newmercman:
Wait until it gets cold Neal, then try & roll one up, you’ll invent new swear words, or maybe leave them on the ground & get new ones from the tarp store while you’re in the wash bay on your own one Saturday
Been to see a fortune teller Mark she says she see`s a van is the future for me she only told me this after asking who i worked for at the moment
I knew it wouldn’t be long Just in time to miss out on a winter too, now that’s good timing
Only joking Mark not got any plans for moving on, see how i get on in the winter
I remember when I started driving I could already rope and sheet but I was missing some of the finer points that made the whole thing easier to do and looking better when finished. For instance, when roping up one day after loading an old boy was watching me throw the whole rope over the load and then chuck the whole thing back over the load again after tying it on. He walked over to me and said “just watch this sonny”, he then looped enough rope in his hand and threw it over the load so that it was over the load and back again! All I had to do was walk round and tie it, walk back again and tie the other side without having to throw it back over, simple! he tapped the side of his and said “up’ ere for thinking and down there for dancing young fella”.
Another day I had a sheet from an artic to use on an 8 legger, the sheet was far too long and after rolling it out over the load it was on the floor at the back end and then some! Again an old hand was watching this young lad struggle with the excess sheet trying to roll it all up at the back end of the load which now looked like an unmade bed with 2 baby elephants in it. The old driver came over to me and said " by 'eck young fella thous mekin 'ard work o that" I told him that my boss was a complete pratt for giving me this great big sheet to do this job with. “Do yer want to know what I’d do” he said and proceeded to show me his much better way. He udid the mess that I’d made and got on top of the load and pulled the sheet up until the end of it was level with the body floor, then he folded the excess over and pulled it back so that it looked as though it had been covered with 2 sheets back first and then front over lapping like you would on a trailer. I was now able to make a proper job of enveloping the back of the sheet as if it was the right length ! The excess sheet was now folded and hidden in the middle of the load and was far more tidier than the way that I was trying to do it, brilliant!
Again as a young driver I was folding my sheet up on the floor after removing it from the load, I was working from end to end and not making a very tidy job of it when yet again an old hand give me a bit of help. Starting from the middle the old boy showed me that this was the best way to fold a sheet up on your own and still make a tidy job of it.
Of course many years later It was me that was passing these tips on to the younger generation of driver and happy to do so as well!
regards doublereduction.
I remember being shown how to tie a dolly at 18 years old, it took all night for me to get it right but I have never forgotten and even after about 20 years without sheeting and roping I was once loading some stuff on a trailer over here and put in several dolly’s … the guys watching were amazed, they had never seen anyone do that.
hi pat, i remember that eighteen year old dolly you tide up down spitalfield market,and then took all night to do it,and all the guys watching were amazed and i have,nt forgotten that sight for twenty years just of to specsavers cheers diesel
hiya,
Jimmy m my old old lady says something on the same lines of that,she says i’m the biggest joke she’s ever come across, but i don’t think she is being complimentry somehow.
thanks harry long retired.
tonyhogi:
Always wondered is proper roping & sheeting unique to us brits when abroad have never seen a well sheeted load with dolly knots anywhere
thats a very good point what was used abroad the rope and dollies is such a versatile way of securing all kind of shapes and sizes the curtain sider is great but you still have to tie stuff in some times just saves getting them big sheets on top of the load
wen i started driving had to do two weeks at the paper mill loading trailers and ropeing &sheeting it had to be done right 8 to 10 a day after the 1st week my hand had blisters on them but was taut right .to see a proper sheeted load just look at any BEWICK TRANSPORT load on a flat its an art form
yappie:
wen i started driving had to do two weeks at the paper mill loading trailers and ropeing &sheeting it had to be done right 8 to 10 a day after the 1st week my hand had blisters on them but was taut right .to see a proper sheeted load just look at any BEWICK TRANSPORT load on a flat its an art form
Yea JR but you had been counting to 99 and changing hands long before you went into the mill !! and maybe you don’t know this but every trailer that came up to the yard from the mill after you had lassoo’d it we had to get Tonka to re do it !! D.
yappie:
well it did put me in good sted for working with them at barrow .you have to have some one to make me look good!!!
There’s nowt wrong with Barrovians they can’t help it being called "little scouses " just because they live at the end of the longest cul-de sac in England !! But they do keep bringing it closer to Levens bridge by straighting the road out !! D.
diesel dan:
hi pat, i remember that eighteen year old dolly you tide up down spitalfield market,and then took all night to do it,and all the guys watching were amazed and i have,nt forgotten that sight for twenty years just of to specsavers cheers diesel
You wicked, nasty vindictive git
It was you with that old bag lady just before you told her you would give her a lift then told her to get in the FEDERAL EXPRESS cab and wait for you.
Great thread, i cut my teeth roping & sheeting for EH Nicholls in Sittingbourne . Ernie was great, at the interview he asked me if i could R & S… NOOOOO was the answer, my thought was ‘oh well thats the end of that then’. When i got home i had a phone message from him… ‘be in the yard at 0600 ,you can run with a driver for a week, he will teach you how to do it’. There started my flatbed career .
A well sheeted load looks 1000 times better than a curtainsider anyday. Those bottle sheets were bloody heavy, i used to cheat and get the fork lift to put them back on the truck… somehow do not think i was the only one .
How many young ones can do a ‘dolly’, actually how many know what one is…
i do i am forty and got taught when i was ten by my old man . he worked for greenwoods [southampton depot] doing zanussi white goods those yellow all one peice sheets were bloody heavy
regards gazzap
gazzap:
i do i am forty and got taught when i was ten by my old man . he worked for greenwoods [southampton depot] doing zanussi white goods those yellow all one peice sheets were bloody heavy
regards gazzap
Same as me mucker , got taught by ole` man as well bout same age (now 44 ) as he didnt think it would be any different when i started driving how wrong he was. would go back to his era anyday
A couple of my efforts from, struth 20+ years ago! I used to like to stand back & look when I had finished, rope & sheet always looks better than any tautliner. Some could do it better than me but I didnt mind it & I never had anything fall off so must have been doing something right.
she only told me this after asking who i worked for at the moment
when abroad have never seen a well sheeted load with dolly knots anywhere 
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