Anybody who has been reading my post’s over on the O/D’s forum this past year or so will be “relieved” to know I’m finally committing myself to going O/D in the next couple of months (I think!!!).
I’ve booked a flight for Tuesday to fly into East Midlands airport and for the day I intend to check out a couple of 00/01 6x2 Foden Alpha’s with the ■■■■■■■ ISM410 engine. These trucks are located at “Cromwell Trucks” and “Walkermovements” both in the West Midlands area, has anybody had dealings with these guy’s before 
Cromwell are actually reimbursing my airfare for coming over to take a gander with no obligation on my part which I think is top class.
Do any of you guy’s know of any similar spec trucks I should check out when I’m over,hopefully specced with PTO,Jake,twin tanks and stack exhaust as I intend to go into Aggregete/Tarmac work? Budget around £12000 to £15000,
Thanks.,
Andy.
Big Truck:
Cromwell are actually reimbursing my airfare for coming over to take a gander with no obligation on my part which I think is top class.
Thats customer service !
Maybe a few manufacturers should take the hint.
good luck hunting Andy if those fodens are the ones with the cf cab then you wont go far wrong with them or the daf version.
We all know RobK’s affection for the premium 
but I personally wouldnt touch 'em.
You should be able to get a decent :-
95 space cab
FH12
Scania
for your budget as well nut they wont be as late as the foden/cf so I would stick with them.
Go to Road Trucks and look around a couple of decent 143 's 
Good luck anyway!
BigTruck, you could do worse than giving Hardstaffs a Call (a haulage firm), they have a dealership selling Fodens and are a stones throw from East Midlands Airport near East Leake (not far from me). Last time I was in their, they had a couple of nice second hand motors in, but it was a while ago IE 8 months.
As an aside, they specialise in bulk aggregate work themselvs and sometimes put their own used units through the dealership so it may be worth giving them a call.
Cheers
Ian.
Cheers guy’s,
Sorry Sean, but your big Globbey cabbed FH wouldn’t look right in a quarry 
Karl,I’ll stick with the 00/01 Fodens,too much to go wrong with your 94/95 143’s 
Liberace,do you have a phone number for Hardstaffs
Go here, it’ll tell you all you need - it says commercial and bodyshop repairs or some such thing, but they do sell units unless they’ve stopped since I last went.
Big Truck:
Sorry Sean, but your big Globbey cabbed FH wouldn’t look right in a quarry
It’s alright Andy I wont take it to heart 
hey big truck, your friend monty is looking subbies to tow fridges. 80p/mile. what do you think? worth a go? cleaner than working out of a quarry.
Hey Splinters,
Why not just go to Sawyers their paying 84p/m? ( believe me Mark Snowdon from Monty has been on the blower!!)
I’m just not interested in leaving home at 7pm on a Sun night and not getting back til late Fri afternoon or even worse Sat morning 
Starting in Lagan quarry at The Temple (their looking 30 trucks) around 18/10/04 on the Loughbrickland tarmac contract at £4/ton:
30 ton payload (44t)= £120 load= 3x load day (very conservative number of loads)=£360/day x 5days/week=£1800/week X 4 weeks=£7200 gross/month
Add in diesel from the south at 60p/litre and 7am til 6pm and I,m home every night, HAPPY DAYS
Does the £1.00 have a different value in Ireland?
80p a mile? You better stay in a quarry, at least you will be use to ending up in the ■■■■■ 
try this link for hardstaff
and this one for foden trucks
charnwood-trucks.co.uk/driver-training.html
they are both the same company but have different names they operate under.
good luck.
If you decide to venture north past Sheffield area then if you let me know I could pick you up and act as chauffeur to save you money on taxi’s/buses if it helps you.
Cheers.
Do you know what Johnny, I’ve been in their times and never noticed that 
.
Rob K:
If you decide to venture north past Sheffield area then if you let me know I could pick you up and act as chauffeur to save you money on taxi’s/buses if it helps you.Cheers.
Ta very much for the offer Rob but the dealers are chauffering me around
Johnny,
That Charnwood website needs updating badly its still showing the old type Foden Alpha
big truck, the whole company needs dragging into this century mate.
they have a dozen computers in the transport office but nobody to work them, most of them have post it notes stuck all over the screens mate.
i have never seen anything like it mate.
they have someone who does all the web site stuff but if nobody visits the site they won’t know about updating it.
they only have a website because customers kept on about it.
they do an awful lot of different things though and they treat the drivers pretty good, regular training etc. it’s a truckstop too with a cafe that is sometimes open - especially in the day.
Well folks I think I’ve got two choices to make:
- X plate 2000 Foden Alpha,standard cab,410 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ stack exhaust,pto with new tank,new roof beacon bar and very clean costing £14200 straight.
2.Foden Alpha XL cab, 440 ■■■■■■■■ 2001 51 plate (Ex Reid Transport from Ayr Scotland) 380km,stack exhaust,twin tanks,jake,pto,autolube costing £16800.
Bearing in mind there going onto quarry/tarmac work and I’m probably having to buy a new insulated trailer at £23/28000 which would you go for
Big Truck:
Well folks I think I’ve got two choices to make:
- X plate 2000 Foden Alpha,standard cab,400km,alloys,autolube, stack exhaust,pto with new tank,new roof beacon bar and very clean costing £14200 straight.
2.Foden Alpha XL cab 2001 51 plate (Ex Reid Transport from Ayr Scotland) 270km,stack exhaust,twin tanks,pto,autolube costing £16800.
Bearing in mind there going onto quarry/tarmac work and I’m probably having to buy a new insulated trailer at £23/28000 which would you go for
I’d buy the one 51 plate - without alloys and it’s lower km’s ( not that I know much about Fodens )
If you can afford it get the newer one…apart from the k’s, you’ll probably appriciate the XL cab as well I’d guess.
Coming over tomorrow again with my new part-time driver via the Stranraer boat and then down the road in my car.Going to look at the ex-Reid Alpha XL at Foden Sandbach and then back up the road to look at a used Kel-Berg insulated trailer in Beverly near Hull.
Watch out for two mad N.Irish boys flying low on the M6/M62 in a Silver Alfa 156 JTD,Pull your mirrors in