rigsby:
The white Volvo in the last picture will be Mackenzie from Scourie , I’ve seen that motor often up in Kinlochbervie when we’ve been up there , with either a low loader or a bulker . He has a little quarry by the road north out of Scourie . His mum lived overlooking the harbour at Lochinver , nattering to her in the pub a few years ago , her and her friend were a comedy double act . I think it will be his brother has the caravan site at scourie , miserable sod .
Hi rigsby, they also run fish tankers collected at the quayside pumped straight from the boat and carted to processing plants.
Oily
I miss going up there Oily , we went to the same spot for many years , but with health issues and selling the wobble box we only go for a couple of weeks now in a rented cottage . Of course with the lockdown we missed this year . We made good friends there and I miss the comings and goings round the area .
The natives have been quite agitated this year rigsby, fears of Covid infection from the south after campsites were open for business again, also a lot of “wild camping” with campers leaving their waste to the elements.
The NC500 attracts a lot of visitors, some responsible and respectful of the area and its inhabitants, alas a minority don’t give a ■■■■■ well they do and don’t bother to bury it. The Highland Council in their wisdom closed(forever) a lot of Public Conveniences so it does not add up, more visitors less facilities.
Oily
This location is Walton Vale, A59, in Liverpool. Picture 1 is during the 1960s, a lorry of Feather & Kent
is stopped at the Zebra Crossing, on its way to the centre of Liverpool. Picture 2 shows a Ribble Leyland
Atlantean fleet number 1645 in the early 1970s, also heading to Liverpool city centre, despite showing
Preston as its destination. The bus has now entered Liverpool Corporation territory so no more passengers
will be picked up, and the conductor has set his indicator for his return to Preston. During my 2 years at
Ribble from early 1968, this bus, 1645 was based at Wigan depot, so I drove it many times.
Not my pictures.
Highland Council are a total waste of space Oily , years ago there were commercial rubbish bins near all the popular attractions .They went overnight to be replaced with litter bins ( which hardly ever got emptied ) and now they’re whining about the mess and they are doing the same with the toilets .
Hello Buzzer ,Pentons have that 141 in preservation now ,it was used to rescue broken down units ,and now use a Volvo Fh16 for the same job ,thank you Trevor
robthedog:
Now I’m not a fan of FG’s horrible to drive and worse to work on but this does look good
I loved them, both driving and working on them (have worked on far worse, and FG’s were as simple as a truck could be really) and would love to have had one to take to rallies etc. I’m on the FG Facebook group and a surprising number are still around in the UK and many more in Oz and NZ.
Pete.
I can honestly say that the only time I was genuinely frightened driving a truck was in the FG we had at Mothers Pride bakery (later Hovis) at New Springs Wigan. This one had been converted to a straight bar recovery truck. It was okay for towing similar sized bread vans but not for towing a fully loaded Ford D Series 14-tonner that I had rescued from the M61 in the early hours of one morning when I was night shift manager. The road from the A6 down to Wigan, Dicconson Lane, is all down hill and quite steep in places and I had realised that the braking capability of the FG would be marginal at best; I soon found out it was nowhere near marginal even though I had selected second gear at the start of the descent. The Ford had no braking capability after a couple of hundred yards, the engine was dead and the air was soon used up, so no help there. I had a run away and the engine in the FG was screaming its nuts off in second gear, so much so that I somehow managed to get it into third gear to prevent it blowing up. I hadn’t a hope of making the sharp left turn into Cale Lane where the bakery was, so I had to go on, down through Aspull and into Wigan, hoping that the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill were on green. As it was about 2.00 am there wasn’t any traffic about. The lights were on red and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it except go through. Then round the one way system and back up the hill to the bakery, which I reached accompanied by a stench of burning brake linings and clutch. The night driver in the Ford, Brian Cowburn, was never the healthiest looking of men, but that night he looked decidedly ill. I was told that I didn’t look much better than him. A truly terrifying experience.
robthedog:
Now I’m not a fan of FG’s horrible to drive and worse to work on but this does look good
I loved them, both driving and working on them (have worked on far worse, and FG’s were as simple as a truck could be really) and would love to have had one to take to rallies etc. I’m on the FG Facebook group and a surprising number are still around in the UK and many more in Oz and NZ.
Pete.
I can honestly say that the only time I was genuinely frightened driving a truck was in the FG we had at Mothers Pride bakery (later Hovis) at New Springs Wigan. This one had been converted to a straight bar recovery truck. It was okay for towing similar sized bread vans but not for towing a fully loaded Ford D Series 14-tonner that I had rescued from the M61 in the early hours of one morning when I was night shift manager. The road from the A6 down to Wigan, Dicconson Lane, is all down hill and quite steep in places and I had realised that the braking capability of the FG would be marginal at best; I soon found out it was nowhere near marginal even though I had selected second gear at the start of the descent. The Ford had no braking capability after a couple of hundred yards, the engine was dead and the air was soon used up, so no help there. I had a run away and the engine in the FG was screaming its nuts off in second gear, so much so that I somehow managed to get it into third gear to prevent it blowing up. I hadn’t a hope of making the sharp left turn into Cale Lane where the bakery was, so I had to go on, down through Aspull and into Wigan, hoping that the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill were on green. As it was about 2.00 am there wasn’t any traffic about. The lights were on red and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it except go through. Then round the one way system and back up the hill to the bakery, which I reached accompanied by a stench of burning brake linings and clutch. The night driver in the Ford, Brian Cowburn, was never the healthiest looking of men, but that night he looked decidedly ill. I was told that I didn’t look much better than him. A truly terrifying experience.
Graham, I have just read your quote, and knowing your towing route rather well, I reckon you would have had " Brown Underpants " by the time you got both vehicles
back to Mothers Pride at Cale Lane. Having reached Wigan town centre and gone around the one way system, it must have been a 2nd gear job to climb back uphill
via Scholes and Whelley and some relief once you managed to turn right into Cale Lane. Hats off to you Graham, Cheers, Ray.
robthedog:
Now I’m not a fan of FG’s horrible to drive and worse to work on but this does look good
I loved them, both driving and working on them (have worked on far worse, and FG’s were as simple as a truck could be really) and would love to have had one to take to rallies etc. I’m on the FG Facebook group and a surprising number are still around in the UK and many more in Oz and NZ.
Pete.
I can honestly say that the only time I was genuinely frightened driving a truck was in the FG we had at Mothers Pride bakery (later Hovis) at New Springs Wigan. This one had been converted to a straight bar recovery truck. It was okay for towing similar sized bread vans but not for towing a fully loaded Ford D Series 14-tonner that I had rescued from the M61 in the early hours of one morning when I was night shift manager. The road from the A6 down to Wigan, Dicconson Lane, is all down hill and quite steep in places and I had realised that the braking capability of the FG would be marginal at best; I soon found out it was nowhere near marginal even though I had selected second gear at the start of the descent. The Ford had no braking capability after a couple of hundred yards, the engine was dead and the air was soon used up, so no help there. I had a run away and the engine in the FG was screaming its nuts off in second gear, so much so that I somehow managed to get it into third gear to prevent it blowing up. I hadn’t a hope of making the sharp left turn into Cale Lane where the bakery was, so I had to go on, down through Aspull and into Wigan, hoping that the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill were on green. As it was about 2.00 am there wasn’t any traffic about. The lights were on red and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it except go through. Then round the one way system and back up the hill to the bakery, which I reached accompanied by a stench of burning brake linings and clutch. The night driver in the Ford, Brian Cowburn, was never the healthiest looking of men, but that night he looked decidedly ill. I was told that I didn’t look much better than him. A truly terrifying experience.
Great input from all concerned including the craic thanks to Buzzer, tyneside, Ray Smyth, gingerfold, robthedog and DEANB for the pics
Ray’s photo and the wagon a Guy Invincible
thanks to Buzzer, tyneside, Ray Smyth, gingerfold, robthedog and DEANB for the pics 
