I don’t know whether these will be of interest to anyone here, but heres a couple of pics of me my dad took in the 70’s when driving for Philmac in Ellesmere Port, I remember these Seddon Atkinson’s being his regular trucks, i also remember going out in a Foden 8 wheeler that i’m sure was a tipper, anyway it was through a search for pics of Philmac that i found this forum,so i thought i’d share these!
hello cowmoo and welcome,
i certainly remember philmac from my days out with dad (ex philmac driver from the 60’s) dad worked for castrol and would often meet up with a few of the philmac lads at various cafes around the north west… 
Cheers!! 
I remember getting up at stupid o’clock in the school hols,heading up to the port from gresford,then having to hide in the cortina 'til me dad came out, then hiding in the cab 'til the bosses couldn’t see me!! we always seem to head out to Buxton or Chesterfield or over snake pass and the cat and fiddle, saw my 1st mk2 ■■■■■■ from that wagon, just remembered that, and the smell of bitumen haha!!
wirralpete:
hello cowmoo and welcome,
i certainly remember philmac from my days out with dad (ex philmac driver from the 60’s) dad worked for castrol and would often meet up with a few of the philmac lads at THE POPS CAFE for a game of pool…well remembered.
John
HI Wirralpete . I New a couple of philmac drivers went there wen B R S Q Ferry closed Richie Beckett a lad from Chester went on a ridged 4 or 6 wheeler on a special job .Loved it ,and i think Tony Reynolds and few others were there as well .Ithink Richie is still there ,Regards Barry Waddy
b.waddy:
HI Wirralpete . I New a couple of philmac drivers went there wen B R S Q Ferry closed Richie Beckett a lad from Chester went on a ridged 4 or 6 wheeler on a special job .Loved it ,and i think Tony Reynolds and few others were there as well .Ithink Richie is still there ,Regards Barry Waddy
I worked for Phillips petroium (the other half) in teesside for 35 years. I met some of their drivers at a number of quarrys in the north
Yes would have chatted to your dad as he probably delivered to Middle Peak quarry in the 70/80s.They unloaded tar or bitumen on the road that led to the weighbridge and if there was a queue as there usually was, always had a word with the tanker drivers whilst waiting, your dad could have been one that I passed the time with,the good old days.Regards Mike.
will mention this thread to my dad tonight and get some names off him, will even put them in my phone as i wont have a cat in hells chance of remembering them come tomorrow 
Superb couple of pic mate! Going by the second pic, it was taken in the layby at the top of Topley Pike hill which was the original road before they dug through the hillside and cut the corner off.
The earlier b/w pic might be the same location going by the old road markings.
Just wondered why you parked there - Possibly going elsewhere after discharging at the Pike?
Anyway, I know of the Foden tanker you speak off, I’ve got a photo of an S80 eight legger in Philmac colours somewhere. If I find it I’ll upload it on here. In the meantime have a few other pics.
This may have been the Seddon in the first pic and possibly your old man?
This is a pic that a lad on here called ‘sniffy’ posted on the Tarmac tippers thread:
Just one more Q to the OP:
Which Tarmac quarries did you go to round the NW mate? I know of Topley Pike and Waterswallows.
Finally a couple more. The first pic was taken at Tarmac’s Bankfield quarry at Clitheroe.
Edit: One more found unloading at old Cliffe Hill quarry:
Thank Christ for the search option on here! 
First is by Bubbs from the scrapbook thread and the S80 I was on about earlier.
This one is from numbum (Phil):
WOW! thanks for the pics BonkeyDollocks!! yeah the pics were taken at the same spot if i remember right,can’t remember when me dad worked at Philmac but i’m sure it was early to late 70’s maybe even early 80’s but he got back problems and had to quit. eventually went on to instruct at Gatewen in Wrexham, then start his own driving school, so i dunno if anyone remembers him, Joe Jackson,but he left for the truckstop in the sky in 2008. thanks very much!!
thelongdrag:
Yes would have chatted to your dad as he probably delivered to Middle Peak quarry in the 70/80s.They unloaded tar or bitumen on the road that led to the weighbridge and if there was a queue as there usually was, always had a word with the tanker drivers whilst waiting, your dad could have been one that I passed the time with,the good old days.Regards Mike.
I’m not sure if Middle Peak was a drop, but i do remember him going to a lot of quarries around Buxton, Macclesfield, Matlock and Chesterfield
aint got no more pics BD, but i do have some blue philmac overalls!!
thanks again chaps!
Middle Peak would have been a drop as it’s only round the back of Dene quarry at Cromford. Don’t think there was a tar plant at Matlock’s Cawder quarry (unless any of the lads on here knows different)
Caldon Low would have been a place you’d have gone to as would Agecroft near Salford. Can I ask what places you went to around Chesterfield?
(I’ll keep an eye out for other pics mate!)
BonkeyDollocks:
Middle Peak would have been a drop as it’s only round the back of Dene quarry at Cromford. Don’t think there was a tar plant at Matlock’s Cawder quarry (unless any of the lads on here knows different)Caldon Low would have been a place you’d have gone to as would Agecroft near Salford. Can I ask what places you went to around Chesterfield?
(I’ll keep an eye out for other pics mate!)
Middle Peak and Dene Quarries were both tar drops out of BSC Orgreave plant in the 60s and 70s BD. I didn’t do either but my old mate Albert did,and I’ll have a think what other Derbyshire quarries he went to. The tar plant that did most of the Derbyshire quarries was the NCB Avenue Plant at Wingerworth,Chesterfield,a far bigger place than Orgreave.
I really have no idea of the Chesterfield drop, maybe we just passed through, but i know we went there as my dad told me how the spire ended up that way! i also remember going over the Menai bridge as i had to pull the mirrors in, that could have been to Gwalchmai or Mona area. but it was a long time ago and i was probably age ten or less!!
When it was a busy time there would sometimes be 2 Philmac Tankers tipping at the Tarmac plant at M.Peak and 1 tipping at the HRA plant when that was moved into M.Peak,and then there would be others arriving all through the day. Don’t think Hoveringham at Dene bought of Philmac until they were taken over by Tarmac but can’t be sure of that.Another place they delivered to was both the Permanite plants in Cawdor when they were taken over by Tarmac in the late 60s.The Permanite plant that still operates was originally Ragusa Asphalt and the original Permanite plant moved all block production to the present Permanite plant,it did carry on for a while producing Black Sheathing Felt until it finally closed I think around the late 80’s.As Chris Webb has said before Tarmac swept through, the Avenue,Orgreave and Coalite tankers all delivered to the local quarries.In Derbyshire Stone days there was a tarmac plant in Cawdor but when they aquired M.Peak it was shut down when the new plant was constructed.I don’t know anything about tanker operations but I wonder if the drivers stayed on set runs most of the time although does seem a bit odd.This is from memory so if I have got something wrong I am open to correction. Mike.
Thanks Mike, your info is much appreciated, if my memory serves me correct, whenever i went out with my dad, each run was different but we did frequent the same drops but not in any set order, i really should have paid more attention!!
Cheers for the info lads. Always nice to hear the background and details. There’s only so much you can glean from looking at a photo!
Oh and Mike, you mention the hot roll plant being seperate to the tar plant at Middle Peak. Where was that? I never went while it was running but recall seeing the old Parker plant after the place had closed. (around 1996) I guess this was the old tar plant. It was similar in design and shape to the plant at Topley Pike.