Bewick:
sammyopisite:
I started on heavy haulage but I was taught how to splice 2 ropes together,how to splice a loop in one end and a dogs nob in the other as a lot of the loads of machinery had to be sheeted and I was always told to rope the sheet or the wind would rip it as a lot were awkward shapes when I later did general on steel this served me well but I found the nylon type ropes harder to splice than the hemp ones.
cheers Johnnie
I bet your start in heavy haulage “sammy” started in the playground pulling a wooden engine around on a bit of string !! Here’s another one from the Bewick archive my pet ERF coupled to a load of Bowater Scott tissue en-route to West Thurrock. Bewick
Bewick…This looks like shes ready to go. well i’ll take her this photo is saying come and drive me. I hope it was a 240 with a 9 speed fuller
thats a spot on motor.
John
Wheelnut showed a picture of a SEAWHEEL flat , at the time I finished subbing for them they were useing plastic farmyard sheeting to cover loads because all their proper sheets were going missing .
I started aged 17 as a drivers mate on the old wagon and drags. All the guys I worked with knew how to R&S and I was lucky enough to be taught by them. When I got my own W&D I made sure all my trailer mates could do it too. I can still remember one load I put out for night trunker to take to London, you could have dropped a plumb line down every side and the sheet looked as if it had been ironed on. I think there was a lot more pride in the job then, I know there are still a lot of drivers who have it but like life, pride in doing a job well seems to have died out.
hi lads, your right about the R&S a lot of pride was taken in them days, more so the scotch lads, remember davidsons of mugiemoss paper mill, you could bounce a thruppney bit off the sheets they were that tight, bumper
Bewick:
Anyone can be taught to open and close curtains nowadays but it was an entirely differen’t matter to learn the correct way to sheet and rope correctly ! While a lot of drivers managed to “get by” many who had been in the job for years never mastered the skill fully as you could see by some of the disgraceful attempts you saw flapping up and down the roads in days gone by !! However when you did see a lorry or trailer sheeted and roped in an immaculate fashion it sure was a sight to admire ! I was once told that the farther you went North the higher the standards became ( I suppose a lot of the Scottish drivers were acknowledged to be masters of their craft ) but believe me there were bad,passable and excellent fleets throughout the country ! I will vouch for that as we employed drivers from all over the country and in the main those lads were as good as any you would find ! Does anyone else have an opinion positive or negative on the skill of sheeting and roping !! To start the thread off I will put one or two Bewick photos on . 
Probably not all but most tidiest sheeted loads came out of Mugiemoss Mill Aberdeen, Scottish & English loads alike but Auld Towler took some beatin, doon and back hud er gan
1644FAN:
Wheelnut showed a picture of a SEAWHEEL flat , at the time I finished subbing for them they were useing plastic farmyard sheeting to cover loads because all their proper sheets were going missing .
Aye and bloody good sheets they are 
, were I mean. We used them to waterproof stables, cover garage roofs and classic cars 
I had to pick a loaded trailer up early AM to take to London.Our usual work was piling casings for Cementation,about 10ft long steel tubes and anything from 24" to 3 ft diameter.On This particular morning i checked the ropes and found there was not one dolly hitch keeping the load secure,the driver who loaded it had just looped the rope around the tie-hooks.What was surprising was that it had been driven from Cementations yard 4 miles away without falling off.
Whilst driving home tonight through St Helens a J R Adams motor was coming the other way & that guy certainly had’nt lost the old art 2 sheets & a fly neat as you like, it looked a picture it really did, I see Adams & Linkway still seem to keep the old art alive & long may they continue.
Fly sheet
Hi, I learnt the skill of ropimg and sheeting at 16, and woe betide the trailer mate who got it wrong. what about the picture loads of boxes of fruit with pictures out and upright,and a little bit of bonus for the pleasure. No-one though has mentioned those nice little splits on your fingers from pulling the dolly’s down, and those b’s never seemed to heal. William Sparrow.
william sparrow:
Hi, I learnt the skill of ropimg and sheeting at 16, and woe betide the trailer mate who got it wrong. what about the picture loads of boxes of fruit with pictures out and upright,and a little bit of bonus for the pleasure. No-one though has mentioned those nice little splits on your fingers from pulling the dolly’s down, and those b’s never seemed to heal. William Sparrow.
Nor the raw wrists from the wet cuffs of your donkey jacket when it was wet william,or a good wetting when you pulled a sheet off after heavy rain and wet ropes.
Cheers Dave.
william sparrow:
Hi, I learnt the skill of ropimg and sheeting at 16, and woe betide the trailer mate who got it wrong. what about the picture loads of boxes of fruit with pictures out and upright,and a little bit of bonus for the pleasure. No-one though has mentioned those nice little splits on your fingers from pulling the dolly’s down, and those b’s never seemed to heal. William Sparrow.
Ordinary wet wasn’t so bad it was the salt in winter that really stung !!! bewick.
Dave the Renegade:
william sparrow:
Hi, I learnt the skill of ropimg and sheeting at 16, and woe betide the trailer mate who got it wrong. what about the picture loads of boxes of fruit with pictures out and upright,and a little bit of bonus for the pleasure. No-one though has mentioned those nice little splits on your fingers from pulling the dolly’s down, and those b’s never seemed to heal. William Sparrow.
Nor the raw wrists from the wet cuffs of your donkey jacket when it was wet william,or a good wetting when you pulled a sheet off after heavy rain and wet ropes.
Cheers Dave.
You should have known there was 100 gallon of water coming off the top Renegade and got the hell out of it !!! What about the “Scouse” that opened his doors at Ross/Youngs Harthill and got buried in Vanilla Ice cream !! Dennis.
Back in the 70s and early 80s our local dairy used load boxes of butter on to flats and then rope and sheet them using bright yellow sheets , how the butter dident melt in the summer sunshine i ll never know.
1644FAN:
Back in the 70s and early 80s our local dairy used load boxes of butter on to flats and then rope and sheet them using bright yellow sheets , how the butter dident melt in the summer sunshine i ll never know.
remember loading boxes of butter from a wharf off tooley street in the late 60s,was told to double sheet it ,to keep the heat out!.also irish bacon on lancashire flats in hession bags,when it was hot,it didnt smell too clever!! dont know what the food police would say to-day!..chris
Your right about it being a lost art, but lets be honest, it was a serious pain in the you know what, almost as bad as Tilts !
I mean how could you try and earn any money if you are spending your life roping and sheeting
FBI
it sure was an art but be honest on a freezing cold wet day a tautliner was a bit better to handle you still had to tie stuff down inside but quicker away or tip, my old dad showed me how to do a dolly I worked for a firm in 74 who built exhibition stands for shows like the motor show or boat show and they were going to hire a 3 ton flat for me to drive this was before I got my hgv and I never really had a clue about roping and sheeting my dad at this time had sadly had a serious stroke and was paralysed down one side but still showed me how, I do recall as a kid going to work with him and him roping with them old hemp ropes and no gloves that I can reember back then in the 50s and 60s, still miss him a lot
ubym344:
it sure was an art but be honest on a freezing cold wet day a tautliner was a bit better to handle you still had to tie stuff down inside but quicker away or tip, my old showed me how to do a dolly I worked for a firm in 74 who built exhibition stands for shows like the motor show or boat show and they were going to hire a 3 ton flat for me to drive this was before I got my hgv and I never really had a clue about roping and sheeting my dad at this time had sadly had a serious stroke and was paralysed down one side but still showed me how, I do recall as a kid going to work with him and him roping with them old hemp ropes and no gloves that I can reember back then in the 50s and 60s, still miss him a lot
Here’s a shot for those of you ( very few now I believe)who still possess the skill to sheet and rope like this ! Two 40ft tandems in the depot at Milnthorpe loaded for Forfar. Makes yer eyes mist over! these young un-skilled jockey’s wouldn’t know where to start to produce finnished articles like these!! Bewick.
I remember back in the early 70s as a lad being taught how to rope and sheet, " you want to learn junk head, i show you and i will do it old style " needless to say i got fed up with being slapped round the head and told i was a moron !! by the time i was 15 i could rope and sheet and but for some reason i always used to duck in case there was a slap heading my way.
But i did nearly get set up in Ebbwvale steel works when i was about 16 yrs old, the guy i was riding shotgun with said he was off to the toilet and said rope and sheet the load ( tin plate ) so i pulled the fly sheet over, made sure it was tight as a drum and then roped every other hook in between the tin plate to keep the sheet tight. Turning round i saw the so called mate and a load of steel workers looking on at me… i thought gotcha you so and so … i remembered him telling me that no matter what you put on to secure steel if it want s move it will and nohing will stop it not even toggles and chains … so the salp around the heads although there was many were well worth it, the pride i used to get after roping and sheeting a load and it looking cushty was out of this world.
As a footnote back at the end of the 80s a guy who worked at the same outfit as me ( one the of the i have been everywhere and know every thing brigade ) was sent down to Cardif market then to barry to reload pallets on a flat,so off he went …trouble is he got back to strensham services with the pallets but rang in to say the load had slipped, one of our other lads was having a cuppa in the services and went to have look for him, the super fine trucker had only pulled the ropes tight but hadnt hitched them !!! how the hell he got that far is beyond belief … needless to say that was his last trip for the company .
Bewick:
ubym344:
it sure was an art but be honest on a freezing cold wet day a tautliner was a bit better to handle you still had to tie stuff down inside but quicker away or tip, my old showed me how to do a dolly I worked for a firm in 74 who built exhibition stands for shows like the motor show or boat show and they were going to hire a 3 ton flat for me to drive this was before I got my hgv and I never really had a clue about roping and sheeting my dad at this time had sadly had a serious stroke and was paralysed down one side but still showed me how, I do recall as a kid going to work with him and him roping with them old hemp ropes and no gloves that I can reember back then in the 50s and 60s, still miss him a lot
Here’s a shot for those of you ( very few now I believe)who still possess the skill to sheet and rope like this ! Two 40ft tandems in the depot at Milnthorpe loaded for Forfar. Makes yer eyes mist over! these young un-skilled jockey’s wouldn’t know where to start to produce finnished articles like these!! Bewick.
Now here’s one for those that can’t “Load a Rifle” never mind sheet and rope a load! But you would have to “gan canny” with it as timber makes an awfull mess if it is “Shed” on a roundabout so you must be a decent driver at least !! Bewick.Task platform Tri-Axle fleet No.131 stood in the depot at Milnthorpe.Bewick.
Bewick:
Bewick:
ubym344:
it sure was an art but be honest on a freezing cold wet day a tautliner was a bit better to handle you still had to tie stuff down inside but quicker away or tip, my old showed me how to do a dolly I worked for a firm in 74 who built exhibition stands for shows like the motor show or boat show and they were going to hire a 3 ton flat for me to drive this was before I got my hgv and I never really had a clue about roping and sheeting my dad at this time had sadly had a serious stroke and was paralysed down one side but still showed me how, I do recall as a kid going to work with him and him roping with them old hemp ropes and no gloves that I can reember back then in the 50s and 60s, still miss him a lot
Here’s a shot for those of you ( very few now I believe)who still possess the skill to sheet and rope like this ! Two 40ft tandems in the depot at Milnthorpe loaded for Forfar. Makes yer eyes mist over! these young un-skilled jockey’s wouldn’t know where to start to produce finnished articles like these!! Bewick.
Now here’s one for those that can’t “Load a Rifle” never mind sheet and rope a load! But you would have to “gan canny” with it as timber makes an awfull mess if it is “Shed” on a roundabout so you must be a decent driver at least !! Bewick.Task platform Tri-Axle fleet No.131 stood in the depot at Milnthorpe.Bewick.
This is a shot of some Bewick trailers standing in the Mill at Beetham.Bewick.