tanker companies

[spud1960]

Borrowed from Sniffy

What you get when the customer advises on the spec.

[stanfield]

Photos given to me by a ex work colleague Dave Jagger who I worked with at Direct North West Ltd back in 2003. The 65 plate DAF is his latest truck.

[lespullan]

[snowman1]

hi les
that volvo looks a nice piece of kit,where were they from? i noticed the volvo has a leeds reg.
all the best for christmas and the new year.
sm1

[atlas_man]

snowman1:
hi les
that volvo looks a nice piece of kit,where were they from? i noticed the volvo has a leeds reg.
all the best for christmas and the new year.
sm1

Is that the one LPG transport at Birstal had, it used to be orange but the number does look familiar

[lespullan]

snowman1:
hi les
that volvo looks a nice piece of kit,where were they from? i noticed the volvo has a leeds reg.
all the best for christmas and the new year.
sm1

I found that looking for something else, the reg is why I put it on knowing it was from my area, thought someone might recognise it, and as Atlas Man says it could be Ex L P G, same area. Les.

[lespullan]

lespullan:

snowman1:
hi les
that volvo looks a nice piece of kit,where were they from? i noticed the volvo has a leeds reg.
all the best for christmas and the new year.
sm1

I found that looking for something else, the reg is why I put it on knowing it was from my area, thought someone might recognise it, and as Atlas Man says it could be Ex L P G, same area. Les.

Googled it Ex Smith & Robinson. Les.

[snowman1]

hi les
thanks for the info re the volvo,nice foto of the s-r albion dont think i noticed it on the road,the driver wont need power steering with the tank positioned where it is,that chassis looks very thin my old standard vanguard had one like that.
regards
sm1

[kevmorrow]

I worked out of Taylor Road yard Urmston. I remember S&Rs changing their fleet to Volvo 86s late 1960s replacing ERF A series. Good all-round visibility but no sleeper. When I was made redundant from S&Rs 1984 I was driving Volvo F7. Regards Kev

[chris_webb]

Eyup,Wirralpete.Yes I remember all those firms you mentioned but no pics sorry.AS Jones were in Bromboro’ and taken over by P & O.THomas Allen HQ was at Stanford-le-Hope in Essex but not sure what happened to them.RTS,Runcorn Transport Services carried mostly acids if I remember right and were always flying about.Catchpole were from E.Port I think,same as OB transport and were working out of Shell Chemicals Stanlow when I was on tanker work in 70’s-which reminds me of a scrawl somebody wrote in the muck on the back of my tank. “Mummy,Mummy is daddy dead? No darling he’s waiting to load at Stanlow”. Anyroad Smith & Robinson HQ was Rothwell ,Leeds but they had a depot in T.Park as I used to clean out there.Don’t know much about rest but Castrol had a depot in Hyde and used to pick their drivers up regular and drop 'em at the Dog & Partridge on Sheffield side of Woodhead to pick their wagons up after a dodgy night out.I was on nights then running back to Maltby ,Rotherham ex L’pool or E.Port.
Was that cafe on the A57 on the left after leaving Cadishead going towards Warrington? If so it were t’best fried spam sandwich in all Lancs.We used to call it T’wooden hut and it was always spotless and ■■■■ and the women who worked there spot on.
Don’t forget , it’s a wise sardine that knows it’s own tin.

[chris_webb]

Sorry got it wrong,cafe on right not left leaving Cadishead.There was another further back towards Eccles on left towards W,ton just after going under M63 (it was M63 then) in a big lay-by.Anybody remember it?Maybe it’s still open.

[system]

Yea chris i remember that one,the layby was nearly opposite barton airport.Thelayby always had rubbish in it were people had been fly tipping.Always remember blonde girl behind counter and when you got your meal it was on a tray.

regards dave.

[wirralpete]

he he the thought of a castrol driver having a dodgy night out brought back memeories chris, mainly of getting out of bed for 5 am and hitching up to the old pops cafe with dad to pick up motor, castrol depot in hyde is still going, we load oil out of the old united molases plant in birkenhead for there often. i know rts was taken over by tdg the depot is a wash out still in runcorn and the do do a lot of caustic/sulphric out of ineos (formally ici). tan wash in trafford par is still there now part of the tan tainer group after our firm sold it to them. as for the cafe your correct was on the right as you head towards warrington, its still there to this day, dad told me that dic went bac to us, was the best egg buttie you have ever tasted from there!!!

[wirralpete]

just looked back at the post sorry bout the k being missing on the words, laptop gets a hammeing daily by the seven year old

[wheel_nut]

I remember some of the tank companies on your list.

A few more to jog your memory

Smith and Robinson in Rothwell. Ancliff of Manchester. Bulwark in Chippenham
Andrew Hogg Kilsyth and Carntyne Transport. There was one other from Montrose I cant remember at the moment

I remember the old tankwash on trafford park which was called Bartank and housed the Fifth Wheel Cafe, quite close to the new site of Thurroclean which has been taken over by Isotank.

Ron Hennesy

Leathers Chemicals who ran some tankers, had most of the work done by Pickfords, Tankfreight Exel who originally traded as Harold Woods in Heckmondwike.

Calor Transport, Arrow Bulk and Croda Oils ran tankers from Hull.

The P&O group had several old names in the group.
John Forman
Thomas Allen
Robert Armstrong
A S Jones
James Hemphill

In later times there were several more involved in the food industry.
Charles Lucy became Yeoward Brothers and then Abbey Roadtanks
William Brennan.
Fleet Haulage. from Ribchester.
Stag. became City Tankers.

This should get the topic kickstarted

[chris_webb]

Wasn’t there somebody called Townend from Oldham knocking around in the70’s?Seem to recall seeing them in ICI at Heysham and one of their drivers telling me they did a Stirling trunk or a delivery to Stirling from Heysham and return which seemed a lot of work inthose days.Think they were red units and plain stainless tanks with company logo on back end.Also anybody remember Carless Capel and Leonard whose main depot was Harwich but had a tank farm at Longport,S on Trent.

[wirralpete]

he he good old charles lucy, what a character he was, thin one of his lads is ops excuetive with abbey. brennens rings a bell, did they work out of leeds, with red dafs?, remember their was a welsh bloke who lived in his motor and would be parked up in market street in birkenhead every weekend, think they use to load out of p&l lard on the dock road.

[kw]

Ancliff’s I remember very well,though only the depot in Felixstowe,which originally was right next to the Little Ships Hotel near the dock basin,before moving to a purpose built site off Walton Avenue.

My brother was a fitter at Ancliff’s in Felixstowe for many years,from around 1972 to 1982,when he left to drive for Tolemans.

I can still remember very well the Atki Borderers,Seddon’s and brace of Scania 110’s they had during the early 70’s as well as some of the driver’s.
Ken Cleaver,Reg Ablitt,Ray Baxter and Bert Moore to name a few.

Ken and Reg had the first Seddon-Atki 400 series sleeper cabs on the firm,and my brother persuaded Ken to take me out for a couple of days.
Fantastic,a trip down to the west country and then up to the Bulwark depot at Chippenham for the night.
Ancliff and Bulwark merged together I believe.

On that trip I also got a ride in a Scania 111 courtesy of a P&O Tankmasters driver,Pedro,which really whetted my appetite for the Scania marque.

Ken was a great character,and a real drinker too,even on the trip down we stopped at a pub for lunch,where he downed a few pints.
He was from Dewsbury,with a typically dry Yorkshiremans sense of humour.

In later years I got to work alongside him when he drove for OOCL,but sadly he died over ten years ago.

Ancliff’s used to ship a lot of trailers over the water from Felixstowe,but the firm eventually closed down in the late 90’s and the depot was taken over for a time by Sheffield based Newell & Wright.

When I drove for Onsala Ã…keri I even used to park in their yard,as well as use the wash to rinse the unit off,but that all stopped when Newell & Wright took it over.

[kevmorrow]

Gone shopping this morning at Aldis department store, Fakenham Norfolk. Kinnerton chocolate factory is situated next door to car park. Taking photo of Armet tanker was a lot more interesting than buying a rug. I remember Charlie Lucy Liverpool had links with this company. I think ARMET was Alan Robert Metcalfe, did he sell out to Charlie Lucy, join forces with Abbey tankers. Cannot believe how food tankers have come on leaps and bounds since the 1980s since redundant from S&Rs. No climbing on top to open foot valves. No more worrying about load getting cold with vehicle water tracing. Many times I had to go on steam trace over night at Harry Lawsons tankers Dundee for Stonehaven or Peterhead.
Bit of nostalgia, Does any body remember Liverpool companies. Mckinties tank wash. Cavendish tankers. Lawrensons (Bibby contract). Liverpool had loads of work in the 1960 70s for food tankers, Britannia Lard, Peerless refining, Merseyside foods, United Molasses, Kraft Kirkby to name a few.
Regards Kev

[wheel_nut]

Chris Webb:
Wasn’t there somebody called Townend from Oldham knocking around in the70’s?Seem to recall seeing them in ICI at Heysham and one of their drivers telling me they did a Stirling trunk or a delivery to Stirling from Heysham and return which seemed a lot of work inthose days.Think they were red units and plain stainless tanks with company logo on back end.Also anybody remember Carless Capel and Leonard whose main depot was Harwich but had a tank farm at Longport,S on Trent.

I think you mean Townson Tankers from Oldham who did a lot of work for ICI Thornton Clevelys. They also had a contract with Esso in Trafford Park and Weaste.

Townson sold out to Sadler on the Q8 fuel contract who were in turn taken over by Stiller. I worked for the son Roger who ran Woodbrow Bulk Liquids until his death.

Carless Petroleum is still operating and the haulage is provided by Sammy Jones (Hargreaves)