hi lads,i am new to this site, and i live at felling,i am a retired fitter,i worked for john jenning,s ,phillips transport, both of gateshead,davis bros,and cawthorn and sinclair, birtley, i have two truck,s under restoration at the moment,a 1954 bedford petrol tipper, and a 1954 commer 25cwt flat truck,i knew lots of drivers from these companies, but don,t see any now, big al smith.
bigal20:
hi lads,i am new to this site, and i live at felling,i am a retired fitter,i worked for john jenning,s ,phillips transport, both of gateshead,davis bros,and cawthorn and sinclair, birtley, i have two truck,s under restoration at the moment,a 1954 bedford petrol tipper, and a 1954 commer 25cwt flat truck,i knew lots of drivers from these companies, but don,t see any now, big al smith.
Hello bigal20, I remember Jennings,s & some of the old drivers names come to mind, Tommy Gray, Albert Morrison, Jock Mackniel, Little Joe, ■■ Joe Dochetey, Bobby Brown, & Of course Tommy Jennings himself, J.R.Adams bought them out, Of course you probabley know this, I hope there is more info to come from other drivers, Regards Larry.
yes lawrence,jennings drivers, ray salkeld, big stan taylor,john devlin, joe leonard,jock fox,jock mcneil,albert webb,pringle, john donaldson, tommy gray,i think that is all of them, al.
sorry larry, when i named drivers i missed out eddie jennings, and little joe hewitson who i think went to crows, also leslie potts, injured or killed, when he tried to start a wagon from underneath the engine with wires,the truck ran over him ,do you live local larry,i would love to see you for some crack,i can come in my old commer truck.al.
bigal20:
sorry larry, when i named drivers i missed out eddie jennings, and little joe hewitson who i think went to crows, also leslie potts, injured or killed, when he tried to start a wagon from underneath the engine with wires,the truck ran over him ,do you live local larry,i would love to see you for some crack,i can come in my old commer truck.al.
Hi bigal20 l went to school with Les Pott’s son and well remember the morning he was killed trying to start a AEC which was still in gear and it ran over him .
Little Joe Hewson Tommy Gray Joe Lennard and few more mentioned all worked for Crow’s Transport Ltd Gateshead.
In those days they all drank in the Crystal Palace at the corner of Oakwelgate ans Garden street oh happy days.
Hope you are in good fettle and still doing a bit restoration.
The J type l am on with is coming along but slowly as l am on with jobs for other people.
crowbar
hi ralph, i have all the bits now for my 54 A model bedford, engine is overhauled , in and ready to start, have you seen anything of dennis bones lately?, i have not, i am putting a new flat back body on my little commer 25cwt superpoise, there are supposedly only a handfull left, of these little commers,mine still has the “humber hawk” sidevalve four pot motor,it will be ready for the tyne-tees run, i took the solex carb off, and slung it into someones back garden, terrible things them,it now has a zenith 30 vig off a 1954 velox on it with drilled out main and compensating jets, it runs lovely, see ya sometime,big al.
Hi Big Al 20, Can you remember when Jennings used to load back with Ashphalt Blocks from Birkenhead or maybe Ellesmere Port, They used to store them outside up against their Garage wall, I recall being with Tommy Gray at Annies Café at Diggle at the bottom end of Standedge one night he had a puncture & couldn’t get any of the Tyre Firms to come out to him So I lent him my spare wheel to get him home, Of course they were the good old days when all the drivers helped eachother, I haven’t heard of Tommy for some years now the last time I spoke tohim we were in a Pub at Swallwell one Friday Night, He was driving a tipper for someone, Regards Larry.
bigal20:
hi ralph, i have all the bits now for my 54 A model bedford, engine is overhauled , in and ready to start, have you seen anything of dennis bones lately?, i have not, i am putting a new flat back body on my little commer 25cwt superpoise, there are supposedly only a handfull left, of these little commers,mine still has the “humber hawk” sidevalve four pot motor,it will be ready for the tyne-tees run, i took the solex carb off, and slung it into someones back garden, terrible things them,it now has a zenith 30 vig off a 1954 velox on it with drilled out main and compensating jets, it runs lovely, see ya sometime,big al.
Hi big al I have not spoken to Dennis for about 3 months. You seem to be getting with the Commer quite well , good idea with those Solex carbs crowbar
hi larry, i well remember going to the standedge with gillie jennings,i worked with him at jennings workshop at pelaw, we had to go and put a diff in an albion chieftain ,i think scotch jock mc neil was driving it, it was around mid december 1959 i think,what a job we had putting a diff in,it was the middle of the night, heavy snow,only the two of us,i cannot remember how we got the diff out,i think a trap door on the body floor, just lucky the truck was empty,he had just delivered a large rock crusher from i think wright anderson, we used a block and tackle, cos those diffs drop in from the top,its a long time ago, around 57 years, but i only remember us being somewhere beside huddersfield ,am i right or wrong,big al 20
when i knew tommy gray larry,his mother was a barmaid in t “swan”, at heworth,big al.
bigal20:
hi larry, i well remember going to the standedge with gillie jennings,i worked with him at jennings workshop at pelaw, we had to go and put a diff in an albion chieftain ,i think scotch jock mc neil was driving it, it was around mid december 1959 i think,what a job we had putting a diff in,it was the middle of the night, heavy snow,only the two of us,i cannot remember how we got the diff out,i think a trap door on the body floor, just lucky the truck was empty,he had just delivered a large rock crusher from i think wright anderson, we used a block and tackle, cos those diffs drop in from the top,its a long time ago, around 57 years, but i only remember us being somewhere beside huddersfield ,am i right or wrong,big al 20
Hi bigal20, Standedge is on the South side of Huddersfield, Regards Larry.
i dont think we ever went there larry,gillie would probably go there if he was going to paynter and stadium for parts,we mainly went to minnie and pats, pat was the bloke, left over the swing bridge, then on your left, good cafe that,we usually went to adams and gibbon for bedford parts, dunn street,sometimes with us working at the pelaw garage we would nip along to white mare pool transport cafe for bacon sandwiches, there was a canny little cafe on the front at pelaw.big al.
i think i remember it was that cafe at “the swirle” or called"the swirle" big al.
bigal20:
i think i remember it was that cafe at “the swirle” or called"the swirle" big al.
Aye That was Jimmy Morrans, A green wooden hut IIRC, The tea was allways stewed, But the grub was decent,Regards Larry.
does anyonr remember “■■■■■■” bowman, he may have worked for davis bros, and charlie linton,i remember their names only, jimmy chapman and arthur barnett from cawthorns. then their was ? smart he worked for davis with jimmy ruff,they both drove old AEC eight wheelers, the year, 1966 i think.
bigal20:
does anyonr remember “■■■■■■” bowman, he may have worked for davis bros, and charlie linton,i remember their names only, jimmy chapman and arthur barnett from cawthorns. then their was ? smart he worked for davis with jimmy ruff,they both drove old AEC eight wheelers, the year, 1966 i think.
Hi bigal20, I remember ■■■■■■ Bowman he drove for a firm on Scotswood Rd IIRC,Called Mckenners, Also Charlie Linton who sadly was killed in a accident on the Darlington A 1 M in a snow blizzard, When he was on for Larrow Transport about 1969 IIRC, Regards Larry.,