Bewick:
Paddy outfit Montracon bought out TASK so I changed over to good old C/F
Hi Dennis, Just being curious but did you give them a chance or did you just not like Montracon/Montgomery ?
Hi Dave, got to be careful here because if I let rip about what I really thought about Montracon I will get castigated from certain quarters about my strongly held opinions which I should keep to myself and say ‘nowt !
However, as it was me that bought trailers and not my detractors I believe I can express a qualified opinion on trailer manufactures as I saw them !
I never entertained or considered either Montracon,SDC or Dennison trailers for the Bewick fleet full stop. However it was Montracon that tried a time or two, unsuccessfully, to interest me in their product and in particular by their, then, " East End Barra’ Boy Sales Director". Well this particular day he turns up un-announced at the depot and proudly tells me that as Montracon had just bought out Taskers I would now be dealing with Montracon ! The cheeky B------- so I recall that I had an order for 6 TASK chassis in the process of being built for Boalloy bodies to be fitted so I informed this “Barra Boy” that if they dared to tamper with my TASK spec there would be Trouble and I chased him!! These were the last TASK chassis I bought and they closed the ■■■■■■■■■■■ factory IIRC and I returned to Crane Fruehauf for subsequent orders ! I realise that the trailer market has changed considerably since my day and is now all Paddies and Continental makes so I can’t really comment on current makes of trailer. What do you reckon ? Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, Thanks for the reply & I fully understand that this is an open forum, I may have had a run in with the Barra boy myself about five years ago, he was not the best singer according to another couple that I know, I may also be a million miles away with my thought process.
In the past I have had a good working relationship with Montracon trailers over the years & I have to give them credit where its due, as they always built exactly what i wanted wether it be right or wrong at their Doncaster site, I also used to deal with Harold Montgomery directly over the phone mainly during the night about forty four years ago when I used to carry out repairs as a side line to my normal job around the South West area of Scotland for a lot of Irish firms, Always received my payment the following night which was sent over on the ferry with certain drivers, He would certainly not know me after all these years and has no reason to.
Stay safe Dave.
Thanks for the reply Dave and yes you were spot on with the Singer Cheers Dennis.
Most of my early exposure to trailers was with Boden and C/Frauhauf products, which were excellent in my opinion. We did also have a York with a diamond cut out pattern chassis, it was known to all as the Banana! due to the flexing when loaded. When I became an O/D I bought a Dennison sliding Skel with drum brakes from a retiring O/D, it was a great trouble free buy. I later bought another second hand slider from Dennison at Preston. It was literally a disaster on wheels thanks to the disc brakes. Dennison replaced the calipers but neglected to fill them with grease, or even inform me or my maintenance contractor they needed filling. So although they were being regularly greased via the ■■■■■■■ they still seized up. In fact it was after yet another breakdown ( in Southampton this time) I found an independent breakdown fitter who cured the fault and told me about the need to fill these calipers before fitting. Tellingly, I never had any more brake problems after that . I retired in 2012 so I would hope things are better now with Dennison. Regards Kev.
ramone:
I remember my dad having a spread axle AHP tandem in the 70s it was a decent flat . He dropped it on Birch Services and someone nicked it !!!
Mine had 2 Ahp tipper chassis an 83 & 88 they were good at the rear and had the smaller ror hangers but the neck welds cracked often but on a flat I don’t suppose any one would ever see that unless they were changing the floor .
Franglais:
No one mentioned Highway Trailers yet?
US owned, but made in the old spitfire factory at Eastleigh airport. ROR running gear I think?
Smith of Maddiston were large users of Highway trailers and IIRC they jointly designed an extremely lightweight tandem axle 40 footer which was shod on super single tyres.
Franglais:
No one mentioned Highway Trailers yet?
US owned, but made in the old spitfire factory at Eastleigh airport. ROR running gear I think?
Smith of Maddiston were large users of Highway trailers and IIRC they jointly designed an extremely lightweight tandem axle 40 footer which was shod on super single tyres.
I only remember pulling one Highway trl, and was an absolute beginner then. It was a 33ft (IIRC) twin axle flat which was used to load heavy(ish) 20 containers on, no extending skellies then and a dedicated 20 skellie woulnt have versatile enough I spose. It had holes for the container pins which werent actually fixed. The pins stayed in place when a box was on the trl, but had to be removed before they bounced out bumping along the road with no box in place. I imagine it was an older flat trl converted to take boxes?
I
Franglais:
No one mentioned Highway Trailers yet?
US owned, but made in the old spitfire factory at Eastleigh airport. ROR running gear I think?
Smith of Maddiston were large users of Highway trailers and IIRC they jointly designed an extremely lightweight tandem axle 40 footer which was shod on super single tyres.
I only remember pulling one Highway trl, and was an absolute beginner then. It was a 33ft (IIRC) twin axle flat which was used to load heavy(ish) 20 containers on, no extending skellies then and a dedicated 20 skellie woulnt have versatile enough I spose. It had holes for the container pins which werent actually fixed. The pins stayed in place when a box was on the trl, but had to be removed before they bounced out bumping along the road with no box in place. I imagine it was an older flat trl converted to take boxes?
I
Brady’s had a 28 ft highway trailer on demo in the late 1960 it never went back ran it for a lot of years There main trailers in those days were BTC four in line and Bowden tandem axle don’t have to say which were the best out of these 2
Franglais:
No one mentioned Highway Trailers yet?
US owned, but made in the old spitfire factory at Eastleigh airport. ROR running gear I think?
Smith of Maddiston were large users of Highway trailers and IIRC they jointly designed an extremely lightweight tandem axle 40 footer which was shod on super single tyres.
I only remember pulling one Highway trl, and was an absolute beginner then. It was a 33ft (IIRC) twin axle flat which was used to load heavy(ish) 20 containers on, no extending skellies then and a dedicated 20 skellie woulnt have versatile enough I spose. It had holes for the container pins which werent actually fixed. The pins stayed in place when a box was on the trl, but had to be removed before they bounced out bumping along the road with no box in place. I imagine it was an older flat trl converted to take boxes?
I
Brady’s had a 28 ft highway trailer on demo in the late 1960 it never went back ran it for a lot of years There main trailers in those days were BTC four in line and Bowden tandem axle don’t have to say which were the best out of these 2
Where have you been hiding Frank ? somewhere on Walney or I reckon maybe on remand with Bill G !! As for trailers well I recall that one day in about '67 a near brand new 30 or 33ft Boden was found down the Southside with grass growing on it and the Big’un reckoned it had been there for 6 months but they hadn’t missed it so it shows how haphazard they were at Brady’s. Anyway have you had both jabs and are out and about again mate. Cheers Dennis.
With over 50 trailer manufacturers by the late 60’s early 70’s there was plenty choice for the type of operations hauliers required, CF, York, Taskers and Boden may be some of the more well known and chosen names but makes like Arrow, Brockhouse, Carrimore, Dayson, Dyson, Hands, M&G, Merryworth, Northern, Peak, Pitt, Weeks were some others you would find among the more popular brands in company yards. Most of these would use the familiar ROR or York running gear and a few the York castellated chassis design. ERF and Scammell of course also producing their own trailers, I recall the new 40ft Scammell flat and tilt models having very deep chassis rails and high ride height compared to others. Someone mentioned Van Hool and they were a well built and reliable make when the 38tonne limit came in. Not really easy to say which manufacturer made the best trailer, probably the ones that survived into the 80’s and onward, many of the names mentioned sadly wouldn’t. Franky.
Frankydobo:
With over 50 trailer manufacturers by the late 60’s early 70’s there was plenty choice for the type of operations hauliers required, CF, York, Taskers and Boden may be some of the more well known and chosen names but makes like Arrow, Brockhouse, Carrimore, Dayson, Dyson, Hands, M&G, Merryworth, Northern, Peak, Pitt, Weeks were some others you would find among the more popular brands in company yards. Most of these would use the familiar ROR or York running gear and a few the York castellated chassis design. ERF and Scammell of course also producing their own trailers, I recall the new 40ft Scammell flat and tilt models having very deep chassis rails and high ride height compared to others. Someone mentioned Van Hool and they were a well built and reliable make when the 38tonne limit came in. Not really easy to say which manufacturer made the best trailer, probably the ones that survived into the 80’s and onward, many of the names mentioned sadly wouldn’t. Franky.
