rapidgem:
Can anyone help with photos of Tunnel / Castle Cement wagons from their Padeswood Works nr Mold?Here’s one taken in 1998:-
Any help would be appreciated - Cheers.
Hi there ,
I have brought a Volvo F7 tractor unit to restore and sent off the form to DVLA to find previous owners and it was new to Tunnel/Castle cement
Cheers
Rich
I remember being on Tower Hill London hanging around the phone boxes for a return load when someone rang one of the 6 phone boxes there, It was some cockney outfit offering loads from Tunnel Cement works, £2.00.per ton up to Edinburgh, I didn’t even ring my gaffer to ask if it was OK to load, This was 1963, Of course ther were some Jocks that did take it but at that time the rate was rubbish, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
I remember being on Tower Hill London hanging around the phone boxes for a return load when someone rang one of the 6 phone boxes there, It was some cockney outfit offering loads from Tunnel Cement works, £2.00.per ton up to Edinburgh, I didn’t even ring my gaffer to ask if it was OK to load, This was 1963, Of course ther were some Jocks that did take it but at that time the rate was rubbish, Regards Larry.
Aye Larry the ■■■■■■■■ Clearing house was probably on £5 a ton,and I would like to bet that the Jocks didn’t get paid anyway eh! Cheers Dennis.
Am I right in thinking Castle Cement is made in Clitheroe, Lancashire and then bulked by road and rail all over the country. 
Yes but also at other places. I was told that there were four and that is why odd wagons came in fours. One at
each place, ERF ECX, ERF ECT & Renault were examples
britishflame.org.uk/calendar … Cement.pdf
Bit of useless info but for a good number of years in the 80’s the heaviest freight train that ran up the West coast mainline past our depot at Milnthorpe was a double headed type 37 loco hauling 30 Ribblesdale Cement tanks which I was told had a 1500ton payload it ran 5 days a week to Coatbridge IIRC and even if you couldn’t see this train you knew it was the double header because the ground rumbled under your feet with the weight plus you could hear the two deisels getting “stuck in” for the first climb up past Oxenholme to Grayrigg then they needed a run at Shap.An empty train of 30 tanks ran back down next morning,obviously they would have had at least 3 sets of tanks on this job but always the same two “Syphons” pulling the sets.These two engines really earned their keep over the years I would think. Cheers Bewick.
shirtbox2003:
Am I right in thinking Castle Cement is made in Clitheroe, Lancashire and then bulked by road and rail all over the country.
Hiya …Padeswood was mothballed for a few years but its opening up again, a skeleton staff have been doing a few jobs
to keep the place ready for zero hour. i think its now come, my neighbor has just been for a interview working there. i only
live 2 miles away from the works. yes Clitheroe dose still produce cement…the building trade is said to be picking up.
John
brings back memories of delivering coal to padeswood in '78 or '79 , freezing cold winter , coal frozen in the body . we used to park under the rotary kiln and go for a brew while it thawed out a bit .
Stanfield:
A few here from Bob Hobbs photo site transportphotos.com dont know where they were based though
6543210
My Dad drove that Renault (KBD) from new. As a dedicated ERF man he couldn’t stand it!
It had to run with a tipping tank as it only had a 10.5 tonne drive axle. With the front mounted donkey engine on the belly tanks it was overloaded when at gross weight. He only found out when the VOSA man told him!
I worked for united tankers at stanlow went to Padeswood with 2 loads of Diesel for there trucks took the first one you would not believe the state
of the yard I stood in muddy water halfway up my legs if it had been a Shell driver he would have took the load back. Went back for 2nd load and refused it so Shell issued me with wellies and a new pair of overalls imagine coming long distance and did not have spare boots/overalls with you is this place still open?
it’s an M11 340 ,Eaton twin splitter overdrive and a 4.3:1 Rockwell .
Punchy Dan:
0123
I’ve been to look at this today ,other than its cosmetic appearance it’s very straight ,for any who know about ERFs even the heater control panel is not broken on the 4 corner screws
Hi Dan its looks a tidy bit of gear , Whats the tyres like & is it up for sale ?, Regards Larry.
Hi Larry it’s for sale but not advertised ,i guess the low diff is to make up for the low horse power but being a tso it wouldn’t be bad overall
Edit Larry it’s got michelins on the front but the rest are scrap 
Punchy Dan:
Hi Larry it’s for sale but not advertised ,i guess the low diff is to make up for the low horse power but being a tso it wouldn’t be bad overallEdit Larry it’s got michelins on the front but the rest are scrap
Thanks Dan, I was at a family reunion Monday/Tuesday, It was great , One of my long distant cousin who lives in Canada came over here to scatter his Mams ashes at the Newcastle Crem. What a lovely getogether, He has some old photos of Smiles for Miles, Which of course are of very great interest, His Late Grandad Isaac Smiles was my Late Grandad Tommy Smiles,s Brother, I will post these ole photos shortley, They are fantastic IMO, Hope you are keeping well, Regards Larry.
Can anyone help with photos of Tunnel / Castle Cement wagons from their Padeswood Works nr Mold?
Here’s one taken in 1998:-
Any help would be appreciated - Cheers.
Tunnel Cement Foden at Padeswood - early '80’s.
I’d be very interested to see any more photos of the Padeswood Cement Works fleet in either Tunnel Cement or Castle Cement colours. Any help would be great.
Cheers.
Going off subject somewhat,
I was given a couple of night runs up to Padeswood from Avonmouth with an artic tanker for Castle Cement by an agency a few years ago. When the agency guy on the phone said “You’re going to Padeswood” I asked where that was and he replied that he had no idea 
. When I looked at the atlas that I had at the time (pre Sat-Nav) I couldn’t find it. I now use this as a yardstick to how detailed an atlas is. If it has Padeswood on it it is ok by me. You would be surprised at how many “Large Scale” atlases don’t.
After the 2 runs with the tanker they sent me back up there with a tautliner on the 3rd night. I was last in line to be loaded as I had an ABS fault on the unit (ERF!) before I left the yard and had to get it checked out. They said " we help each other to strap and flysheet the loads here" when it came to my turn to be loaded - youv’e guessed it - all the other drivers had p****d off! 
.
The perils of doing agency work. 
