Dave the Renegade:
Just to stretch this thread a bit further. Any of you went into Sharpness Docks,quite a busy little place back in the 50’s and 60’s,sometimes my Dad or the other driver I went with,had a spllit load,some from Avonmouth,then on up to Sharpness to pick the rest of the load from there.
Yes Dad used to call at Sharpness as well but I can’t recall who he loaded from (bulk grain it would have been).
Pete.
Hi Pete,
Same this way,all I remember was looking at other wagons or any ships that were around,its a long time ago.
Cheers Dave.
Davnic:
London Carriers had a warehouse,right under the M5 flyover.
We used to load Phillips Electrical goods out of their for the South West.
I worked there for a few odd days when I first started on agency it ws a good laugh they would give me 15 drops around Exeter / Torquay I’d be empty and parked up by 12 in Avonmouth Truckstop . As it happened most of the drops I had were places next to or near where I used to do my old drops when i left the kitchen distribution company i worked 8 years for…
15 drops around Exeter.
Alright for some.
We obviously used to get all the sh#t,25 drops around the most remote parts of Cornwall.
Aswell as collecting from Avonmouth,i remember London Carriers coming in to our yard in Cornwall,(plain white Leyland 14 tonners).
They would be down in Cornwall delivering,but any drop the drivers couldn’t get access to (couldn’t be bothered to do) would be dropped at our yard for final delivery.
Dave the Renegade:
Has anyone got anymore memories of these two places.
Cheers Dave.
hi dave,
on new years day this year a couple of dozen of us with our old lorries went on the new years day run to sharpness dock.it was some time since i had been there and to be honest it suprised me how busy it was.there are still many companies and vessels working out of there.everything from scrap handling,tower cranes and coal,it’s good to see the place surviving in this difficult climate.
regards andrew
Dave the Renegade:
Has anyone got anymore memories of these two places.
Cheers Dave.
hi dave,
on new years day this year a couple of dozen of us with our old lorries went on the new years day run to sharpness dock.it was some time since i had been there and to be honest it suprised me how busy it was.there are still many companies and vessels working out of there.everything from scrap handling,tower cranes and coal,it’s good to see the place surviving in this difficult climate.
regards andrew
Dave the Renegade:
Has anyone got anymore memories of these two places.
Cheers Dave.
hi dave,
on new years day this year a couple of dozen of us with our old lorries went on the new years day run to sharpness dock.it was some time since i had been there and to be honest it suprised me how busy it was.there are still many companies and vessels working out of there.everything from scrap handling,tower cranes and coal,it’s good to see the place surviving in this difficult climate.
regards andrew
Hi Andrew,
Had a ride in there a couple of years ago,no ships in then,but several firms trading there as you say,do a lot of fertiliser into and from there so I believe.
Cheers Dave.
Dave the Renegade:
Has anyone got anymore memories of these two places.
Cheers Dave.
I remember going to Leonard Stamp’s yard to wash my tank out.There was a cafe near there IIRC.Also we had a job loading condensate out of South Western Gas Board’s place down the road in the year of discontent It all went to Coalite at Bolsover who were burning it.
That’s about it Dave - no handball off Avonmouth docks for me,did plenty of that when on market work
My first visits to Avonmouth were in the late 50,s as a schoolboy interested in ships. I either went on my bike or the number 99 dockers bus, I can still remember the ■■■ smoke and the ceilings stained brown with nicotene. The main entrance in those days was up through the main street and the docks had a big rail system with its own steam and diesel engines. The Co-op had a large flour mill there and it is still derelict by todays main entrance. Other milling firms were Crossfield & Bodey and Hosegoods.There were several petrol depots and the United Molasses terminal. There was also a large refrigerated store into which used to come a lot of frozen lamb fron New Zealand.Fyffes bananas also came in through the port and I think these all went out by rail.
In those days I assume the frozen meat would have been taken out in insulated as opposed to refrigerated vans like these seen in Avonmouth.
Perhaps loading like this is the real origin of shouting TIMBER.
Austin cars for export at Avonmouth. Its full of imported cars today
Numbum:
My first visits to Avonmouth were in the late 50,s as a schoolboy interested in ships. I either went on my bike or the number 99 dockers bus, I can still remember the ■■■ smoke and the ceilings stained brown with nicotene. The main entrance in those days was up through the main street and the docks had a big rail system with its own steam and diesel engines. The Co-op had a large flour mill there and it is still derelict by todays main entrance. Other milling firms were Crossfield & Bodey and Hosegoods.There were several petrol depots and the United Molasses terminal. There was also a large refrigerated store into which used to come a lot of frozen lamb fron New Zealand.Fyffes bananas also came in through the port and I think these all went out by rail.
In those days I assume the frozen meat would have been taken out in insulated as opposed to refrigerated vans like these seen in Avonmouth.
Perhaps loading like this is the real origin of shouting TIMBER.
Austin cars for export at Avonmouth. Its full of imported cars today
Cracking pics Numbum, they bring a real nostalgic feel to the place,thats the beauty of pics or film,they take you back to
the days of memories.
Cheers Dave.
I remember going into Avonmouth loading cotton seed, grass meal & linseed cake out of there for cattle feed mills across the south west. I used to ride round with Reg Anstey on A F Cooks lorries. They were cattle hauliers mainly but Wednesday & Thursday was docks days due to cattle markets being quiet those days & not all the lorries in the fleet were required on them.
Back in the early 70s, I drove a digger & I was on hire in Sharponess docks digging out & relaying the railway crossing on the dock roads. Only last week I was in there with my lorry delivering to a firm of civil engineers working there & drove across those very lines for the first time in close on forty years.
I had to drive right round the back of the docks & it’s almost deserted now, back in those days it was heaving with boats & lorries. Now there’s a couple of ships in there but zero activity. It was good to go back & have a look though.
Basilbrush:
I remember going into Avonmouth loading cotton seed, grass meal & linseed cake out of there for cattle feed mills across the south west. I used to ride round with Reg Anstey on A F Cooks lorries. They were cattle hauliers mainly but Wednesday & Thursday was docks days due to cattle markets being quiet those days & not all the lorries in the fleet were required on them.
Back in the early 70s, I drove a digger & I was on hire in Sharponess docks digging out & relaying the railway crossing on the dock roads. Only last week I was in there with my lorry delivering to a firm of civil engineers working there & drove across those very lines for the first time in close on forty years.
I had to drive right round the back of the docks & it’s almost deserted now, back in those days it was heaving with boats & lorries. Now there’s a couple of ships in there but zero activity. It was good to go back & have a look though.
BB
Hi Basilbrush,
Same here, I went in for a look around a couple of years ago,and as you say its very quiet to what it used to be. I think its the case with most of the docks nowadays,it’s all coming in to the container ports or on lorries via the ferries or channel tunnel,different times.
Cheers Dave.
If you get the chance Dave, you want to go into Gloucester & take some photos of what’s left of the old dock buildings there. Most of it’s been redeveloped now & only a few of the old buildings left. I have to say, it’s a much better, cleaner place with all the redundant buildings gone but it just doesn’t seem the same.
I used to go to Gloucester cattle market a lot with my father, that’s all gone now & a massive B&Q stands in its place.
Hi Basilbrush,
Have been into Gloucesteer Docks quite a few times in the last few years,its not that far from here,didn’t go in there last year. It’s all marina and shopping stuff now. I didn’t go into the docks when I was driving,but my dad went in there a lot over the years,same further up the Severn Tewkesbury had smalller ships up to Healings flour mills and such,but it’s leisure craft now. I did a lot around the Gloucster area,but on tippers it was to the M5 and other road jobs and depots.
Cheers Dave.
aye dave, we had a contract about 10 years ago running out of sharpness. I think it was ovd? booze job. mostly done at night. also avonmouth dox…we went in there every day to beck and politzer on contract for kimberly-clark. i went down there one morning with ONE pallet on a 40 footer, but it had to go and they paid for trailer both ways. been in truck stop a few times.
jimmy m:
aye dave, we had a contract about 10 years ago running out of sharpness. I think it was ovd? booze job. mostly done at night. also avonmouth dox…we went in there every day to beck and politzer on contract for kimberly-clark. i went down there one morning with ONE pallet on a 40 footer, but it had to go and they paid for trailer both ways. been in truck stop a few times.
Hi jimmy,
Was in the truckstop a couple of months ago,it’s good value and I think it’s improved to what it was,plenty of choice and quite tidy cooked,don’t stop there that often as I haven’t come that far from here travelling down through Tintern and over the old Severn bridge,use Avonmouth way as a shortcut to the M5.
Cheers Dave.
jimmy m:
pardon my ignorance dave but what is the county town of randoshire
could be presteigne…trunkera1
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
Hi Chaps,
Presteigne was the county town of Radnorshire many years ago,then Llandrindod Wells was the capital for many years. Then Radnorshire Breconshire and Montgomeryshire al became Powys,the headquarters and County Hall is at Llandrindod Wells. I still say Radnorshire on threads,as I think we were far better off before they merged in the 1970’s.
sorry dave, never heard of it. every time I cross the bridge the radio switches over to some bugger talking in welsh!! nothing against the welsh i may hasten to add. just dont see the point in telling me the road to llangguuuuuffftpolly is closed when i cant understand what the ■■■■ he/she is going on about.
