Was that a “young” Eric Baker up there Pat?
gazzer:
Was that a “young” Eric Baker up there Pat?
Yes it sure was Gary
Regards Pat
Hi Pat my next door neighbour is a retired fleet engineer from BRS Southampton I was telling him about the Pickfords pics and the BRS thead on here and he told me about having to go out with different chain gears when the Scammells got stuck on hills to alter the ratios!I will try and print some pics if that is OK and take around.
Do’es any one remember him John Gill- I think from his description he was at Offers yard -pre-Offers, but BRS had 3 yards in the area and he was in charge. He is about 75 now and was laid off when he was in his late 50’s when they closed the depots down.
Keep the pics coming they are interesting even to someone not from Southampton.
Something I was going to mention when I enquired about Alistar Lane and forgot. I was running with Alistar one night and we stopped at the cafe the south side of Claudes ( can’t remember the name- would it be South of Saintes?) when in came a friend of Alistars (I can’t remember his name either but I saw him about 4/5 years ago driving for STS), as we were chatting Alistar said to the other guy do you remember the last time we were in here?
They then told me that the other guy had had all of his teeth removed and as he would only eat steak &frites in France he had not eaten for days. After a suitalbe quantity of ‘electric soup’ they decided to order him steak & frites he managed to mash the chips between his gums but could make no headway with the steak, so Alistar decided to chew it for him , when he thought it was suitable he would pass it over for the other guy to swallow 
They then noticed all the French watching them suddenly a couple of French women went outside and ‘honked up’ by then I was having to take big swallows!
They couldn’t understand why!!
Gavin
Gavin McArdle:
Hi Pat my next door neighbour is a retired fleet engineer from BRS Southampton I was telling him about the Pickfords pics and the BRS thead on here and he told me about having to go out with different chain gears when the Scammells got stuck on hills to alter the ratios!I will try and print some pics if that is OK and take around.
Do’es any one remember him John Gill- I think from his description he was at Offers yard -pre-Offers, but BRS had 3 yards in the area and he was in charge. He is about 75 now and was laid off when he was in his late 50’s when they closed the depots down.
Keep the pics coming they are interesting even to someone not from Southampton.
Something I was going to mention when I enquired about Alistar Lane and forgot. I was running with Alistar one night and we stopped at the cafe the south side of Claudes ( can’t remember the name- would it be South of Saintes?) when in came a friend of Alistars (I can’t remember his name either but I saw him about 4/5 years ago driving for STS), as we were chatting Alistar said to the other guy do you remember the last time we were in here?
They then told me that the other guy had had all of his teeth removed and as he would only eat steak &frites in France he had not eaten for days. After a suitalbe quantity of ‘electric soup’ they decided to order him steak & frites he managed to mash the chips between his gums but could make no headway with the steak, so Alistar decided to chew it for him , when he thought it was suitable he would pass it over for the other guy to swallow
They couldn’t understand why!!
Gavin
That would not surprise me about Allistair, apparently when he and John Shaw I think were stuck in Greece not able to get a ferry Allistair bought an axe and then pursuaded the staff to ship them!!
Regards Pat
Hi kerbut,
I heard Mappo had won the lottery, and when he’s spent the Ten pounds he will be back 
Kind regards MaggieD
[/quote]
I,m sure i ticked the no publicity box but obviously there is a moleat Camelot. 
Well the secret is out now but i,m afraid the tenner has now been spent so it,s back to working for a living,
though that,s a bit of a sore subject at the moment. 
Like a few other Companies we,ve had to take a bloody hefty pay cut to keep our jobs even though we.re still
working every day but apparently it,s down to rate cuts to keep the work we,ve always had. 
Ainacs
Some great old photos you,ve put on here in my absence PAT, even though before my time. 
Gonna revive the Davies thread now if i can find it.
Hello Gavin McArdle
I did see you thread on the BRS forum about your Neighbour John Gill . My Bro and me it seems are the only surviving Members of BRS Southampton ,maybe not for long though ,
and we cant pin down the name .Can you ask John in what year was he a BRS engineer , there was an engineer that popped his clogs while we was there and John mightve replaced him , I was with BRS 69 to 73 and the BRS Mobile at Offers old yard had no workshops and I don`t think Regents Park depot did either so perhaps John will remember being at BRS Hampton Park Swaythling , unless it was BRS Parcels Southampton , Romsey ,Chandlers Ford or Eastliegh . cof .
Regards Frenchy
That was right about alistsre & john there had been a strick and when it was over they gave all the greek trucks priority and would not ship anyone else till alistre got the hump.
Gavin McArdle:
Something I was going to mention when I enquired about Alistar Lane and forgot. I was running with Alistar one night and we stopped at the cafe the south side of Claudes ( can’t remember the name- would it be South of Saintes?) when in came a friend of Alistars (I can’t remember his name either but I saw him about 4/5 years ago driving for STS), as we were chatting Alistar said to the other guy do you remember the last time we were in here?
They then told me that the other guy had had all of his teeth removed and as he would only eat steak &frites in France he had not eaten for days. After a suitalbe quantity of ‘electric soup’ they decided to order him steak & frites he managed to mash the chips between his gums but could make no headway with the steak, so Alistar decided to chew it for him , when he thought it was suitable he would pass it over for the other guy to swallow
They couldn’t understand why!!
Gavin
Gavin, not really Southampton related (although I used to live in Swaythling just after the war as half my family is from there 
) but wanted to comment on a couple of your remarks above.
There were (are) 2 restos south of Saintes, the second of which was at St.Leger about 10kms away on the N137 and was a regular favourite of mine. Parking both sides but not much of it. I always preferred it to Claude’s though. La Patronne, long since retired, would rush across the road to make sure you parked really prettily.
My wife and I were talking only yesterday about a bloke called Stan with whom I served on Bulkliners. Not a single tooth in his head but his gums must have been hard as nails. Running together one day in London we stopped at a butty van and both had large cobs as hard as French baguettes - and he finished his well before me. I have seen him eat an apple with no problem at all. He always wore a flat cap so nobody knew he was bald until we had a social event one day. This good looking chap with his good looking wife walked up to greet me when I went in and I didn’t have a clue who it was. Of course it was Stan, minus cap but with a full set. He only wore them as Sunday Best and naturally his wife had insisted before she would let him take her out.
Again a bit off thread Some time in the late 70’s Jeffery Bromilow (see Astran thread) had a contract with Salvesons to move the bulk fish from Plymouth and some of the good fish in fridges. I did some of the fridge work,we had been called down to Plymouth as the fishing boats were coming in with a full catch only to find that they had sold it to the Bulgarian factory ships while we were travelling down We were all sitting in the porta-cabin waiting for the next catch to arrive but some of the more local drivers had gone home. Some one came in and started talking to us , he knew all our names and all about the job it worried us because we didn’t know who he was. The next afternoon Ron Bradshaw a northern chap who had moved down to Torquay and was subbing for Jeffery turned up and as we were chatting he said ‘Oh you are speaking to me today then’ we asked him when we didn’t speak and he said yesterday He was bald as a coot with a domed head just like that guy from ‘Are You Being Served’ but yesterday he was wearing a ‘rug’ Took a lot of smoothing over.
Sorry for borrowing the thread you can have it back now
Gavin
hi there pat, the pic of young eric baker reminded me of when i used to drive for him,it also reminded me of one of the biggest bo—ckings i ever had whilst driving and it was from the little fat man himself,i had a truck just like the one in the photo,and i had hitched onto a heavy trailer,coupled up and was ready to set of from his yard,now bear in mind i had a 4speed david brown in her, well being in a bit of a rush to get out on the road i selected 2nd gear and let the clutch out and lept 3foot in the air coming down on the driving seat as though i had got the golden rivet, when all of a sudden there was this almighty shouting from the man himself,the words i will never forget,how many gears has that truck got nipper, replie,4 eric,in that case you use the f–king first gear whenever you pull away and dont let me see that happen again or you will not be working for me much longer,sorry mr baker and off i went, when he went on one everyone jumped,but i must say pat he was one of the fairest bosses i ever had.
Hi another of Rob Rymers pics Hills of Botley
Sorry newspaper clipping is torn but read as follows:
A giant boiler, weighing 45 tons and 19ft, 11in. tall was transported from Thornycrofts, Southampton, yesterday to the Admiralty Fuel Experimental Station at Haslar.
Transported by Hill and Sons (Botley and Denmead) Ltd. The boiler began its journey at 7.15am and was taken via Thornhill, Botley, Parkgate, Titchfield, Stubbington, Lee-on-Solent and Stokes Bay to Haslar-a distance of 25 miles, arriving there a 5.30pm.
Chief difficulties were the height of the boiler, towering over a double-decker bus and width, necessitating single line traffic along much of the route.
Southern Electricity Board officials and GPO men propped-up overhead lines to enable the boiler to get underneath.
AXES NEEDED
Hill and Sons’ workmen took along axes to chop down low, overhanging boughs on the tree lined country lanes.
Superintending the operation was Mr. J. A. Hill, managing director of Hill and Sons and from Thornycrofts, the assistant works manager, Mr. A. D. Mackenzie.
The police played thier part in keeping the roads clear, Southampton Borough and the County forces joined in the operation.
Other authourities co-operating included the highway authourities of Southampton borough, the County Council, Fareham Urban District and Gosport Borough. Rediffusion Ltd Southampton and Radio Rentals Ltd. Gosport helped by removing their overhead lines.
Mr Gordon Prebble of Curdridge, a Hills and Son driver was at the wheel for the whole journey
Pic is of it going through Titchfield
Who knows where this is?
Regards Pat
akt used to do general out of 201 depot and bfc were based at a farm in chestnut ave at eastleigh . barrys flying circus we called it as barry jellis now boss of pentalver other firms were brains ,molos, henry smithers, smartfreight, josheph fish,mammoth tspt , edmund gerald, norman offer, eurohaul, lorraines tspt ,srt, harline, maidbers, ringhaul, springroad tspt, meachers and pitters, i could go on and on…i,ve just discovered trucknet so you,ll have to bear with me im just a novice on these computer things from dilbert the container driver with more time on his hands
Hi again another of Marc (Bubbleman)s’ pics with a Southampton link.
This time a Southampton registered Jamesons Seddon, anyone know where it is loading from?
Regards Pat
Hi a couple more of Rob Rymers pics
First one is a Wimpey Scammell (I think) 483ATL the words written by it say Winchester By-Pass to Compton and Southampton. 153’ long and 126 tons. Fab assembly (Excavator)
Next is a newspaper cutting the caption below the pic reads; An impressive view of one of the two consignments of huge steel girders each 78ft long and weighing 3 tons which are due to leave Winchester for Manchester tomorrow.
The girders 23 in all are being supplied by Conder Engineering Company Limited of Winchester, for a 150ft span building in Manchester.
The two lorries transporting the girders will be escorted by police and will take the whole of Sunday to complete the journey.
Just look at the overhang? Anyone know who did this job?
Regards Pat
ainacs:
Hi a couple more of Rob Rymers picsFirst one is a Wimpey Scammell (I think) 483ATL the words written by it say Winchester By-Pass to Compton and Southampton. 153’ long and 126 tons. Fab assembly (Excavator)
Next is a newspaper cutting the caption below the pic reads; An impressive view of one of the two consignments of huge steel girders each 78ft long and weighing 3 tons which are due to leave Winchester for Manchester tomorrow.
The girders 23 in all are being supplied by Conder Engineering Company Limited of Winchester, for a 150ft span building in Manchester.
The two lorries transporting the girders will be escorted by police and will take the whole of Sunday to complete the journey.Just look at the overhang? Anyone know who did this job?
Hi had a phone call from Chris Hill yesterday he said that Hills of Botley did a lot of work for Conder but was not sure if they did the load in the pic!
Now todays entry a couple more of Rob Rymers pics this time I have no information about these at all but as they are with all of the other pics I presume they are from the Southampton area! I like the old cars (not old then) in the pic
Regards Pat
Fergie47:
Those old V8 Maggies, I’ve never driven one, but they tell me if you drove them hard, fuel consumption could drop as low as 4.5 - 5 mpg. Is that right ■■
I,m sure this one used to do about 6 mpg.
I know , i know , well i was only a nipper then.
[
Now todays entry a couple more of Rob Rymers pics this time I have no information about these at all but as they are with all of the other pics I presume they are from the Southampton area! I like the old cars (not old then) in the pic
Regards Pat
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That looks to me Pat like its in old Wickham square. Probably wrong though. Fergie 47 should know.
It certainly looks like it Tony, yep,Wickham it is. Could’nt do that now though !!!
The way they are facing, I’d liked to have seen them negotiateing the right hander, toward Portsdown Hill.
P.S. Some time around Xmas, as the tree is up in the square in front of the lead tractor !!!
Fergie47:
It certainly looks like it Tony, yep,Wickham it is. Could’nt do that now though !!!
The way they are facing, I’d liked to have seen them negotiateing the right hander, toward Portsdown Hill.
That,s what was making me doubt myself Dave, and also was,nt there a bit of a brow when crossing the
main road by the church ?