Don’t really know if the rumour was true, I saw a unit and empty low loader leaving the yard and there were another three motors inside one with a flat and load, seemed to be plenty of loaded trailers inside too, so its anyones guess, unless someone can get any info from the drivers. Franky.
Well you know what they say no news is good news, I hope it is just a rumour myself, Like I said before I worked for Ken Short, & both my sons in his fitting shop, Our Nigel my youngest son left before Sam Anderson Took over But My eldest son Lawrence [RIP] Carried on working there & he allways reckoned Peter Anderson was a real nice bloke, Ken Short was still involved with the Company until about 1991ish then he retired as far as I was told & moved to somewhere in the lake district Windermere Or Boness ?, I would realley liked to meet up with him, just for old times sake, He was a cracking gaffer to work for as far as Im concerned, Regards Larry
Do any of you lads remember G.Lowdon Ltd North Rd Garage Seaton Burn, Well they are still going in the haulage game, I went to their yrad to-day & picked old Arthur Lowdon up & we had a run up to Kielder Dam, Old Arthur is knocking on a bit 84 in August, He is a real tryer is old Arfa, He is in fact a bloody genius at fixing things, just like his old Dad, If Lowdons couldnt fix it it was tom ducked, & thats a fact. ask anyone from Seaton Burn area & Im sure they will agree, Regards Larry
Frankydobo:
Don’t really know if the rumour was true, I saw a unit and empty low loader leaving the yard and there were another three motors inside one with a flat and load, seemed to be plenty of loaded trailers inside too, so its anyones guess, unless someone can get any info from the drivers. Franky.
I,ll seeif i can catch one of there drivers in the docks at seaham on monday the wagons are in every day doing the big billets up to glasgow for us I,m only going to the test centre with a trailer then i,ll be back in seaham so i,ll ask at the gatehouse
Iain you crunched them gears today in the test centre 
Yep that was me sat in the lorry next to you when you jumped out the tanker 
hi franky, i ya reet about the mans and whos whos , but ive looked a and tried to work out whoS drivin it , thought it wasnt albert cos the driver hasnt got that CHEESEY GRIN AS ALBERT ALWAYS SEEMED TO HAVE , AND THERES NO MASS OF STRAWBERRY BLOND HAIR. BOB GOT RULED OUT COS THERES NEE TRAFFIC TO DIRECT ABOUT, WHICH LEFT DAVEY AS THE OBVIOUS LOOKALIKE DRIVER. JUST THOUGHT ALBERT WAS OFF DEEIN A FLYER WI THE MERC VAN AND DAVEYS MAN WAS IN FOR SERVICE SO HE WAS GIVEN ALS , THERE NOW THATS MY C.S.I CONCLUSION . MAYBE YOU GOT AN IDEA WHOS ACTUALLY DRIVIN , MAYBE THE KID IN THE PASSENGER SEAT MIGHT HELP , ?.EXCELLENT READING FRANKY AND BOYS , KEEP UP THE GUD WORK , PLEASED TO HEAR YOU CAN MAKE A WOMAN SCREAM STILL WHILE DRIVIN, NOW THATS MULTI TASKIN, PS NOWT WRONG WI A BIT OF NECK OIL, HIC . REGARDS JON picture
Frankydobo:
Ha ha, aye John that FL7 was a nightmare, I once crawled away onto a roundabout on the 1231 and it was so slow a bird in a sports job came flying around giving it six nowt and bounced off the trailer wheels, she wasn’t hurt but her squeels were even lowder than the radio station she had on. That pic of the MAN is Alberts by the way, Davie’s was G105 TNL and Bob had G104 with the Isle of Man TT racing sticker above the screen. The old King Low Loader was a swine sometimes to break depending on the ground. Here’s a model of Dave’s motor I made at the time. Franky.
0
Thompsons at work, Gateshead demolition Site 27/05/12.
Nice photo FT, Late 50s I would say by the Reg No., a very popular motor the Thames Trader in those days , renowned for their big steering wheel, which of course was a bonus, as there wasnt many with PAS, Regards Larry
f troop:
Seddon having a second hand cab being fitted in the garage at Blyth using a block and tackle.
hiya,
Just love those yesteryear pics, keep em’ coming.
thanks harry, long retired.
jonnyA:
hi franky, i ya reet about the mans and whos whos , but ive looked a and tried to work out whoS drivin it , thought it wasnt albert cos the driver hasnt got that CHEESEY GRIN AS ALBERT ALWAYS SEEMED TO HAVE , AND THERES NO MASS OF STRAWBERRY BLOND HAIR. BOB GOT RULED OUT COS THERES NEE TRAFFIC TO DIRECT ABOUT, WHICH LEFT DAVEY AS THE OBVIOUS LOOKALIKE DRIVER. JUST THOUGHT ALBERT WAS OFF DEEIN A FLYER WI THE MERC VAN AND DAVEYS MAN WAS IN FOR SERVICE SO HE WAS GIVEN ALS , THERE NOW THATS MY C.S.I CONCLUSION . MAYBE YOU GOT AN IDEA WHOS ACTUALLY DRIVIN , MAYBE THE KID IN THE PASSENGER SEAT MIGHT HELP , ?.EXCELLENT READING FRANKY AND BOYS , KEEP UP THE GUD WORK , PLEASED TO HEAR YOU CAN MAKE A WOMAN SCREAM STILL WHILE DRIVIN, NOW THATS MULTI TASKIN, PS NOWT WRONG WI A BIT OF NECK OIL, HIC . REGARDS JON pictureFrankydobo:
Ha ha, aye John that FL7 was a nightmare, I once crawled away onto a roundabout on the 1231 and it was so slow a bird in a sports job came flying around giving it six nowt and bounced off the trailer wheels, she wasn’t hurt but her squeels were even lowder than the radio station she had on. That pic of the MAN is Alberts by the way, Davie’s was G105 TNL and Bob had G104 with the Isle of Man TT racing sticker above the screen. The old King Low Loader was a swine sometimes to break depending on the ground. Here’s a model of Dave’s motor I made at the time. Franky.
0
Hi John…wasnt me driving Alberts, in fact I dont think I ever drove his. As the driver has dark hair it seems to rule out both Albert and Bob. As for Albert doing a flyer !! no way, steady away was Albert. He once got a lift to Volvos with the store lad. Lad told him the van was a flyer, Albert told him it had a new speed limiter on board namely Alberts right hand if he went above 50. My pics of same load are on page 19. Have been looking for a photo I think I have of John Hannon and me at Blyth harbour with the Man I had before 105, will post if I find it…Dave
f troop:
Seddon having a second hand cab being fitted in the garage at Blyth using a block and tackle.
Great stuff F/T, proper wagons Eh, There cant be many drivers left that drove these old motors, not the best wagons in the world, but they were very reliable & the brakes were quite good as I recall, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
f troop:
Seddon having a second hand cab being fitted in the garage at Blyth using a block and tackle.Great stuff F/T, proper wagons Eh, There cant be many drivers left that drove these old motors, not the best wagons in the world, but they were very reliable & the brakes were quite good as I recall, Regards Larry.
hiya,
As a little lad drove a few old motors usually Albions with the Perkins inboard
and as you say Larry the anchors on them were OK, most of the old hauliers
kept one or two bangers for “unknown” new starters just to see if they got the
job done and the motor back in one piece, but the very first motor I drove at
just twenty one was an old Leyland Octopus pulling a trailer, the firm was from
Lancashire ( Stringfellows ) and when I showed up the gaffer thought I’d come for
the second mans job and the job was night trunk I bet he didn’t get much sleep
that night, this was Sunday I was still working down the pit on Friday, although
had driven heavy stuff in the forces but was too young for “civvy” street so had
to go back below ground for a year until I was old enough to drive lorries, had
worked in the pits from fifteen to eighteen and had to chuck it or I wouldn’t have
got called up and learned to drive big stuff, how many of you guy’s have driven
through at first Korea then over to Malaya as it was known when I was there.
PS if I’d had to load and rope sheet the loads, might have been a different story.
thanks harry, long retired.
Six wheel Merc just had sign writing done by Billy Slaughter in Blyth Warehouse.
Waiting to go to work at Sunderland Depot.
In the early days Billy Slaughter olso hand painted the lorries.
Lawrence Dunbar:
f troop:
Seddon having a second hand cab being fitted in the garage at Blyth using a block and tackle.Great stuff F/T, proper wagons Eh, There cant be many drivers left that drove these old motors, not the best wagons in the world, but they were very reliable & the brakes were quite good as I recall, Regards Larry.
Your right to say Larry there are not many Knights of the Road left who drove lorries in the early fifties,There were a rare breed of men,I use to love listening to the stories they told.
But as time goes by we must listen to a new breed of drivers,And i do think there are a lot of good experienced drivers out there doing a good job.
They are sometimes given a rough time about how it was done in the old days,Flat trailers, roping & sheeting,no sleeper cabs and so on,
My father used to give me greif when i first started driving, as he did it with horses and carts in his day.[Not my father in the photo.]
F Troop wrote ; Six wheel Merc just had sign writing done by Billy Slaughter in Blyth Warehouse.
Waiting to go to work at Sunderland Depot.
In the early days Billy Slaughter olso hand painted the lorries.
Great pic of the Merc F Troop, I drove this motor until it went at Sunderland and unfortunately was given it after the previous driver got killed when he was moving the Coles crane on the trailer near Newbury, I’d only been at Fergusons a couple of weeks and didn’t know the lad and wasn’t even told he had died when given the wagon. It wasn’t the fastest or best puller I’ve driven and didn’t have the full sleeper but I liked it, despite the double H shift and splitter that had your arms and legs going like a one man band. It went through exhaust systems every year or so and apart from coming to a halt when a relay came loose I had no trouble with it. A blow out on the second steer coming past the Angel one day but it never wavered, sound old machine. Cheers Franky, I’ll add that one to my folder. Here she is below taken at Hartlepool and me loading at Sunderland when building the new Business Park.
Has anyone out there any information regarding John Dickinson Transport of Darlington , always seem to have well maintained fleet .
Old Harry Gills legs were giving him trouble , so he went to the Doctors surgery. 
He was told hed be better if he bought an battery-powered buggy. :astonished: " Bugger off ! " , he said , " Ahll mek me own " . 
He thought back to his years in driving , and decided hed have something special, - not one of those menacing contraptions like Madge from Benidorm` . 
So , if you see Harry , give him a wave as he heads to the ( bottle ) Bank with a return load 
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Billy Slaughter used to do all our signwriting. Our Volvo F10 is possibly one of the last examples of Billys work still working. There is a guy in ■■■■■■■ who did our Scania, Very similar to Billys Work. made a grand job. Much better than the crappy vinyl letters which fade,crack and peel off.
f troop:
Six wheel Merc just had sign writing done by Billy Slaughter in Blyth Warehouse.
Waiting to go to work at Sunderland Depot.
In the early days Billy Slaughter olso hand painted the lorries.