3300John:
hiya…i saw this MAN on Heartshead services one day about 10 years ago. It run into Manchester area then back over towards Hull.
I think it picked a transformer up or similar. Alot on TN members will of seen it as it parked overnight on a layby nr the little house
on the prairie on the side of the M62
John
royal transport bergen
did some winches to belfast from norway few years back
I think that is a " O A F " which is an Austrian subsidiary of MAN I have made the same mistake with these makes of lorry
cheers Johnnie
Eyup Johnnie,you’d want some lamps round that bugger,if you could find a lay-by big enough to shove it in.
3300John:
hiya…i saw this MAN on Heartshead services one day about 10 years ago. It run into Manchester area then back over towards Hull.
I think it picked a transformer up or similar. Alot on TN members will of seen it as it parked overnight on a layby nr the little house
on the prairie on the side of the M62
John
royal transport bergen
did some winches to belfast from norway few years back
I think that is a " O A F " which is an Austrian subsidiary of MAN I have made the same mistake with these makes of lorry
cheers Johnnie
hiya,
Some tool "eh Johnnie do you fancy getting the working boots on, I’ll look after the parking lamps and give you a spell on the handlebars all heart that’s my downfall be a bit different to the ex-WD things I’m more accustomed too and I know you’ll have been lumbered with, just need another drink or two before I go down the shed for the boots and boilersuit, see you at the layby.
thanks harry long retired.
oiltreader:
This is an AEC 15ton tractor unit on trial with the MOD at Williams Creek, Northern Australia in 1934.
oiltreader
That was known as 'The Government Road Train and built specially by AEC and shipped out to test the idea of opening up the outback with roadtrains.
It was slow and ■■■■■■■■■■ and very noisy. The fan was behind the driver in the cab and was several feet in diameter. The trailers were of a curious construction, all 8 wheelers. I don’t think it was a roaring success but the war put an end to it. This one, or one like it is presently in the Road Train Museum in Alice Springs.
I have a book somewhere with technical details and background on the driver(s). I’ll try and dig it out if anyone is interested.
The real roadtrain revolution came after the war with some hardy pioneers running ex surplus tractors with home made and bodged together trailers. As many as a dozen or so all unbraked. Good job they rarely made more than 12 mph.
oiltreader:
Not a lorry but a big surprise to me, an AEC Railcar in Australia.
oiltreader
I rode a vehicle similar to this in outback Queensland in the '60s. Not an AEC but a Crossley. It was a normal bus body lifted off the chassis and grafted onto rail running gear. It was quite bizarre, the driver sat there with all 3 pedals and a gear lever and drove it just as a normal bus driver would. Only difference was there was no steering wheel. The driver just sat there with his hands in his lap between changes.
Harry by the time we had done the daily checks ( all them tyres ) it would be breakfast time and plenty of room in the cab for supplies ( 2 cases of malt ) off Dennis for Christmas
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
Harry by the time we had done the daily checks ( all them tyres ) it would be breakfast time and plenty of room in the cab for supplies ( 2 cases of malt ) off Dennis for Christmas
cheers Johnnie
hiya,
Johnnie we should get a few nights home I’ll use the old BSA Bantam nice low trailer and plenty of parking space on the swan neck I can bunny hop the old bike on there we can use the bunk’s spaces for extra supplies I’m not cabbing it never did and I’m not starting now, just needs Dennis to meet us with the giggle broth to keep the cold out, he did promise didn’t he??, and I know he’s a man of his word,now how do you start this thing, Johnnie It’s nowt like a Contractor is it??
thanks harry long retired.
3300John:
hiya…i saw this MAN on Heartshead services one day about 10 years ago. It run into Manchester area then back over towards Hull.
I think it picked a transformer up or similar. Alot on TN members will of seen it as it parked overnight on a layby nr the little house
on the prairie on the side of the M62
John
royal transport bergen
did some winches to belfast from norway few years back
That motor used to come into North Shields on the Color Line,/Fjord line ferry in the late 90s.
The driver spoke better english than me. The vehicle was a stunner, but he did spend a lot of
time waiting for an ■■■■■■. regards kevmac47
If my memory serves me correctly, Stuart’s had a 34’ tandem step frame coupled to a Volvo F86, driven for a while by Bill Keen then I believe a chap called Melvin. Before that they had a straight 34’ box on their old tandem fridge trailer, pulled by Martin Roose. I think that the F86/34’ stepframe combination was like their F86 8 wheeler, an attempt to run at legal weights.
Peter
Pebbles 74:
Peter Coaker:
oiltreader:
Some more this time Ian S Roger of Keith, Banffshire
oiltreader
Great set of photos oiltreader, many times I went over The Struy in the 70s & 80s, must be a much better road now. Reddaways Transport has been owned by the Clinch family for many years, “Removal Boy” put several photos of their trucks on the Devon Hauliers thread. The Houghton double decker behind the Leyland Roadtrain looks like one of Roy Stuart’s old ones
Peter.
Hello Mr Coaker, the trailer behind Mr Roger’s Roadtrain (Page 271) certainly does look similar to those run by Stuart’s. The two horizontal stips on the front of the box look spot-on for where Stuart’s had their name boards. I can’t find any photos showing Stuart’s having a tandem axle trailer though? Many thanks to oiltreader for his fantastic photos!
Chris.
W L Vallance are still very much in business today, still based on the Heathfield Industrial Estate near Newton Abbot in Devon. The photo was taken at a Lorry Driver Of The Year local heat at Clennon Valley, Paignton, that photo is on the wall of the traffic office. I do not remember orange lorries, but Vallances used to carry a lot of clay and have in the past been known to run in customers liveries.
Harris & Miners origionated before the war in mid-Devon, then Jerry Harris moved to Widecombe in the Moor and went into partnership with Sam Miners, who had been working with his brother Bill. Both firms are now sadly gone, W F Miners ceased trading about 20 years ago and Brian Harris (Harris & Miners) in 2001. Brian can be found in his office most days organising freight and still runs a couple of pickups with trailers for light deliveries.
Peter
Chris Webb:
oiltreader:
Chris Webb, a few more for you, bottom one from Rhodesia.
oiltreader
Great photos.The name Vallance rings a bell,were they from Cornwall carrying china clay powder in like an RMC orange colour? And W F Miners was the forename of Harris and Miners I think.
As for the Rhodesia photo,the cab looks like the Hastings and Deering type that they had in Australia.I wonder if the black lad got to drive or would he be the trailer brake operative,no log sheets over there in them days,just trap on.
This was my old truck! Thats a Mann trailer picked up from Harwich. I remember being fully freighted on the A5 going up by Cannock Chase & it suddenly lurched to the other side of the road for no reason but I managed to get it back on the left & carry on.It coulda been black ice. Ran out of diesel on the the M4 & the recovery van had never seen a ■■■■■■■ before & got his spanners out to try to bleed it. V.hot in Summer.
Used to reload at ICI Fleetwood with bags of fert. 20t on a 40’flat ,all handball -on & off.
To get to Colchester from the North in the old days there was only one road A604 ( I think) & it used to wind its way thru all the Essex villages. One foggy Winters night at about 17.30 I was picking my way thru Chappel at low speed & a lady stepped into the road from a bus stop with her hand out. She had seen the headboard with ‘Colchester’ lit up & thought it was the bus!
uncouple INVINCIBLE at the front and couple up CHALLENGER at the rear
or should it be uncouple INVINCIBLE at the rear and couple up CHALLENGER at the front?
Charles Longstaff of Darlington Sentinel leaving Darlington Forge heading for Cunard at Birkenhead loaded with ships stern parts. The trailer carried the coal needed for the journey.
oiltreader
The driver just sat there with his hands in his lap between changes. 
