Ingmire:
Here is an old photo of Lawsons that is doing the round on Facebook. It is not mine, I think it belongs to someone called George Foster hope he does not mind me posting it.
Now that was an exotic motor of Jed’s ! got to give it to him it was well loaded with straw 10/10 .Cheers Bewick.
Hi Ingmire and Bewick, That ERF twin steer was bought new by a lad called Brian Neen from Whitehaven and worked out of Smith Brothers paper bag and bread wrapping paper factorys at Hensingham etc (take your pick) . Brian was a big tall lad with a wild beard and his trailer boy was dimuntive Alfie Parker both a pair of comedians and legend has it that while climbing The Nest out of Keswick one night with loads of drops on board the ERF was struggling, I seem to remember it only had a Gardner 5LW in it. However they stopped Brian got out tied a rope to the front towing jaw and over his shoulder and began pulling the whole outfit while Alfie drove. It may have only a 5LW but was reputed to be very fast when wound up consequently the intrepid pair were motoring down the M6 around Lancaster when they lost a wheel off the trailer, they travelled a fair distance before the trailer touched down but it was said that they never found the wheel. George Foster passed away a few years ago now, he was Jim Lawson’s traffic manager after starting as a driver when I left in 1962,
Cheers, Leyland 600.
Aye the good old Gardner Engine , I drove a wagon & drag in the 50s with a 5 Potter in slow when fully loaded but it was a very reliable engine, I must admit on some very steep inclines the bar had to be held back to get a few more Revs to cope , But it allways got to its destination regardless, Gardners were one of the best engines ever made in the UK IMO,Despite what that ■■■■ Carryfast says, Regards Larry.
Leyland600:
Hi Ingmire and Bewick, That ERF twin steer was bought new by a lad called Brian Neen from Whitehaven and worked out of Smith Brothers paper bag and bread wrapping paper factorys at Hensingham etc (take your pick) . Brian was a big tall lad with a wild beard and his trailer boy was dimuntive Alfie Parker both a pair of comedians and legend has it that while climbing The Nest out of Keswick one night with loads of drops on board the ERF was struggling, I seem to remember it only had a Gardner 5LW in it. However they stopped Brian got out tied a rope to the front towing jaw and over his shoulder and began pulling the whole outfit while Alfie drove. It may have only a 5LW but was reputed to be very fast when wound up consequently the intrepid pair were motoring down the M6 towards Farleton when they lost a wheel off the trailer, they travelled a fair distance before the trailer touched down but it was said that they never found the wheel. George Foster passed away a few years ago now, he was Jim Lawson’s traffic manager after starting as a driver when I left in 1962,
Cheers, Leyland 600.
You are a mine of very interesting information L600 ( for all things “Marra”) but I thought I might drag a bit o’ gen out of you if I posted a comment ! I never came across that motor , was it on Contract to Smith Bros. but it must have been a bit of a handful on the Smiths job surely,so how did Jed come by it ? did he run out of of Smiths as well ? Cheers Bewick.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye the good old Gardner Engine , I drove a wagon & drag in the 50s with a 5 Potter in slow when fully loaded but it was a very reliable engine, I must admit on some very steep inclines the bar had to be held back to get a few more Revs to cope , But it allways got to its destination regardless, Gardners were one of the best engines ever made in the UK IMO,Despite what that [zb] Carryfast says, Regards Larry.
Now Larry me Old mate dina get your underwear dishevelled carrying on aboot that ■■■■ “CF”, he hasn’t got a clue about the transport world ye and me grew up in, it would have killed the ■■■■ to put in the hours we had to work, you have to remember he was a strict 40 hr per week man (if that) and working to strict HSE rules even if they weren’t in force at the time !! We’er on entirely different wave lengths to that ■■■■ mate ! But I suppose he serves his purpose as the “village idiot” on the site eh! Regards Dennis.
Hi Dennis and Lawrence, Yes the ERF and drag would be on contract to Smith Bros then, it sure would get a lot of drops, it was bad enough with a four wheeler loading at all four or five factories they had then trying to sort out the drops in order (zb) place that Smiths was. As for the Gardner I agree it always got you there your two mates Dennis, Robbie & Alex used to pull my leg about my old Foden S21 8 wheeler with 6LW saying they would lend me a bit of power and speed from their two ■■■■■■■ V8 Dagenham Dustbins but they used to spend every other week in the County Garage at Carlisle on yet another engine change. Jim would buy the ERF because of its body space for carrying straw which he hauled a lot of at that time, he also fell off the top of a load of sawdust at Hexham Weyroc when stood on top pulling the ropes up while the driver put in another hitch to pull down further, I think a rope slipped of a hook causing him to lose his balance and fall off with dire results. No H&S in those days.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
Is this one of Jim Lawson’s Hodge, and where ?
Cheers Leyland 600
it is lawsons 8 wheeler at distington golf course.its back on the road now
Leyland600:
Hi Dennis and Lawrence, Yes the ERF and drag would be on contract to Smith Bros then, it sure would get a lot of drops, it was bad enough with a four wheeler loading at all four or five factories they had then trying to sort out the drops in order (zb) place that Smiths was. As for the Gardner I agree it always got you there your two mates Dennis, Robbie & Alex used to pull my leg about my old Foden S21 8 wheeler with 6LW saying they would lend me a bit of power and speed from their two ■■■■■■■ V8 Dagenham Dustbins but they used to spend every other week in the County Garage at Carlisle on yet another engine change. Jim would buy the ERF because of its body space for carrying straw which he hauled a lot of at that time, he also fell off the top of a load of sawdust at Hexham Weyroc when stood on top pulling the ropes up while the driver put in another hitch to pull down further, I think a rope slipped of a hook causing him to lose his balance and fall off with dire results. No H&S in those days.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Aye L600 I believe the Smith Bros traffic was hard graft as everything always seemed to desperate and as you say there were collections from all the factories to make a load up sometimes which created it’s own problems, however good the rates were supposed to be they could never have been enough in return for the effort that had to be put in. On occasions at Beetham Mill where Smiths bought a lot of their white bleached kraft paper from they sometimes didn’t have one of their contractors about to pick up the daily load so they just told the Mill, at short notice, to deliver it and it was always desperate but we usually managed to pull them out of the proverbial ! Apparently Smiths were that tight on the price of the paper they wouldn’t pay for the reels to be wrapped, they were the only customer that took loads of reel un-wrapped. As for the two lads from Ireby and their ■■■■■■■ V8 problems, well they must have driven ADB mad as I don’t think the County Garage workshop rates would be cheap at the time! But they finally got into some better class motors and as they say “the rest is history” eh! Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, I only loaded reels at Beetham once for Smiths late 1962 on a Commer TS3 4 wheeler of Harry Fearon’s on contract to Smiths. I cannot remember if the reels were wrapped or not but I do remember sheeting up and it being so very hot while on top of the load rolling out the sheet. after pulling outside to rope up and finish off it was bitterly cold as a consequence I caught a humdinger of a cold. As you say hauling for Smiths either way in or out was a (zb) rotten job. I did not stay there long and moved on to more regular work with better loading facilities albeit for farm deliveries but at least I wasn’t bothered withLondon’s smog and traffic problems. Best thing aboot London is’t road yam!!
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
Hi Dennis, I only loaded reels at Beetham once for Smiths late 1962 on a Commer TS3 4 wheeler of Harry Fearon’s on contract to Smiths. I cannot remember if the reels were wrapped or not but I do remember sheeting up and it being so very hot while on top of the load rolling out the sheet. after pulling outside to rope up and finish off it was bitterly cold as a consequence I caught a humdinger of a cold. As you say hauling for Smiths either way in or out was a (zb) rotten job. I did not stay there long and moved on to more regular work with better loading facilities albeit for farm deliveries but at least I wasn’t bothered withLondon’s smog and traffic problems. Best thing aboot London is’t road yam!!
Cheers, Leyland 600
Aye Gerald the loading facilities left a lot to be desired at Beetham up until BEC built a new warehouse along side and this created a nice airy place to load as opposed to the low roofed oven like spot that you, and us, had to use that was next door to the machine house ! This is a shot of what 16 ton of un-wrapped Bleached kraft reels for Smiths look like ! except they are on their side on a car park in Ambleside ! they were on one of Henry Cooke’s 26ft single axle trailers which Cookes own motor was supposed to deliver but IIRC it was broke down so they asked us to run it. One of our drivers lived in Ambleside so he took it home on the Thursday night for next morning delivery, but the Pratt dropped it to run up home with his unit and during the night sometime one of the landing legs sunk into a drain and being a “short arsed” single axle it just cowped eh ! We reloaded it onto a 40ft tandem and never damaged a reel ! Cheers Dennis
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robroy:
I remember a tale going around in the 80s where 3 or 4 or even 5 of Lawsons were tipping alongside each other, one went over and the others went down like dominos.
May only have been 2 in reality, allowing for exaggeration, you know what driver based cack is like
… or it might even have been total fiction.
Does anybody know or remember?
Hi ROBROY i remember the incident well ,it happened at sheffield at one of the steel works not sure which but the incident concerned happened when Ernie Clark was tipping along side Keith Oliphant,and has the scrap plate stuck Ernie,s tipped over and landed on top of the cab of Keith,s truck.both trucks were volvo f10,s and the body landed on the cab and squashed the roof down to the bottom of the windscreen,resulting in a unit and trailer being wrote off,but both drivers escaped un hurt .Keith got a scania 111 after it happened.
little ha ba:
robroy:
I remember a tale going around in the 80s where 3 or 4 or even 5 of Lawsons were tipping alongside each other, one went over and the others went down like dominos.
May only have been 2 in reality, allowing for exaggeration
Does anybody know or remember?Hi ROBROY i remember the incident well ,it happened at sheffield at one of the steel works not sure which but the incident concerned happened when Ernie Clark was tipping along side Keith Oliphant,and has the scrap plate stuck Ernie,s tipped over and landed on top of the cab of Keith,s truck.both trucks were volvo f10,s and the body landed on the cab and squashed the roof down to the bottom of the windscreen,resulting in a unit and trailer being wrote off,but both drivers escaped un hurt .Keith got a scania 111 after it happened.
Cheers mate. I was starting to think I’d dreamt it when nobody answered
I used to know Keith, haven’t seen him for about 20 yrs when he worked for Brian Mc.is he still driving?
robroy:
little ha ba:
robroy:
I remember a tale going around in the 80s where 3 or 4 or even 5 of Lawsons were tipping alongside each other, one went over and the others went down like dominos.
May only have been 2 in reality, allowing for exaggeration
Does anybody know or remember?Hi ROBROY i remember the incident well ,it happened at sheffield at one of the steel works not sure which but the incident concerned happened when Ernie Clark was tipping along side Keith Oliphant,and has the scrap plate stuck Ernie,s tipped over and landed on top of the cab of Keith,s truck.both trucks were volvo f10,s and the body landed on the cab and squashed the roof down to the bottom of the windscreen,resulting in a unit and trailer being wrote off,but both drivers escaped un hurt .Keith got a scania 111 after it happened.
Cheers mate. I was starting to think I’d dreamt it when nobody answered
I used to know Keith, haven’t seen him for about 20 yrs when he worked for Brian Mc.is he still driving?
Last time i saw Keith he was working for Thomas Armstrong but that was year,s ago
oreet here,s photo you on about keith olivant ont milk at aspatria
lawson volvo
john irving
Here are some photos of my S21 cabbed Foden 4795 FN ex Johnston’s Chilham Estates, Kent eventually replaced by ERF NAO 158F ex J.G. Stamper. Sorry about the poor quality of images but they are scanned from old Super 8 cine film found on my loft recently. Super 8 film never gave good results but these images are better posted here than kept in a film reel canister on the loft.
Hiya L600 good photos, you had some clean looking motors.
How many did you have at one time, what were the names of your drivers. Just interested I might know some of them.
Have you ever thought of getting your old cine films transferred on to dvd?
