Hi Larry
Now i am scratching my head i am sure that was the motor i drove ,when i got the Dodge used to do more Catterick work although i did some with the Trader
Well they had about 8 Dodges with the REG. BJR , The first Traders were TTY s , they were the red ones as in the picture, They had some later ones C & D Regs some were Braithwaites Livery & some may have been red, the 4 Wheelers with the tilt cabs some red & some Tilcons livery. Regards Larry.
Remeber these Mk 5s in Braithwaites livery, driven by Jimmy Trotter, Jimmy Hannat, & Jack Keen. Regards Larry.
I can not remember the AEC painted in braithwaites colours the only AEC i can remember where red they had some Atkis ex Hanson when i was there i think there was a Trader in LSM livery, good photos
Aye they did repaint the AECs in Smiles Livery, & as you say the had a few of Ex Hansons 8 wheeler Atkis, some of these had greedy boards on for the coke job to Melton Mowbray, I havent got any photos of those ones but I have some of other motors. Regards Larry.
I have a photo somewhere of an Atki with greedy boards pulling into the yard loaded with coke i dont how many of the new Dodges they had but i drove one for a week it was in LSM livery
Thats right, Id forgot about those ones, I think the Regs were FNLs & GTYs followed with Cs & Ds. There is not many of the Smiles family left now, there was was only two grandsons bearing the Smiles name [RIP] the surviving third one now lives in Canada . Isaac Smiles was obviousley a go ahead man, He spent some years in Canada, he even called one of his sons born there Lawrence, after the river St.Lawrence He was my godfather. Heres some of the Smiles fleet from the earley thirtys, Regards Larry.
THE GREEN PIMPERNEL:
6 wheeler ford outside garage Choppington
was this the ford with the all red cab
If it is the one I remember the answer is yes, Then Neil Spowart from Amble had it , Im sure the Green Pimpernel will correct me if Im wrong, Regards Larry.
Loveley photo, F.T. Old Alec & Harry were two reasl nice blokes, I was friends with both of them, I remember Harry with his Foden 2 Stroke S 18 FTY ■■? It had a air tank behind the cab, which was for the pole boggie brakes, as the Foden just had an oil boost braking system, great old mems & days, Eh, Regards Larry…
I have just being thinking about the old days, & the last time I spoke to Alec was at Harrys retired do at Newsham Club, It was a great night, Harrys wife was driving so we had a few whiskies & a bit of crack about the old days, mind you they were both older than me, I saw Harry frequently at Fergies after that he kept his hand in & helped out with lots of odd jobs. Regards Larry.
Well theres a thing, I got the job of taking the load that was burnt or smoke damaged from Sunderland depot back to the factories where it was produced, It took me all day [Mind you Bob Brown Paid me a good rate for the job]. The smell was worse than Brown Ale Tex Ritters, plastic, paint, I think the trailer would have to be steam cleaned inside & out. I was told that the Turbo Exploaded & thats what caused the fire, you could see where it occured on the top of Houghton Cut , the tarmac was well scorched, I forgot It was that long ago, christ a must be getting owld eh, but Im still here enjoying my retirement, & of course the single malts, or perhaps the doubles, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
I have just being thinking about the old days, & the last time I spoke to Alec was at Harrys retired do at Newsham Club, It was a great night, Harrys wife was driving so we had a few whiskies & a bit of crack about the old days, mind you they were both older than me, I saw Harry frequently at Fergies after that he kept his hand in & helped out with lots of odd jobs. Regards Larry.
Harry was a good man,a lot of Fergies drivers did not realise the wealth of experience Harry had driving old lorries and doing abnormal loads,he was like Tommy Dodds,he always had a good story to tell,I beleive he looked after the old vintage cars and waggons fergie had in his latter days.
Alec Hewitt was olso a canny fella,it was a great shame the way his haulage business ended.
My dear old mam [RIP] Was very friendley with Rachel Hewitt, now I dont know it she was Alecs younger sister but they were related, My mams mother was called Boiston before she got married & her uncle Tommy had wagons at Seaton Burn so thats probabley the connection. Regards Larry.
THE GREEN PIMPERNEL:
Daf 85 & don bur tipper, taken 19995 Rowland watson at wheel.
And if i seen right last friday hes still hard at it ,would it of been him i seen in one of his volvos on the spine road ■■?