truckerash:
Can’t remember where or who I got these pics from, but I was reliably informed that FM did Middle East work. Not sure if they had an “internal depot”, or if they went overland.
Think this one is NRT 345P. Love the arabic on bumper.
This looks like then ones they ran down with a couple of Eric Vick Europeans as pathfinders / guides ( the usual practice for first time drivers) By the time they got through Turkey most of the wardrobes and other similar cab fittings had shaken apart and had been discarded through the window. The Europeans were fairly basic for a good reason I’m not sure how many trips they did, I think there were a couple of drivers whom ‘stuck it’ but over all it was a short lived experiment. I think Merryfasters found it cheaper to use subbies
zzarbean:
We also did a lot of bulk container out of Barry, along with IFF (who we also worked for) Ferrymasters pioneered loading bulk plastics through the roof.
i would be interested in any photos or stories of that Ted. I worked at a company along with the founders of IFF and am still in contact with one of the original owners. We designed and built much of the loading and discharge equipment as well as alterations to standard equipment.
Photos I’m sorry I have none, too busy to mess about with a box brownie; you know how it was in those days
Memories? That’s another thing.
The first Ferrymaster boxes had wooden bulkheads which had to be fitted just inside the back doors, This is after you’d hung the plastic liner. As you can imagine it wasn’t that easy juggling the top bulkhead into place. Shortly afterwards they came up with the idea of hatches in the back doors.
IFF went the other way and had a tipping hatch across the front of the box.
The biggest problems we had was the plastic liners and getting them to inflate properly and also stick to the floor, for this Glue was first used and then double sided tape. Both OK first time of use but then you had the problem of getting it up off the floor afterwards. Then plastic pellets used to get everywhere. There was also a problem with dampness getting into the bags, at first they blamed seawater but I think it was mainly condensation.
We mainly just loaded the boxes, Ferrymasters out of DOW at Barry and IFF out of BP at Baglan Bay and Monsanto Newport. Ferrymasters were mainly for Sweden and Denmark whilst IFF went to Ireland via Avonmouth Docks (Not Portbury)
I was lucky not being so vertically challenged as some I could reach the dog clips around the inside top of the boxes onto which you clipped the bag but it was still an art to get them to hang right.
truckerash:
Can’t remember where or who I got these pics from, but I was reliably informed that FM did Middle East work. Not sure if they had an “internal depot”, or if they went overland.
Think this one is NRT 345P. Love the arabic on bumper.
This looks like then ones they ran down with a couple of Eric Vick Europeans as pathfinders / guides ( the usual practice for first time drivers) By the time they got through Turkey most of the wardrobes and other similar cab fittings had shaken apart and had been discarded through the window. The Europeans were fairly basic for a good reason I’m not sure how many trips they did, I think there were a couple of drivers whom ‘stuck it’ but over all it was a short lived experiment. I think Merryfasters found it cheaper to use subbies
…am liking the old Crane Fruehauf mudflaps - we used to use them for everything (excellent floor mats, draught excluders, tea trays etc)
zzarbean:
Photos I’m sorry I have none, too busy to mess about with a box brownie; you know how it was in those days
Memories? That’s another thing.
The first Ferrymaster boxes had wooden bulkheads which had to be fitted just inside the back doors, This is after you’d hung the plastic liner. As you can imagine it wasn’t that easy juggling the top bulkhead into place. Shortly afterwards they came up with the idea of hatches in the back doors.
IFF went the other way and had a tipping hatch across the front of the box.
The biggest problems we had was the plastic liners and getting them to inflate properly and also stick to the floor, for this Glue was first used and then double sided tape. Both OK first time of use but then you had the problem of getting it up off the floor afterwards. Then plastic pellets used to get everywhere. There was also a problem with dampness getting into the bags, at first they blamed seawater but I think it was mainly condensation.
We mainly just loaded the boxes, Ferrymasters out of DOW at Barry and IFF out of BP at Baglan Bay and Monsanto Newport. Ferrymasters were mainly for Sweden and Denmark whilst IFF went to Ireland via Avonmouth Docks (Not Portbury)
I was lucky not being so vertically challenged as some I could reach the dog clips around the inside top of the boxes onto which you clipped the bag but it was still an art to get them to hang right.
I was short and only 15 or 16 when I started with IFF boxes, the job was to “service” them, which involved climbing on top and releasing all the hatches, sweeping around them and oiling the catches, we then dropped the liners onto the floor, normally by running a sharpened hacksaw blade around and then folding them up. It was much easier then to unclip the top section and then sweep the boxes out. We checked them for any damage and leaking seals before putting in a new liner or just place the new box and tape in the container.
Do you remember Burrobond, it was some kind of starch they carried, when it was wet it set like concrete and smelt like cowmuck. It would do because they used it in animal feed
Boy oh boy those photos take me back a few years.
If we are talking Ferrymasters I really can’t go any further before mentioning Curly the (I think yardman) at Felixstowe, sadly killed when he fell from a trailer. One of the nicest and helpful men you could wish to meet. There was also Ivor always rushing around with his clipboard. In the office was Fred (Durrant?) and Norman. At Southampton there was (Jack? Bloddy memory) and his boy who serviced the trailers with a can of grease and a stick.
Back to the bulk, the worst stuff we carried was PVC resin from BP, a very fine powder which went very sticky if wet: dry the dust got everywhere. Ferrymasters had the bright idea with their new containers to put a TIR sealing cord through the top hatches, nearly impossible to thread, because the hatch sealing holes never lined up, and lethal if wandering around on top the box. They didn’t last long. I’m told they made excellent clothes lines, in fact I heard there’s one still doing sterling service 35 year later.
As I said we did very little tipping but we had one job bringing raw pellets down from Dumfries to Pontypool for ICI and returning with finished goods to Penkridge on the way up. We had a dedicated driver doing the tipping at Pontypool and used to swap the boxes at Sharpness Docks.
IFF had nice white boxes using single composite panels and apart from the plastics we use to do Malting grain from Bishops Storford way for Ireland, again using Bristol Seaway out of Avonmouth docks
zzarbean:
As I said we did very little tipping but we had one job bringing raw pellets down from Dumfries to Pontypool for ICI and returning with finished goods to Penkridge on the way up. We had a dedicated driver doing the tipping at Pontypool and used to swap the boxes at Sharpness Docks.
IFF had nice white boxes using single composite panels and apart from the plastics we use to do Malting grain from Bishops Storford way for Ireland, again using Bristol Seaway out of Avonmouth docks
The composite panels were an idea to be more hygienic, they were much heavier though, and the problem with them was if they did get damaged, the repair bills were quite horrendous. They still had normal keruing floors with Joloda track.
IFF had quite a few 40’ containers built for BIB bulk, but the problem was, they were still waiting for 38tonners in 1975
When we started doing bulk you still needed 5 axles to pull 30’ trailers at 32 ton. Hence an old Twin Steer Atki (no power steering of course) This was used to load up to 3 or four boxes a day at Dow Barry it would then pull them to the layby just outside the gate and swap with a 2 axle unit to pull them on. The last box it would pull up to the Severn Bridge where a night man would take over for the run Tilbury, No M25 of course so it was turn right and down past Earls Court, Then usually right over Vauxhall bridge and back across Tower Bridge (rattled a bit) before hitting the A13.
At Tilbury you’d drop and swap, often for a flat of Chip Board. Perched on a 30’ skelly it was an interesting load to say the least.
The composite boxes were OK but they tended to bulge a bit when loaded
FM certainly had a very mixed bag of equipment over the years. I can only assume that there was some serious money to be made / saved by moving their operating centres around as much as they did / do! I remember one type of cargo that they frequently shipped were new shopping trolleys, double stacked with a layer of plywood sheet inbetween. It was like having a tanker load in a tilt - and getting the first ones off…scary wasn’t in it. Has anyone got any pics of the early kangaroo type trailers they had (I think they were Hukepak, Van Hool or something similar)
zzarbean:
When we started doing bulk you still needed 5 axles to pull 30’ trailers at 32 ton. Hence an old Twin Steer Atki (no power steering of course)
A 6x2 Atki should have had power steering - it was the standard spec!
Ferrymasters did come and go a lot, although the business and trailers have always been around, they seemed to have difficulty with their own transport.
I have a gap in my memory between Ferrymasters and IFF, but my next foray into bulk powders was with a pressure tank for Huktra. I then worked with Incobulk who used an aluminium box without a plastic liner, this idea was also used by P&O Tankmasters with the 30’ aluminium box.
My friend drove for another company before that which I think was taken under the P&O Tankmasters banner.
Unispeed operated bulk pressure tanks and liquid tanks.
zzarbean:
When we started doing bulk you still needed 5 axles to pull 30’ trailers at 32 ton. Hence an old Twin Steer Atki (no power steering of course)
A 6x2 Atki should have had power steering - it was the standard spec!
This one was ex a fuel company if I remember rightly, I only drove it a couple of times and found it a right beast, as for the power steering I’ll gladly stand corrected, it was getting on for 40 years ago and memories do get confuzzed
I know all the switches were on a side panel near my right knee and as there were extensions fitted to them I kept knocking them when pulling it around corners. As I pointed out to a policeman who stopped me by Vaxuhall bridge for driving with no lights
truckerash:
Can’t remember where or who I got these pics from, but I was reliably informed that FM did Middle East work. Not sure if they had an “internal depot”, or if they went overland.
Think this one is NRT 345P. Love the arabic on bumper.
I remember seeing these trucks in Ferrymasters depot in Alyesham kent
I’m not sure how many trips they did, I think there were a couple of drivers whom ‘stuck it’ but over all it was a short lived experiment. I think Merryfasters found it cheaper to use subbies
