The old girl has just let go in Kirtlington. Lost power suddenly going up the hill near the golf course and then she died in a clowd of black smoke and steam.
Late finish tonight.
Muckaway:
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The old girl has just let go in Kirtlington. Lost power suddenly going up the hill near the golf course and then she died in a clowd of black smoke and steam.
Late finish tonight.
With any luck that could be the end of the old bag of nails mate, about time they got you something decent, how many times has that been around the clock. 
altitude:
Muckaway:
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The old girl has just let go in Kirtlington. Lost power suddenly going up the hill near the golf course and then she died in a clowd of black smoke and steam.
Late finish tonight.With any luck that could be the end of the old bag of nails mate, about time they got you something decent, how many times has that been around the clock.
Looking at replacing it with a grab mate. I don’t drive it that much as apart from a 6w only job another subbie is doing in Oxford, it doesn’t do many full days anymore. We have got a subbie who wants it though, as a replacement to his ERF.
It used to be busier than the 8 but a lot of builders find it cheaper to pay more for a grab and save money by not hiring a larger digger to load.
Muckaway:
altitude:
Muckaway:
0
The old girl has just let go in Kirtlington. Lost power suddenly going up the hill near the golf course and then she died in a clowd of black smoke and steam.
Late finish tonight.With any luck that could be the end of the old bag of nails mate, about time they got you something decent, how many times has that been around the clock.
Looking at replacing it with a grab mate. I don’t drive it that much as apart from a 6w only job another subbie is doing in Oxford, it doesn’t do many full days anymore. We have got a subbie who wants it though, as a replacement to his ERF.
It used to be busier than the 8 but a lot of builders find it cheaper to pay more for a grab and save money by not hiring a larger digger to load.
8 wheeler with a grab seems to be the thing these days, may cut the payload down a bit, but there’s so many jobs it can do.
We’ve had a few customers say that they’d use us for muck shifting if we had a grab, many are home improvement type firms who I only deliver to if I’m on the 7.5 tonner. They normally just hire a skip so we’re thinking of a 6w grab, 12t payload is plenty for these jobs. As you said there are a lot of 8w grabloaders about so we’d be competing with established outfits. We’d offload into our yard and then load the muck onto the 8 and shuttle it to the tip, works out cheaper to tip. Earthline charge the same to tip the 8 as they do the 6 so the cost per tonne is cheaper. Don’t want to put more cash in the tip operators’ pocket than we have to.
Best job I’ve ever had, working here. When I get Smiths’ drivers asking if we have any jobs going… 
Sounds good to me mate. 
Sheehans’ Dix Pit, Stanton Harcourt. Their gravel plant washes all sorts of muck, quite an impressive bit of kit. Built on the site of Smiths old gravel pit and landfill.
Steam railway magazine has a feature this month about Oxford loco depot as it’s 50 years since closure. Not trucks but thought I’d post about it as it may interest some.
1st drop of the day, Wychwood Brewery, Witney. Nice to deliver to somewhere with a bit of history (they got a great shop if you are ever passing ), the Yard man has got the job sorted, old school, he gives me the keys to unlock the padlocks on the tank & nails the job with the perfect question, “Now Drive’, do you want tea or coffee, milk/sugar?” & while I’m tipping he brings it out in a proper china mug, proper job , start the day off right, there’s a man that’s got his priorities right! Chris
My local brewery that is, Chris. That place must be evil to deliver to with artics though whether you enter via the Crofts like you did or via Church Green. Church Green is the original way in when it was Clinches Brewery, taken over by Courages’ in the early '60s. They axed brewing and turned Clinches into a sort of RDC before full closure in the '70s. The Wychwood brewery shop is in part of Clinches old buildings.
There was a tale that when Witney was bombed in 1940 it was because the glow from Clinches chimney (now long gone) attracted the attention of a lone (some say battle damaged) bomber. It could also’ve been the chimney from Mount Mill (now Sainsburys) or the railway yard but the brewery story was told quite often a few years ago.
Talking of Courages, the heir to their empire was F1 driver Piers Courage, who died in a crash at the Dutch GP in 1970. Magnesium-bodied car catches fire and the marshalls added water… 
The last shot (and an atmospheric wintery one) of our old 6w, as it was sold on later in the day. Firm got almost 14 years service from it without ever needing recovery.
If the pic comes out on the pee, can the mods rotate it please?
Muckaway:
The last shot (and an atmospheric wintery one) of our old 6w, as it was sold on later in the day. Firm got almost 14 years service from it without ever needing recovery.
If the pic comes out on the pee, can the mods rotate it please?
Wintertime in Wheatley, on Holloway Rd, old original London Rd(now Church Rd.) to left and Littleworth and Garsington to right, with conical shape old village lockup for miscreants.
Oily
M G B:
Was it not Dukes from Chipping Norton had a feed mill down by the Station
I was told today that an old Commer of theirs still resides in a barn at Hook Norton.
Chris Webb:
I don’t know if this Leyland Hippo is an Oxfordshire wagon,but the photo was taken in Banbury.
Just a touch of smoke
That loco looks like an industrial which to me says it’s either “Sir Thomas” or “Lord North” which worked the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway between Hornton crushing plant and the main line at Banbury. I’d say the picture was taken around 1967-8 when the Oxfordshire Ironstone Co was closed and dismantled.
“Sir Thomas” survives at the Bucks Railway Centre, Quainton.