tankerjack:
here is the other side of the depot at Heysham , Lancs.
Is that where the trailer park for the Irish and IOM ferries is now Paul? Sometime in the early 70s I’m sure I took Methanol to an ICI plant at Heysham,that’s when Randalls from Heysham worked out of there.They were taken over by another firm from Oldham called Townsons.
Chris
lovely photos there lads.
Hi Chris , sorry for late reply , hope yr fit and well , the ICI plant you delivered methanol to was at Middleton , it was opposite to the oil refinery , it closed down in the mid 80s , the oil refinary closed down earlier about 1974-5 , i have a aerial photo somewhere i shall post it on this site if i can find it , where did you usually load your methanol ? , did you carry quite a lot of that product ? , and where did you wash your tank out if you changed products ? . we are still managing to turn our road tanker wheels , not as busy as we normally are but still got a steady flow of work.
tankerjack:
Hi Chris , sorry for late reply , hope yr fit and well , the ICI plant you delivered methanol to was at Middleton , it was opposite to the oil refinery , it closed down in the mid 80s , the oil refinary closed down earlier about 1974-5 , i have a aerial photo somewhere i shall post it on this site if i can find it , where did you usually load your methanol ? , did you carry quite a lot of that product ? , and where did you wash your tank out if you changed products ? . we are still managing to turn our road tanker wheels , not as busy as we normally are but still got a steady flow of work.
Hi Paul,I only did the one load of Methanol to ICI at Heysham,from ICI North Tees,that run was normally done by their own transport I think,but it was a product we carried regularly.Allied Colloids and Cyanamid at Bradford were other drops from ICI North Tees. Another was out of Bitmac at Scunthorpe to Shell Exploration at Bacton,a North Sea Gas plant south of Cromer.We would take the refined product down and reload with wet Methanol for treating back at Scunthorpe.The water was extracted and pure product sent back down.They used to pump it through the pipelines to the gas rigs and it absorbed any moisture in the lines,then it was pumped back into storage on land.We could be on that run for weeks,I loved it.As far as washing out was concerned,in the old days any product that evaporated quickly and didn’t smell too much was disposed of by running with the lids and bottom valves open - Toluene,Benzene,Cyclohexane,pure Methanol,Acetone,MIBK,Vinyl Acetate and others were all dealt with in this fashion and I never had a rejected load.We did used to wash and steam out after tipping wet Methanol at Scunthorpe before reloading as the wet product was usually a dirty brown colour.
I remember talking to a Randall’s driver early 70s and he used to do alternate weeks on nights running from Heysham to Stirling and return,but I can’t remember what product he was carrying,I know he had an AEC Mandator same as me.
That’s a grand photo of the Heysham Shell and ICI refineries.I’ve seen the sign for Middleton when going for the IOM ferry,on the left going in before you get to Overton. I’ve found out that Trimpell was an abbreviation of Trinidad Leasing,I.C.I. and Shell,you learn summat every day. 
Good aerial pictures there Paul///Like the one of Bishopbriggs terminal…is that what you based your model layout on?..how many model tankers have you got now? and do you show them at all now…would like to see more pictures of it all…cheers…heres a few of my models I have collected…cheers…Bryan
Great stuff Paul,a credit to you.
Who does the kits for the AEC MK3s and 5s.Are they Kingfisher,if so did you make the tanks yourself?
Hi Chris , yes the AEC models are Kingfisher , you can either buy the cab on its own with a mounting plate this you then fit to a Corgi 8 wheel chassis or you can buy the whole kit , they are highly detailed and made to a very high standard , if you are going to be adventurous and buy a kit then the cost is higher , you need tools to assemble the kit . it all depends on how much you are prepared to pay. The cabs are £7-8 , kits when i last looked were £55. The road tanks i make them myself , through luck of judgement , i get a block of wood and place plastic around it and use filler to shape them , its a long affair but worth while , and its only through experience that i have gained the confidence to fabricate the models , i sometimes get modellers block if i am making a new model , then i just sit down in my model room and switch on without knowing if you will , and i start to begin with the model and then i am into the job without realizing it , its crazy , i havent built a model for sometime but i still have a lot of models in mind , if you need any advise please don`t hesitate to contact me. all the best Paul.
Hi there Paul…always great to see your model layout…thanks for posting them…did you make the Scammell Trunkers?..look the part…as you know the Shell Mex and BP fleet had hundreds of those…we used to call them Six Threes as I expect they must have been known in your fathers days…the name came about because the spirit tanks were designed to carry Six thousand and Three hundred gallons…but of course it all depended what product it was…weight wise…Up to now I havnt seen any Trunkers in the Corgi range…they do a smaller scale one in the Lledo models…but they were handymans I think…same cab design…your layout brought back memories to my Shell Mex and BP days…many thanks…Bryan
The first photo is a Leyland Comet with tank trailer , i made the chassis from brass , the cab was hacksawed of a dinky 4x2 model. and the second is the Scammell trunker Mk1 with the Lad cab , the third photo shows them in the green and red livery of Shell mex and BP. Tankerjack.
