Ackworth / Onward Transport

Suedehead:

steptoe:
Not sure were this picture is from but its one of Akworths continental trucks.

Why didnt they re route the air intake and bung a bit of storage on that cab?
Quality pic though.

Could this motor be the “Missing Link” ? Was it fitted with an 8LXB by any chance? The intrigue is that thick over the thread you could cut it with a knife!!!Someone must know ■■■■ it!!! I can here the chains rattling down in the SOM dungeon already, there’ll be a riot shortly I just know it!!! Bewick.

hiya,
Yes Dennis and if you look a little further back along this thread it mentions that Ackworth had a tie-in with SOM at one point,and that chicken nesting box nailed over the breather could be hiding those elusive two extra pots and if thats the case he’ll always have a warm bum at bedtime.
thanks harry long retired.

Guys

Onward had a depot in Stockport as well, Stakehill Industrial Estate If my memory serves me. Mainly Buffaloes and Crusaders based there.

In the mid 70s they used to store raw materials for Kelloggs in Trafford Park, and when working for JB Carriers we used to load there regularly for the short trip, mainly palletised saxks of bran, sugar, gluten etc.

Another job to there was to load 20t handball bran from either RHM or Spillers in Trafford Park on the old Atki, and unload at Onward passing the sacks down forthe lads to palletise for transit to Kelloggs. Kept us fit!

Happy days

Bob

harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes Dennis and if you look a little further back along this thread it mentions that Ackworth had a tie-in with SOM at one point,and that chicken nesting box nailed over the breather could be hiding those elusive two extra pots and if thats the case he’ll always have a warm bum at bedtime.
thanks harry long retired.

Hiya “H” I think this Guy 4 wheeler would have had a ■■■■■■■ 205/220 engine(or may-be a RR) I very much doubt that it had an 8 potter Gardner as I think the 8LXB had only come out in about '72 I think.I only suggested it might have had the 8 pot in to see if there was any abuse (or otherwise) from the SOM brigade but nothing doing there “H” Cheers Dennis.

harry_gill:

harry_gill:
hiya,
Was’nt there another name in the group from way back same colours one word name, Yorkshire outfit plenty of motors can see them now the old grey matter won’t let me remember the name used to dig in the Caledonian Rd with one of their drivers and had a few bevvies with the lad think he was called Ray but not sure but it was the early 60s.
thanks harry long retired.

hiya,
The other company which was an aquasition of the Ackworth/Onward group which ran in their colours but carried the name “Wheeler” pleased about that my brain was starting to hurt.
thanks harry long retired.

Harry "Wheeler Road Transport " Cantley Road Sheffield had a few 4 wheelers mostly “Dodges” and they used to go to Liverpool Docks every morning leaving 0500 so were very good for a lift to the pool docks I got to know the drivers very well in the 60s as it was a regular lift for me :laughing:

Is,nt it amazing! the few times ive posted about the Onward group some pontificating jodrell from the west has stuck his oar in to comment about how much better his company did the job. Who gives a flying ****? This site is about nostalgia and the rose coloured specs should be bringing us together not causing conflict.

The aforementioned gent also talks about drivers being “promoted” as they (in his opinion) learn the correct way to do the job.
Well if you crave “promotion through the ranks” I would suggest joining the forces. As most of us who drove lorries for a living in the
“good old days” haha know, a shiny new sleeper cab could be not quite the the “promotion” you expected, as many a “guvnor” would
use the ploy “if you wont do it I will have to take vehicle off you and give your trusty old A series ERF again”.

kevmac47:
Is,nt it amazing! the few times ive posted about the Onward group some pontificating jodrell from the west has stuck his oar in to comment about how much better his company did the job. Who gives a flying ****? This site is about nostalgia and the rose coloured specs should be bringing us together not causing conflict.

The aforementioned gent also talks about drivers being “promoted” as they (in his opinion) learn the correct way to do the job.
Well if you crave “promotion through the ranks” I would suggest joining the forces. As most of us who drove lorries for a living in the
“good old days” haha know, a shiny new sleeper cab could be not quite the the “promotion” you expected, as many a “guvnor” would
use the ploy “if you wont do it I will have to take vehicle off you and give your trusty old A series ERF again”.

Now then “kevmac” don’t get your "underwear twisted"one thing we never did was threaten anyone with either promotion onto,or de-motion from “shiny new sleeper cabs”.Nor did we turn a “wet behind the ears lad” loose with a top of the range motor.When I’ve mentioned the word ranks it was nothing to do with dealing with our staff like the armed forces.The fact of the matter was we always had a very low turnover of drivers so anyone we did start had to accept that we had a loyal set of lads and they had to move through the “workforce” and they could not expect to be slotted in among those that had been with us for years.To be fair of course a quality driver soon found himself being favoured no differen’t to anyone else that drove for us.Also all our drivers were paid the same hourly(per T&G agreement) 1 1/2 after 8 hrs and Sat.and double time on Sundays(minimum 8hrs.=16hrs pay).The night men were paid shift pay in excess of T&G rates.Subsistance was at the recognised level also.We paid a daily lunch allowance as well.Holiday entitlement was 3 weeks up to 3 years service and then 4 weeks from the 4th year onwards.We also had a company wide Accident insurance which was activated after 2 weeks off and then paid out for 104 weeks the average net pay calculated over the 10weeks prior to the accident.I can tell you that quite a number of our drivers/shunters had good reason to be thankful for this part of their terms and coditions as they were of quite a while but didn’t suffer financially.We didn’t have a sickness benefit as this could be abused but an accident at work —no problem----I wouldn’t see anyone in our employ suffer financally after injuring himself at work Death in service insurance was 1 years gross wage.With regard to the East Lancs paper mill contract I was just stating a fact that the job prior to us starting was an utter shambles.We streamlined it and gave the mill 100% service levels,we didn’t know any other way so I don’t see how you can "knock that"and here’s the punch line believe it or not—we charged more! But then I suppose you get what you pay for.So don’t take it personal “Kev” it wasn’t meant to be!Cheers Bewick.

sammyopisite:

harry_gill:

harry_gill:
hiya,
Was’nt there another name in the group from way back same colours one word name, Yorkshire outfit plenty of motors can see them now the old grey matter won’t let me remember the name used to dig in the Caledonian Rd with one of their drivers and had a few bevvies with the lad think he was called Ray but not sure but it was the early 60s.
thanks harry long retired.

hiya,
The other company which was an aquasition of the Ackworth/Onward group which ran in their colours but carried the name “Wheeler” pleased about that my brain was starting to hurt.
thanks harry long retired.

Harry "Wheeler Road Transport " Cantley Road Sheffield had a few 4 wheelers mostly “Dodges” and they used to go to Liverpool Docks every morning leaving 0500 so were very good for a lift to the pool docks I got to know the drivers very well in the 60s as it was a regular lift for me :laughing:

:laughing:
Aye,Tate and Lyle were regular pick-ups for Wheeler Road.I never had a lift over Woodhead with 'em though as 0500 was too late for me,liked to be back in t’wagon at Hyde or Stockport by then,so the Lincs/Norfolk market men were my choice from Sheffield.Of course Pickfords drivers had plenty of time to fiddle back to their motors,not like the private sector. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Over to Sammie… :grimacing:

Hello folks I can tell you a fair bit about the Onward group because I worked for them. 1st for the Selby depot for a short time in 1960 then I started with Onward Castleford in 1964. It was the formative years of my life, where I learned about hard work and long hours. By far most of the traffic was United Glass, we new it as John Lumb & co Castleford. Rockware knottingley was never a big customer allthough some traffic did come Onward/Ackworths way from there.

Nobody I mean nobody roped sheeted and corner boarded tidier loads out of there than we did late into the evening then it would be 5.00am start for Kilmarnock or all destinations countrywide. Bill Pennington was the yard foreman and shunter in United Glass and a legend in his own lifetime. Put the fear of god into greenhorn drivers including me but you could earn his respect. I,ve seen big stong lads afraid to come down off the top of the load because they had incurred Bills wrath through letting a corner board fall or mishandling ropes. he did’nt suffer fools gladly. I had a massive respect for him, I expect he’s long gone now.

In 1970 I became an owner driver and did a lot of sub-contract work out of Ackworth depot. They were allways a smart fleet, with a high level of maintenance.
I hope this may be of interest to some folks…Dan

Used them for back loads to Bristol years ago on A. H. Gores, always had load back for us but a bit of a pain, odd pallets here and there to mini markets all around the centre. A load could be anything up to 15/16 drops all handball, but we were paid by the hour so who cares.Nothing was said if it took 2 days to do it.

killsville:

rich12:
i can remember seeing a few of their motors ready to be sold off in bocs yard at barnsley in the mid 90s,i think boc had bought them out then disposed of the trucks.

I think you’re right.

The ERF I bought showed BOC as the previous owner on the log book. I bought fleet no. 383 from a dealer in Coventry in 1996.

Onward was bought by BOC Distribution Services’ short-lived ambient network, BOC Interbrand. Interbrand had been formed by a buyout of Beecham Foods in-house distribution division, PDS (Products Distribution Services) and the idea was that this would form the basis of an ambient network to complement their existing BOC Transhield and G L Baker operations. The chilled side of the group also took on Spalding Haulage (with lots of stored-up legal grief!) around the same time.

Although non-Beecham traffic was added to the business (principally the former Onward traffic, I think - Haribo springs to mind as one customer) they then proceeded to lose the Beecham contract to Wincanton once the initial guaranteed period had expired, and that was the end of BOC Interbrand.

The evoultion of the BOC business is Gist, who still run out of the former Baylis depot at Thornbury (remember the Onward/Baylis link?) for M&S - this was previously used by BOC as the distribution centre for Beecham products from Coleford (Ribena), Maidenhead (OTC medicines) and Slough (Horlicks).

Finally, I seem to recall that Ian Storey, formerly a director of Onward, joined BOC Distribution Services as a director.

Sorry, I’ve just had to delete this. Senior moment :unamused: :wink:

Bewick:

kevmac47:
Is,nt it amazing! the few times ive posted about the Onward group some pontificating jodrell from the west has stuck his oar in to comment about how much better his company did the job. Who gives a flying ****? This site is about nostalgia and the rose coloured specs should be bringing us together not causing conflict.

The aforementioned gent also talks about drivers being “promoted” as they (in his opinion) learn the correct way to do the job.
Well if you crave “promotion through the ranks” I would suggest joining the forces. As most of us who drove lorries for a living in the
“good old days” haha know, a shiny new sleeper cab could be not quite the the “promotion” you expected, as many a “guvnor” would
use the ploy “if you wont do it I will have to take vehicle off you and give your trusty old A series ERF again”.

Now then “kevmac” don’t get your "underwear twisted"one thing we never did was threaten anyone with either promotion onto,or de-motion from “shiny new sleeper cabs”.Nor did we turn a “wet behind the ears lad” loose with a top of the range motor.When I’ve mentioned the word ranks it was nothing to do with dealing with our staff like the armed forces.The fact of the matter was we always had a very low turnover of drivers so anyone we did start had to accept that we had a loyal set of lads and they had to move through the “workforce” and they could not expect to be slotted in among those that had been with us for years.To be fair of course a quality driver soon found himself being favoured no differen’t to anyone else that drove for us**.Also all our drivers were paid the same hourly(**per T&G agreement) 1 1/2 after 8 hrs and Sat.and double time on Sundays(minimum 8hrs.=16hrs pay).The night men were paid shift pay in excess of T&G rates.Subsistance was at the recognised level also.We paid a daily lunch allowance as well.Holiday entitlement was 3 weeks up to 3 years service and then 4 weeks from the 4th year onwards.We also had a company wide Accident insurance which was activated after 2 weeks off and then paid out for 104 weeks the average net pay calculated over the 10weeks prior to the accident.I can tell you that quite a number of our drivers/shunters had good reason to be thankful for this part of their terms and coditions as they were of quite a while but didn’t suffer financially.We didn’t have a sickness benefit as this could be abused but an accident at work —no problem----I wouldn’t see anyone in our employ suffer financally after injuring himself at work Death in service insurance was 1 years gross wage.With regard to the East Lancs paper mill contract I was just stating a fact that the job prior to us starting was an utter shambles.We streamlined it and gave the mill 100% service levels,we didn’t know any other way so I don’t see how you can "knock that"and here’s the punch line believe it or not—we charged more! But then I suppose you get what you pay for.So don’t take it personal “Kev” it wasn’t meant to be!Cheers Bewick.

Hell I’d long forgotten about that. At one time it caused endless bother at our place, we all kept our “own” motors at that time, 4, 6, 8, wheelers and artics. Everybody on a different hourly rate :imp: It was before HGV licences, were were all doing the same job but with different size vehicles, we all could if required drive owt. Eventually the T&G negotiated a deal for us and we were all on the top hourly rate whatever we drove. Peace was restored.

altitude:
Used them for back loads to Bristol years ago on A. H. Gores, always had load back for us but a bit of a pain, odd pallets here and there to mini markets all around the centre. A load could be anything up to 15/16 drops all handball, but we were paid by the hour so who cares.Nothing was said if it took 2 days to do it.

What happened to A H Gores ?- used to run ERF 8 wheelers from down Poulton way didnt they ?

Suedehead:
What happened to A H Gores ?- used to run ERF 8 wheelers from down Poulton way didnt they ?

Mentioned very recently on the Bubblethread!

Suedehead:

altitude:
Used them for back loads to Bristol years ago on A. H. Gores, always had load back for us but a bit of a pain, odd pallets here and there to mini markets all around the centre. A load could be anything up to 15/16 drops all handball, but we were paid by the hour so who cares.Nothing was said if it took 2 days to do it.

What happened to A H Gores ?- used to run ERF 8 wheelers from down Poulton way didnt they ?

Yeah your right they did run a lot of 8 wheeler ERF’s and they had a yard at Clutton. When I was there they got rid of all the 8 wheelers ( that were mostly on day work in Avonmouth Docks ) They sold the yard at Clutton and we moved to what is now the Hideaway truck stop by the M4 near Chippenham, after a few months there it all went ■■■’s up and that was the end of it.

Nice to see another former employee reply 240 gardner,I don,t remember any tie-up with
Smith of Madison, but I didn,t work for them until 1986 do you recall this happening?

kevmac47:
Nice to see another former employee reply 240 gardner,I don,t remember any tie-up with
Smith of Madison, but I didn,t work for them until 1986 do you recall this happening?

It was around 1986 when they bought part of Smith of Madison.

I defer to your greater knowledge but i dont remember this.
Could this be senility setting in? probably , but i can still
count 93 weeks to go!!!