Don’t know if this has been posted before Carl,apologies if so, (pic off e-bay)
pete smith:
Don’t know if this has been posted before Carl,apologies if so, (pic off e-bay)
Thanks Pete, Yes its a photo of a new unreg TM with a new trailer, built by our company Coachskill Ltd, but thanks anyway. Better to add one twice than miss,
sorry its taken so long to get back but I have been trying without success to re establish access to my Flickr photos. It started with Yahoo announcing they had been hacked ( My email address was carlwilliams9@yahoo.co.uk) They told me to change my password which I had used for about 9-10 years which I did and updated my phone number The old number was years out of date as was my second reg Email address. When I clicked on yahoo it opened up my Emails, however for some stupid reason when it opened although it said Hi Carl Williams 9 it required me to re enter my password to get into my Emails. For some reason it would neither take my old or new password. Trying to contact yahoo by Email requires a degree in fortune telling & when I eventually got through they Emailed me back to say they had sent a key to the Email address I couldn’t open, Emailing then again several times telling them its no use sending me massages to the Email address that I was telling them that I couldn’t open got no replies. I honestly wonder if anyone at yahoo can actually read. So I had to open another Email address elsewhere, which causes problems when I still have 20 plus Emails a day coming into my old address (Information I can see but cannot open).
Then we go onto Flickr which sadly is owned by Yahoo although was not years ago when I joined. It opened up fine until about a week ago when suddenly asked for my Yahoo password to get into it. Again the ones that don’t work. I had a Flickr password which always worked but suddenly they have decided only to let you into Flickr if you use your Yahoo details and guess what, although Flickr charge me and take their fees by Standing order from my bank account, no longer have any customer relations and all is done through Yahoo who I can only think employ staff with learning difculties and certainly cannot read.
Just wondering has anyone had similar problems? If so please let me know particularly if you have resolved them. To anyone else using Yahoo/Flickr do not rely on them because chances are they’ll let you down
Hi Carl,
Just wanted to offer sympathy with your Yahoo problems. I was recently offered some free images, which, since I build websites, I find useful. After about 1/2 an hour and jumping through many hoops, I was suddenly transferred to Yahoo and asked to enter my credit card details, with assurances that as long as I cancelled within 30 days…
That was the point I ditched it.
Did you used to subcontract the Thorn work? It’s about 45 years ago now, but I’m certain that when brother Andy and myself were subbing from Pritchett’s we did some loads from there.
John.
John West:
Hi Carl,Just wanted to offer sympathy with your Yahoo problems. I was recently offered some free images, which, since I build websites, I find useful. After about 1/2 an hour and jumping through many hoops, I was suddenly transferred to Yahoo and asked to enter my credit card details, with assurances that as long as I cancelled within 30 days…
That was the point I ditched it.
Did you used to subcontract the Thorn work? It’s about 45 years ago now, but I’m certain that when brother Andy and myself were subbing from Pritchett’s we did some loads from there.
John.
Hi John
I would imagine you were taking flourescent light fittings from the lighting side (Atas Echo etc trade names). We did very little as it was not really specialised transport like the domestic appliance side. Apart for some local work the only work we did for them was a daily ‘BUS SERVICE’ to and from their Leeds depot which we operated for over 20 years, taking a load down & reloading from that depot to Spennymoor. They would pay a decent rate for that but the other lighting they had uncle Cobley and all as they only paid one way and most of the traffic was down to their Enfield factory. I remember Pritchetts, Merchantile transport (Lebus furniture) and many many London companies back loading from there.
We did Cookers, Fridges Washing Machines etc and it was much more valuable loads and fagile. We did hire in sub contractors from time to time re loading off our vehicles onto theirs, but we needed large 2,000 cu.ft pantechnicons to carry the loads, which often would not fit onto 40ft van trailers., which although they had length they didn’t have internal height to get 3 high. We used Hawards & Robertson. Cracknells both from Darlington, & T.T . Liddle from Stanley but as Tom Liddle’s vans didn;t quite have the needed internal height we were often left with surplus which we had to squeeze onto our vans. There was also a removal contractor from Caerphilly in Wales (I cannot remember their name). With the domestic appliances they were happy to pay both ways as we collected faulty goods to return to Spennymoor as did such things as transit tests where domestic appliances were transported just to see how they travelled so they could check out packaging and new products etc. In its day Spennymoor had the biggest Fridge factory in Europe & we would carry almost 10,000 units per week. We delivered from Spennymoor directly to every town & city to wholesales, Electricity Boards, Curry’s, Comet etc but aso to every small independent retailer who sold domestic appliances, which in those days there was a lot. So many of our loads were multi drop with 10-15 deliveries per load, with many ‘Timed deliveries’ so fortunately as this needed more skill of operation than just one drop deliveries as the lighting where just anyone could do it, they were prepared to pay a genuine price.
Going back to the Lighting side eventually NMU Transport which was owned by Rountree-McIntosh Chocolates (Makers of Rollo) based at York got the contract to do all the lighting out of Spennymoor. They operated a GUY drawbar with four small bodies which did a night trunk They had four small TKs that delivered one body on each round North East. As they had no depot they paid us to calculate the wages and pay weekly wages for the drivers and supervise their drivers for them.
Very interesting Carl. I can’t remember where we delivered to, but Enfield sounds reasonable. Pritchett’s H/O was in West London, and any load down to the smoke was welcome.
John.
Dont know if this has been posted earlier in the thread just found it on Flickr.
Hi
Interesting article. I have a few photos.
Hilary Sawrey Gill
Hi Carl,
I would like to wish you and the family all the best for Christmas and the New Year, we sent you a card but it may have gone to your old address!
I have found a photo on flickr by Joe Sullivan, I am sure it is your old Bedford RL breakdown wagon. this is the link, flickr.com/photos/21437618@ … 976602290/
I’m not sure how to put a copy on here!!! It looks like they may have got it from you and painted the name out on the door.
I remember my dad taking me down to the garage at Marmaduke Street to see the ‘new’ breakdown, it was being fitted with its crane and I was climbing around on the back, there was no floor in it at the time to allow the access for mounting the crane. I must have been about 8 or 9 at the time, I thought it was great, I bet it wouldn’t be allowed now!
All the best, Mark
hil:
Hi
Interesting article. I have a few photos.
Hilary Sawrey Gill
Hi if you have photos, I would love to see them
Regards
Carl
LR Man:
Hi Carl,I would like to wish you and the family all the best for Christmas and the New Year, we sent you a card but it may have gone to your old address!
I have found a photo on flickr by Joe Sullivan, I am sure it is your old Bedford RL breakdown wagon. this is the link, flickr.com/photos/21437618@ … 976602290/
I’m not sure how to put a copy on here!!! It looks like they may have got it from you and painted the name out on the door.
I remember my dad taking me down to the garage at Marmaduke Street to see the ‘new’ breakdown, it was being fitted with its crane and I was climbing around on the back, there was no floor in it at the time to allow the access for mounting the crane. I must have been about 8 or 9 at the time, I thought it was great, I bet it wouldn’t be allowed now!
All the best, Mark
Hi Mark,
It certainly is it.
We bought the RL and the crane from VAS at Amphill Bedfordshire. It was direct from the army and in very good condition, unlike the last one we bought from Syd Snowball Bishop Auckland which had been made up out of several and we just painted cream & used as a snowplow at Green lane Ind Est.
■■■■ porter converted the body and mounted the crane and we used it for several years, but as the vehicles we ran got heavier, particularly towing artics complete with trailers as we did it was very unstable on the road and probably dangerous, also the fuel condsumtion was dreadful. We saw a Scammell advertised in Southampton and dad went down & did a deal & put the RL in part exchange. I’ll carry on this story in the next day or so when Its earlier in the night.
Anyway wonderful you found it and Merry Christmas
Hi Carl,
Happy New Year! Glad you liked the Bedford RL photo.
Here is one of my photos with some of your old vans.
All the best for 2017,
Mark
LR Man:
Hi Carl,Happy New Year! Glad you liked the Bedford RL photo.
Here is one of my photos with some of your old vans.
All the best for 2017,
Mark
Thanks Mark, Another great photo.Even though the nearest two need a net painting on front corners. One of our Suer Comet’s poking its nose in. All Bedfords of different ages apart from the Seddon nearest to the camera I think that one was driven by Ronnie Harris when new. I think it is a good illustration of the progressive changes by Marsden on Bedford TK chassis, I must admit I had never noticed the slight differences as they had updated over the years as this photo seems to illustrate,
Hi Carl
Just spent a few days catching up on your auto-biography!
May I pester you and anybody else reading this with some right anorak registration number questions please?
Your original Bedford OB which you just call ‘JUP’ looks like JUP 223 in that snowy photo. Does that sound right?
The 1948 Motor Show Spurling Bedford - have you any recollection of the reg of that one - it doesn’t get a mention.
The Sawrey Gill Bedford OB ‘LPT’ - any idea of the full reg?
Likewise the early Bedford SBs ‘NUP’ and ‘CDJ’ - any idea of the full regs?
‘HTH 882’ gets many mentions but there is a bit of a mystery with that reg - it would have been from Carmarthen! Why please?!
Lewin’s three Seddon Pennines - I assume LUP 315J [or was it 351J?] was a 36 footer with a Seddon/ Pennine body? It was not the one in your pictures as, although the regs there are unreadable, they don’t look like LUP xxxJ. So, any offers for the regs and lengths of the other two please?
Finally, any idea of the correct name of an operator something like ‘ton and Hill’ of Aycliffe - I think the first part is missing.
Thanks, keep writing, Martin
MartinJ:
Hi againDid ‘CDJ’ look like this:
flickr.com/photos/10631124@ … 34733@N22/
Cheers, Martin
Could well be it Exact. Was Cream & blue
I have just come home and seen your previous post will read & try to reply to my best when I get time either tomorrow or Saturday.
I think this probably was CDJ our first Bedford Marsden. 1953 petrol SB, It was about 18 months old when dad bought it from Crosby Springs St Helens, Lancs. Well with the miracle of the internet here is a photo. Sad its before we repainted it in our livery. It was driven by Tommy Stoddard until 1372UP came new, in 1962 & I think that is when we sold it
You can easily identify it as a Marsden. They used the same shape when they introdced the fibreglass front ends. In this case it was alluminium bent & shaped by hand. The roof again was traditional timber topped with felt. Never a leak that speaks volumes for Marsden’s skill & during our use until it would be 9 years old doing about 40,000 mile per year, never had a spanner on it and never broke down
MartinJ:
Hi Carl
Just spent a few days catching up on your auto-biography!
May I pester you and anybody else reading this with some right anorak registration number questions please?Your original Bedford OB which you just call ‘JUP’ looks like JUP 223 in that snowy photo. Does that sound right?
The 1948 Motor Show Spurling Bedford - have you any recollection of the reg of that one - it doesn’t get a mention.
The Sawrey Gill Bedford OB ‘LPT’ - any idea of the full reg?
Likewise the early Bedford SBs ‘NUP’ and ‘CDJ’ - any idea of the full regs?
‘HTH 882’ gets many mentions but there is a bit of a mystery with that reg - it would have been from Carmarthen! Why please?!Lewin’s three Seddon Pennines - I assume LUP 315J [or was it 351J?] was a 36 footer with a Seddon/ Pennine body? It was not the one in your pictures as, although the regs there are unreadable, they don’t look like LUP xxxJ. So, any offers for the regs and lengths of the other two please?
Finally, any idea of the correct name of an operator something like ‘ton and Hill’ of Aycliffe - I think the first part is missing.
Thanks, keep writing, Martin
Hi Martin,
JUP233 that’s correct
The Spurling I was too young to remember but was something like TVM Was a London number as it was registered for us by Spurlings who were on Edgeware Road London. We were the 1st owner.
Sawrey Gill Bedford OB I do not recall the number. In those days (I was at school) we called the vans by their letters. Later on we had to note the numbers as well when we had more than 1 with same letters. Hopefully I should have a photo of LPT’s identical sister (HUP) when it was new & in Sawrey Gill livery. William Gill , grandson of the founder has recently passed away and his widow has kindly contacted me on this site from Conwall, telling me she has a photo, which she is trying to get to me,
Our orriginal Bedford SBs all 1952.3 reg
NUP unfortunaly don’t recall number body built (badly) by Blakes the then Bedford Agents in Manchester
CDJ Bought directly from Crosby Springs St Helens Lancs when it was about 18 months old. I cannot thank you enough for providing photo
HTH 882 again bought when about 3 years old from Blakes Manchester who had taken it in P?X
Will continue later
Regards
Carl
Hi Carl
Thanks for putting your thinking cap on!
One minor thing - I said JUP 223 but you said JUP 233. Did you mean to agree with it being 223 please?
The Spurling ‘Show’ Bedford would have been TMV [rather than TVM] as that was a ‘commercials’ series in use at the time of the Show.
Crosby Springs had around six SBs in 1952/3 with CDJ regs so the odds aren’t bad. Can you recall if yours had the extra length flitched in like the one described in that photo to make it the longer wheelbase?
Cheers, Martin
MartinJ:
Hi CarlThanks for putting your thinking cap on!
One minor thing - I said JUP 223 but you said JUP 233. Did you mean to agree with it being 223 please?
The Spurling ‘Show’ Bedford would have been TMV [rather than TVM] as that was a ‘commercials’ series in use at the time of the Show.
Crosby Springs had around six SBs in 1952/3 with CDJ regs so the odds aren’t bad. Can you recall if yours had the extra length flitched in like the one described in that photo to make it the longer wheelbase?
Cheers, Martin
Hi Martin,
Sorry I haven’t got round to answering your question regarding the Seddons yet. I haven’t forgotton
Yes I agree JUP223 I particularly liked that van. I can just remember it before it was sold. For some reason it had orriginally been painted Stone & Brown instead of Cream & Brown and it had a level floor. It was altered to drop well & wheel boxes & repainted Cream & Brown & really looked good, & then sold. Probably to make way for an SB as in those days with A licence we tended to be restricted to the number of vehicles operated.
I am sure you will be correct about the Spurling. I remember we had two photos of it, when new just after it had been signwritten, standing outside of our garage (at that time) in Marmaduke Street Spennymoor, and reg no clearly visible, but that sadly has been lost.
I honestly don’t know the answer to your Crosby question, I remember dad saying when he bought it they had two for sale and he always wished he had bought both. Out of well over 250 vans we had in his lifetime, he always said that was the best. and a pleasure to drive. Sadly by the time I reached 21 & old enough to drive an HGV the petrol SBs had all gone, You will no doubt know in 1953 they were legally limited to 20 MPH and had 20 plates on the rear. Dad would have known the answer. but I never knew of any SB chassis built to a different wheelbase, It was the length of body that made them so appealing, The maximum length in those days was 27ft 6in and 7ft 6in width. As you will have read we had three NUP, CDJ, HTH and all three were same size, NUP we had from new and was the oldest and one of the first ever SBs with pantechnicon van body, It had never had a chassis extension. Possibly the first that Crosby had built was the first Marsden had ever built. I am sorry thats all I know, but I cannot imagine how they would extend the body & chassis lengths once it was built as it would have meant somehow they would have had to cut it in two & put a bit in the middle, but the roof would have been a major problem.
Best wishes
Carl
I remember Dad talking to Ken Marsden, the older of the two brothers, who was quite young when CDJ was built. The business was then run by his father and Ken had worked with others building at that time under his father’s supervision. He never mentioned extending one once it was built