Punchy Dan:
Bewick:
Punchy Dan:
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Here’s just a few of the many longton guy pics I have .Not a very impressive line up Dan, IMHO. Cheers Dennis.
Wait until I post the 8lxb ones !!
I can only hold my breath for 3 minutes no make it 2 minutes !! Cheers Dennis RIP. 
Punchy Dan:
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Here’s just a few of the many longton guy pics I have .
Evening all,
Dan, bang some more Longton ones up, that was a big operation, Knight and Riley, Longton Storage and Transport, the Guy Dealership, James and Tatton the steel stockholders, Jayton, engineering requisits, plus the motor car side. …and the property portfolio…and Bulk Storage…now long gone under Canary Wharf!
The very first Guy/Motor Panels sleeper cab came out of Longtons works in King Street, (as later did the sleeper version of the Road Runner, and the Crew Cab on the T45 Range). As for an 8LXB…Longton were Guy Motors biggest Distributor…
Cheerio for now…Oat Cakes Rule!
Saviem:
Punchy Dan:
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Here’s just a few of the many longton guy pics I have .Evening all,
Dan, bang some more Longton ones up, that was a big operation, Knight and Riley, Longton Storage and Transport, the Guy Dealership, James and Tatton the steel stockholders, Jayton, engineering requisits, plus the motor car side. …and the property portfolio…and Bulk Storage…now long gone under Canary Wharf!
The very first Guy/Motor Panels sleeper cab came out of Longtons works in King Street, (as later did the sleeper version of the Road Runner, and the Crew Cab on the T45 Range). As for an 8LXB…Longton were Guy Motors biggest Distributor…
Cheerio for now…Oat Cakes Rule!
Not sure which part of LIH but they used to take assembled Fodens from Sanbach and knock them down into packing cases for export
Not sure which part of LIH but they used to take assembled Fodens from Sanbach and knock them down into packing cases for export
[/quote]
Hello Spud,
Id forgotten about that, it was Knight and Riley, quite an amazing operation…the demise of Longton Industrial Holdings is a moot lesson in whatever the circumstance , never, never ever let Institutional Shareholders get hold of your company…short term gain is just the mantra of the City boys…Barstewards!
Cheerio for now.
I remember Longton having a depot in Bolton, 1960’s■■?
gingerfold:
I remember Longton having a depot in Bolton, 1960’s■■?
Morning Graham,
Yes, Bolton was quite a big operation if my memory is right. Longton Storage and Transport handled a lot of regional distribution with 4 wheelers, and had quite a clever operation. Trunk vehicles feeding the depots, and each was a separate profit centre. The transport operation as well as the total group diversified from the core business and grew, and grew, and then they became involved with exterior funders to grow the group. But with the exterior funders came a different type of control, not necessarily concerned with long term stability. A new Head Office was opened in Berry Hill, and the Board was no longer the Dale family alone.
I think that it was about 86/87, when to boost the image, the Group Financial Director, (a very competent accountant), gave an interview to the Evening Standard regarding “the crock of gold at the end of our rainbow”, which were the Bulk Storage and Transport yards in what is now Londons Dockland development…
Instant overnight raid by a shell company, (Thompson T Line, the redundant Scottish Caravan manufacturer), backed by the Diamond Corporation of South Africa, (Hugo Bearmann, and Julien Askin, whose offices were behind London`s Ritz hotel). The Board was still wiping their breakfast crumbs from their mouths, when they had lost control…and the end was inevitable.
Storage and Transport became a MBO, with the then MD Brian Riley, and Alan Harp, (Alans father had been a partner with the Dales back in the 30s). James and Tatton became a semi MBO, the same with Jaton. Bulk Storage lingered on, before closure, (Spud, can you fill in the details)? The Garage side went to Evans Halshaw, (then the lorry side closed, when the Leyland DAF management decided that Kays were a better bet as Distributor for Stoke on Trent.
Dans picture of the Big Js shows the post MBO grey and red livery, previously it was blue and black. The Knight and Riley offices became the Renault Trucks dealership…and lots of good people lost their jobs, and a great employer was no more!
Now, there is a possibility that Knight and Riley may have run a Big J 8LXB…because the relationship between Guy and Longton was very close…after all they did run an experimental LAD cab version on trial, before Guy chose Trevor Dudleys iconic US inspired design for the Warrior/ Invincible ranges!
Cheerio for now.
Thanks for the info John.
All of this and memories of other sizable haulage and distribution operations that no longer exist are fascinating, and it begs the question who or what filled the void after their demise?
This looks like it could be one of the elusive 8pot Big Js. The badge looks like a 240 badge and the size of the exhaust seems to confirm that.
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newmercman:
This looks like it could be one of the elusive 8pot Big Js. The badge looks like a 240 badge and the size of the exhaust seems to confirm that.
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As far as I can make out, the badge says 240. I’ve just compared this picture with a couple of dozen other pics of Guy Big-Js, and the cab of this one sits significantly higher than usual. To back up that observation, I’ve found another picture of it,showing the high ground clearance of the cab. Robert
Could this be the one!! and Dave is sadly no longer with us to re-join the discussion ! Well G L Baker was never mentioned in the past debate even though they were big Guy operators, I wonder if there are any of their former Drivers still about who maybe could shed some light on this elusive beast. Cheers Bewick.
I think I have a G L Baker photo somewhere .
It looks like the real deal to me, I have a mate who’s a bit of an oracle on the London transport scene, if anyone knows it will be him.
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Update, my mate knows the bloke that used to drive that Big J and it is the real deal. It had a few reliability issues with the rear axle, so it wasn’t a huge success and was replaced by an ERF MW (Robert you can shed more light on that part I’m sure) my mate us phoning the driver for more info and I will let you know what he finds out asap.
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newmercman:
Update, my mate knows the bloke that used to drive that Big J and it is the real deal. It had a few reliability issues with the rear axle, so it wasn’t a huge success and was replaced by an ERF MW (Robert you can shed more light on that part I’m sure) my mate us phoning the driver for more info and I will let you know what he finds out asap.Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Glad it’s the real thing! But I’ve never heard of a GL Baker ERF MW. Robert
Right, the 8 pot Guy was on a Swiss/Italian run, it suffered gearbox issues at first and the DB box was replaced by a Fuller, it then blew the planetary gears in the diff and a new heavier duty diff was fitted, it ran for a couple of years and ended up coming home from Italy in the back of a stepframe tilt when the diff went and it then sat in the corner of the yard where lorries go to RIP.
It was replaced on that particular job by a drawbar big J with a 250 ■■■■■■■ and the continental fleet of GL Baker got an MW and five 111 Scanias, before moving down to Faversham and going to Bedford TMs and then Foden 4000 series.
So there really was a Big J with an 8LXB and you’re welcome lol
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newmercman:
Right, the 8 pot Guy was on a Swiss/Italian run, it suffered gearbox issues at first and the DB box was replaced by a Fuller, it then blew the planetary gears in the diff and a new heavier duty diff was fitted, it ran for a couple of years and ended up coming home from Italy in the back of a stepframe tilt when the diff went and it then sat in the corner of the yard where lorries go to RIP.It was replaced on that particular job by a drawbar big J with a 250 ■■■■■■■ and the continental fleet of GL Baker got an MW and five 111 Scanias, before moving down to Faversham and going to Bedford TMs and then Foden 4000 series.
So there really was a Big J with an 8LXB and you’re welcome lol
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I remember them in Faversham. I wonder what sort of MW that was… Robert
I’ll try to find out for you mate.
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How does this GL Baker vehicle fit into the list provided earlier by Valkyrie? Was it supplied new to Baker?
Bewick:
Could this be the one!! and Dave is sadly no longer with us to re-join the discussion ! Well G L Baker was never mentioned in the past debate even though they were big Guy operators, I wonder if there are any of their former Drivers still about who maybe could shed some light on this elusive beast. Cheers Bewick.
Hope you are feeling hungry Dennis!!!
David
newmercman:
Right, the 8 pot Guy was on a Swiss/Italian run, it suffered gearbox issues at first and the DB box was replaced by a Fuller, it then blew the planetary gears in the diff and a new heavier duty diff was fitted, it ran for a couple of years and ended up coming home from Italy in the back of a stepframe tilt when the diff went and it then sat in the corner of the yard where lorries go to RIP.
That’s when I would have bought the thing for peanuts and converted it to a 6x4 rigid drawbar outfit using an all American driveline and tried it on M/E work subbing for the M/E division of Bewick.If only I was old enough and had the start up capital then that I didn’t have later.Because there’s no way that Bewick would have given me the work using a KW or TM. 
