sheeter.some good old photos bud. 
Nice pics, different breed of driver in those days, can you imagine the drivers of today coping with that?
newmercman:
Did anyone ever do empty glass bottles? that was four sheets & a fly sheet & bloody hard work in the wind!
Carmans,(Brit European),used to do bottles out of St.Helens.Did a couple myself,no joke!
If i had to park up for the night i would put the ropes inside the sheets then put the sheets under the drive axle and drive onto them to stop them getting nicked.I used to do alot of fruit loads on flats and had to use 3 sheets an a fly sheet,ok on a dry day but if it rained you would look like al jolson after ropeing up with all the water splashing from the ropes.As for tilts the ones with seperate roof bars were bad as if you wanted to get the side stanions out you had to dismantle so much of the trailer.Got to admit though im glad i did all the ropeing sheet an tilt work as you never know when you may need it.I think years ago lorry driveing was a way of life,ive been to alot of places meet some great characters and friends an have some fantastic memmories.
Boyzee…when youve done it…you never forget eh !..i remember the winter times best…rolling up the ropes after theyve been dragged through the snow and the slush…still got the cracks in my fingers now 
Rolling up the sheets, and lifting them back onto the trailer…only to do it all over again…
By the way…in the first picture…you missed a couple of hooks…you know the rules…rope every bloody hook…now go and do it again…
truckboy.
You may still have cracks in your hands but there is nothing wrong with your eyesite…
Broken rope hooks, thats my excuse and im sticking to it!!!
Another trick was leather cots worn around the thumb and covered the palm of your hand. No cracks on my hands…
truckyboy:
Boyzee…when youve done it…you never forget eh !..i remember the winter times best…rolling up the ropes after theyve been dragged through the snow and the slush…still got the cracks in my fingers now
Rolling up the sheets, and lifting them back onto the trailer…only to do it all over again…
By the way…in the first picture…you missed a couple of hooks…you know the rules…rope every bloody hook…now go and do it again…
Hi truckyboy i met you in sainsburys feltham a few weeks ago,your right about lifting the sheets up on to the trailer and trying to find a space big enough to fold them up.Every thing was handball on the fruit years ago as you know an it certainly kept us fit.
Missing hooks are no excuse driver, you could have used a double dolly as a spreader on the hooks either side of the missing ones
newmercman.
Ok, Ok, but under the first sheet is an air con unit and all the expensive electrical stuff is at the back, but i take on board what you`ve said and promise not to do it again!!! 
Boyzee…yeah…fancy meeting someone from T/N in the flesh…shame we couldnt have had more time…but as ol vera used to say…Well meet again, dont know where..dont know when..( stop singing now)...and yes me ol mucker, you should have done a spreader` on the missed hooks…no excuses
I wonder how many drivers get health problems caused through this industry…Bad backs…Arthritus in their hands…etc…etc…blood clots. ( no thats not a racist remark )
truckyboy.
I cant let boyzee take the wrap for my mistakes. Im the boyze from Reading Berkshire and boyzee (who you met) is the handsome one from Basildon. I am the one who is fully responsable for missing the rope hooks.
boyzee.
Record set straight now mate. This is me and my boy Ricky in 1998…
Giblsa:
Semtex:
Have a look at this site from a former member of trucknet (he is responsible for the Zb in the autocensor)that will teach you how to tie a dolly knot
WOOHOO!
i can tie a dolly knot, i can tie a dolly knot nah nan nanah nah
cheers semtex
now try throwing the rope over in the wind and rain i have lost my temper many a time with that one . i was taught by my father and when you coil the rope to throw it over do smaller loops it makes it a lot easier for some reason . where i am now was amazed not only could i rope and sheet i could roll the sheet sheet up neatly to !!!
Matt f ,. Now youve hit another goodn , rolling up sheets so they not only looked neat but rolled out well when your 12ft up , and the ropes neatly tied at the back of cab , we`ve all seen trailers with sheets in a total mess .
Loading at Key glass at Harlow in the 60s with cases of new bottles for Schweppes of Fareham , three of us , two rigids and my Artic , and with it all roped and sheeted down we left for Fareham , on the first roundabout all three loads moved , it took us about 6 hours to strip three Lorries and reload on the side of the road , and with the Police helping us , we roped and sheeted again . We discoved the cases were loaded upside down , bottom bottles sat on thier nose . That was a case of a job well done TWICE .
Frenchy .
nice one sheeter given up didnt think there was anyone on here could sheet
Tobyjug:
Back in the 60’s 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 remember this story. an owld Yorkshire driver delivering to Glesga. “Look after your motor mister” Now lads sod off, Ive got mah dog with me, he then continues to the pub. 10 minutes later the lads cycle past him, hey mister, that dog of yours? Can it put fires oot?
Frenchy’s got it right, get stuck in and do it. If you were lucky you’d put your old canvas sheet, weighing 3 tons onto a pallet and the old fork truck driver would lift you and the sheet on top of the load, you’d roll it out, hoping it had been rolled up properly and not inside out or upside down, it was a sod in the dark.
Then you had the gloves or no gloves brigade, could’nt do it with gloves for love nor money, I ended up with skin like an elephants behind on the side of my hands and even then in the rain and cold they would split open at the sight of a jute rope, and if it rained you had to stop 200 yards up the road to re-tighten them, what joy !!! A well tailored sheet did look great. I remember having to unload a load of bagged animal food one cold rainy evening, it was pouring down, farmer would only allow me to pull the sheet back one row at a time, a horrendous job, I might as well have been sitting in a waterfall, totally saturated. Thank you Driver, I’ll have to sign for wet damage, goodbye, and off he went into his nice warm kitchen. I’d had it up to here, so I just heaped the sheet at the front of the headboard dollied it down as tight as possible, took all my clothes off, dumped them in the passengers footwell and drove back to the depot in the ■■■■, luckily it was dark.
Roping and sheeting is for nice balmy summers days when the sheet fits perfectly and all your tackle is brand new. Some hope !! Well said Frenchy.
PS in this part of Suffolk we called a dolly a gate, don’t ask me why, all I remember was when doing soft bagged stuff you’d reach as high as possible for your first dolly so you could get a second one in and if necessary use the second dolly loop as a step for extra leverage…
Didn`t use a double hitch very often prowlands or even pulled with my arms
used to make a loop stick my foot into it & sixteen stone did the rest.
Hiya Greek,
Now thats what I call a professional Lorry driver, the real deal, dressed for the occassion, and I agree about the 16stone in the loop, the one problem about soft bagged loads was the amount of rope you had to take up to get it tight, there was a huge amount of give in a comb sack of wheat. See your also using dogs and chains on the rear cable reel, dont think a huge number of younger drivers would know how to use those either, to think in the early days of containers we tied them on with dogs and chains, very rarely totally square when you reached the docks with an empty box. by the way where are you loading in the pic, I see its got Anglia on the shed.
Best regards Paul
The scary thing was that as many companies had not bought these new fangled skellys and were still using 33’ tandem flats, many containers and Lancashire flats were carried using rope through the corner castings to a couple of rope hooks at each corner. It held them then, not sure I would want to try it now