Hi , Eddie , Bill did say Mr Sutton had words with him ,But they were to good to scrap ,only sent one back it had a fuller box jumping out of gear and cab was very shaky ,told Bill fetch her back and swap it ,did you like a bit of fish like Bill ? ha ha ,CHeers Barry
Hi Barry, Bill sent me up to your place a couple of times in that diesel Peugeot pickup that they had, usually early in the morning, to pick up his fish. Best not say too much eh ? I seem to recall you lived at the top of the hill in a bungalow in what appeared to be an old quarry, or have I got that wrong ?
Cheers. Eddie.
I have a good few wrecker pics if you would be interested in viewing but not sure if this is the thread for them?
This and many modern ones.
Gordon
Here’s my mate Frank with his wrecker. Taken in Pickford’s yard Penwortham in 1991. I think H Parkinson have the place now. What a piece of kit though. What couldn’t you do with that ? The Holmes gear slotted into the fifth wheel. The only one of its kind that I’ve ever seen. He bought it off the Yanks at some auction or other down Cambridge way. He was always doing stuff like that. He reckoned that the unit was painted with some kind of paint that deflected radar beams. Possibly true, I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that I wouldn’t call this a breakdown lorry, I’d call it a wrecker. Eddie.
Eddie Heaton:
To add to the debate on the origin of the term ’ wrecker ', I have before me a book written a man who was , or possibly still is, something of an expert in the field of recovery. The name of the author is Ron Grice. His name may be familiar to one or two people on here. He used to run recovery training courses in Ware, Hertfordshire. I believe the man was trained in the military and his methods were logical and mathematical almost to the point of being scientific. The book contains complicated looking equations for calculating stress on the line when winching, wire rope tables, chassis selector charts etc., and at first glance appears to be a bit boring. But as he once said to me, " if it looks spectacular, then you’re doing it wrong ". Copyright law prohibits me from posting extracts from the book, but I’m prepared to risk quoting a few lines from the preface by the author.— " One is still able to observe a breakdown crew, sometimes even a well equipped breakdown crew, attacking a casualty with more enthusiasm than knowledge ; which is probably where the term ’ wrecker ’ originated. —
It would appear that both Mr. Grice and Windrush are singing from the same hymn sheet. Cheers. Eddie.
I was on one of Ron Grice’s training courses about 15 years ago. A very knowledgeable man.
Eddie Heaton,
The Pickfords depot is Chorley Road, Walton le Dale. It was Hankins yard prior to nationalisation.
The shed on the right was one of several. One day back in the late sixties/early seventies a whirlwind came along and sucked the roof off a shed before it travelled up and across a housing estate.
Made a lot of work for roofers that day.
Mechanic77’s comments remind me of an AVRO meeting at an REME depot.
The army boys put a tank up on it’s nose and secured it with ropes. We asked how they were going to get it down. Right up Ron Grice’s streeet.
“We haven’t worked that out yet and we won’t be trying untill you lot have gone” was their reply.
That was also our introduction to Kinetic energy rope. 4 ply contra twist. wow!
Must try and find some pictures of our recovery trucks, all from the 70’s/80’s. No “mangles” on ours.
Eddie Heaton:
Seeing as how I’ve mentioned Sutton’s I feel obliged to disclose that all their stuff wasn’t consigned to Irlam steelworks. Here’s one that dodged the ’ hot spanner '.
Very Nice.
Gordon wil:
I have a good few wrecker pics if you would be interested in viewing but not sure if this is the thread for them?
This and many modern ones.
Gordon
Nice
My apologies for the gaffe Walton man, you’re perfectly correct of course, I always have difficulty differentiating between those two locations.
Now the Scammell pictured above, would it have been this model ? And would it have done service in the oilfields I wonder ?
Eddie.
Hi ,Eddie , Your spot on only Dads house was next to the Bungalow by an old Sand quarry , Cheers Barry
Gordon wil, what happened to your photos?
Sorry wanted to get the feed back that they were ok to post.
So here are a few. Mainly from Truck fest Peterbo. 2011
So enlighten us gazzer, what went wrong at Princes Commercials on that fateful day in 1978. I assume the wrecker was attempting to push the Barbour unit onto the flat trailer when it all went a bit pear shaped ?
Eddie.
Correct Eddie. The F88 290 had the dreaded “290 issue” but it was only when the water problems started to appear. We diagnosed the fault but Duncan Barbour insisted the truck was returned to Scotland. As the F89’s front wheels went over the hump on the ramp it somehow reduced the weight on the front axle of the F88 that allowed it to slip sideways. We called Marsh Plant who were at the rear of us to come round with a small crane to lift it back onto the trailer!
Many thanks for the photos Gordon wil, they’ve certainly come a long way since the days of a retired Leyland Comet with an RSJ strapped to the back.
Of little, or no interest to anyone apart from myself and possibly old 67, here’s a couple of Ripponden bodies on Pennington’s former yard. I’d forgotten about these two.
Ripponden & District should really have a thread of its own, don’t you think John?
Cheers. Eddie.
Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures Eddie. I’ve got 33 years of Ripponden tales and lots of photos. I have added some " Ripponden " input to many threads whenever I have felt it relevant to that particular thread. It is kind of you to suggest that Ripponden might have a thread of its own but I think it might be of limited interest to the general lorry driving fraternity.
Regards. John.