what the modern day “curtain puller” fails to understand when mocking the methods of yesteryear is that sheeting and roping was the “only game in town” during that time.Furthermore,you could pick out the firms/drivers who took a pride in their S & R skills.Theres not a finer sight than to see an immaculately sheeted and rope motor passing by!!!I always use to take great pleasure in looking back through the corner cab window in the Octopus when we would be running up out of South Wales loaded with 20ton of tin plate,and admiring the faultless sheeting of both waggon and trailer,sheets as tight as drums and every eye on the hitches in perfect line,magic !! Nowadays you haven’t got a clue whats behind the curtains,loaded or empty and apart from ,say,having a clean set of curtains,there can be no pride or skill in opening and closing curtains surely.I would also add that it was immposible to wear rubber gloves and sheet and rope properly so yes the old hands did take a battering especially in winter and the salt got into the cuts, we wern’t soft buggers it was just part of the job and you just got on with it.What about this for a regular load,24 ton of baled trim and waste!!!Bewick.
Wheel Nut:
Enough to bugger a good sheet up with snagging the wires around the bales and walking over a net 15’ up was a hazardous occupation
They were good loads those Rodders !! They origionated from the Bowater/Rexam plants where we had stand trailers being loaded as the waste was being baled then we changed the loaded one for an empty after we’d tipped 24 ton of reels in the plant from East Lancs Mill.We got about 12 or 15 of those nets made to measure for the job,they were far easier,and more cost effective for the reason you mention.Cheers Dennis.
An example from an Australian trucking magazine 1982. Could “Australian Canvas Committee” be the Australian government advertising about this?
We had some skills in roping and sheeting in Sweden too . Here´s a vehicle with destination Great Britain in the eighties
/Stellan
Heres a few from the last two weeks, more wrapping & bungying really…
Big sheets these & a right nuisance, these two below cover most loads, sorry they’re tarps here.
Pity about the crease in this shot, must try harder I reckon…
the aussie bloke did a fair job,what do you reckon dennis 
GAZ70:
the aussie bloke did a fair job,what do you reckon dennis
Would he have done it himself Gaz or was he just posing and the little Shunter what really had was back in the cabin “having a brew” ? And those sheets on the Autotransit motor look like they were “made to measure” to me so it dosen’t count as “the real thing”,what do you reckon? Cheers Dennis.
that aussies far to clean to have done that himself 
gonzothejaffa1:
that aussies far to clean to have done that himself
Correct !
i reckon your right dennis,just for the glossy pic’s,still pal do we agree the shunter had a good try ,all the best gaz 
GAZ70:
i reckon your right dennis,just for the glossy pic’s,still pal do we agree the shunter had a good try
Here’s one for you Gaz,we’ve just transhipped the only load we lost of the '000 we hauled out of Bowater Scott Barrow Mill on flats,thats me on the top waving the arms,I think the ■■■■ who "shot it is climbing into the Atki cab to pull it away so we could sheet the transhipped load,never lost a carton though !! Cheers Dennis
.
was that your granada