Nice one Dennis, But no drip sheet being used 
, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Punchy Dan:
0
Another load of quality stone from the Peak DistrictGreat shot there Dan, Good stone , But being hauled by a true & good haulage firm whom I dont doubt give a service second to none to their customers, Keep up the good work Dan, Regards Larry.
Not you carting that load then Dan? 
Pete.
windrush:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Punchy Dan:
0
Another load of quality stone from the Peak DistrictGreat shot there Dan, Good stone , But being hauled by a true & good haulage firm whom I dont doubt give a service second to none to their customers, Keep up the good work Dan, Regards Larry.
Not you carting that load then Dan?
Pete.
Here’s a pic that Rigsby requested and I found it on an old hard drive. It’s been on before but Dave mislaid it.
BonkeyDollocks:
Here’s a pic that Rigsby requested and I found it on an old hard drive. It’s been on before but Dave mislaid it.
Thanks a lot Bonkey , back in the iPhoto library . 35 years ago , where’s it gone ?
I’ve just got back to Isle of Man from a few days visiting my son in Chesterfield and took a passing interest in wagons on the A617 through Baslow - or Basler as I,being a local,used to call it. 
I noticed lot of F R Somerset’s artic tautliners using the road and wondered what they were carrying,maybe bagged lime? They were running home on Saturday afternoon as well.Mixed in with Hazlecroft Garage,Lomas Distribution,Simon Gibson,Breedon,Tarmac,Bardon and others I saw a powder tanker liveried as Lhoist - or summat like that,and I think it took the Bakewell road,not the A617.
Seems a long time since the old Blue Circle livery was around…………………….a lot of wagons all look the same nowadays. 
Somerset’s carry a wide range of products Chris, but most likely flat out with Buxton Water just at the moment.
Limey:
Somerset’s carry a wide range of products Chris, but most likely flat out with Buxton Water just at the moment.
Thanks Limey,so it would be RDC work more than likely then. Who is Lhoist then,it rings a bell but I’ve forgotten?
It was nice to see that Alf Sammans from Eyam is still going.
Chris Webb:
Limey:
Somerset’s carry a wide range of products Chris, but most likely flat out with Buxton Water just at the moment.Thanks Limey,so it would be RDC work more than likely then. Who is Lhoist then,it rings a bell but I’ve forgotten?
It was nice to see that Alf Sammans from Eyam is still going.
L’hoist used to be Beswicks Lime Works Chris , French company bought them out . A lot of Sonotri tankers collect lime for the continent . Hazelcroft where I worked for years is quite a big fleet now, in excess of 100 motors .
rigsby:
Chris Webb:
Limey:
Somerset’s carry a wide range of products Chris, but most likely flat out with Buxton Water just at the moment.Thanks Limey,so it would be RDC work more than likely then. Who is Lhoist then,it rings a bell but I’ve forgotten?
It was nice to see that Alf Sammans from Eyam is still going.L’hoist used to be Beswicks Lime Works Chris , French company bought them out . A lot of Sonotri tankers collect lime for the continent . Hazelcroft where I worked for years is quite a big fleet now, in excess of 100 motors .
We usually go back to M6 and Heysham via Ashford/Brierlow Bar/Harpur Hill and A54 Congleton Dave,but A54 was closed,so went via Macclesfield following a Hazlecroft Garage DAF artic. We got through Macc about 8-15 so was a piece of ■■■■.
That Cat and Fiddle A537 hasna altered much.
Chris Webb:
We usually go back to M6 and Heysham via Ashford/Brierlow Bar/Harpur Hill and A54 Congleton Dave,but A54 was closed,so went via Macclesfield following a Hazlecroft Garage DAF artic. We got through Macc about 8-15 so was a piece of ■■■■.
That Cat and Fiddle A537 hasna altered much.
Just missed out on one of ROF’s overpriced breakfasts then Chris, your stomach will be greatful of that at least! All change around Buxton nowadays, Tarmac trucks will probably be running from Tunstead, Breedon from Dowlow (formerly Steetly/ Redland/ LaFarge) and Bardon from Topley Pike (once Tarmac) quarries. Hard to keep track of them all these days but at least the quarries are still working, most around Matlock (Crich/Milltown/Dene/Shining Bank/Ivonbrook/Ballidon) are either long gone or just shadows of what they used to be.
Pete.
windrush:
Chris Webb:
We usually go back to M6 and Heysham via Ashford/Brierlow Bar/Harpur Hill and A54 Congleton Dave,but A54 was closed,so went via Macclesfield following a Hazlecroft Garage DAF artic. We got through Macc about 8-15 so was a piece of ■■■■.
That Cat and Fiddle A537 hasna altered much.Just missed out on one of ROF’s overpriced breakfasts then Chris, your stomach will be greatful of that at least!
Pete.
Do you know Pete,I forgot about ROF and his snap,he’s always on about Derbyshire lads buying his breakfast.
Breedon and Bardon both originated in Leicestershire,I remember the red Breedon and Cloud Hill tippers as a kid.Is Cemex another one in Derbyshire now,I understand the old Blue Circle plant is now Hope Industries.
I thought Topley Pike had long been closed,like Eldon Hill.At least Ballidon and Ben Bennett are still at it.
Topley Pike is still open Chris, a lot of ‘black’ still mixed there. I believe that Breedon/Ennstone own Hope now, they are a big concern and according to an old workmate of mine are very good to work for. He has three tippers based at Cloud Hill (there is a tar plant there nowadays) and there is always plenty of work, plus they have their own surfacing gangs, and if you have any problems regarding haulage etc there is one person in overall charge and he sorts it all out.
Pete.
I never drove a tipper Pete,I did go to two quarries int 60s and 70s,one was Dene near Cromford with a load of tar from Avenue plant Wingerworth when I worked for A E Evans and the other was somewhere off the Ashbourne road,the one where you turn right from Bakewell after Haddon Hall,can’t recall it’s name,it was a piece of machinery from T W Ward,when I was on general haulage out of Sheffield,late 60s.
I remember to this day the blasting explosions as a kid from different quarries,that’s when Eyam Quarries and Darlton were going.
Am I showing my age?
Chris Webb:
I never drove a tipper Pete,I did go to two quarries int 60s and 70s,one was Dene near Cromford with a load of tar from Avenue plant Wingerworth when I worked for A E Evans and the other was somewhere off the Ashbourne road,the one where you turn right from Bakewell after Haddon Hall,can’t recall it’s name,it was a piece of machinery from T W Ward,when I was on general haulage out of Sheffield,late 60s.
I remember to this day the blasting explosions as a kid from different quarries,that’s when Eyam Quarries and Darlton were going.
Am I showing my age?
That was Shining Bank quarry Chris, it closed several years ago. Hinchcliffes/North Lonsdale and then RMC and Cemex ran it at different times. Haddon Hall own the land, for one day each year stone was carted for free from the quarry to the Hall. Good hard limestone in there, I ran over a piece one day expecting it to crumble and it blew my front tyre to bits!! I liked working from there, very easy going lads and not so much H&S stuff as Tarmac had, however there was so much overburden to shift before you reached good stone that it was expensive to get it out. Rates weren’t quite as good as Tarmac/Tilcon (they worked on radial miles whereas Tilcon and Tarmac paid on direct miles) ) but the lad in the weighbridge seemed to like me and sorted me some decent work out when other quarries didn’t want me. I could carry almost two tonne more than their six wheelers as well which helped at times. Often he loaded me before the company trucks to get me a decent day, they didn’t mind as they were salaried anyway and I was on 27% of earnings. Downside was on small loads they only paid 15 tonne minimum haulage whereas Tarmac paid 17, and I did a lot of two tonne loads of tarmac for them, but what I lost in payload I gained on fuel used! Swings and roundabouts, they were happy days!
Pete.
windrush:
Chris Webb:
I never drove a tipper Pete,I did go to two quarries int 60s and 70s,one was Dene near Cromford with a load of tar from Avenue plant Wingerworth when I worked for A E Evans and the other was somewhere off the Ashbourne road,the one where you turn right from Bakewell after Haddon Hall,can’t recall it’s name,it was a piece of machinery from T W Ward,when I was on general haulage out of Sheffield,late 60s.
I remember to this day the blasting explosions as a kid from different quarries,that’s when Eyam Quarries and Darlton were going.
Am I showing my age?That was Shining Bank quarry Chris, it closed several years ago. Hinchcliffes/North Lonsdale and then RMC and Cemex ran it at different times. Haddon Hall own the land, for one day each year stone was carted for free from the quarry to the Hall. Good hard limestone in there, I ran over a piece one day expecting it to crumble and it blew my front tyre to bits!!
Pete.
I remember Hinchcliffes from South Elmsall when I were a kid and I think North Lonsdale was part of T W Ward group,like Eldon Hill.
Did you ever come across or hear about Stoke Hall quarry,on the road from Grindleford to Eyam? I believe it’s still open,supplying quality stuff for garden centres etc. It was nearly directly opposite our house in Froggatt,but hidden by trees now.
When you mentioned rates I was due for demob from RAF 1967 and was thinking about going on my own as an owner driver on tipper work. I knew a lad who drove for John Mason who worked out of Darlton Quarries at Stoney and went out with him for a day. He did a load of tarmac to Baslow school and it were 7/6p a ton. The photo is out of a local book about Froggatt,Calver and Curbar and shows a Hinchcliffe Albion going over the old Calver Bridge which has been clattered by summat.It was a regular occurance,I went to the school just past Curbar church from 1947 to 1953 and remember bumps and scrapes on that bridge.Earles Cement were running Briggs bodied Leyland Comets and used to lose the odd bag of cement near the Bridge Inn when they were trapping on a bit.
Incidentally,that triangle of green area at Baslow near the Devonshire Arms and Wheatsheaf pubs has a bench that says “Sit around and wonder why the world on wheels goes rushing by”.Very apt then and still is.
No Chris, never been to, or even seen, Stoke Hall quarry but I believe it still operates. I did do a few loads from Darlton though and got ‘stitched up’ each time, and nearly went into Goddards once but got a better offer just in time! Never been to Eyam either, despite living here since 1975, I’m not 100% certain that it is plague free yet!
Pete.
windrush:
No Chris, never been to, or even seen, Stoke Hall quarry but I believe it still operates. I did do a few loads from Darlton though and got ‘stitched up’ each time, and nearly went into Goddards once but got a better offer just in time!Pete.
Ha ha,that’s what my grandma used to say about Eyam and the plague.
In later years she was on about living there though,running a shop.It never happened and we moved to Louth Lincs instead.
windrush:
No Chris, never been to, or even seen, Stoke Hall quarry but I believe it still operates. I did do a few loads from Darlton though and got ‘stitched up’ each time, and nearly went into Goddards once but got a better offer just in time!Pete.
I did a lot of work out of Darlton in the late 80s , bagged retardamac and concrete crane off load , they even gave me a set of redundant forks for the crane . Also a lot of stone to garden centres as well . If it was slack on the bags I got a tipping trailer on bulk retardamac I made good money there as all the deliveries were East Anglia Water as far down as Felixtow . Last time I went in there was about 2001 or 2 for building stone , I don’t know how long it was open after that . Only went in Goddard once in the 80s , rates were abysmal .
rigsby:
I did a lot of work out of Darlton in the late 80s , bagged retardamac and concrete crane off load , they even gave me a set of redundant forks for the crane . Also a lot of stone to garden centres as well . If it was slack on the bags I got a tipping trailer on bulk retardamac I made good money there as all the deliveries were East Anglia Water as far down as Felixtow . Last time I went in there was about 2001 or 2 for building stone , I don’t know how long it was open after that . Only went in Goddard once in the 80s , rates were abysmal .
I used to give Dene quarry at Cromford call if I was short of work after lunchtime and sometimes they would send me with dust for the block plant at Darlton. It had those favourite two letters loved by Tarmac on the delivery note; ‘SR’ meaning special (crap!) rate but it was a load and beggars can’t be choosy! The first time I went there I called at Darlton weighbridge before tipping as I thought they would need to weigh it in, BIG mistake! “Can you nip a load of tarmac to Wombwell, it’s in the bin and they are waiting for it?” so muggins sets off with it at around 3pm! Gets to site, 200+ tonne in front of me and nothing ready. At 6.30 pm; “Can you get rid of it driver, we don’t need it?” and it ended up getting tipped in the dark on waste ground!
Second time, afternoon and same scenario “Can you take a load of stone to Nottingham?” and I said OK. Gets loaded, looks at ticket and it has RAF Cottesmore on it! Twice as far as Nottingham. Set off, got pulled by ministry at Bingham and was half a tonne overweight but they let me go and arrived at the site just as they were getting in the van to go home! Tipped me anyway, all mither I could have done without though! 
The aggro I had just trying to earn a crust at times!
Pete.