Roping & Sheeting loved it,and trip money aswell.
Those were the days.
Dave the Renegade:
5thwheel:
Bewick:
Bewick:
I gave the “snide” coments of the “wind up merchant” a bit of thought last night,and I reckon us “duffers” are just resigning ourselves to having to accept that we would be unable to operate in to-days modern industry! However I am convinced we are selling ourselves way short of what would be actual reality! I believe I could come up with two scenarios that would be as close to the actual outcome if it were possible to implement.Lets take a round trip from say Glasgow to London A) carried out with to-days state of the art equipment and a current type of load,and driven by one of us “Duffers”.B) turn the clock back 50 odd years and using a state of the art motor of the times together with the type of traffic carried at the time,but driven by one of todays “steering wheel” jockeys! If my idea is not shot down in flames in the next few hours I will be back on the thread later on to-day when I will try to be as descriptive as possible of the two scenarios I have described!!! Cheers Dennis.Taking the first scenario,I am certain that with one hours “induction” on the latest spec tractor any one of the so called “old duffers” on the thread would be “up to speed” and quite capable of piloting a 44ton outfit to London and return to Glasgow( if the modern day “jockey” receives the same kind of “training” it would be a doddle for an “old un” to grasp easily!)Right oh! the load (6am),and in keeping with the latest methods,“reverse your trailer onto that hole in the wall Drive” no need to open the curtains! but it is quite easy to open a curtain if needs be!! In goes 26 shrunk wrapped pallets,full width of the trailer so no need for additional strapping.Close rear doors,get the notes,and off we jolly well go(say 7am).Out of Glasgow and south on the M74,Ooo,goody gum-drops Motorway all the way to London @ 56 mph up hill and down dale( legal breaks taken of course!) 400 miles listening to Radio 2,what could be easier,lifes a ■■■■■!!! The motor would probably be pulling into the depot in the London area at,say 5 or 6pm,drop trailer and couple up to another loaded one for return trip next day.Park up in truck stop,nice shower,good meal but oh!dear not many other lads to chat to as they’er all sat in their sleeper cabs alone,watching tele or texting or maybe reading/looking at pictures layed on their bunks!!! Alot different to 50 years ago when drivers had a good craic and even went for a pint,but I suppose its a sign of the times but by no means an improvement! Next day off back to Glasgow up that 400 miles of boring Motorway! Simples! 2 days,absolute doddle!! Dennis.
Well put Dennis!!
Us old duffers?,should stick together,
Take it easy,
Rgds,
David
There’s a lot to be learned from some of the old duffers on here
Cheers Dave.
You could teach a few lessons, but you could also learn from the young 'uns, like learning the ability to post a comment without quoting the previous 20 comments at the same time, every thread you lot get on stretches for 100s of pages and yet it’s the same thing repeated over and over again, it’s a PITA when there’s pictures involved as it takes ages to load the page and when it does eventually load it’s like deja vu 
newmercman:
Dave the Renegade:
5thwheel:
Bewick:
Bewick:
The problem with that new idea is it zb’s up the context of the reply.
I’m only messing with em Carryfast 
These boys know how to do it…no sheet though.
we still do a lot of rope and sheeting we seem do a lot more flat work than curtainsider work at the moment, althou at the moment we only need to strap the loads as we are doing pile cages,i prefer a flat to a curtain beleive it or not it has its advantages when on tight building sites and you dont have to worry about the buggers cutting your curtains at night
Chris Webb:
These boys know how to do it…no sheet though.
I hope that it doesn’t rain Chris or else he will be well overweight on that front axle .
mushroomman:
Chris Webb:
These boys know how to do it…no sheet though.
I hope that it doesn’t rain Chris or else he will be well overweight on that front axle
No it’ll be ok, look at the bloke second left, it’s a lift axle and they can drop him when they get near to gross on that end
YES HANSON i could,nt agree more ,but then some health and safety zb stops you getting on to sling it you cant win 
dafdave:
loader8:
Roping and Sheeting?
You old duffers are way behind the times.
What you do now is use a curtainsider and no matter what you are carrying,any shape, any size,all you need to do is put whatever it is on a pallet and even if it is hanging off the pallet just put some shrinkwrap round it,put it on the trailer,there is no need to strap it down,the shrinkwrap will prevent it moving,shut your curtains and off you go.
Its the wonder of shrinkwrap.Windup merchant you may be but if you were serious dont venture anywere near germany with your slapstick ideas on loading tautliners unless you have plenty money to pay the fines.
regards dave.Another old duffer
Whos the ■■■■■■■■ that doesnt strap or tie down anything in a tautliner,must be a complete and utter plonker and that shrinkwrap wont hold anything.You come to North America and it is not tied down you will soon be very hard up.I once made the mistake of heading south from stirling with a load of caberboard with very few straps on it and kept it in the curtains till i left the M6 at Lancaster and it was sat in the curtains,so when i got it in the yard i threw it hard in the oposite direction to make it straight then put more on,as for hauling it on flats you made ■■■■ sure it was tied down before you threw the sheets on!!!
scaniaontheroad:
dafdave:
loader8:
Roping and Sheeting?
You old duffers are way behind the times.
What you do now is use a curtainsider and no matter what you are carrying,any shape, any size,all you need to do is put whatever it is on a pallet and even if it is hanging off the pallet just put some shrinkwrap round it,put it on the trailer,there is no need to strap it down,the shrinkwrap will prevent it moving,shut your curtains and off you go.
Its the wonder of shrinkwrap.Windup merchant you may be but if you were serious dont venture anywere near germany with your slapstick ideas on loading tautliners unless you have plenty money to pay the fines.
regards dave.Another old dufferWhos the [zb] that doesnt strap or tie down anything in a tautliner,must be a complete and utter plonker and that shrinkwrap wont hold anything.You come to North America and it is not tied down you will soon be very hard up.I once made the mistake of heading south from stirling with a load of caberboard with very few straps on it and kept it in the curtains till i left the M6 at Lancaster and it was sat in the curtains,so when i got it in the yard i threw it hard in the oposite direction to make it straight then put more on,as for hauling it on flats you made ■■■■ sure it was tied down before you threw the sheets on!!!
That Caberboard was something else,before I went onto night trunk with Smith of Maddiston’s I used to unload and load on days,in Manchester we used to receive about 10 loads a week of Caberboard,everyone had shifted on its way down from Maddiston overnight,we had to straighten the load before taking it back on the road to tip it,I remember 1 such load that had shifted on its way to Huddersfield,a coffin manufacturer,out in the sticks,very narrow lane to get to their yard,the load took up all the width of the lane!!..nasty loads Caberboard.
Take it easy,
Rgds David
Caberboard, definitly a dirty word from the past. spend all day waiting for the load then be told to pull outside the bay once the sheets are on, whatever the weather rope up outside. Oh by the way thats got to be delivered at silly o clock tomorrow so you had better get your skates on. (I dont thinkso). Amazing isn’t it how that was one of very few backloads available from Scotland !!! Another gem was the infamous Muggiemoss, but at.least the canteen was decent. Will you think me cynical if I say happy days■■? I remember one episode at M/moss loading for Robertbridge Sussex being told by one of the locals (them from turrif) that he would sack me if I worked for him after I said I not be able to tip the next day as it was to far away and it was 5pm already. Remember them 142 scanias very loud gaffa by the name of Dougie? regards kevmac47
kevmac47:
Caberboard, definitly a dirty word from the past. spend all day waiting for the load then be told to pull outside the bay once the sheets are on, whatever the weather rope up outside. Oh by the way thats got to be delivered at silly o clock tomorrow so you had better get your skates on. (I dont thinkso). Amazing isn’t it how that was one of very few backloads available from Scotland !!! Another gem was the infamous Muggiemoss, but at.least the canteen was decent. Will you think me cynical if I say happy days■■? I remember one episode at M/moss loading for Robertbridge Sussex being told by one of the locals (them from turrif) that he would sack me if I worked for him after I said I not be able to tip the next day as it was to far away and it was 5pm already. Remember them 142 scanias very loud gaffa by the name of Dougie? regards kevmac47
Aye yer right about caberboard in every respect.The only time i got to rope and sheet inside was when i got loaded right on lunchtime and was allowed to do it on the break,bad place,bad load,glad i didnt go on a regular basis.
regards dave.,
I remember back loading out of caberboard (for MFI at Howden) near Irvine in the mid 80’s on a flat trailer and as we mainly carried steel I only had ropes and sheets. (I don’t think anyone had straps at the time). When I had it loaded, sheeted and roped and was about to leave, The local shunter suggested that I use every last bit of rope that I had and double dolly every hitch. This I did and made it through with no problems. Always listen to the locals especially when loading some where for the first time. 
Well remember Caberboard, steel up from Lackenby then run board all week, from Cowie to storage at Hillington, both ways roped and sheeted, no straps. Friday night load for run home on Sat. Best load was floorboards, good square load, never had to much problem with loads moving. Used to put packing under ends of packing timbers this made packs belly in the middle which helped stop movement, boards leveled out when stacked on the floor. Also always tried to run on top of camber and never near kerb as hitting any pothole or drain cover upped the risk of a load moving.
shame theres no wool men on from Bradford im sure they could have a tale or 2 to tell about loading bales with a crane from those old mills outside, then sheeting up ,an art in its self
ramone:
shame theres no wool men on from Bradford im sure they could have a tale or 2 ti tell about loading bales with a crane from those old mills outside, then sheeting up ,an art in its self
I used to load wool out of Southamton in the early 70s, that was a nightmare!! some of the bales were nearly round it was like trying to load marbles on a flat trailer. The regular “woolies” all had hooks made to fasten the bales together if you were going to the same mill they would loan you their spares, it was a great help. Also their advise was first class on how to load. The best way was to floor out the bales then rope them down,build up the load this way and rope every row double dollied. You had to have a hellova lot of rope but it did work. By the time you got to Bradford your lower orifice was well exercised as it did a “threepenny bit half crown” every bend and roundabout. Funny what sticks in your mind innit. regards kevmac47.
5thwheel:
,in Manchester we used to receive about 10 loads a week of Caberboard,everyone had shifted on its way down from Maddiston overnight,we had to straighten the load before taking it back on the road to tip it,I remember 1 such load that had shifted on its way to Huddersfield,a coffin manufacturer,out in the sticks,very narrow lane to get to their yard,the load took up all the width of the lane!!..nasty loads Caberboard.
Funeral Supplies, Oakes…
kevmac47:
ramone:
shame theres no wool men on from Bradford im sure they could have a tale or 2 ti tell about loading bales with a crane from those old mills outside, then sheeting up ,an art in its selfI used to load wool out of Southamton in the early 70s, that was a nightmare!! some of the bales were nearly round it was like trying to load marbles on a flat trailer. The regular “woolies” all had hooks made to fasten the bales together if you were going to the same mill they would loan you their spares, it was a great help. Also their advise was first class on how to load. The best way was to floor out the bales then rope them down,build up the load this way and rope every row double dollied. You had to have a hellova lot of rope but it did work. By the time you got to Bradford your lower orifice was well exercised as it did a “threepenny bit half crown” every bend and roundabout. Funny what sticks in your mind innit. regards kevmac47.
I was lucky i missed out on the wool on flats by a few years,i did a few loads on a 7.5 tonner but then it was all curtainsiders.The hooks you refer to were i think called pins and the method was called pinning.I have heard of loading bales 2 high then sheeting them up then load again on top of the sheeted load.All drivers had a hand hook you couldn`t load without 1
ramone:
kevmac47:
ramone:
shame theres no wool men on from Bradford im sure they could have a tale or 2 ti tell about loading bales with a crane from those old mills outside, then sheeting up ,an art in its selfI used to load wool out of Southamton in the early 70s, that was a nightmare!! some of the bales were nearly round it was like trying to load marbles on a flat trailer. The regular “woolies” all had hooks made to fasten the bales together if you were going to the same mill they would loan you their spares, it was a great help. Also their advise was first class on how to load. The best way was to floor out the bales then rope them down,build up the load this way and rope every row double dollied. You had to have a hellova lot of rope but it did work. By the time you got to Bradford your lower orifice was well exercised as it did a “threepenny bit half crown” every bend and roundabout. Funny what sticks in your mind innit. regards kevmac47.
I was lucky i missed out on the wool on flats by a few years,i did a few loads on a 7.5 tonner but then it was all curtainsiders.The hooks you refer to were i think called pins and the method was called pinning.I have heard of loading bales 2 high then sheeting them up then load again on top of the sheeted load.All drivers had a hand hook you couldn`t load without 1
Your right about the hook Ramone, I’ve just remembered the dockers used to loan you one while you were loading. Ps can you imagine a driver now taking the time to instruct another driver on how to load his motor? apart from the pressure of time I don’t think the modern driver would take kindly to an old fogie trying to tell him how to do the job. 