hi all,
a friend of mine from shrewsbury,cliff ashley drove for parfitt’s for many years.i remember him telling me they used to run scammel highwayman’s on steel out of ebbw vale for scotland.they were owned by b.w. rees from cardiff?i think?here’s one of cyril williams’.
regards andrew
Jezz:
Hi all
Has anyone mentioned Stephens & Chambers Brecon.They ran dodge tippers in the 60’s when I worked there. Also Harry Kelly of Crickhowell ,Guy Big J,s. I worked for Entress Tsp. Swansea 69-82.
Hi Jezz I can remember Richard Kelly from Crickhowell who had a Guy Warrior 8 wheeler ,now i think the reg was MEU165 ,he would park it near the Red and White bus depot in Abergavenny.
Stephens and Chambers i would see entering Newport docks regularly . They were members of Monmouthshire Tipping group a body set up W J Clayton who owned Kelvedon Transport . They too had a Guy Warrior a 6 wheel tipper, and all the registrations in their fleet ended in zero
Another side of their work involved hauling slag from Corby and Scunthorpe steelworks to a farmers co operative back in Brecon.
gah1950:
to kingswinfordkit.
do you remember a company called ford & reames? i think they were from ebbw vale/brynmawr area i thought of them when stephens & chambers was mentioned.
regards gah1950.
Hi Graham, Ford & Reames were based in Brynmawr. Their yard was in the town centre which acted as a roundabout, the southern exit taking you down to Nant-y-glo. They finished around 1982/3 and Leyton Williams took over their yard. Mr Reames was a partner in Heads of the Valleys driver training at Gilwern, affiliated with the RTITB. I did my class 1 HGV, and class 1 PSV there.
Chivers were also based in Brynmawr, their yard down a lane which was off the road leading to Davies & Merediths yard, which was visible from the heads of the valley road. Chivers finished around 1982, three of their long serving drivers Brian Ackerman, Eddie Lewis and Johnny the boxer joining us at Allan Price & sons.
Parfitts of Rhymney had the red trucks, and packed them in around 1982. Parfitts of Ebbw vale had aubergine coloured trucks and finished in 1982, two previous drivers took them over mainly on day-work for the NCB.
All these companies were running out of the Trefil quarry, and when it closed they all packed it in. They were all running 4 wheelers, KMs, Dodge K series and were no longer operationally viable. Powell Duffryn, Cromwell Slag and ARC all wanted 6/8 wheelers, and if you were on the coal you needed 8 wheelers.
Jezz, Steven and Chambers were based in Brecon, mostly involved in supplying lime to farms, with some quarry and coal as well. A friend of mine bought an 8 wheel Atki off them with work when they finished. About 10 yrs ago Truck & Driver gave 3 of Allan Spillets prints away, one has an 8 wheel Harry Kelly black Guy Invinceable in it parked next to a Scammel belonging to Mansell Davies. They were parked at an old transport cafe, loaded with steel plate, a great period photo.
Regards Paul
hiya pete.
have you got any more cyril williams photographs?when i worked for barry cosslett in the early seventies he bought a mandator that was one of cyril,sAEU534C.I would think it had been well worked and it wouldnt stand the challenge of draging a crane freuhauf low loader trailer around and was replaced with a volvo f88 MNY 568L.I have a few photos here of the 88 with the crane trailer picking up a new cat977l that i drove for barry,i will try to get his go ahead for them to be included on this thread.
regards graham.
hiya paul john.
thanks for the information onF&R i think they had their name over the cab in red on what i always thought was a pressed number plate design.
regards graham.
hello pete.
i am not sure about the name caparo tube but i do from time to time see artics on the A465 with tube and it is bundled in the shape of fifty pence pieces possibly could be from the old bsc plant at tarfanaubach.
regards graham.
Paul John:
gah1950:
to kingswinfordkit.
do you remember a company called ford & reames? i think they were from ebbw vale/brynmawr area i thought of them when stephens & chambers was mentioned.
regards gah1950.Hi Graham, Ford & Reames were based in Brynmawr. Their yard was in the town centre which acted as a roundabout, the southern exit taking you down to Nant-y-glo. They finished around 1982/3 and Leyton Williams took over their yard. Mr Reames was a partner in Heads of the Valleys driver training at Gilwern, affiliated with the RTITB. I did my class 1 HGV, and class 1 PSV there.
Chivers were also based in Brynmawr, their yard down a lane which was off the road leading to Davies & Merediths yard, which was visible from the heads of the valley road. Chivers finished around 1982, three of their long serving drivers Brian Ackerman, Eddie Lewis and Johnny the boxer joining us at Allan Price & sons.
Parfitts of Rhymney had the red trucks, and packed them in around 1982. Parfitts of Ebbw vale had aubergine coloured trucks and finished in 1982, two previous drivers took them over mainly on day-work for the NCB.
All these companies were running out of the Trefil quarry, and when it closed they all packed it in. They were all running 4 wheelers, KMs, Dodge K series and were no longer operationally viable. Powell Duffryn, Cromwell Slag and ARC all wanted 6/8 wheelers, and if you were on the coal you needed 8 wheelers.Jezz, Steven and Chambers were based in Brecon, mostly involved in supplying lime to farms, with some quarry and coal as well. A friend of mine bought an 8 wheel Atki off them with work when they finished. About 10 yrs ago Truck & Driver gave 3 of Allan Spillets prints away, one has an 8 wheel Harry Kelly black Guy Invinceable in it parked next to a Scammel belonging to Mansell Davies. They were parked at an old transport cafe, loaded with steel plate, a great period photo.
Regards Paul
Here’s a copy of Alan Spillets print,that you refer to Paul. It’s the Windrush Cafe on the A40 between Northleach and Burford.
Thanks Dave, there is something about those prints that take me back to the days as a kid I would go with my father. Those cafes were great back in the day when people had time for each other and comardary was the order of the day.
Andrew, are you thinking about Natural Gas Tubes in Tafarnaubach?
Regards Paul
Paul John:
Thanks Dave, there is something about those prints that take me back to the days as a kid I would go with my father. Those cafes were great back in the day when people had time for each other and comardary was the order of the day.Andrew, are you thinking about Natural Gas Tubes in Tafarnaubach?
Regards Paul
hi paul,
yes agree with you mate,those spillet pictures are the best!the tubes place i mean’t,used to be bosal? more recently it was/is caparo tube,their web site says they are still there.four years ago,when my mate drove for intake transport,he used to leave the truck in there on weekends.next door to ron skinner’s car sales.yes graham,i have a few more of cyril williams,that f88 registration number seems familiar to me,i may have a photo of that also.
regards andrew
a couple of welsh oldies.
ammanford based billy russell was on the middle east for years.trucknet member ec14 knew him well and he told me that billy russell used to take a spare crankshaft with him,incase he ever needed one 
heroes!
G’day,
It’s funny the things that jog your memory and give the grey matter a bit of a jump start. I remember as a truck mad teenager reading an arictle about M/E trucking and wishing it could be me one day. In the artice was a mension of an older bloke still on the run,I read the artice that many times that his name stuck in my head,Billy Russell and his 141. Then after all these years there’s a pic of him and his Scania on here,great stuff Andrew mate. I had always wondered what his 141 looked like as there wasn’t a pic of it in the article.
Here’s a scan from the mag.
This is the magazine that it came from,it was a two parter writen by Laurence Kiely who drove the F12,he had driven out east for many years,I always loved his artices. In the second part he left Saudi for a back load from Tunisia. I read a while back that he sadly died in an accedent while driving in Jordan I think.
hi jamie,
glad you liked the billy russel photo .i recall that article well,with bob poggiani’s s26 scud.i have another photo of billy’s 141 somewhere?being brought back decked from the middle east after he had suffered serious mechanical failure,will keep looking for it mate.as i am led to believe he didn’t get on with the other driver that decked him home,so he spent most of the trip,eating and sleeping in his brocken down 141 on the back of another astran subbie!
regards andrew
an owens road services 401.
durhams had a yard in newport for many years.
Hi Paul,
Harry Kelly also had two Big 'J’s driven by two lads from Talybont-on Usk Brecon (Tudor Williams & Keith Shelley ) in the late 60’s. Tudor was godfather to my son and he sadly died when the trtuck turned over up near Preston.
I well remember the Windrush on the A40 and it,s quality sleeping quarters !!! Two very old caravans in the bushes.
regards Jezz
gah1950:
hello kingswinford kit.
yes i remember chivers ,they had a fleet of tk s & km s and they used to park in a quarry going down the old blackrock hill.i did,nt know they ran buses.i do remember a company called parfitts of ebbw vale that ran lorries they were red i think,also cyril williams of brynmawr.
regards graham.
Hi gah .There is a book entitled Road hauliers Gwent that features Cyril Williams that includes the previous Foden hauling the milk floats as well as some Albions and AECs A good picture book! REGARDS KK
I think I can remember Cyril Williams having a yard next to a house on the left hand side as you went up the hill from Brynmawr to Beaufort [towards ATS garage on top]. This would be around the mid 80’s and I seem to recall Dafs [2800 or 3300 type] and flat trailers there.
mechanic77:
I think I can remember Cyril Williams having a yard next to a house on the left hand side as you went up the hill from Brynmawr to Beaufort [towards ATS garage on top]. This would be around the mid 80’s and I seem to recall Dafs [2800 or 3300 type] and flat trailers there.
Hi mechanic77, please do not take this as 100% but iirc Cyril Williams packed it in the late 70s, as did Crompton electricars.
I remember their yard being on the right hand side of the main road coming from Beaufort to Brynmawr. It was next to a row of houses and was just hard standing, as if two or three houses had been knocked down to build the yard. About half a mile down the road was a right turn which took you down to the town centre passing Weeks Bros slaughter house on the way.
If you carried straght on you would come to the roundabout on the heads of the valley half way up black rock.
So if coming in the opposite way you are right.
A couple of Cyrils ex drivers were instructors at Heads of the Valley driving school in Gilwern.
Neil, don’t mean to be an anorack, stuck at home with flu, just bored.
Cheers Paul