I wonder if you or The Crow or anybody else knew of this driver Sim Jones from Cheshire and I wonder if he had any trouble with his side tanks while he was crossing The Sahara. I must admit that the only British haulage company who I ever heard of who went to Nigeria was Wake Brothers from Hull and I can well imagine the problems that they encountered.
Regards Steve.
[/quote]
Evening all, I can remember my clients, Tpts Chapuis, and also VIT, who both crossed the Sahara on a regular basis saying that “the Sahara was only for the French”!! Yes I know fairly average for the French, after all, they owned Africa!!!
But Claude Gorenne, who ran many times for Chapuis to Nigeria in 78, spoke to me about an English owner who ran with them. Now I still keep in touch with Claude, (he is over 80), and I will ask him for details, if he can recall them!!
A couple of photos here that have been passed onto me by Colin Pidoux from his flickr site (kemowcolin).Thanks for giving me permission to use them Colin.He tells me he used to work with a lad called Ian ? who worked for Dow in the 70s and the last he heard of him was that he was running a pub in the Perranporth area.(ring any bells with anyone?)
Hullo Steve,
Regarding your earlier discussions about the trailers with side tanks. Look at this photo that has just been put on by Moomooland . Could that have been D34, it certainly seems to begin with three.
Cheers, Archie.
Thanks Paul for showing this photo, I.I.R.C. somebody (it might have been Wheelnut) recognised that bridge as being in Hull so maybe Brian Cobb was on his way to get the North Sea Ferry at, was it King George’s Dock ? Do you recognise that bridge Archie although I am not sure if that was trailer D34, D35 or D36 as they all had two tanks and a trailer box on each side.
I have been going through the old photo shoebox and came across this one which I took while going over The Shipka Pass in Bulgaria or as Chris Arbon calls it in his book Road Trip To Ramatuelle (which I must say I enjoyed reading) “Cobblestone Mountain”.
Ian Powling might recognise the old church with the gold roof in the background and I think that this might be the same tilt that’s shown in Moomoolands photo.
How many times did we all pass something that looked really interesting and thought the next time that I come this way I shall park up for half an hour and have a good look around but of course we never did.
I came across this on You Tube, Shipka Pass looks like it’s tarmaced now but it brought back the memories of the challenge that we had to put up with every winter on those bloody cobbles.
Hullo Steve,
Regarding your earlier discussions about the trailers with side tanks. Look at this photo that has just been put on by Moomooland . Could that have been D34, it certainly seems to begin with three.
Cheers, Archie.
Thanks Paul for showing this photo, I.I.R.C. somebody (it might have been Wheelnut) recognised that bridge as being in Hull so maybe Brian Cobb was on his way to get the North Sea Ferry at, was it King George’s Dock ? Do you recognise that bridge Archie although I am not sure if that was trailer D34, D35 or D36 as they all had two tanks and a trailer box on each side.
I have been going through the old photo shoebox and came across this one which I took while going over The Shipka Pass in Bulgaria or as Chris Arbon calls it in his book Road Trip To Ramatuelle (which I must say I enjoyed reading) “Cobblestone Mountain”.
Ian Powling might recognise the old church with the gold roof in the background and I think that this might be the same tilt that’s shown in Moomoolands photo.
How many times did we all pass something that looked really interesting and thought the next time that I come this way I shall park up for half an hour and have a good look around but of course we never did.
I came across this on You Tube, Shipka Pass looks like it’s tarmaced now but it brought back the memories of the challenge that we had to put up with every winter on those bloody cobbles.
Hullo Steve,
Regarding your earlier discussions about the trailers with side tanks. Look at this photo that has just been put on by Moomooland . Could that have been D34, it certainly seems to begin with three.
Cheers, Archie.
Thanks Paul for showing this photo, I.I.R.C. somebody (it might have been Wheelnut) recognised that bridge as being in Hull so maybe Brian Cobb was on his way to get the North Sea Ferry at, was it King George’s Dock ? Do you recognise that bridge Archie although I am not sure if that was trailer D34, D35 or D36 as they all had two tanks and a trailer box on each side.
Regards Steve.
Steve,
I think the swing bridge maybe at Trafford Park,the back scene looks familiar,before it all changed for the trams
Take it easy,
David
I thought I had decided it was Salford too, when I posted the pictures of all the Hull bridges. The main routes were always Drypool or North Bridge into Hull or at a push Clough Road.
It looks more like Lancashire now with that grey satanic block wall behind the bridge. I will investigate my posts
mat man:
archie paice you must know brian cobb at mat in the 70s ran spainish dodges to middle east
Hi mat man, Brian worked for Chet Trux out of Ostende or Zeebrugge doing Middle East in the early seventies in a Spanish Pagaso and here he is in the mid seventies driving this. The last time I saw him he lived in a pub which was owned by Bill Bentley whenever he was back in the U.K., this was in the early eighties just before he moved to Bridlington.
For some reason I always thought that this photo was taken in Hull on the way to King Georges Dock ? to catch The North Sea Ferry but I can’t remember what looks like a tall building faintly in the back ground. Maybe Malc or Archie might recognise this bridge.
Hullo Steve,
That’s a good picture of an old Transcon mate. but I don’t think that bridge is in Hull though. There are two bridges, North Bridge and Drypool Bridge, over the river Hull. Both of them are very similar to that one, but the background, the street lamps and buildings just don’t jog any memories at all. I think it is probably over nearer to you somewhere. Good to see you got back to Oz safe and well. No Worries eh ?
Cheers, Archie.
I am with Archie. I don’t think that is Hull either. The main route I remember into Hull until the Myton Bridge opened in 1981 was down Boothferry Hill, Fiveways, then through the city centre using Alfred Gelder Street going past the main post office on Lowgate before crossing the river at Drypool Bridge. I don’t recognise the railings, street lamps or the buildings.
Drypool Bridge
North Bridge
There are several more bridges, but they are all of a similar construction, not arched but squared off
Hiya Geoff, have you any idea which way that Transcon is travelling .
If he was coming from Trafford Park then I thought that The Liverpool Warehousing Company warehouse might be in the photo behind him on the right. (Was that the old Tobacco Bond in the 70’s or was it something to do with B.R.S. or was it Rank Hovis )
If he was coming from the direction of Manchester Docks then what’s that tall building in the background could it be Piccadilly Plaza or the Co-operative Insurance Society (C.I.S. on Miller Street).
Is that a gas works in the background or do I need a trip to Specsavers .
remember that pic when it was new in the 70’s on the front page of the commercial motor it is trafford road bridge and im sure its white city bound from salford in the distance is the timber yards the clearing houses and behind is colegate palmolive
Hiya Steve, you don’t need specsavers That is the Gasworks you can see, situated between Regent Road and Liverpool street, think the entrance was on Windsor street. The Skyscraper that looks next to it I think will be one of the Pendleton flats, on or near Ellor street,the top end of Cross lane near to the A6.
Ray
mushroomman:
Hiya Geoff, have you any idea which way that Transcon is travelling .
If he was coming from Trafford Park then I thought that The Liverpool Warehousing Company warehouse might be in the photo behind him on the right. (Was that the old Tobacco Bond in the 70’s or was it something to do with B.R.S. or was it Rank Hovis )
If he was coming from the direction of Manchester Docks then what’s that tall building in the background could it be Piccadilly Plaza or the Co-operative Insurance Society (C.I.S. on Miller Street).
Is that a gas works in the background or do I need a trip to Specsavers .
Saviem:
Evening all, I can remember my clients, Tpts Chapuis, and also VIT, who both crossed the Sahara on a regular basis saying that “the Sahara was only for the French”!! Yes I know fairly average for the French, after all, they owned Africa!!!
But Claude Gorenne, who ran many times for Chapuis to Nigeria in 78, spoke to me about an English owner who ran with them. Now I still keep in touch with Claude, (he is over 80), and I will ask him for details, if he can recall them!!
Will post what I`m told. Cheerio for now.
Hello Saviem, it would be great if you could ask your friend Claude if he has any old photos of his trans Sahara journeys as I for one would be extremely interested . The only trucks that I can remember seeing in 1975 apart from the French military vehicles were Algerian registered Berliets, Saviems and Mercedes. All of them were the bonnetted type, double drive and on top of the loads were usually a couple of dozen Toureg sat in their black robes hanging on for fear of death. Mind you they would of come in handy to share the shovel with on the many times that they would of been down to the axles when the piste was soft.
I don’t know where Claude’s final destination would of been but I am presuming Kano or Kaduna as I would of thought that it would of been cheaper and quicker to send goods from France to Lagos by sea.
Could you ask him if he ever did any loads to the Uranium mine at Arlit in Niger or to the French nuclear testing ground at Tamanrasset in southern Algeria, any photos that he can share with us would be really appreciated.
In 1975 the bitumen ended at In Salah in Algeria and apart from a short stretch by the airport near Tamanrasset it started again at the Nigerian border at Zinder.
Having had a sort out of old photos only last week maybe Claude might remember seeing this sign that was at The Tropic Of Cancer.
This Mosque which was known as The Mali.
And somewhere I have a photo of a Bedford Q.L. belonging to Encounter Overland from Hitchen in Hertfordshire on it’s way from London to Johannesburg with twenty passengers at the campsite in Kano, Nigeria but can I find it at the moment, of course not. So I shall have to post this photo of the back end of it parked next to a German overland Unimog.
Regards Steve.
P.S. Found it .
The driver of this Bedford was a lad called John Finch Davis from Wales, he was doing an oil change when I walked over to see if he needed a hand. After a couple of minutes he recognised me as we were in the airforce together a few years before although I couldn’t remember him being a driver but it turned out that John had been an electrician on an excercise in Germany that we were both on in 1969.
After John had been demobbed from the air force he went working for a friend driving a Ford Transit pulling a small trailer taking people on a two week camping trip around Greece via Austria and Yugoslavia. He then went working for Encounter Overland and after working in their garage for a few months they sent him out to Jo’burg via Kenya and Rhodesia and he was on his second trip when I met him. John gave me his bosses telephone number in Jo’burg and said if I ever needed a job to contact him and four years later I did but they didn’t need anybody for a couple of months and so I always thought that that was a job that I really missed out on
A year later I was in Aydin’s garage in Istanbul and there was an Encounter Overland driver with a Bedford K.M. on it’s way to Singapore and I asked the driver who was doing a service if he knew John and what was he up to. The driver told me that John was still working for E.O. but was then taking passengers across South America .
He certainly did and John like most of us used to take the rough with the smooth .
John joined Dow after working for Bob Kilby International from Swindon doing Middle East work. I think that the guy on the right was called Dave Farmer who was also from Swindon although Farmer might of been his nickname .
altitude:
Don’t know where John is now, the last time I saw him he was in Immingham yeeeeeeeeeeears ago. I think he was on for a Dutch guy then.
John ,Farmer last time i saw him he was on for David Horton plant and as regards to bob Kilby was married to my cousin andpassed away couple of years ago ,and also Rossco the swindon speedway manager drove for Dow around the same time ,one last thing can any of you remember Jackie from the Swindon dept ?
altitude:
Don’t know where John is now, the last time I saw him he was in Immingham yeeeeeeeeeeears ago. I think he was on for a Dutch guy then.
John ,Farmer last time i saw him he was on for David Horton plant and as regards to bob Kilby was married to my cousin andpassed away couple of years ago ,and also Rossco the swindon speedway manager drove for Dow around the same time ,one last thing can any of you remember Jackie from the Swindon dept ?
I know Rossco but the only person I knew he drove for was Ron Giles. Don’t know Farmer or Jackie. That’s news Rossco on for Dow Freight, I would have put money on him having trouble finding the Isle of Whight!!! let alone the Middle East.
I.I.R.C. there used to be a young mechanic at the Swindon depot called Alan who was into motor bike scrambling or it could of been speedway and I remember Bob Kilby saying that he had potential to do well in the sport. I can’t remember if Bob was working full time for the Swindon depot or if he was just doing holiday relief when I met him but somebody had mentioned that Bob had been a very good speedway rider in his younger days.
Apparently Alan was looking for a sponsor and asked Phil Vernon if he would have a word with Roger who obtained a second hand Volkswagen L.T. that had been traded in for part exchange with DowMan. It was spray painted black and orange and was supposed to be the fitters van but I think that it could be easily converted to carry Alan’s bikes and I think that it might also of had a couple of bunk beds in it.
I remember seeing the van once going down Jubilee Way in Dover just before Easter and somebody told me later that they were going to a race somewhere on the continent.
The only Jackie that I can remember was the secretary from the Stockport depot.
altitude:
Don’t know where John is now, the last time I saw him he was in Immingham yeeeeeeeeeeears ago. I think he was on for a Dutch guy then.
John ,Farmer last time i saw him he was on for David Horton plant and as regards to bob Kilby was married to my cousin andpassed away couple of years ago ,and also Rossco the swindon speedway manager drove for Dow around the same time ,one last thing can any of you remember Jackie from the Swindon dept ?
Bob “Killer” Kilby was known as one of the best gaters of his time and it was a sad day when he died aged only 64
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