kevmorrow:
Does anybody remember the way we cleaned tanks before health and safety. Many times in the 1950s 60s it was common practice to have a paraffin boil up. Pour a few gallons of Paraffin in tanker. Put tank on spinners with bottom valve shut until water came over the internal tracer coils pre 1970 or modern tanks enough to cover front to rear by dropping tank virtually on its knees. Close lids open vents. Depending what product you had baked on the tank, you could just use steam trace and also force steam through the bottom and foot valves. Final wash and steam. One reason to use this method for instance, you did not wash crude herring oil out properly and went on steam it would bake on tank. Other reasons dodgy return loads. NICE. If tank needed to be mega clean it would have a visible check. Leave tank venting with lids open until cooled down. Use special internal ladder to get in tank and also stops the lid getting shut. With rags on your boots to check over. The early day’s spinners were not as powerful and could not cut in to product especially round baffles.
Much later than the 60’s Kev, it was probably SCOPA that put an end to it, well not an end, but a small paper exercise using another washbay
Last Night I was watching a programme about BSE, they were talking about how the cattle were being fed to their siblings.
Any tanker driver knew that, if the tallow wasn’t good enough for Cussons or John Wyatt, it went into animal feed
kevmorrow:
Does anybody remember the way we cleaned tanks before health and safety. Many times in the 1950s 60s it was common practice to have a paraffin boil up. Pour a few gallons of Paraffin in tanker. Put tank on spinners with bottom valve shut until water came over the internal tracer coils pre 1970 or modern tanks enough to cover front to rear by dropping tank virtually on its knees. Close lids open vents. Depending what product you had baked on the tank, you could just use steam trace and also force steam through the bottom and foot valves. Final wash and steam. One reason to use this method for instance, you did not wash crude herring oil out properly and went on steam it would bake on tank. Other reasons dodgy return loads. NICE. If tank needed to be mega clean it would have a visible check. Leave tank venting with lids open until cooled down. Use special internal ladder to get in tank and also stops the lid getting shut. With rags on your boots to check over. The early day’s spinners were not as powerful and could not cut in to product especially round baffles.
Much later than the 60’s Kev, it was probably SCOPA that put an end to it, well not an end, but a small paper exercise using another washbay
Last Night I was watching a programme about BSE, they were talking about how the cattle were being fed to their siblings.
Any tanker driver knew that, if the tallow wasn’t good enough for Cussons or John Wyatt, it went into animal feed
I did not start on tanks while the mid 70s and we used to have to boil several products out with different boils Paraffin, Caustic, White Spirit and Xyelene quite a few of these were from products going into paint. Wax was a Paraffin boil and this was done by having the rear two lids fastened down and the front lid just down but no catches on and the pressure release valve open and the steam up through the outlet pipe and then a soap wash with the spinners. There was also products which required a cold water wash first like latex which when you tipped you pressurised the tank while you got to the clean out place. Latex could be a pain some times as it could dry on and then you would have to climb in to scrub it off with wire wool we did a fair bit to Belgium and when Lokeron tank clean first opened we used it a lot before the vehicle wash or cafe were there and the office was a caravan. There was some clean out places where the lads only used hose pipes and steam or one of the cleaning bay lads would climb in with a steam lance to clean the tank. I think H & S put a stop to this practise.
sammyopisite:
There was some clean out places where the lads only used hose pipes and steam or one of the cleaning bay lads would climb in with a steam lance to clean the tank. I think H & S put a stop to this practise.
cheers Johnnie
I remember that well from my first trip to Poland, the dirty little arab dragged his pipes all along my tank. I was not impressed
Some of the cleaning stations in Italy left lots to be desired too.
Slab Murphy:
No one has mentioned B.P. McKeefry Ltd a very fast expanding tanker company.
Slab Murphy:
No one has mentioned B.P. McKeefry Ltd a very fast expanding tanker company.
I remember many McKeefy Tankers Swatragh used to call in to Kraft Food (Humko) Trafford Park Manchester about late 1970s. They were a good bunch of lads. I worked for Williames Transport Group at Trafford park in the late 1960s and a driver from Williames Aldergrove depot (Head office Sinclair House Royal Ave Belfast, John Adair moved to MaKeefys after Williames closed down. He then worked at Haulage services Tankers and died about 1982 after a motor bike accident
Lawrence Dunbar:
Can anyone remember Cawthorn & Sinclair from Birtley, have two ERF Tankers Proctor & Gambles livery, powered by RR. Fuel Injetion Petrol Engines, the drivers loved them, very quiet & I would imagine pretty fast, to say the least.Regards Larry
There were two at S&R’s at Rothwell. Proctor and Gambles colours, (pale yellow), I THINK they were on a regular Hull -Trafford Park job, straight 8 RR petrol engines. They used to go up Standedge (before the M62 was born), loaded like it wasn’t there, everybody else was plodding uphill, they were forever looking to overtake, no wonder the drivers liked them. Fuel consumption was “not good”.
shell had 4 ERF kvs with straight eight rolls petrol engines they were bought to do the palaces so as not to disturb the queen (not the rock band) one still exists(just) at rush green motors
Can I correct a few things about Castrol (Ex Employee - worked at Hyde and Stanlow), The machines are called Ilovacs (Oil Vacumm Units), it is Electrical Oil Services now, a joint venture between Carless and what was Castrol (they were taken over by BP) and the bulk tanker fleet is run by Hargreaves, but not the Ilovacs. However both plants are now closed down (much to my disgust) they were a cracking company to work for, and were destroyed by BP, as BP did previously with Duckhams another great brand that has all but disappeared. N701CYD the ERF shown in the earlier photos was based out of Hyde along with N702CYD and was driven by Steve Foster. They were on contract from Wincanton.
I could go on - realise this sounds like a rant, but still miss my days there as it was the last time I really enjoyed work instead of now just doing a job till its time to go home.
Enjoying a second lease of life , is this tidy Foden 6 wheeled tanker, still bearing the Texaco livery.
Photographed on Maltas little sister` island of Gozo , last week.
wirralpete:
hiya mate,
guessing the trucks would have been hylevac trucks, use to change the transformer oil at power stations…dad done about 4 years on them, you may remember him mate as he was there till around 93, ernie williams is his name…
I’m terrible with names but expect I’d remember his face! The bit about power stations rings a bell, I think those (Castrol) trucks were kept near Nobby’s paint shop at Jones’s. Knew quite a few of the drivers, but spent most of my time with the workshop/stores lads.
That model looks like it’s going to be great, are you doing a build thread on it? Cheers.
Would that mean you remember Peter Cooper with the beetles? used to work in the garage at A S Jones many years ago.
