Foden 46 barry crewe

My condolences Steve to you and your family on the loss of your brother Barry at such a young age.I remember Greenbooths from chaddy, they were about during my time at Townson Tankers Oldham. R.I.P Barry

Hi John, I donā€™t know when you started at Beistyā€™s but the first driving job that Barry had was for a company called Falks Electrical which was just a bit further along Rochdale Road near the junction of Miller Street. He travelled all over delivering electrical equipment in an Austin LD van and he took me on a trip to Newcastle once in the school holidays. If you remember the Gould street Gas works, well the first car that Barry bought was an old Austin 10 van which was an ex North Western Gas Board. If you remember the Gas Board had a fleet of red ones along with the G.P.O.(mail). G.P.O. (telephones) had a fleet of bottle green ones and the North Western Electricity Board had a fleet of blue ones. I canā€™t remember how much he paid for it but hey it was a car and it went (well most of the time). I can remember watching Childrenā€™s Hour on the black and white telly between 5-6 p.m. every night and at about 5.30 my mam would get up and say ā€œhereā€™s Barry I had better get his tea out of the ovenā€ and less than five minutes later in would walk Barry. I used to think that my mother had some kind of super natural powers as she could always predict when Barry was just about to come home.
About twenty years later I asked her one day how she knew when Barry was about to walk into the house all those years ago. She replied ā€œit was that old red van that he had, whenever he was at the top of the street the television used to crackle and show wavy lines on the screenā€. :unamused: I realised then that it must of been electrical interference from Barryā€™s van. The next time that I saw him I mentioned this story to him and he said ā€œoh yes the bloke next door was always saying when are you going to get a (z.b.) suppresser on your coil.ā€ :blush:

Great memories Steve, :slight_smile: I remember all them vans running around Manchester and surrounding areas.I started at Beistys in 69 and their yard was in the top half of the old gas works on Rochdale rd has you will know,and i have a faint recolection of an electrical company nr Miller Street

John Beistys yard on Rochdale Road

John Biestys.jpg

Hi John, Falks was in a building called Veritas House which was on the left just past Thompson Street.
I think it was on the corner of Cable Street but I shall have to go and have a look on Google Earth now to see if itā€™s still there.

P.S. I have just had a look and it seems that the building has been replaced by a block of flats. :cry:

Regards Steve.

The Greenbooth foden 4350 is now owned by Peter at commercial services sandbach he told me it was well looked after and in excellent condition .

Hi Dan, is there any chance that you can get hold of a photo of it and put it on here as I am sure that the rest of the family would love to see it. Barry drove that Foden from new and he thought the world of it. He drove it for the next 21 years and we used to joke that when he retired he wouldnā€™t ask the boss for a gold clock he would ask if he could just keep the Foden. Itā€™s great to know that itā€™s being well looked after and that itā€™s in excellent condition. :smiley: I have got about 50 old photos of G 915 YRF if Peter would like to see them.
B.T.W. Dan, I thought that somebody like yourself might of known who the Malcolm Harrison Atki driver was.

Regards Steve.

A picture may take some getting Steve as he dosent keep the Foden at his yard ,but next time I go over I will ask ,sorry donā€™t know the man in the picture ,Dan.

Sorry for you and your familys loss Steve.
Barry just three years retired,and one fighting cancer-not much of a retirement.
Life (and death) can be cruel.
Sympathies once again.

Didnā€™t know of your brother, sincere condolences to you and your family! RIP driver :cry:

Condolences. I lost my brother who was also a trucker for watsons petroleum in Jan this year. 33 years old. Brain tumour. Best wishes friend.

Condolences to you and your family Steve. RIP Barry.

Dave.

The chap in the Atkinson viewline is name Graham,he previously worked for Iddons of Leyland,if any of you remember them,they used to have a large fleet of Turqoise ERFā€™s

Sorry to hear of Barry passing, I remember him moving a screener that we used to hire from Casey Plant.
We now own that Low Loader Trailer Trailer (not the Tractor), we bought it from Peter at Sandbach a couple of years ago as a classic peice to couple with a 1980 Scania 141 that we have. The only thing is that we keep using it for breakdowns and she keeps obligingā€¦

RK09 XPD with LL Trailer.png
we also used it in a carnival onceā€¦

James Manley:
Sorry to hear of Barry passing, I remember him moving a screener that we used to hire from Casey Plant.
We now own that Low Loader Trailer Trailer (not the Tractor), we bought it from Peter at Sandbach a couple of years ago as a classic peice to couple with a 1980 Scania 141 that we have. The only thing is that we keep using it for breakdowns and she keeps obligingā€¦

we also used it in a carnival onceā€¦

Steve,

My sincerest condolences go to you and your family.

Itā€™s difficult to know what to write at a time like this, but Iā€™d like to add R.I.P. to Barry.

Hi Steve. I am a newish driver and as such did not have the pleasure of knowing your Brother.

Having read this thread, it seems to me that it is extremely respectful and caring towards you and your family.

I hope this brings a little comfort to you. Best wishes. Your Brother still drives, just a different highway.

Thanks lads for all your condolences, Barryā€™s funeral was last week which unfortunately I couldnā€™t attend but I had an e-mail from a mate of mine who I used to work with years ago and he assured me that Barry had a great send off with about 140 friends turning up. :smiley:
Thanks Gardner 6LYT, I thought that somebody on Trucknet would know who the driver of the Atkinson Viewline was but I still canā€™t remember who posted the photo a few years ago.
James Manley, thanks for the info and the photos of the trailer, itā€™s good to know that itā€™s still in use. Itā€™s started me wondering now as I think that Barry had the same trailer since it was new in 1974. I remember that it was a King Trailer, is that a King or did he also get a new trailer when they got the Foden. :confused: Next time you see it can you have a quick look at the year of manufacturer. Now James, I donā€™t know much about plant equipment but maybe you might recognise a couple of these.

Regards Steve.

Sorry to hear your sad news mushroomman :frowning:

mushroomman:
Thank you Ian and Casey for your kind thoughts, I thought that somebody may of recognised who the driver of the Atki was or I might even find out who took the photo.
Barry was always fascinated by lorries and looking back I wondered why he started an apprenticeship as a plumber and not a motor mechanic although I canā€™t remember him being a hands on mechanical minded kind of person.
In the mid fifties while the slum clearance programme was sweeping over Britain, a local company had a contract to demolish a couple of old streets nearby to where we used to live. It was during the time of the seven week school summer holidays and almost every day he would drag me down to the site to watch the demolition men with their lorries a Bulldozer and a J.C.B. He would always ask the workmen if they wanted any errands running for pies, newspapers and Fish and Chips for their dinners. When we got back from the shops they would always give us a threepenny bit or a tanner but Barry would refuse it and say is there any chance that I can have a ride out to the tip, which was about seven miles away. After a couple of weeks all the drivers knew him and some days we would get three trips to the tip. The highlight of the summer holidays for him was a ride in an O type Bedford, a parrot nosed Dodge or some ex W.D. conversion with a tipper on the back.
When he was in his twenties he started driving a four wheel tipper for Greenbooth Construction in Oldham and in 1973 the boss told him that he was thinking of buying a low loader and would he like to go for his class one and drive it. Barry jumped at the chance and ended up driving an A.E.C. Mandator, a Seddon and a Foden which were all bought new during the 40 year period that he worked for them.
Maybe those school holidays were not wasted after all. :wink:

Rest in peace, Barry.

Hi
Really sorry to hear about Barry we used to deal with him quite regularly when he was working at Greenbooths he would move excavators for us, We was recently in Chadderton just round the corner from Greenbooths yard so i started searching to see if i could find him online as he was hence finding this thread :frowning:

Iā€™ve added a few old photos we had two with him on next to his Greenbooths low loader :slight_smile:

David

D.L.Plant



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I added this post to this topic at the request of Throttle. dd.