My first foray and machinery

[wheel_nut]

Whilst looking through 8wheels blog. I came across this picture and stole it.

I drove one of these when I first left school working in a container repair depot. The Henley Hercules was a big tool in its day, long before the toplifter and straddle carriers were used.

The Henley had the same frame as the blue machine and I had 20’, 30’ & 40’ frames with hooks to lift containers from the corner castings.

The Bonser was another forklift we bought at another job, with a David Brown engine. I used this to lift empby seawheel flats and drumcarriers and then to tranship loads onto them. The pictures are library pictures but the old Bonser is still in service today

[paul_john]

Hi Malc, I was thinking about Henley fork lifts the other day. When I left school I worked at an engineering company that supplied Henley’s at Pontlanfraith with all manner or steel sections and components. We used to drill the counterweights to fit different models.
They used to take deliveries on Saturday mornings, and I would take our TK in loaded to the max. I would hang about and watch them load out forklifts for delivery the following week, and ocasionally get to drive the big ones around the yard.
Richard Marsden was the main transport contractor in them days, yellow ERF’s.