Hi all first time on here.do any of you remember a firm from St Helens called willow transport. 80s 90s yellow motors Dennis dodges Bedfords all rigid motors no one seems to remember it.my grandad owned it and I have had the truck bug since would like to hear from anyone worked there
I remember them. At least I’m fairly sure it’s the same outfit. Yellow 4 wheelers, I don’t recall seeing any artics. They had the old goods yard by the side of Garswood station before it was sold to build houses. I would have said that was back in the 70’s though. The entrance to the yard was directly opposite the Railway pub. I don’t know whether they started there, then moved to St Helens or the other way round. I never drove for them but I lived just up the road and went past the yard frequently.
Thanks for your reply. Yes that was them. I don’t know why but they used to have Haydock lancs on the door that’s why I said from St Helens. And your right it was 70-80s he moved to Pemberton and finished up about 92
Sorry, I don’t have any photos mate. I recall going into there at one time. I may have been looking for some casual work. That seems the most likely. I remember speaking to a tall, slim, dark haired bloke with a moustache. Would that have been your grandad ?
Eddie.
Ye that would of been him.i have got some photos were you can see the mabey crane in the back ground . Is that still there. I will try to post them if I can work out how to do it , thanks for your reply
Speaking of Mabey and Johnson, I was driving for them at around the same time your grandfather was operating out of Garswood. I was driving a Ford D series artic with a single axle trailer. I’d like to see that photo of their crane. The bloke that operated it came from St Helens. I’ve forgotten his surname but his first name was Eric and his son played rugby for Saints. A fact about which he had an irritating habit of constantly reminding anyone within earshot. Fortunately he was 60 feet up in the air for most of the day. The crane was taken down many years ago and was replaced by a kind of gantry affair on railway tracks.
As a certain gentleman from Bagillt would say. Just a useless piece of info.
Cheers. Eddie.
This is the closest I’ve managed to get to finding some photos of the yard that Willow transport used. They were taken in 1958 when it was still being used by the railways as a goods yard, quite some time before Willow transport moved in.
You may recognise the stone building in the distance behind the light engine. It’s more prominent in the photo featuring the double headed train heading for Wigan. This was still there when your grandad had the place. I assume he used it as a workshop or as warehouse space. Possibly both as it was a substantial building.
I’ve borrowed the photos from the Internet and give credit for them to Lyndon Crompton, an old schoolmate of mine. He’s the kid hanging out of the cab window of the loco.
Cheers. Eddie.
Cheers I will try to put pics on probably be Monday now . unless I can get one of the kids to do it for me.iam no good with this modern technology 
Thanks for that.is wards shop still there.
? That used to b right opposite the gates you can see it in the attached pic.dont know who the driver is. 
This is a recent photo of Mabey and Johnson’s yard. As you can see, it’s much bigger and better organised than it was when I worked there in the 70’s. Also the tower cranes have disappeared to be replaced by the rolling gantry. In your photo, it shows two cranes. This would indicate that the photo was taken late 70’s to early 80’s as they only had one, the one on the right, when I was driving for them. The one on the left of the shot doesn’t appear to have a cabin so would have been operated remotely from the ground I presume. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll get a photo of Ward’s shop and post it on here for you.
All the best.
Eddie.
Having taken a closer look at your photo of Mabey’s cranes, ( thank you for posting it by the way ), It would appear I’m probably wrong about there being no operator’s cabin on the second crane. Either way, it’s academic, as neither of them exist now.
Cheers. Eddie.
I came across a batch of old photographs recently among my stuff and these two were among them. They were taken in 1982 and they are amateur aerial photographs of Garswood. Despite the poor quality of the shots, the premises occupied by Willow Transport can just about be discerned. It goes without saying that they were taken from different viewpoints. If you click on the photos, they will become clearer.
Thanks for the photos Eddie. Sorry not been on here for a while busy with work. But I really like the the 2 pics of Garswood I will forward ward them to my dad .All the best Paul
My Dad worked at Willow Transport in the late 70’s.
He’d driven for the Hygena in Kirkby,can’t remember the connection but the Dennis trucks are ex-Hygena motors.