Old FLINTSHIRE firms

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
1

Not long joined this forum ,very intrested in the old Flintshire haulage .Spent most of my youth riding shot gun in various tippers in the 70’s working out of Redland ,S bend and Henshalls .Also carried sand from Coopers in Llay to the Brenig Dam on the Denbigh moors, boy was it hot in that Summer of '76 .

Does anyone remember their fleet I think their drivers must of been on bonus as they would pass us on the way up to the dam fully loaded ,tip and be on the way back before we had arrived to tip.
Another couple of firms Ron Hardy (Blue Dodge four wheeler), SPA Davies (Pete Fish) ,H Davies Llannarmon ,Bodfari sand and Gravel,Glendale Furniture (Black Ford Transcontinental).

2

Barry Waddy . HI Towit ,were are you from the firm you are asking abount would be F C Corbett ,from Bagiilt a very good firm baught all new motors .Yours Barry Waddy

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Hi Barry Iam from Buckley I remember Corbetts well,it wasent their fleet that I was realy on about Coopers ran Red or Orange 6 & 8 leggers from a sand hole at the Singerit hill in Llay.I remember Corbetts having a good size fleet of Bedford 4 wheelers and Atki 8 leggers.

4

Barry Wad . I remember Coopers they ran alot of S type Bedfords with u shaped bodys iTHINK R M C took them over could be wrong .yours Barry WAD

5

You could be right Barry RMC could of taken them over.Its a shame that so many fleets have gone Tilcon Wimpy Redland most of the quarries are owned by foreign owned companies today and a lot have closed over the last 10-15 years.
Not many lads running more than two motors today biggest fleet of tippers around here that I can think of is Mally Garners in the ferry.
Great to see that you are keeping an eye on this thread.Ian

6

Barry Waddy. Hi I an are you still on the road ,or out to grass like my self .yours Barry Wad

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Hi Barry
funny thing is after many years riding shot gun as a lad i never went in to the game ,got an apprenticeship at british Aerospace from school and the rest is history as they say,but I just like to keep an eye on what is out there and my love of trucks has never gone away.You may know my mate who I spent my time with, Jonny Roberts used to play in goal for Halkyn the back to the Hare and Hounds at cassino junction.He is still on the road with Whittleys I think that they have only got the one six legger Merc left.

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Some tds morgan freight…

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Barry Waddy .HITowit i certanley know Jonny Roberts verry well he worked for us for a few years ,last time i spoke to him was att the LLandudno show last year .yours Barry Waddy

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Hi Barry I thought you would, its a small world. Cheers Ian

11

rapidgem:
One old Flintshire firm which I neglected to mention is my last posting is William Cooper & Sons (carriers) Ltd Bastion Road Prestatyn - established in 1922. Now operating out of Rhyl.

I can remember their fleet of Bedford TK’s in the '60-70’s with orangy-red cabs and usually a box van body which I think was white with the fleet name in script sign writing to the sides. One regular contact Cooper’s had was carrying paper out of the Grosvenor- Chater paper-mill at Greenfield.

Does anyone know of any old photos or details of Cooper’s vehicles ?

Cheers - RR

Hi,

A few years since message was posted, but a little more detail for you.
William Cooper was my Grandfather and his first venture into the transport business was with his brother, I’ve uploaded what may be one of the first photos taken of one of their trucks, the script provides a little additional detail. ‘Bill’ got the idea following his time in the States and had the trailer specially made, I think the tractor unit was an American Chevrolet that had started life hauling logs.
The well known red & white livery appeared on both Luton & box vans, ‘S type’ Bedfords preceded the better recognised TKs. All bodies were specially made by a Flintshire based body builder and the livery was hand painted, as a child I clearly remember watching the signwriter slowly produce his masterpiece.
My father Jim, the elder of the ‘Sons’ is still alive, unfortunately his younger brother Peter is no longer with us.
I’m sure somewhere there are probably a lot more photos of trucks during the life of the original company.

12

Hello Rich yes a very tidy fleet of wagons your grandfather had in those days can rmember theem well on the paper job, i am not sure but did they help out at hotpiont in Llandudno J . i know theyve got a base at llandrindod wells did they take over that firm called Aber carriers thank you trevor

13

Further to the list of old truck / bus companies in Buckley, one is my Grandfather William Bellis and Son 1 Knowle Lane Buckley est 1935 and sadly finished in about 1970, we had a variety of coaches, Dennis, Daimler, Leyland Royal Tiger Leyland Leopard, Maudsley, Thames Trader, Bristol, Tilling Stevens, Bedford etc all with a variety of bodies EG Plaxton, Duple, Burlington Seagull, ECW and Harrington.
All maintained by my father Robert Bellis until his death in 1957, when Noel Ellis took over. My father worked three main routes De Havelands, Llay Main and Castle Fire Brick along with the annual outing to Rhyl run by Lane End Working Mens Club when Dad would call in other coach proprietors to help out, there were well over twenty coaches all stocked with refreshments ( beer ) firms that come to mind Eddie Peters Llanarmon, Davies Bros Leeswood , Voel coaches Dysyerth maybe Ellis Bros Buckley and Richardson of Buckley. I will post photos very soon.
The other Haulage firms I know of is Flintshire Haulage Knowle Lane there were right by the Mount Pit all Bedford Tipper trucks, and RE Catherall of Drury who I worked for a while.

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I thought at least one person would remember this fleet

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15

Thanks to BonkeyDollocks for his interesting thread below on F C Corbett of Bagillt.

I am interested in all the old Flintshire Area lorry operators and would be pleased to have any information and in particular photographs of all the old road transport concerns in the Flintshire area.

In the article on FC (Frank) Corbett of Bagillt, I mentioned his bother Eric (TE Corbett) who ran tippers out of his yard in Holway Holywell - I’d love to see any photos of his old wagons.

Other firms I can remember from the Holywell area were Canton Transport of Greenfield, Phillips’ of Holywell who also run the buses and had a couple of flatbeds running out of Courtauld’s works. Waddy’s (Wadsworths) of Bagillt. Herbert Roberts of Mostyn, Elfed Bartley of Caerwys. O. Hugh Davies Holywell (Builders Merchants).

Other concerns I can remember in Flintshire in the 60’s-70’s were:- British Road Services in Queensferry, (yard was where B+Q, Pizza Hut etc are now),
Williams (Bros) Wales Ltd in Queensferry (yard is now Flintshire Caravans) and Treuddyn, Alf Parry, Connah’s Quay ( Somerfirld are on the site of his yard. now). Shones of Buckley. Kelly Bros Buckley. Tunnel Cement, Padeswood, John Summers Shotton (Sealand District Transport and later British Steel Corporation). Vale of Clwyd Farmers - Holywell and St Asaph. De Havilland (Hawker-Siddeley, BAe) Broughton. FG Whitley (Civil Engineers), Buckley. Scientific Roads, Queensferry. Flintshire County Council. Country Maid Bakeries, Saltney.

Other old Flintshire firms I have been told about are:- Websters of Flint Mountain, TJ Ellis Ewloe, Tettrails of Ewloe, United Gravel, Hendre, Castle Firebrick, Northop and Buckley, (It’s nice to see their old Sentinel S4 Steamer preserved on the rally scene), Hayes of Buckley, Thomson of Buckley, Catherall Bros, Drury, Geo Kendrick, Ewloe, Sheppherd of Bretton, Edwards of Altami. North Western Farmers, Hawarden. Arthur Hughes, Aston Hill, (later Sheppherd & Hughes after taking over Sheppherd of Bretton) WES (Ward, Edwards & Shone) of Aston Hill. Rowland, Broughton. Henshall’s, Halkyn. MANWEB, Floods, Queensferry.

Can anyone add to this list? I know it’s far from a a complete listing of old Flintshire hauliers/ lorry operators and I’d be grateful to know of any additions or corrections and any further details, photographs in particular would be most interesting to see.

I’d like to be able to record as much as I can on this subject as a tribute to the people who diligently kept the wheels turning on road transport in Flintshire. I think it’s important that a permanent record should be made for present and future generations to appreciate.

Any information on the old 'Bus and Coach operators of the area would be interesting to know about too.

Many Thanks for your time in reading this article.

Regards - RR (Chester)

16

One old Flintshire firm which I neglected to mention is my last posting is William Cooper & Sons (carriers) Ltd Bastion Road Prestatyn - established in 1922. Now operating out of Rhyl.

I can remember their fleet of Bedford TK’s in the '60-70’s with orangy-red cabs and usually a box van body which I think was white with the fleet name in script sign writing to the sides. One regular contact Cooper’s had was carrying paper out of the Grosvenor- Chater paper-mill at Greenfield.

Does anyone know of any old photos or details of Cooper’s vehicles ?

Cheers - RR

17

My old man worked for Enstons in Treuddyn,
I think he has some copies of there old motors ill try and get them on here for you

18

Here`s a few old pics of J Enston & Sons from Treuddyn Nr Mold
sorry about the quality but there photocopys of the originals

My dad drove this one when he worked there when it was later repainted in red

19

cantons garage still there isnt it ? wern’t they part of nuttalls of heywood and taylors of trafd park , coopers had alarge fleet did’nt they ive never seen a pic of theres maybe the com motor int 70s

20

Elfed Bartley is still to be seen in a Red DAF with IRC a green stripe round the cab 4 wheeler livestock truck.

His son was/is running 4 wheeler tippers for the council last I knew.