Larry ,brakes,i can remember having the trailer come round twice , lucky both times ,wet roads ,to fast , getting to cocky ,soon brought back to earth ,the dead man brake ,pull up leaver was down by the door right hand and you could sort of pump it. yes true . like where the old ratchet brake was ,but fitted to the bulkhead.ish.by the battery,under the seat,could be wrong about the battery.? YOU NEVER FORGET THE OLD JACK KNIFE ,never a full on one both empty.and no one knew untill now that is 1968/9.d…b.p ps
DAVENTRY may well remember that old box cattle truck and the make, or ronnie the fitter.
we were still pulling four in line bulkers in the 90’s for Chettles, out of Ditchford mill Wellingborough. used on animal by-products, two compartments in them with offal in the front and feathers in the back ( piled high ) and a blood tank bolted under the frame.
That’s just reminded me of the wonderful odour of chicken offal! 
deckboypeggy:
Larry ,brakes,i can remember having the trailer come round twice , lucky both times ,wet roads ,to fast , getting to cocky ,soon brought back to earth ,the dead man brake ,pull up leaver was down by the door right hand and you could sort of pump it. yes true . like where the old ratchet brake was ,but fitted to the bulkhead.ish.by the battery,under the seat,could be wrong about the battery.? YOU NEVER FORGET THE OLD JACK KNIFE ,never a full on one both empty.and no one knew untill now that is 1968/9.d…b.p ps
DAVENTRY may well remember that old box cattle truck and the make, or ronnie the fitter.
Hi DBY taking my name in vain again, Ronnie has just moved to a house across the road from me, strangley enough almost opposite where I previously lived,(I only moved 200yds) I’ll ask him when I see him ,we used a few 4- in-line on Butts & Challis I remember the Cattle box I only done one trip with it (I refused to take out again) I took it up to North Yorkshire, I couldn’t get up one of the hills due to it leaning over and losing traction, had to go up the right hand side of the road, as for the make no idea, Brian bought some semi- low pole t/rs for pre-cast that were 4-in-line they good but nearly 40ft so a nightmare to get in any where tight cheers Graham
British Rail (Freightliner) which became Freightliners Ltd operated numerous four-in- line skeletals in both 20’ and 30’ configuration from the early 60’s. If my memory serves me correctly they were mainly (and perhaps all) BTC’s. The 20’s were almost useless due to the restricted payload potential especially as the domestic container fell away to be replaced by Deep Sea container work which by nature was heavy in comparison. The 30’ trailers soldiered on into the mid 80’s being mainly used in short haul, trailer pool operations where payload took second place to the cubic capacity of the 30’ ISO containers.
For one contract, delivering mainly white goods to a high street retailer, Ray Smith tailifts were retro-fitted and they were still working in 1988 when I left.
National Carriers who inherited the BR Cartage fleet in 1969 must have had a number of four-in-lines as well.
I think the post office may have had a number of four -in-lines but the make is not known by me.
I may have a couple of pictures which I will turn out if anybody is interested.
JC
Thanks Graham! ,nice one,YES ronnie will know, 200hundred yards no wonder pickfords went bust… i moved from BYFIELD TO woodford in a washed out cattle truck,1968 ,when i am with the local pillars of society i normally drop that in conversation.well impressed…then they pass the white lighting around -again .
Clunk:
Just looking at the pictures, and I can imagine that these 4 in line trailers were horrid to pull, and they look like they would lean a lot in the bends.
Back in the 60s I found they pulled ok and the bends were not a problem as back then Tractor Units were not speedy lol
We had a lot of BTC 4 inlines at Alison,s Dundee didn’t like them especially with a ■■■■■■■ of a load … there was a couple of 40’ s as well they were a mongrel to reverse with the wheels on the arsend but that,s when we learned how it was done ■■?
The firm I worked for in the 60s had one four in line it was a York 30 ft long, Once you got used to it it wasn’t too bad, I will say mind you it had good brakes, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
The firm I worked for in the 60s had one four in line it was a York 30 ft long, Once you got used to it it wasn’t too bad, I will say mind you it had good brakes, Regards Larry.
Now there speaks the voice of experience,somebody who could handle a four-in-line,a common sense approach and the trailer did a decent job it was just that you had to gan a little bit cannier at times on corners but then that’s common sense eh! whatever trailer your pulling.Well said Larry,Cheers Dennis.PS Did this 30ft trailer have much overhang at the back Larry ? I know the main of the 4 in lines had the axles right a the very back but I think it may have been York and Scammell that had the axles further forward on the chassis.
Bewick:
Lawrence Dunbar:
The firm I worked for in the 60s had one four in line it was a York 30 ft long, Once you got used to it it wasn’t too bad, I will say mind you it had good brakes, Regards Larry.Now there speaks the voice of experience,somebody who could handle a four-in-line,a common sense approach and the trailer did a decent job it was just that you had to gan a little bit cannier at times on corners but then that’s common sense eh! whatever trailer your pulling.Well said Larry,Cheers Dennis.PS Did this 30ft trailer have much overhang at the back Larry ? I know the main of the 4 in lines had the axles right a the very back but I think it may have been York and Scammell that had the axles further forward on the chassis.
A little bit overhang Dennis, Regards Larry.
I remember a scrap firm Charles Dobson from B’ham ran into Bilston steelworks with some four in line high sided tippers, they looked very ungainly tipping and I remember the driver saying he said his prayers every time he tipped one. Why you would run one on scrap I’ve no idea, punctures would have been a nightmare.
Trev_H:
I remember a scrap firm Charles Dobson from B’ham ran into Bilston steelworks with some four in line high sided tippers, they looked very ungainly tipping and I remember the driver saying he said his prayers every time he tipped one. Why you would run one on scrap I’ve no idea, punctures would have been a nightmare.
Dobsons yard, cracker to back on weighbridge there Trev, only a narrow one ok with twins on trailer as you backed on planks with inner wheels but with super singles oh dear!! 
Yes Lawrence,The brakes were ok when empty -ish, if not wetc road ,however when you had 20 beast moving around in the back all trying to get their heads facing front ,that is what they did ,why who knows, it was 10 tons on legs, not to good then ,and reversing down to the unloading bay at the abattoir and they are all facing the wrong way, the back once normally ended up on the deck, and all their mates would just rush on past and leave them there plus leave a nice package over them…good old four in line days.THE MIDDLE EAST WAS ALL SUN AND SAND , THE CATTLE TRUCKS WERE ALL ■■■■,IE AND ■■■■…
lczjs:
Clunk:
Just looking at the pictures, and I can imagine that these 4 in line trailers were horrid to pull, and they look like they would lean a lot in the bends.Back in the 60s I found they pulled ok and the bends were not a problem as back then Tractor Units were not speedy lol
Things changed a bit in the 70s then, which I think was when I first started pulling 4 in lines. My tractor unit was a Kew Dodge (LAD cab) with a Perkins 6.354 in it and a 2 speed axle. I gave up going for the land speed record when I got to 75 
Only Hadfields of Ashton under Lyne passed me on the M1 in those days - and all perfectly legal, and in the 3rd lane too.
Hi,
Four -in-lines had there place in transport,----Parked up in the yard !!
But if you had to take one out there were OK as long as they were treated with caution. As regards brakes ,no two seemed to be the same and remember these were the days before ABS, ( How did we manage without ABS and the rest of the electrical wizardry? ) so maybe we were used to those days of braking when the brakes felt like working.
As regards stability, I found that if you never had anything higher than 20t of plate steel on you didn’t have many problems with keeping all 4 wheels on the ground. Anything higher and you drove with a twitch in your pants !
Cheers Bassman
I realise I’m a bit late with this one, 5 years late to be precise, but I recently found this among the mountain of crap that I refuse to be parted from. The first one of these things that I pulled was a tipping trailer. It was an absolute nightmare when loaded. We had them at Heaton’s as well, running double deck pallets of glass bottles from Rockware in St Helens up to storage in Garston. Same story, first whiff of an adverse camber and over they’d go. They just didn’t lend themselves to being loaded above headboard height. I’m inclined to agree with Bassman here, the best place for these things from a drivers perspective was parked up out of the way in the corner of the yard. Eddie.
At last a picture of the Scammell 4 in line trailer, But as just as I thought not with the old automatic coupling, Thanks for posting this, Regards Larry.
Very good information Eddie.however they were the new ones,proper scammell couplings were the ones i started with ,with a cattle box on the chassi.
these posts should be on the Newbie pages, just to show the new drivers ,this was the start of the game.