Ray Smyth:
Chris, Thank you for your additional info. With regard to Northern Ireland Trailers, I used to see their vehicles at the Heinz factory
at Kitt Green very often during my 3 years of driving for Robert Baillie of Portsmouth. I seem to recall they had Mk 1 Atkinsons on 3 axles
coupled to trailers which were about 30 ft long, and some of them loaded the Heinz products on to a " Lancashire Flat ".
Is there a Northern Ireland Trailers thread here on Trucknet ? Cheers, Ray.
You’re welcome, Ray. I started there the year after N.I.T. had merged into Pandoro, but traffic from ‘The Beanery’ was a daily job, although always loaded on days by the drivers and not using an on-site shunter as many of Heinz’ hauliers did. Not long before I left Pandoro in 1982, they took over the former BRS depot nearby. N.I.T. ran quite a number of 6x2 Atkinsons (one Chinese 6 and the rest Rear Steers), so that they could achieve 32 tons with 30’ trailers. Unlike modern deep sea container operations, their equipment came in 20’, 30’ and 40’ lengths with, as you say, many a Lancashire flat amongst them. I don’t think there’s an N.I.T. or Pandoro thread here, but there are groups for both on Flickr.
Here’s one for you, although not loaded for Heinz - a photo from an Atkinson factory negative:
