hiya,
Did a spell of very high loads in the early 60s they were stainless steel cable drums that the cable was manufactured onto not the ones that the stuff is delivered on, i think they was twenty feet high even with the low loader specially modified "floorboards removed"these were being transported Lancashire to Erith and of course were routed to miss all the low bridges if my memory still works i think it put about fifty miles on the normal trip, it mean’t the route plan gave you no problems having to look for bridges, but it did’nt cover low branches and low wires and i think anybody who has done high loads will tell you they’re the worst of the lot for giving you a sore neck, I bet Keith agrees, your forever looking out for stuff that you might damage, length, width and weight were a doddle compared, was an interesting job though with some of the running being done on little more than country lanes, and though there was no motorways would i have been too high to traverse them■■?.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
You obviously had to have your wits about you on that job. I remember the car transporter drivers coming through Kington before the bypass was built. They had to get on the wrong side of the road going up what is called Church Bank,as the tree’s would have scratched the roof’s of the new cars. They used to do two deliveries a week from Longbridge to Automobile Palace at Llandrindod Wells,who were the main Austin dealers in Mid Wales.
We still get a lot of big oversize loads coming to the Quarries with parts of static plant or mobile plant being delivered or taken away.The other big thing that is happening in Mid Wales as in the rest of the country is the wind farms,some of the turbines are massive,there are already several sites,with more in the planning process. I watched several going through Llandrindod Wells back in the summer under police ■■■■■■,I had a good view from the office window where I do a bit of part-time lounging about. 
Cheers Dave.
On low bridges, one at chesterfield used to catch a few out, another at Manningtree, but it had a drive round it, few in Glasgow, one in Northampton on the Towcester road, leading to blisworth, was called the lady bridge, I was on the railway in 1952, and me and my plumber, was called out regular, to take down and repair guttering, damaged by lorries. A5 had a few low bridges, A328 Npton to Rugby a couple, Birmingham to Brownhills, Stafford & Cannock, with all the dual carriageways & motorways, the younger drivers do not know the pitfalls we had to endure, but I still loved our era, more freedom, more adventure. 
Quite agree with you Norm,moterways are good to get a lot of miles covered on a long journey,providing there are no holdups,but boring and monotonous to drive on,much prefer a busy A road,at least its a bit more interesting,you can’t take your eye’s of the lane on a moterway,there is someone cutting in,or if your in the middle lane you can get carved from either side. I do use them on long runs I must admit,but sometimes I come off and do an A road route back,its not much slower and much more relaxing to drive.
Cheers Dave.
Dave when I worked on the mermaid squadron, and some of them had got to a point too quick, they used to come off the M6 or the M1 and go on the A roads, so they would not arrive at Watford gap to early to park up for a dodgy, when nights out were cut out, it cost me between £5000/£3000 per year, can you wonder why I retired.
Dave when I worked on the mermaid squadron, and some of them had got to a point too quick, they used to come off the M6 or the M1 and go on the A roads, so they would not arrive at Watford gap to early to park up for a dodgy, when nights out were cut out, it cost me between £5000/£3000 per year, can you wonder why I retired.
You are spot on about boring Motorways.On night trunk from Maltby to Chepstow I always used the Ross Spur M50 just to get off that bloody M5,then down to Newport and onto the M4 east to Chep.Coming home I would use the same route until the A38 at Longbridge? - can’t remember the junction number - then down through Selly Oak into Brum and out on the old A38 through Sutton to Lichfield,anything to relieve the boredom.On the Penrith/Carlisle/Lockerbie trunk it was M18/A1/A66 north but coming home I would very often come down A6 Shap - a deserted Shap - then onto the M6/M61 and into Manchester,up Hyde Road and over Woodhead.
“Which way do you come home” was a regular question from some of our - well let’s say less “roadwise” drivers,and from our controllers checking tacho card speed traces,of which I had very few after going shunting regular,thankyou.“Spy in the cab” was a very apt phrase and now it’s even worse,couldn’t cope,no independence and no bugger in the office who knows owt about road transport. I’m getting an old grumpy sod but I had the best days on the road like a lot of us on here.
Now,that cabphone,straight out of the window and that GPS crap,well***********************************************
Hi Chris,
Have used the routes you mention down this way,have been over the A6 from Kendal to Penrith,went over it last year in my sprinter then,its a lovely trip,not so lovely in winter years ago obviously,but a real nostalgic road with all the transport history. As I live in an area with those type of roads over hills,it suits me,not that I appreciated them in the late sixties driving a 330 engined TK 
running at 14 ton gross,my 5 cylinder sprinter has 156 bhp which just goes to show how times have changed.
Cheers Dave.
Chris, you are intitled to get a little upset we the way that transport has gone over the latter years, I can remember when a cocky office waller, said to me when they put phones in the cab, we will know where you are all the time, yes I said and I will inform you, you cannot beat a experience lorry driver, where I would use my Cb to advoid traffic jams, I will drive into them, and I did, and I would phone them every 5 minutes to let them know when I was moving, and when I would stop, after a month, I drove them crazy, they then gave me my paperwork, and said pnone us when you are tipped , and when they used to phone me up, and say where are you Norman, I would reply, just comming out of Cardiff docks, why are you there 
, you should be up Scotland, ho sod it, you know I always get the scots and the taffs mixed up. . Wait a minute, I have just seen a signpost, I am 2 miles outside Edinburgh heading home, Barsteward and but the phone down, I do believe I upset the traffic controller, and I would not do that for the world .
hiya,
Never had a mobile when on journey work, never had a CB either, when i got out of the yard it was me contact them, did you not know Norm that mobiles don’t like tea puored into them it seems to stop them working, yet my watch works in the bath and both are battery operated funny that.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
They have all three in the cab on a lot of outfits these days,mobiles,two way radio,plus the driver has a CB ,also most of the big outfits have got trackers fitted to the vehicles,these quarries make the hauliers fit trackers on their lorries,so that they can get a moter back for tarmac on time,a bit rich now that the work has dried up.
Cheers Dave.
Dave I have a few ideas, one take the tracker out and put it in a dog, or exchange it with a different firm, or would that cause too much confusion, I am sure the chaps in our era, would have done tricks like that, just for the hell of it , there was always some smart sod, who would find some way to upset the management, we liked to do the job well, but we never liked to be controlled like bloody robots 
, thats with anger 
hiya,
Norm throw a gallon of petrol in the shed followed by a match, it usually see’s off phones,radio’s, tacho’s and trackers but wait until your in the yard so you won’t have so far to walk home when you get the push.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, that what the mafia would do, you have to be more sutle, like sticking a magnet in the works, to interrupt the signals being sent out to the firm, I am sure we all the rogue’s on this thread, something would work.
hiya,
Norman me subtle, that should be my middle name, what you should remember is in our youth we could get a job anywhere and anytime and if you could get from A to B in the shortest distance possible in an economical manner and the load stayed dry and on the motor with a clear signature at the end of it, that was good enough for any gaffer and your job was’nt a list of do’s and don’ts your only paperwork was your logbook and in the yard was a book for writing your vehicle faults in and most of us could sort most little faults out ourselves we did have an extra sheet “OPs6” on the BRS but that took no taking care of, be a driver in this day and age, not on your Nellie i’d sooner sweep the roads and more than likely be better paid,by golly Norm feel better for that now the steam has cleared, rant over.
thanks harry long retired.
Wheel Nut:
Dave the Renegade:
Chris Webb:
Dave the Renegade:
Hi Chris,
Was it you that organised those tippers on a go slow in Douglas last weekend. I know you want to keep it all on the boats,with your seafaring pics.
Cheers Dave.That’s the first I’ve heard about a tipper go slow over here Dave.I know the local tipper men were not happy about the airport extension work being given to Balfour Beatty who brought a lot of tackle and drivers with them,but there was no way would they have coped with that work plus their own regular customers,and as far as I know they did get plenty of work on the extension anyway.I also heard that there were not enough tippers with insulated bodies for the tarmac work.The protest may have been about UK style MOTs and operators licences that are looming.Any vehicle with three axles or more have an annual MOT style exam anyway but it’s going to be applied to smaller vehicles,maybe 3.5 tonnes and above.
You know more about t’Isle of Man than me Dave,I must find out more about the protest.Hi Chris,
This is the piece written in yesterdays Commercial Moter,sorry I haven’t scanned it very well,bit awkward for my scanner.
Cheers Dave
Although I will not condone bent running, or lax maintenance issues this story smacks of protectionism.
Surely a minor brake imbalance discovered on an off road location could have been remedied on the spot without the need for a low loader trip of almost 300 miles.
roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … orthy.html
Doesn’t the fact that Colas have already come in for much criticism about using non local hauliers suggest funny hand shakes and policeman’s balls? It is interesting to me that this was not a VOSA led operation.
Lancashire Police says of the eight RJ Holbrook vehicles stopped "two were found to have a brake imbalance, which is a minor defect.
Breaking News 
However, on 10 December, Lancashire Constabulary issued a written apology to RJ Holbrook, stating that “it had passed out erroneous information”.
In the letter, Lancashire Constabulary says it is “duty-bound to put the record straight” and it also concedes that "none of the vehicles checked could be described as unroadworthy
Does that meant that Lancashire Police (or us) will be paying for the low loader?
Thats what you get when you argue about “Middle East Work”, you get the police pulling up drivers on the Isle of Man for having no breaks, we red & rust drivers was always having loads of breaks. , I know different type of brakes. 
Harry must be ill. 
Haven’t seen him on here over the weekend Norm,hope he’s ok.
So do I Dave, if I do not see him on the threads, I will give him a ring.