Lawrence Dunbar:
HI Tyneside, Thats a blast from the past, I remember Ogdens of Otley moving the fly ash from both N & S Stella Power Grids, Then in the 70s I was loading it & taking it to Cannon Park Middlesboro, T .James had the job, Regards Larry.
Hi Larry IIRC Ogdens had two or three Albion 4 wheelers specifically for leading the fly ash.
Going back to the Metro Centre site, we did a few days on that job leading fly ash down to the A66. I remember the 22RB dragline that was loading nearly disappeared one week end, it was there on the Friday tea time but on Monday morning there was only about six feet of the jib visible the rest had been submerged in the ash, took two D8 dozers to get it out.
Previous to that time George Irwin from Dunston somehow had the rights to the ash and we used to lead it to various sites on his behalf, a lot of it going up to the large Bellway site on Fellside Road in Whickham.
George’s son used to load us with a Weatherill shovel and there was only one road on and off the lagoons, if you strayed off the road you would go down past the axles in seconds.
Wind forward a few years and we were leading ■■■■■■■■ onto the site for John Hall (before he was Sir John) The ■■■■■■■■ was pushed up into heaps dotted around the site, we were then hired to move the ■■■■■■■■ into new heaps, all done to squeeze excess water out of the land. John Hall was always there and would sign timesheets etc.
Tyneside