hi lads, Jim, pickrings yard at netherton,i believe that’s where sibble cox started his company from, early 20th century,in the book the man who bought a fleet, that yard is mentioned. you must have been working there when we deliver them anchors, some of them were for anchoring the cable of suspension bridges, that would be interesting a load of chain roped, um 
used to put sheets at the back, rope them on so the chain wouldn’t creep back, my be i was lucky never had a problem with that type of load, can’t place the quarry only blackster nr otterburn and ladywood at slaley, do sand stone, but know what you mean, big lump one chain and twitch, after five mile they where flopping, some would take age’s to settle down, 
bumper
Some glorious photos of old Road Services Forth wagons here
Actually, I think it’s prob ok to post them here since they’re on Creative Commons license, but took the safe route anyway. Well worth a look though if you like old Atkis and Albions…
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Had a quick run down to Workington and back this morning.Regulation 1" of snow over the Forth.
Anyway I was thinking as I traversed the 74/M6 theres a vast increase on the number of wagons with no names or phone numbers.Nothing new but probably half the artics I passed had plain units and plain trailers.Not all white,various colours,no writing. Any theories on this? I know insurance is cheaper if you dont sign write a commercial.
Mark.
Gridley51:
Had a quick run down to Workington and back this morning.Regulation 1" of snow over the Forth.
Anyway I was thinking as I traversed the 74/M6 theres a vast increase on the number of wagons with no names or phone numbers.Nothing new but probably half the artics I passed had plain units and plain trailers.Not all white,various colours,no writing. Any theories on this? I know insurance is cheaper if you dont sign write a commercial.
Mark.
Probably because not many people own them anymore most are leased, ours get swapped every 2yrs so they just don’t bother lettering them.
It used to be the law from 1865 until 1930 that Locomotives had to have the owners name and address on and from 1931 the unladen weight too. Goods Vehicles carrying food had to have the owners name and address from 1967 to 1995 for the enforcement of food hygiene legislation, don’t know why it was stopped then but could be why its seen less today. Originally the lettering had to be at least one inch high, white on a black background or visa versa and it became the common standard, initially the Offside only but from 1938 the Nearside aswell, I suppose the lettering developed into the more colourful and diverse fonts over the years, just as well as we wouldn’t have had all those fine liveries to look back on. Franky.
Frankydobo:
It used to be the law from 1865 until 1930 that Locomotives had to have the owners name and address on and from 1931 the unladen weight too. Goods Vehicles carrying food had to have the owners name and address from 1967 to 1995 for the enforcement of food hygiene legislation, don’t know why it was stopped then but could be why its seen less today. Franky.
Franky,now you mention it,I remember it always seemed to be on the back of the cab at the bottom nearside corner.As you say I much prefer the nice colourful signwritten jobs myself.
Mark.
hi lads, grindley51, mentioned names on vehicle’s, at one time hull dock would not load you unless the name was painted onto the doors of your lorry, would not accept transfer sticker name’s, i believe tilbury was the same, 
jim i know the quarry your on about can’t remember if it was before staindrop or after, hope you didn’t sneak of that bridge at barnard castle, i have photo that i took last year of a scania loaded with sandstone blocks will try to post it on here 
, the man who bought a fleet , its about the German fleet that they scuttled at scapa flow,sibble cox, bought the fleet re-floated most of them towed them down to Inverkeithing for scrap, bumper
bumper:
hi lads , the man who bought a fleet , its about the German fleet that they scuttled at scapa flow,sibble cox, bought the fleet re-floated most of them towed them down to Inverkeithing for scrap, bumper
I came across something on the net about that a few years back.The cream of the scrap value had been reclaimed by divers.
The main man was from Fife,David something or other.The scrap plate up to 12" thick was worth a lot more than normal scrap because it had been made prior to the advent of nuclear testing which meant it was non radioactive.It is impossible to manufacture steel to that purity today due to the high amounts of free radiation in the atmosphere.
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Was looking for more info on the German fleet at Scapa Flow.Have found nothing to expand what I remember but a lot of info regarding a scrappie called Cox who salvaged all the smaller boats(up to 100,000 tons) and took them to T W Wards at Inverkeithing for chopping up which is of course what Bumper said.Cox paid £24,000 to the goverment for the whole fleet.Not a bad buy and an interesting read.
Jim,I was only made aware of this insurance thing when re-insuring my Iveco dailly pickup last year.Instead of just paying another increased premium I was hassling the brokers.The girl asked if it was signwritten and I asked why,she said its more likely to be stolen if they know where to find it,so,there is a saving if its plain.Of course then Vosa and the boys in blue seem to want to talk to you more often.
Mark.
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I seem to remember vans as well as big stuff used to have to have the company secretarys name and company address somewhere on the vehicle dont see that anymore although i dont drive for a living anymore so maybe i have just not noticed
hi lads, Jim you mentioned cairnryan, about 1965 i did a few runs to northern and southern ireland from stranraer, ferry was the caledonian princess and bow load only, so always reversed on and drove off other side, at that time cairnryan was were the scraped submarines, this ferry turned into a floating night club, firstly on the tyne then the Clyde, then back to the tyne, I’m unable to post any photos on here, still have problem with photo bucket shop, 
will stick it on there if you want a look, thanks for that information about the mines had a look at the pit my great grandfather and grandfather worked at, regards bumper 
bumper:
hi lads, Jim you mentioned cairnryan, about 1965 i did a few runs to northern and southern ireland from stranraer, ferry was the caledonian princess and bow load only, so always reversed on and drove off other side, at that time cairnryan was were the scraped submarines, this ferry turned into a floating night club, firstly on the tyne then the Clyde, then back to the tyne, I’m unable to post any photos on here, still have problem with photo bucket shop,
This will be her then bumper,Caledonian Princess.If you google it there’s some more pics of her.
Nice picture 
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hi lads, whoops i said she was bow load only, she was stern only, Chris i never seen loch Ryan looking that colour, always dark and gray, what a wonderful imagination this chaps in the advertising industry have. that ship must be the one that replaced the one we sailed on,she is a drive through, Jim your right, they did change the name to tuxedo princess, you must have been rolling in money to afford to drink on her , she finished up in turkey at a breakers yard, Jim my great grandfather, worked at Radcliffe pit 1880, grandfather at broomhill pit 1900. both pit’s gone now, Jim there was a haulage outfit from the stepps area of Glasgow ran scanias 110 & 111,think there fleet colour was red 
, the father was killed then the son in road accidents, do you remember them, racket the old gray matter but can’t think of the name. bumper
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Hi,
Clellands had some smart trucks, a lot of them were fitted with chrome bumpers for some reason. The Scania Vabis LB 76’s were immaculate in their red livery, I always used to see them nearly every Sunday afternoon parked at a B&B (mrs Greens) in Bilston West Midlands, this would be about 68/69. In later years I worked with a chap who drove for them and later for Coopers road services (Wednesbury) Jim Fryer (R.I.P.), a real character who had me in stitches with his old tales of working for Glasgow firms.
Interesting to see that the two pics of the the Clelland Buffalo are the same load despite being in separate locations, the guy taking the pics must have went along with the motor on its journey to snap a few which probably means more were taken! Didn’t quite get the caption right though it was named an Ergomatic cab not Ergonomic, although Ergonomic would be correct to describe the idea behind the cab. AEC were to use the high datum on their vehicles and some were produced but once the AEC name went they only appeared on the later Leyland designs, Buffalo, Lynx, Octopus. etc.