shirtbox2003:
hi old 67 ,souds like the same guy,sorry to read about his passing.i was an apprentice fitter at chaseside the loading shovel makers in blackburn in the 1960s and being a lad had to take the parcels out from the stores to him.what finally caused ripponden to cease trading,so sad. regards.jack preston.
Hi Jack, just to bring the thread back on track,a photo of me showing how not to exit the cab,as my knees will now confirm!!.Should have listened to the “old boys” years ago.
Ripponden Motors put on a sports and fun day for all the children of the village
In its hey day we had 100 lorries out every day,which declined in proportion to the decline and almost demise of manufacturing in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
I guess the sale of the depot for the land to be turned over to “posh” housing,was too tempting,and sod the loss of jobs.
Does any one have any photos of Ripponden Motors they would like to share?.
Regards John.
I thought Id revive this thread , and see if theres anything to add.
This Dodge Commando was photographed on the outskirts of Mdina , Malta , a couple of years ago.
It was well-loaded with paving blocks for the construction of the pavements next to the recently-made car parking area.
I think they were just a bit better than a Ford D series , but I know there price was very keen and lean .
We never had any problems with the Dodges and my dad was very keen not to have Leylands after the FGS , he even called our Lf we bought new , Leyland ■■■■ .
My old Commando when I worked for Minty Furniture, Oxford, picture was taken up by Oban, Scotland having just done my last drop there, I had 15 drops on this run delivering new suites/tables & chairs etc, 1st drop was Leamington Spa worked my way up to the last 1 in Oban. Sleep every night across the seats, blankets hung up each night for curtains, freezing my knackers off in winter wrapped up in sleeping bag with woolly hat on & blankets on top, cab heater was a little single-ring primus to thaw everything out in the morning & make a brew, big box on passenger floor full of maps because I went anywhere on mainland Britain with this old girl, all handball drops with loads that never had less than 10 drops & anything up to 20, & she never failed me once Regards Chris P.S. 1 thing I find funny on almost all the threads on this forum, is how many of us even though we are getting older & the memory starts to fade in many things, that we seem to be able to remember eg number of drops/quirky delivery locations & details/pubs/restaurants/fish & chip shops etc etc from 20-30-40 yrs ago & further in some cases, but if you asked me where I went with my nice Scania in comfort any day last week I would probably have to get my diary out to tell you , could it be that years ago despite the lack of many things like night heaters etc etc, we actually enjoyed the job & it was fun . Just an observation… .
neversweat1:
That must of come from Partridges of Cassingdon
Steve
Hi Steve, it might well have done mate, there’s the memory again I can’t remember . They were demount bodies that we put angle-iron stays into each corner that stuck out the side & we reversed them onto rails that extended out from our loading bays that were the length of the wagon, so as you reversed between them it lifted the body off & up to the height of the bay doors ready to be re-loaded! Regards Chris
MooMooland
Regards Chris P.S. 1 thing I find funny on almost all the threads on this forum, is how many of us even though we are getting older & the memory starts to fade in many things, that we seem to be able to remember eg number of drops/quirky delivery locations & details/pubs/restaurants/fish & chip shops etc etc from 20-30-40 yrs ago & further in some cases, but if you asked me where I went with my nice Scania in comfort any day last week I would probably have to get my diary out to tell you 
, could it be that years ago despite the lack of many things like night heaters etc etc, we actually enjoyed the job & it was fun 
.
