Last one !!
mercman123:
Last one !!
Using all the aforementioned methods of sheeting & roping kindly supplied by mercman here is a shot of some Bewick trailers standing in the Mill at Betham.The two on the right would be in-coming loads of pulp not re-quiring a “fly sheet” and the ones on the left will be ready to go “down the road” Bewick.
Did a couple of days on here on agency a few years ago, and the lads in the loading bay were quite suprised when i said i could rope it and sheet it myself, as they were told when the agency lad arrives make sure its sheeted. Not exactly a load of reels on a flat but still nice to do a load every now and again… 
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Don’t know if these count but all the same it still kept my hand in the game a bit…
The last 3 widdowson pics was my lorry, always had to do the full works, even though its only a fly…
mercman123:
sorry all in the wrong order
just seen these roping and sheeting drawings from truck mag 1977 I remember I was getting my hgv that year and my instructor brought those into me one night I used to have one 2 hour lesson a week in the evening £10 per lesso as I recall and we always ended up parked in commercial road (east london) and getting kebabs from an asian cafe they were great but the lorry I trained in though was a pile of you know what old ford d800 still he got me my licence that really has got the old memory going I must be going senile or soft one of the two good luck, fred (wishing I was long retired unlike harry gill who is long time retired lucky beggar)
I thought i knew it all after helping 1 of our drivers to r&s after i passed my class 1 in 1975. driving down from wick loaded with bales of wool to dewsbury,the load shifted.nobody told me this stuff moves every time u go round a bend.did i panic? too right i did. phoned boss,told me to get on with it!! took me 3hours to square it up with help of local farmer .stopped every 25 miles after that to check ropes. it brought me back to reality .my workmates ribbed me for weeks. not so cocky after that.
You know summat. I can rope and sheet. I did it many a time picking up unaccompanied flats in Ramsgate docks and then having to sort out the mess left by some Belgian that had took his ropes off. I remember mornings when I’d chuck the rope over and then have to turn the vehicle round cos when I chucked it over again the wind blew it back at me. And then do it again.
And of course getting to some tip when it was wet and blustery and the ■■■■■■■■ would sit and watch you struggle with wet and heavy sheets in the wind. And of course they were always dirty and covered you in ■■■■.
Yes I can rope and sheet, but unlike some of the others on here with rose tinted specs, I ask God to bless whoever invented the tautliner, and ask: why did it take so ■■■■ long! Sometimes progress should be welcomed 
ah lonewolf
if you collected flats out of ramsgate and they were john dee trailers they tended to either have the front of the sheets tied to the pin and the tuggies had covered the sheet in 5th wheel grease or they were old tilt sheets nailed down with wooden blocks and not 1 hook to tie anything to
tended to tie sheets to the wheel arches and winding legs.
i like to think if i had descent sheets and trailer with hooks my reailers would look like the rest of theposts on this thread rather than a bag of ■■■ ■■■■■■■ with chicken wire