whooshwhoosh:
taught by old hands at brs warrington on the alcan contract,tho the first trip out on my own with 7 drops was still a sharp learning curve but u got better with practice.would go back on flats tommorow ,just gettin fatter by the day draggin tautliners around
Them were the days on that job, 10 to 15 drops 3 sheets all loaded nice and mixed up by Kenny Mac or Digger Barnes the shunters
with no mention of how it was loaded or where on the trailor the first drop was
wasnt such a bad thing as it was better to strip the lot off and start again after them two had just thrown the sheets at it :laughing: Never forget Harry the pot head off BRS Taskforce going down the M6 with the fly sheet trailing behind him :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: made Princess Dis wedding dress look a bit plain trailing behind her going up the isle
Another of Harrys great trips out was when he was told to go to Deeside for 20 ton of can ends with a tautliner
rang the office when he got there to tell them it already had a full load of em on it
youd think you would know a 320 MAN HAD 20 ton on it going up the bank on the A55 near Broughton :laughing: :laughing: wonder where he is now, top quality entertainment with the management he was :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Glad we dont do it anymore at our place as some of our finest can`t seem to do the cutains up on tautliners very well
This was a load of reels of paper loaded for France, we used to send maybe 4-5 loads a day out and they were all on flats to various drops in France. We would usually reload with bags of plaster just north of Paris or out of Cotrama in Bolougne for LaFarge at Portbury. Some weeks we would do 3 round trips the next 2 trips. Sunday morning we would be down at the mill at 05.30 with a load of waste paper, unsheet that then tip and upto the top mill to load the finished reels, sheet that up with 2 full sheets then a fly sheet. Back to the yard drop that and pick up an empty flat back to the mill and load a second, back to the yard drop that and pick up another empty which would then be your trailer to go . Back to the mill load and leave for Dover, we would usually get into Dover on 14hrs duty, (that was if you were 1st in the mill) around 7pm. Ship over and park in Calias ( in the days when you could)
Monday we would tip, reload and be back in Dover that night and if we had the time we would run as far as possible towards Portbury. Tuesday tip Portbury reload waste paper around the Bristol area back to the yard pick up one off the trailers loaded on Sunday and turn back around heading for Dover. Wednesday we would ship over tip and reload Bolougne into Calais and do a change over. Thursday tip , reload Paris ship back over and run time out. Friday tip Portbury reload waste in the Bristol area and back to the yard.
We didnt get that every week but we could do that run for 3-4 weeks on the trot, then you would have it easy for a few weeks pulling a tilt or taut to Greece, Spain or the old eastern bloc.
Heres one loaded with waste paper no fly sheets needed so that would save 20-30 minutes.
One thing that roping and sheeting did give you was pride in a well sheeted load, knowing that you could do it and do it well.
Some of the drivers I work with now wouldnāt know were to start and thats not just the younger ones. A few years ago we had a company that would sub some of our work using our tautliners, but they did quite a bit of flat work. They would drop there empty flats at our yard and one day there were about 8-9 off them in there. One of the older hands asked me what the flat trailers were for so I decided I would wind him up a little. I told him that the company were trying to maximise the loads of chipboard that we send to another of our factories and that if they used flat trailers they could get more on for every 5 trailers using flats they would save 1 trailer having to be used. He told me he couldnāt rope and sheet and there was no way he was going learn at his age, infact he was going straight to the union shop steward and that they would be āon the gateā if this was allowed to take place. Kept me smiling for a few days
Paul
Aye you bring a few memorys back there paul,in the second pic int that my old daf 2800 parked next to you with germany on the cab.Cant help but laugh when i think of the cant rope and sheet and not going to learn,talk about throwing the dummy out of the pram.Them were the days mate as hard as they were.Hope your all keeping ok
Yep them certainly were the days, peeing with rain, blowing a gale, sheets frozen to the load, fingers wouldnāt work properly cos oā the cold.
Having said that, if I put a load on a trailer and roped and sheeted it, itād stay there, even if I turned it over (no I didnāt). I donāt think too many tautliners could do that
Iām a newbie and would not have the first clue about roping and sheeting. i have a feeling i would get it wrong unrolling the the fly sheet let alone putting it on.
i understand that hardly any of us new guys now how to do it but there arenāt many people out there that use them anymore and even less that would take on a new guy without the first clue so it is a dying breed i guess.
as for dolly knots, WTF are they? what is wrong with a good old snakes wedding to hold a load on?
only kidding fellaā. anybody got any info on how to rope and sheet or tie a dolly knot? its interesting to know, just in case! lets try and keep this trade alive by passing on your trade secrets on how to do it!
Gibisa.
Just reading through most of the posts on here gives you a good idea of the sense of job satisfaction on being able to do it. As much as wind rain and coldness is a nightmare to work in you still know that the load will stay in the same spot and on the trailer.
Trying to explain how to do any of the folding, dollies, envelopeing or any other tricks of the trade is difficult without a load in front of you.
Fair play to you for wanting to learn because just wanting to be able to do it is a very rare thing in new wagon drivers.
This is why this part of the forum is the best place to put this thread because all the experience is already hereā¦
As for passing the knowledge on we train all new drivers upā¦ Some love itā¦ Others prefer to go to Sainsburys and stay clean!!!
I blame Mr Health & Safety for stopping kids going with the old man as it has stopped people coming up through the ranks.
Greg 50.
Do you get the same buzz when you open the doors on your fridge and look at all them yoghurtsā ā ? Only teasing honest!!!
Paul.
Nice job of sheeting there mateā¦ I got a Guy Big J4 and old York flat if you fancy a job!!!
Giblsa:
Iām a newbie and would not have the first clue about roping and sheeting. i have a feeling i would get it wrong unrolling the the fly sheet let alone putting it on.
i understand that hardly any of us new guys now how to do it but there arenāt many people out there that use them anymore and even less that would take on a new guy without the first clue so it is a dying breed i guess.
as for dolly knots, WTF are they? what is wrong with a good old snakes wedding to hold a load on?
only kidding fellaā. anybody got any info on how to rope and sheet or tie a dolly knot? its interesting to know, just in case! lets try and keep this trade alive by passing on your trade secrets on how to do it!
Have a look at this site from a former member of trucknet (he is responsible for the Zb in the autocensor)
I must admit that in my 35 years of driving lorries I havenāt been called upon to do much roping and sheeting,it wasnāt 'til I worked for Western Transport that I had the oppertunity to have a go. One day my old pal Arthur was roping down a load of G.K.N pallets for dehiring ,as I walked passed the trailer the rope was in position to be tied,now my old man showed me how to do dollies so as Arthur came around the unit I was giving the dolly a good pull āGive it yer ,that aint no bleedin goodā and he proceded to drag another foot of rope through the dolly.Needless to say Arthur ,excuse the pun,showed me the ropes and when he retired I took over the pallet job. Because I was shown properly Ihad no problems,also Iwas in my mid 30s when this happened so its never too late to learn.
I was so chuffed to get to my drop safely with my first load of pallets I took a photo.
Cheers Marc
Hi All
Opened up a topic of pride with most old drivers that had no choice but to get stuck in and " get that load covered ", even with sore hands and water coming out of your bum in the rain , sitting in the cab after , wet and cold with the heater on to warm up , if you had one , looking in the mirror and know youve done a good job , and it all being still there and dry when you get to your drop . Remember those big sheets that covered all a 40ft trailer that only Jeff Capes could lift and having to tie it to a lamp post to pull it off , or sheeting your MT trailer to keep the bed dry for your next load , or looking at a load and thinking how do I rope down that lot . " Get your sheets off Drive and I`ll whip that lot off " Oh happy days , not .
Frenchy
Sounds daft but I used to stand back and look with pride at a load Iād just roped and sheeted. I suppose we forget about sheeting trailers in the snow and rain or heaving three sheets over the larger loads. I hated stripping tilts and the innovation of euroliners was a godsend.
Hi Dave yes Iām sure that was your old daf C556 DND.
Hereās the same pic but from a different angle along with the Steyr I was driving at the time and I think Brian ( wash a lot ) ( NOT) Nabbs 85. Big Garry must have been on the Iveco at the time hense the loose sheets .
C556 DND was actually the first ever truck I went abroad in when Ace Link owned it prior to Kenny, had to have a new clutch in Novaro on my way to Rome.
Yes, Dave they were the days when we did a hard days graft but they were also the best days of my driving career so far.
Boyze:
Gibisa.
Just reading through most of the posts on here gives you a good idea of the sense of job satisfaction on being able to do it. As much as wind rain and coldness is a nightmare to work in you still know that the load will stay in the same spot and on the trailer.
Trying to explain how to do any of the folding, dollies, envelopeing or any other tricks of the trade is difficult without a load in front of you.
Fair play to you for wanting to learn because just wanting to be able to do it is a very rare thing in new wagon drivers.
This is why this part of the forum is the best place to put this thread because all the experience is already hereā¦
As for passing the knowledge on we train all new drivers upā¦ Some love itā¦ Others prefer to go to Sainsburys and stay clean!!!
I blame Mr Health & Safety for stopping kids going with the old man as it has stopped people coming up through the ranks.
Greg 50.
Do you get the same buzz when you open the doors on your fridge and look at all them yoghurtsā ā ? Only teasing honest!!!
Paul.
Nice job of sheeting there mateā¦ I got a Guy Big J4 and old York flat if you fancy a job!!!
Cheers, Iāll take the job as long as you provide the gloves
Back in the 60ās I parked behind the cinema in Plymouth one night to be confronted by the usual gang of kids.
`Look after your motor mister"? I had heard too many rumours not too give them their shilling.
Two BRS drivers with eight wheelers thought differently, they told them where to go.
In the morning I arrived back at the lorry park to find both BRS lorries had their ropes undone and their sheets pulled to the ground. no damage just an extra few hours work for the sake of a couple of bob.
In the past I had ofton thought about refusing to pay up, not any more.
It must have taken them hours to re-sheet and rope those lorries.
I still do it, except a sheet is called a tarp over here, we donāt use ropes either, everything is strapped down & the tarp held on with rubber bungees, I have a collection of tarps & can & do cover anything with them, itās bloody hard work in the extreme temperatures we get over here but I get a sense of satisfaction when Iāve done a good job & it all looks nice & neat, yes there are days when Iād die for a curtainsider but itās nice to be one of the old school.
Did anyone ever do empty glass bottles? that was four sheets & a fly sheet & bloody hard work in the wind!
Yes, plenty of them - and jars. Usually out of United Glass at Harlow, where nearly all the sheeting-up was done undercover in a roofed part of the factory. These photos were taken around the mid-1970s - the first two in the UG factory.
newmercman:
I still do it, except a sheet is called a tarp over here, we donāt use ropes either, everything is strapped down & the tarp held on with rubber bungees, I have a collection of tarps & can & do cover anything with them, itās bloody hard work in the extreme temperatures we get over here but I get a sense of satisfaction when Iāve done a good job & it all looks nice & neat, yes there are days when Iād die for a curtainsider but itās nice to be one of the old school.
Did anyone ever do empty glass bottles? that was four sheets & a fly sheet & bloody hard work in the wind!
Used to do the bottles out of Rotherham for Marstons brewery in Burton we used to have to use 4 full sheets as when you had one side reaching the chock rail the other side would only be half way down with just enough rope ties to reach the hooks. It wasnāt so much the sheeting but the height of the loads when spreading the sheets out.
We also loaded similar bottles in Lhor am Main in Germany on flats for the same breweries in Burton but they were obviously lower because of the height restrictions in euroland.
but u got better with practice.would go back on flats tommorow ,just gettin fatter by the day draggin tautliners around
One day my old pal Arthur was roping down a load of G.K.N pallets for dehiring ,as I walked passed the trailer the rope was in position to be tied,now my old man showed me how to do dollies so as Arthur came around the unit I was giving the dolly a good pull 
