there was a few pages about tower hil in truck and driver mag a while back i will have to look it up
Hi Bowserman. its sad to here that Cawthorn Sinclair is no more they were a good out fit to work for, they had good trucks mostly ERF’s and Atkinsons with the Gardner 6 LX engines which was a good Engine back then. any body that did not run Bedfords, and Thames Traders was usually decent comany’s to work for. I used to haul that “Tide and Drene Shampoo” out of Newcastle for Sinclair. to London. some time those Drene Shampoo cases used to get smashed and I woud put them in the Cab, it was a nice smell, but it reminded you of a Pox Doctors office. the smell would last for months before the smell would go away. Take care and speed safely. John Townrow
Hi Wylie, I am surprised to here Tower Hill Transport is still in Business. that was a 'Mickey Mouse" out fit if ever there was one they had a mixed bag, Thames Traders, Albions, Bedfords, Leyland’s, the 7 litre AEC ( the London bus Engines) none of them could pull you out of bed. they were so under powered. there was another outfit near them called “Whitman Roadways” there was another 18 carat out fit they were based in Tower Hill, but they made you run clear up to Luton to fill up because they had an old piece of land with a fuel pump on it. I E-Mailed you earlier just ignore it I screwed up.I think I might be getting SENILE. take care Speed Safely. John Townrow.
John, you would not recognise the place where you would haul the shampoo from! If its where I remember it to be it was P&G on City Road, just along from St Peters, where my dad worked. Newcastle Quayside area has undergone massive regeneration and is bang up to date now.
Here are some pics for you to look at, see if you can remember anywhere!
rcgroups.com/gallery/data/512/28 … side-5.jpg
nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrians … e_news.jpg
n-e-life.com/images/spl_img1.jpg
Where P&G was is now a casino and carpark.
The weather is just the same though, cold and wet, just like California…not. 
Chris
Cawthorn Sinclair were based in Birtley and are no longer.
Blimey!!! 
I was born in Barley Mow,and can’t remember them,and I’m now 40.Must have been when steam wagons were about. 
As for Hansons,well,my father-in-law used to work for them in the late 60’s/early 70’s on their tipper operation out of Newmillerdam near Wakefield,when they must have been one of,if not the,biggest tipper company in the North.
Ken.
John T,
You emailed me too last year, just before I had my technical problems and lost the site for a couple of months.
Tower Hill Transport used to run S type Bedfords. I used to deliver 4x4 rigid versions, ex-army with a petrol engine, for site work erecting electricity pylons.
Cawthorn & Sinclair I remember as running Maggies and Mercs. They delivered from the Caterpiller factory in the NE and had a depot in Leicester. I worked for Econofreight in Leicester and as both firms were NE based their shop steward and me were lumped together as communists by the moderate Leicester T&G bosses during the '79 strike because, although we personally didn’t agree, we were both pushed into voting for the (original wildcat) strike.
J&H I knew as running plasterboard out of E. Leake and Gotham and being always advertising as a clearing house - return loads for trampers. They were taken over by the ill fated Hilton Transport Services (HTS) whose main claim to fame was being used for a, totally unrealistic, TV series - The Brothers. I remember once they, The Brothers, had a 32 tonner hi-jacked and the load transferred into a Transit Van!!!
Yiddel Davies rings a bell, but I don’t know which one!
McElvie used to load my mates and I with steel back from Motherwell when I worked for Midlands Storage, West Hallam. We used to fuel up there too as both were Transport Developement companies. Or the connection may have been the Transport Association (TA) which was not a company but a loose
help-each-other club. Jim McElvie did bring the first Volvos in and in fact may have set up an assembly plant under the Ailsa name, not sure.
Your KW sounds the business and puts the 40-50 debate here in perspective. I think your wife told me you retired and then bought one motor back to run when you feel like it. Sounds like an ideal happy medium to me, wish I could afford to do it but 62 and 2 years retired myself I think I’m on a winner already.
Salut, David.
Hi Chris. no these photos dont ring a bell with me.it was back in the mid 50’s when I hauled out of Newcastle I think it was “Lever” bros were I got the “Tide” washing powder and the Drene Shampoo. are these old photos or the new Newcastle? I take it that no more “Tide” or “Drene” from your neck of the woods eh? the last time I saw England was in 1965 the old English Trucks was still running up and down the road, but what I hear now its mostly Euro trucks over there. I guess the AEC. Leyland, Fodens ERFs Atkinsons have gone by the wayside. I used to tramp all over England they was good days, London to-day Glasgow tomorrow, then down to the west country, back up to Manchester, then find a load from “Castle Roadways” castle st , in Liverpool. for London. that was long before they had the motor ways. the A1 was I think the life line for trucks back then, there used to be a truck stop called Tonys.that was a good watering hole. in Grantham on the A1. I miss those walls sausages, Telfers meat pies. I married a Texas girl back in 1970, she cooks a good roast dinner, she’s not to smart but a good cook. ha ha ha .take care. speed safely. John T.
Hi Dave.so you have retired to eh ? I done it this year, sold my Truck and I love not having to get up and run 6-7000 miles a week. California to Boston or New York. when I see those Trucks pass me in my litte car I have no yearning to go back. I sold my Truck to a mate of mine and he has asked me to do a trip with him every once in a while. I might do that. I made a lot of friends out there and it would be nice to see them again.take care Dave I wont say Speed safely as your speeding days are over. John T.
John T, hi there, just curious as to how you know what a pox doctors office smells like ■■? 
Hi Willy. when I was stationed in the Suez in 1953 I thought I caught the boat up. went to the MO he said I was all clear. and his office was pretty much the same smell as the “Drene Shampoo” smell. ha ha ha . take care. John T
hi john,with regards to Mcelvy i am sure that he is in the bus buisness now adays 
Somewhere in the cobwebs of my brain 
I seem to remember something about Cavewood taking Cawthorne Sinclair over.
Not 100% on that but I also seem to remember being told Bobby Robsons dad drove for them.
He must be 100 now
Someone will remember 
John T:
Hi Dave.so you have retired to eh ? I done it this year, sold my Truck and I love not having to get up and run 6-7000 miles a week. California to Boston or New York. when I see those Trucks pass me in my litte car I have no yearning to go back. I sold my Truck to a mate of mine and he has asked me to do a trip with him every once in a while. I might do that. I made a lot of friends out there and it would be nice to see them again.take care Dave I wont say Speed safely as your speeding days are over. John T.
Nothing like it John. Late mornings (8am - late for a trucker!), late nights, on here mostly.
I’ve got a little car too. Sit on about 60 on a trip, just ahead of the wagons but if I’m dragging the (equally little) caravan instead of getting in their way (I know how annoying that is, see ‘Duel’) I find a nice big truck doing about 58, close up behind and get a nice cheap tow. Get there quicker too not having to struggle up the banks. Sometimes I see them weave a little, trying to find out where I’ve gone, out of sight of the mirrors, and I can almost hear them saying ‘where’d that little git go’.
Some of the more discerning ones realise what I’m doing, appreciate I’m keeping out of their way, and give a friendly wave when they turn off and I go past.
Sounds like you did what I used to, tramping all over the UK, finding your own loads, choosing your next destination. I loved it, just the job for a young single bloke.
Keep safe mate, and if you ever make that long delayed trip back, give me an email. We could talk for hours - won’t the ladies just love that ?
Salut, David.
Willy Gofar:
John T, hi there, just curious as to how you know what a pox doctors office smells like ■■?
But of a silly question really … John does live in California
Hi John old mate
Wheel Nut:
Not 100% on that but I also seem to remember being told Bobby Robsons dad drove for them.He must be 100 now
Someone will remember
it was BRYAN robson’s dad who drove for them - d’oh! they were bought out by tozer kemsley & millbourne (sp.? anyway known as TKM) back in the 70s who also owned cavewood and eventually yhr 2 were “merged” under cavewood name
some of the people involved started a truck parts business under the name “english mustard” on the old site, and i understand that peter cook is bill cawthorne’s son-in-law, but maybe that bit’s just another urban myth? 
John,
Those pics are of the new Newcastle.
Chris
Hi Chris. I think I screwed up it was not “Lever” bros it was “Thoms Hedley” who manufactured the “Tide and Drene” does that mean anything to you. I also remember it wasn’t down town where there factory was it was on the out skirts of Newcastle.its been so long ago my memory is in the *hit hole. are you still driving? whats the money like now, I used to make around 20 pounds a week ( Iwas on commision or % what ever paid the most) needless to say I always got screwed. you mentioned the weather in California, well its not like it was when I moved over here in 1964, blue skys was the order of the day by 7 am it would be 80 degrees, no rain for 10 months, now it ■■■■■■ down with rain in the middle of the summer. Bakersfield were I live the summer is the pits its around 100-105 all summer. I would love to retire back home buy a little cottage in the cotswolds, but looking at the prices unless the $ starts to get some value I don’t see that happening in the near future. take care. John.
Hi KitKat. Mcelvy if he is still in business he has hung on real well, when I used to tramp I have had many a load of steel from him, going back to London he used to have a big fleet I used to see them all the time "Mckelvy ‘s of Motherwell’ there used to be another big outfit up that way, I can’t think of the name right now. I guess I will think of it when I am in bed. take care. John T
Hello Pat. I know I live in California but northern CA is where the fruits and nuts live. I live in the more civalised section of CA. ha ha ha how are things going with you, how is your Dad doing? I hope he is fine. you still driving that hunk of metal whats it called a “VOLVO” or have you joined the ranks of real Truckers and got a “KENWORTH” ha ha ha . take care Pat speed safely. John.
PS is it possible you can’t handle a “KENWORTH”
C&S were bought by Cavewood who were,I’m certain taken over by GEODIS. C &Swere the first outfit I saw with a LHD UK registered F88 around 70, on the A1 southbound. Jim Mc Kelvie is long gone and I read that at one time he approached Leyland to become a dealer but was knocked back so maybe that created his interest in Volvo. He later established or had some involvement with Stonefield making FWD vehicles. The site at North St , Cheetham Hill which was used over the years by BRS, Smith of Maddiston and Mc K elvie has recently been developed into a retail centre after being derelict for some years. I have worked with some ex S of M lads over the years, and they all said they were hard workers but good payers.