The ERF is in Holland now.
I saw it parkt at a house near Nijmegen and at a trucks show in 2010.
Thanks for the update…as I supsected sadly though 
. Cheers.
I got to know some tm lads in the early 80,s by way of cb radio, names that come to mind are shakey (dave stevens who lived at brampton and drove FFE 128X) Big L (only knew as les , drove FVL 73Y) kentuckyan(only knew as terry) and a chap called rodger who i believe lived at thurnscoe, all were on nights when i used to speak to them, in those days they went upto scotch corner to change over then down to crick or sometimes as far as flitwick change over and back to denaby so no wonder they didnt hang about.
I remember Dave Stevens well, in fact my dad was double running with him the night he had his nasty accident.
FFE 128X was affectionately known as ‘fifi’ by the lads at Denaby.
Terry you refer to was probably Terry Atkinson from Wombwell.
Washington Services up the A1 was a regular swap stop, where they would meet the Scottish drivers coming down from their Broxburn Depot.
Check out the below images…
I believe this is the Broxburn yard.
Again, one of their Scottish drivers I think.
A rare shot of one of their few bulk carriers (again, Scotland I think)
Not sure, but going by the reg, possibly a Denaby unit?
Can’t make out the reg on this one, but think it is another FFE unit…if so, this could be at Yorkshire Bottle (a storage facillity at Bawtry)
Cheers.
Great pics & stories of one of well remembered and respected firm, when did they finish, i had a night out with one of there drivers at haydocok ind est just off the 580 in the early 90s and he said then that the writing was on the wall.
When i used tio ride with my grandad in the mid 70s they were always one of the firms i remember seeing about with the distinctive livery.
Brilliant thread and pics…
HI Gunnerheskey,
Thanks for the interest, and your comments. Not sure of the exact time that they came to an end, but Guiness put paid to Towmaster Transport, swallowing up all thier work, but not heir drivers…typical.
I have a few pics of Towmaster Units, but it has taken me ages to get them, and some serious trawling…would love to see more if there are any out there.
Their old yard at Denaby is still there with the original fencing and gates etc. It is still in use by a chemical firm of some description. As you pass by the rear yard (on what is now the new road over the level crossing…which by the way was a right bugger to get over, but thats another story)…you can even still see the old railway sleepers on the floor that were used for the trailers to ■■■■ up to…after all these years!
hilltop4:
HI Gunnerheskey,Thanks for the interest, and your comments. Not sure of the exact time that they came to an end, but Guiness put paid to Towmaster Transport, swallowing up all thier work, but not heir drivers…typical.
I have a few pics of Towmaster Units, but it has taken me ages to get them, and some serious trawling…would love to see more if there are any out there.
Their old yard at Denaby is still there with the original fencing and gates etc. It is still in use by a chemical firm of some description. As you pass by the rear yard (on what is now the new road over the level crossing…which by the way was a right bugger to get over, but thats another story)…you can even still see the old railway sleepers on the floor that were used for the trailers to ■■■■ up to…after all these years!
Next time i’m up that way, i’ll have a look.
Always remembered Towmasters because of the broad loud livery, one i always liked.
There’s no denying it was a very striking colour scheme, particularly when new, and washed.
I have often thought though, that it was strange that there were never any address’s or telephone numbers on any of their tractors or trailers. Bear in mind that there was no such thing as the internet either for people to just google ‘towmaster transport’…so I often wondered how they got any work■■?, but they did, and plenty of it too.
Below is a image that was clearly a publicity shot, hence the smart looking brand new outfit. Very sharp looking. 
Cheers mate.
Hi hilltop4,
who were the actual owners of Towmasters, or did one man own it, or were they a derivative of another company ?
Dead Interested ?
gunnerheskey:
Hi hilltop4,
who were the actual owners of Towmasters, or did one man own it, or were they a derivative of another company ?
Dead Interested ?
Hi Gunnerheskey,
I may be mistaken on this, as at the time, I was only 12/13 years old and took very little interest in the business side of things (more interested in soaking up the yards atmos, and playing in the wagons 
)…but I think Towmaster Transport had something to do with ‘Schweppes’ at the time. Like I say, I may be wrong on that, and will stand correcting, but I certainly do not recall them being a one man outfit.
Doncaster’s fleet was initially all ERF…Bs, and then a little later the Cs arrived. I remember that they had a good mix of day and sleepr cabs. Dad always had a day cab (BWF 74T) which he shared with another driver.
I always wanted him to have a sleeper cab, dont know why, just thought they looked ‘the muts nuts’ so to speak , and when he doube ran with any of the other dirvers who had sleepers, I woul jump in their cab for a play at snap time. Likwise if we bumped into any sleeper lads at other depots.
Dad jumped from an old Atkinson Borderer (a wagon still very much from the 50’s in terms of looks and comfort) with his job before Towmaster’s to the brand new B series… so you can imagine our excitement at this leap to what we considered a very futuristic looking unit.
Later when the Cs started to appear in the fleet, I couldnt believe my eyes, when I opened the passenger door, and climbed up to be greeted by a bright Blue ruber dash, as opposed to the old black plastic one on the B.
And as for the mercs coming on scene, I was happier than a pig in s**t!! as these were all sleeper cabs.
I remember my first night out…dad had to go from a Schweppes bottle plant in London, down to their depot on the Isle of Sheppey for a return load. Dad was gutted that it meant a night out, but I was overjoyed. As dad wasn’t a regular trunker, we had naff all in terms of overnight kit. As all the industrial estates were full of early bedder downers, we ended up dropping the trailer, and reversing into the entrance to a farmers field!..which was up a slope, which meant all night I felt like I was rolling off the side of the top bunk!
The next morning, our breakfast was half a bottle of lemonade that was left over from the fork lift lads at Schweppes. They really were great days.
The next time I am passing, I will get some pictures of the yard, and post them on here.
Speak soon. 
Forgot to mention, Towmaster were also a subsidery of Bells Scotch Whisky too.
Check out these images…
Dad’s wagon earning its corn for her new owner after Towmaster.
At rest at a show, in ghood company with similar looking C Series - A900 UHU I think.
Another nice shot in the sun, illustrating well the work gone into making her look as good as she does.
Stricken at a show, but helped out by fellow enthusiast.
Take a close look at this shot…you may think I have psoted the wrong one, but if you look carefully to the left, you can just make out an F7…not certain, but am fairly sure that this is a Towmaster unit also. The only yard to my knowledge that ran Volvo’s was the Scotland depot… a rare find.
Cheers.
Towmaster at Sheerness had WFC917X which was an F717 unit with the long sleeper cab. Judging by the reg it may have come from Dawson Rentals. There were some pictures of FFE127&129X posted earlier, both of these ran from Sheerness at some point, along with FFE128X. 127&129 were transferred to Denaby during 1986 when 2 new Mercs arrived.
tyreman:
Towmaster at Sheerness had WFC917X which was an F717 unit with the long sleeper cab. Judging by the reg it may have come from Dawson Rentals. There were some pictures of FFE127&129X posted earlier, both of these ran from Sheerness at some point, along with FFE128X. 127&129 were transferred to Denaby during 1986 when 2 new Mercs arrived.
Hi tyreman,
Thanks for the info on some of the units…and also for correcting me on the Volvo question…so it appears that they were featured in the fleet more than I thought 
I have managed to get some pretty good pics of the old Denaby yard…the site manager there gave me his kind permission yesterday to roam around the yard at will. I will try to post them on this thread later tonight.
Cheers
PS - I also unserstand that in the VERY early years of Towmaster Transport, they had Seddon Atkinsons, that were all White with Red trim 
…far too early for me to remember though, maybe someone else does perhaps?
I took these pics of Towmaster’s old Denaby yard yesterday. The current company site manager was very helpful, and allowed me total access to the site. The security guard told me an old tale too…he said that he remebered Towmaster’s well, as he was working for ATS tyres at the time, and he used to come into the yard regularly to do the tyres on thier wagons. He also said that on one occassion, him and a mate came down one Sunday morning and spent the entire shift in the back yard replacing all the super singles on all the trailers in the yard at the time.!!!
Towmaster Tranpsort Depot, Old Denaby Lane, Denaby, Doncaster. Now used by Wyatt Chemicals…enjoy.
The Bigger unit to the left is an add on since Towmaster had the yard.
View through the gate and straight up the front yard. Reception on left and all the units used to parked on the right. These gates are the original ones by the way.
Reception area, unchanged since Towmaster days.
Looking up the yard from reception steps…drivers rest room on left, and the canopy in the far right corner is an add on.
Drivers rest room, and main entrance into wharehouse. The white bollards and chains were there then also.
Same angle and view, just further down the yard, the doors on the right were the fitter’s bay.
At the bottom of the yard now, and looking along the wash down towards the back yard. The fuel tanks were where I am stood here.
View into back (trailer) yard from corner of wagon wash. This yard was half concerete and half aggragate
Back yard, now looking back in the exact opposite direction. The 3 doors are the rear entrance to the fitters bays.
Stood in same spot, but now looking along the back yard, back towards Old Denaby Lane. The build on the left is the rear of the add on, and the conifers were there back then obviously…small trees werent though.
Row of old railway sleepers for trailer wheels to ■■■■ up to still in situ!!!
Electricity box on premises, as was then, still marked, and registered as Towmaster.
Hope you enjoy the pics, and they bring back some fond memories, as they did for me when I took them
Sheerness depot is still pretty much unchanged from the days when Towmaster ran from there. I dealt with them from about 1983 to about 1987. The fleet consisted of ERF shunter AFS171S, and ERF B Series FKR421-430V, XEV968-970X, FFE127-129X, RHD511X. XEV969X had a C Series cab. All had Rolls Royce engines. Later came some Mercedes supplied by the local dealer - A765-769NKR and A483PKJ. I think these replace some of the V reg units. I don’t remember any trailers other than tautliners at Sheerness, certainly no tankers. Most of the trailers came from Central Trailers, with numbers beginning with C. Towmaster owned the trailers beginning T.
In the attached photos, the units are parked outside the warehouse. The workshop was to the left, and there was a large parking area at the back. Your mention of ATS was apt!
When Guinness bought Bells, they had no need for Towmaster as they already had their own distribution fleet so Towmaster faded away. The yard was taken over by Richard Lawson car transporters for a few years, it is still in use as a haulage yard today.
Blimey…those pictures take me back. My uncle used to work for Towmasters on night trunk. I used to go with him on a Friday night sometimes. That would have been early 80s. He did’nt have his own unit so sometimes he had an ERF & sometimes a Merc. They also had some rental Volvos for a while.
I think this was the summer of 1985. The fitter needed more tyres so I did the drop off. I thought it made an interesting picture. Pity you can’t see the reg numbers.
Mark R:
Blimey…those pictures take me back. My uncle used to work for Towmasters on night trunk. I used to go with him on a Friday night sometimes. That would have been early 80s. He did’nt have his own unit so sometimes he had an ERF & sometimes a Merc. They also had some rental Volvos for a while.
Excellent shots tyreman!!! .
A typical, no nonsence working haulage yard scene. The fact that it’s a Towmaster yard makes them even more enjoyable!
Do you have anymore?..please post em if so. Thanks mate.
Found this shot in my archive…check the VRM - Possibly an old Towmaster Unit■■?
What do you think?