hiya,
Chris as a very young driver the first time i saw the sign Ecclefechan i thought i’d gone the wrong route and was North Wales bound, had a panic attack had done about 125 miles by then, it was my first trip o’er the border as a lorry driver though.
thanks harry long retired.
On the subject of tippers, in the early 80’s I drove a Leyland reiver on contract to a metal company in Wolverhampton. A cracking machine it had a Locomotors sleeper(with night heater 1980 !) the 6 speed splitter box was fitted with a clydesdale overdrive gear which gave it a top speed of 70+mph.
The job involved running metal bar to Dundee and Shotts, bringing swarf or scrap back, hence the tipper. After 700,000kms it was getting a little tired but never let me down once. A replacement was decided on and at the customers insistance it could only be a Leyland 
So my company decided on a constructer and asked for my input, apart from the usual sleeper, night heater etc. I asked for it to be fitted with haulage diffs (higher ratio) to the standard tipper diffs. Well it arrived and on the first trip out to Scotland I was dismayed to find that at 60mph it was flat out 2300rpm on an 11ltr motor, not good sitting all day at that speed. I complained and Leyland sent an engineer to investigate. His conclusion was that Leyland had done a lot of research on what was the best ratio for on and off road and that they were right for the vehicle, after all he asked " how often do you go on the motorway with a tipper" I was steaming didn’t the sleeper give a clue ! at 400mls a day nothing was off road! The upshot was that it would cost £3,000+ to change the ratio’s, I pointed out that it could save that in fuel in a year never mind a new engine would be needed at 18months. His parting shot was " why didn’t you have a 6x2 instead of the double drive " My answer, they wouldn’t supply one in a tipper chassis !
It turned out right with it changed, it went on to be a reliable motor and clocked up the same mileage as the old motor !
Got my goat that his attitude was what would a driver know about trucks! 
Just brought this thread up to the top,wondering where all the “jotting” correspondents are 
hiya,
Chris are you in the know that Sheffield being a large producer of armour plated ingots could’nt roll them down there, they had to be transported to Consett to be turned into plates, usually 5 ton ingots four being a cracking load five minutes to load five minutes to chain on and away usually a dodgy was on the cards did a lot of them loads and have tramped up from Brum empty just to do that job, no ropes or sheets piece of cake did plenty of that work.
thanks harry long retired.
Chris Webb:
Just brought this thread up to the top,wondering where all the “jotting” correspondents are
Chris,Ive been wondering the same.So much so that I PMd Jim last week as hes not been on the forum since the 7th.Ive not had a reply and was wondering if anyone else has heard from him.I was actually going to post tonight but you beat me to it.
Mark.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Chris are you in the know that Sheffield being a large producer of armour plated ingots could’nt roll them down there, they had to be transported to Consett to be turned into plates, usually 5 ton ingots four being a cracking load five minutes to load five minutes to chain on and away usually a dodgy was on the cards did a lot of them loads and have tramped up from Brum empty just to do that job, no ropes or sheets piece of cake did plenty of that work.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry.I didn’t know that,they would be cracking loads as you say.Apart from tanker work I only ever went in Consett once,when I backloaded off Siddle Cook with plate,for Stourbridge I think it was.
I know it was a bloody cold and windy place sometimes,like Albright and Wilson at Whitehaven .
Gridley51:
Chris Webb:
Just brought this thread up to the top,wondering where all the “jotting” correspondents areChris,I
ve been wondering the same.So much so that I PMd Jim last week as hes not been on the forum since the 7th.Ive not had a reply and was wondering if anyone else has heard from him.I was actually going to post tonight but you beat me to it.
Mark.
Hi Mark,I remember him saying he was moving house so maybe he’s not online yet.
hiya,
Chris used to live in the shadow of the old Consett steelworks and it can be cold up there, never worked for Siddle C Cook but did work from the same yard driving the same motors when the firm went into Tayforth group and then BRS.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Chris used to live in the shadow of the old Consett steelworks and it can be cold up there, never worked for Siddle C Cook but did work from the same yard driving the same motors when the firm went into Tayforth group and then BRS.
thanks harry long retired.
I can just remember the Iron Ore trains running up to Consett from Tyne Dock in steam days Harry.The trucks had air-operated doors for tipping.
I take it there’s nowt left there now then?
hiya,
Nowt there now Chris just a big open space, parts of the site have been redeveloped, i now actually live a bit nearer “the sea” at a place called Chester le Street and actually use the old mineral line from Tyne Dock to escape from my old lady in the pretence of going for a walk well my local is alongside it, got the East Coast mainline outside my kitchen window (saw the new steamer on Saturday) and the aforementioned mineral line a short stroll from my front door.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Nowt there now Chris just a big open space, parts of the site have been redeveloped, i now actually live a bit nearer “the sea” at a place called Chester le Street and actually use the old mineral line from Tyne Dock to escape from my old lady in the pretence of going for a walk well my local is alongside it, got the East Coast mainline outside my kitchen window (saw the new steamer on Saturday) and the aforementioned mineral line a short stroll from my front door.
thanks harry long retired.
You used to have to go through Chester-le-Street in t’olden days Harry before the A1 was dualled.The new Steam loco will be “Tornado” built at Darlington,a Peppercorn Class A1 with the BR number 60163 (carried on from the old sequence).I think the ECML trains have been re-branded as East Coast Railways as GNER which was National Express,ran out of money and the government stepped in,you will see them flashing past yer window then.
And yer own footpath to the pub,can’t be bad. 
This will have used your footpath Harry,the last steam hauled Tyne Dock - Consett iron ore train,hauled by a class 9F 2-10-0 loco,in November 1966.Taken near Annfield Plain.
bloomin heck harry,you only live 2 minutes from me. 
i remember as a young(er) lad that line,and the one between kibblesworth and south shields.
as well as cawthorn sinclair wagons lumbering through birtley.
memories
next time im in the lambton,the pints on me!
ps chris,that line used to run right past my school (st roberts biddick lane washington),and the track was still down at that point up until only a few years ago.i say a few years,its over 20 since i left school,but it was still down around late 80"s.i can remember driving past the steelworks in my dads car when i was little,a very vague and distant memory.
hiya,
Long time since i was in the Lambton B R although i pass it frequently on the way to pay my bills, and i’m afraid i’ve only got a half pint capacity now so i guess i would’nt be good company, and as much use as a chocolate fireguard in a boozeing match, and Chris i did’nt move to this part of the world until about 1970 so the steamers were gone by then just walking that line there was quite a gradient in places and an old fellah i have a jar with from time to time says that in the steam era there was a runaway between Chester le Street and Pelton and he said there was fatalities don’t know if it was going to or coming from Consett but in those days it would be coal and iron ore in and finished product out so would have been heavy, and yes there is a pub at South Pelaw just before i join the now cyclepath/footpath and another one at the Birtley part of my walk, if i could only drink like yesteryear i’d make some publican a wealthy man, and B R make that offer of a drink just a half and your on i will buy you a pint in return though.
thanks harry long retired.
Bloody hell Harry,they have big worms up your end,this is a photo of the Lambton Worm I took while I was tipping at Durham Chemicals in Birtley.After it was snared it was taken away in a Cawthorn and Sinclair trailer and let loose on Lord Lambton’s estate.There were some coking ovens near there 'cos I loaded in there a couple of times.An inquiry revealed that it had jumped a train on the ECML from Gateshead loco sheds and was bound for Kings Cross to do a bit of worming in London but fell off at Birtley where I took the photo.
This is a true story… 
hiya,
Yes Chris there is a song all about the Lambton Worm, had some friends over from Germany a while back and a picture of the “pub sign” has pride of place in his home in Dusseldorf he spent a fortnight taking pics of all the local pubs and created quite a stunning display in his house, and no I don’t know the words of the song but i’ll bet Buck Rogers does, he’s a native of these parts and will have had the song sung at him since the days he was in his cot, oh and Durham Chemicals is no longer it has new houses on the site now, the main tanker outfit who did their carrying Pilkingtons had to go, after renewing their fleet and getting a new depot, a sign of the times and a case of too many eggs in one basket i suppose.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi , Harry is the club opposite BOC at Birtley called the "BARLEY MOW " as I was working up there for BOC when their wagon broke down and worked through the week end bringing raw material in from is it Hedon docks in Sunderland four loads a day paid 20 hours a day Saturday was 30 hours and 40 hours for Sunday was best paying job I have ever done and the club was across the road and on the Sunday night 2 of Crows drivers from Widnes were there and while they had a shower I was in the club waiting for them and was pushed into buying a bingo card which I don’t play but had a go and won just as the Crows lads came in so we had a good free night and it looked as if the locals wanted to bump us off but I had been in 3 nights running and when I went in on the Monday night they were all fine except they barred us from playing bingo this was in the 70s but I bet they still play hell about it now.
cheers Johnnie
hiya,
Yes Johnnie The Barley Mow club still going strong, have only ever been in there a couple of times but do drive past it regularly you must have been in there much more than me.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes Johnnie The Barley Mow club still going strong, have only ever been in there a couple of times but do drive past it regularly you must have been in there much more than me.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry I might still be barred as at that time I was probably barred from more pubs and clubs than what I could go into our lass used to go in first to make sure we could get in when at home 
Chris, you being a Sheffield man, can you tell me the name of the street in Sheffield where the Cyclops works were, was it Carlisle street east. I remember loading plates from Dalzell works in Motherwell to the Cyclops works which as you know was the armour plating works. Andersons also loaded a lot of scrap armoured plate from HMS Arkroyal which was cut up at Cairnryan and transported it to the Cyclop works in Sheffield. Sadly like a lot of other mills Cyclops is no more. If my memory serves me correctly you had to reverse off a roundabout and down a ramp to enter the works which was very old and seemed to have a lot of history about it.Regards THE SHERIFF.