robroy were from sale opposite what was the lindow pub they ran mainly ford d series box vans and patechs later cargos and a couple of ageing 111 scania artics , they were blue with a white band they also had vintage lorries as well
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hi lads, Jim you mention Benson’s, was it Benson’s of ashington, they had erf and atkis, little Ernie, Fred, Geordie plunkett just to name some of their drivers, the drivers bought that company when Benson’s finished, and ran it successfully till they retired, late 90Ty’s, only stopped once at Worcester, parked at the race course, returned next morning to find the park flooded 
liked your trip to bidford, we did ship spares and plate to appledore ship builders, that was some hump from the north east,if the load was wide it could take 4-5 days to get there, happy days, 
bumper
Hy macdangerous, Road Services Forth and Road Services Caledonian were sister companies set up by, I believe, the Alexander Family after denationalisation of BRS with ex BRS wagons and were painted in the BRS Parcels green with red chassis and wheels etc. they bought mainly new Leyland and Albion vehicles when they could. Road Services Forth ran out of Falkirk, I think, and Road Services Caledonian ran out of Dumfries. Later the Alexander’s set up the Tayforth Group and both Forth and Caledonian were taken into this and the livery was changed to a light blue. There where many other companies eventually taken into the Tayforth Group which then sold out to the BRS which during the middle part of the 60’s was allowed to go on the acquisiton trail and became a part of Scottish Road Services. Of interest was that at this time BRS also bought a number of othr well known hauliers i.e Mortons of Coventry…Tony.
Thanks Tony…bit by bit I’m putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. I only remember the Forth/Caledonian wagons in that distinctive blue livery, interesting to hear about the origins, and especially their aquisition by BRS. Now I guess I’ll need to go on the trail of the Alexander family…
And Jim - what a cracking piece of writing. Never had much contact with Smith’s - by the time I arrived, everybody seemed to be getting out of steel and into containers, and there were a few outfits that seemed to grow really quickly - J & R Wright, Thomas Craig of Barrhead and John G Russell especially. They were where the jobs were and even in those days (69/70) you could walk out of a job and into another one the next day. Having said that, I took the opposite route, going from Freightliners to Stampers, though even an old established steel haulier like them had started on the boxes.
Give us more!
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Hy Jim the BRS, Pickfords etc. were all part of The Transport Holding Company which replaced The British Transport Commision as a Goverment owned private company, while I was at The BRS, I can remember them buying out a North Wales haulier by the name of Williams and pulling some of their trailer which were painted a maroon or brown but which Williams this was I can’t remember. I can remember seeing the strange looking cab on the Albion unit but this may have been fitted to older coach built Albions rather than newer LAD cabbed motors of which they ran a number. I can’t remember posing for any paintings allthough I would have been delighted to have helped out at the young ladies art classes but nobody ever asked, if the Tony in the picture is about 6’ 4" and extremely handsome then it most certainly was not me!..Tony.
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Forth Road Services Albion, called the Snowcat i think.
yes these albions were called snowcats,they were designed by watty alexander and i think the cabs were made in his coachworks in falkirk
Suttons Tony:
Of interest was that at this time BRS also bought a number of othr well known hauliers i.e Mortons of Coventry…Tony.
John Morton & Co Ltd of Coventry were Nationalised in 1948, except the C licence vehicles on coal, furniture and contract work. The car transport work was a caquired during the backdoor nationalisation in 1966 and became Mortons (BRS) Ltd and then became Cartransport in 1972.
flatman001:
Suttons Tony:
Of interest was that at this time BRS also bought a number of othr well known hauliers i.e Mortons of Coventry…Tony.John Morton & Co Ltd of Coventry were Nationalised in 1948, except the C licence vehicles on coal, furniture and contract work. The car transport work was a caquired during the backdoor nationalisation in 1966 and became Mortons (BRS) Ltd and then became Cartransport in 1972.
The part of Mortons that hauled car spares for Jag, Rover and Triumph was moved to BRS at Cheapside in B’ham (along with the lorries) who also handled Austin Morris spare parts. Early 70’s this was later moved to Middlemore road in Smethwick merged together and became a Unipart contract most of the lorries being painted in those colours. Some of the tackle was awful, boxers, mastiffs pulling 40ft single axle trailers which was replaced with Guys, Buffalos, Clydesdales (not much better !), at busy times some of the work was farmed out to Wolverhampton , Oldbury and Banbury depots.
Flatman001, all general Haulage Companies were Nationalised around 1948 but when De-Nationalisation in 1954 started and Mortons got going again in “General Haulage” doing mostly car stuff. I was talking about the so called backdoor Nationalisation as you call it, though The Transport Holding Company was a private company owned by the Goverment and of course BRS, Pickfords etc. were no longer Nationalised companies since the BTC had handed them over to the THC…Tony.
Suttons Tony:
Flatman001, all general Haulage Companies were Nationalised around 1948 but when De-Nationalisation in 1954 started and Mortons got going again in “General Haulage” doing mostly car stuff. I was talking about the so called backdoor Nationalisation as you call it, though The Transport Holding Company was a private company owned by the Goverment and of course BRS, Pickfords etc. were no longer Nationalised companies since the BTC had handed them over to the THC…Tony.
Not all haulage companies were nationalised two examples F B Atkins of Findern and Ritchies of Hetton Le Hole, some doggedly refused to give up there vehicles as Atkins did and others claimed exemption as Ritchies did.Accordng to Bob Tucks book on Robsons of Carlisle they started back in haulage on 1st February 1953 with vehicles bought from an early BRS sale at Manchester.
hi jim, did most of the wide loads 1966-71 while working for brownlees, ship hatch covers from blaydon to Scottish ship yards, Alexander Steven, govan, lithgows greenock, ships anchors from Wilson foundry bishop auckland, to cox’s old yard at netherton, used have a big derrick crane in the middle of the yard, lloyds testing at hamilton, steel mole’s from Pearson’s wallsend to edinburgh and Dundee.never for got the widest load, 16ft-8in, wallend to Dundee, 1968 remembrance sunday, left wallend 6-30am tipped dundee 2-0 pm,only had an ■■■■■■ over the forth bridge, all other police authority said just keep going ,ring us if you get stuck, wish they had all been as easy as that, sibble cox’s ship yard at falmouth was the nightmare one, could take 4-10 days depending on the police ■■■■■■ you got, must be honest i like’d doing that type of work no ropes or sheets, just chain up and go, bumper
PS always had a good book to read while waiting for an ■■■■■■. 
Hy Flatman001, yes and Yiddel Davis for instance yous’t to run some old Foden 8 wheelers which he painted in red during Nationolisation so they would look like BRS waggons but bit does’nt change anything…Tony.
Suttons Tony:
Hy Flatman001, yes and Yiddel Davis for instance yous’t to run some old Foden 8 wheelers which he painted in red during Nationolisation so they would look like BRS waggons but bit does’nt change anything…Tony.
Nobody’s trying to change anything Jim asked for info about Mortons, just adding a little I’ve read. There must have been a lot of dodges going on during that period for hauliers to keep their busnisses going, according to the book after Robsons main fleet was nartionalised they ran vehicles on C hiring licences on a dedicated user basis, but the user had to pay the drivers wages and they found a loophole that one vehicle could be interchanged amongst several C hiring licences. They would send a vehicle south running on a C hiring licence for Smith & Walton Paints then after a phone call to change the insurance would run back north the C hiring licence disc in the windscreen would be replaced for one to carry for Oliver & Snowdon and bring back a lod of animal feed from Liverpool.
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hi Jim netherton at wishsaw, depending on how wide the anchor was, under 10ft we us the A71 to overtown turn left follow the road towards wishsaw, but turned left before wishsaw, and the yard was on the left, anything over10ft it was into motherwell and come back to netherton, always got it lifted by that derrick crane, some times we back loaded out of that little plate mill, think it was Williams steel, 
when loading the chain out of Lloyd’s or beal chain, always put some kickers across where the first link would drop, this help the floor boards, bumper
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