couple that didn’t scan very well and the Albion from the painting.
The reg on the Ford is OBB562R.
That’s a different view of OBB I haven’t seen! Must say those H Reg Scanias looked smart when new. Reckon that old yard must have got into some state in the bad weather. Ironic the 89 being in the corner then when it must have been quite new, it ended up in the opposite corner after Cockney Graham seized the engine up, remember being dissapointed we never rebuilt it, maybe money was the deciding factor. I was in the yard one day when a guy wearing a smart Black leather jacket and jeans came walking in, looking about. I asked if I could help him and he said “No, its okay, I’m Tony Van Hee” then carried on towards the office. I don’t know if they were expecting him but he had just got back from sailing around the US the last Eighteen Months. A lot of people didn’t know he was back! Franky.
Further to 2 members posts 2011
My Father, George Gowland started Gowlands Transport in 1954 after de nationalization but he had been there earlier 1926-1945.
He had bought 12 or 13 BRS A licences and Atkinson 8 wheelers, most were Royal Blue except 2 or 3 on contract A’s with Vickers Armstrong painted green.
By 1963-4 the going was tough, everybody cutting the rates making it un profitable, the only way out was to sell up and retire, he wasn’t well anyway.
Tony Van Hee and his parents purchased the whole enterprise - depot, lorries and garage bringing Smith and Van Hee’s lorries all to Low Fell.
I recollect the cheque for the purchase was from The Rankin Family Trust.
Most of fathers work came from Consett Iron, Jarrow Tube Works and Vickers, for a lot of the time he also had an office in Brierly Hill.
Lena Wright worked for my father from before the war, leaving and then working for BRS but re joining father in 1954. She left when he sold out in 1965 to Van Hee’s
I remember Van Hee’s yard being at the bottom of Beacon Lough bank. Was that the premises your father sold ? or did he have another yard somewhere on Kells Lane.
Gateshead 65
The bottom of Beacon Lough was his yard, when he bought it around 1930 it was only a short cul de sac called Pimlico, he kept the name Pimlico Garage, the hill only opened up after the next was and the estate was built.
He did own a garage at Sheriff Hill and 2 Canadian Buick Taxis. Pimlico Garage was sold to Tony -1965 that was next door to The Victoria Public House
He also owned Philips Transport prior to the war, selling it in 1945
Thanks for the info, the flats around the corner on Kells Lane are called Pimlico Court, often wonder’d where the name came from. A nursing home was built on the site of your old yard which was later converted into private apartments.
I think Powell Jam factory was in the same vicinity.
In the late 50’s early 60’s a chap called Bob Nixon operated a few tippers from a yard around the same area but I can’t remember the exact location.