Photo of Trolley Bus No.7 in Victoria Square on the Whitmoreans to Darlaston route Via Bilston,July 1965,it is a Sunbeam 1948 and withdrawn in 1967, second photo took in Newhampton Road by Cifford Street/Hunter Street in the Mid Fifties,I think they where very modern looking vehicles much better than today’s charmless plastic chariot’s, Cheers Pete
Hi Saviem, Couple of pic’s for you, First one needs no introduction! and second pic one of Paul’s driven by your’s truly, Cheer’s Pete
This motor appears now and again, usually when I don’t have time to stop or the parking is impossible.
I don’t know anything about its owner or where it lives when not here but, the French plates have me puzzled as I’ve
been seeing it now for at least two years. Regards Kev.
kevmac47:
This motor appears now and again, usually when I don’t have time to stop or the parking is impossible.
I don’t know anything about its owner or where it lives when not here but, the French plates have me puzzled as I’ve
been seeing it now for at least two years. Regards Kev.10
Could it be “Saviems” mobile Pizza van and he has been attending some show or other Kev ? Cheers Dennis.
Hi Saviem, Photo of the Sunbeam Works from 1903 the first 16-20 model, the first step up from a horse and cart, then a photo of Crane Foundry entrance in Horseley Fields,Cheer’s Pete
Hey up, where do I start■■?
Pete, those are evocative images…Victoria Square…one really bad November and very “Smoggy” night…I came out of Queens Square following the flares, lit by the Council, for the buses and into Victoria Square…only to come up behind a line of stationery “trolleys”, parked as in your picture…after about 10 minutes, (and anxious that I would miss my loading time at Millers Steam Mill, ) I got out to find out what was the hold up…to find that they were all out of service, and with no crews…that is how bad the “smogs” of the 60s were…Banks`s Brewery, Manders Paint Works, Countless coal fires in Blakenhall, plus all the foundries, and metal workers…it got really thick I can tell you!!!
There must be an interesting story to the Marshall from Qualcast in Sweden? Those AECs were superb, the family only ever had one, a .505 engine double driver, but what a gem to dive! Comfortable, quiet, smooth, warm, (the heater really worked), with the best window winding mechanism ever designed…one push, and she was down or up!..Boy I loved that lorry…if only my cousin had bought a Marshall Major with the .760 in her…that must have been as good as an F86 Volvo, 6x2 of a decade later!!!
Kev mac, now someones having a bit if fun here! That Serie H lwb, is registered in Auxerre…a long way from the 091 phone code! So its either a Frenchman from Sens, or Auxerre, or anyplace in between, who is doing a bit of “moonlighting”, or someone trying it on in relation to registering a vehicle in the place of operation!!!
Those Serie H Citroens have found a niche with the catering boys…but they really are a fabulous light commercial. Pre stressed double skin monocoque, and a very load friendly suspension system, plus long legged gearing, makes them a dream to drive whatever the weight on board…but that little girl from the 70s should have UK plates by now!!!
Fergie…what a machine that Ducati really is…if only my reactions were quicker, I would love to have a ride on her!..But sadly I would probably leave a very large hole in the first hedge that appeared…sad but , oh so sadly…true…Now a Mobylette■■?
Cheerio for now.
A Mobylette? Surely at the very least a Jawa Babetta, built in Hungary under licence, by former forestry workers and quarrymen using not much more than a seven pound hammer. Or even an NSU Quickly, a misnomer if ever I heard one! 
Hi Saviem, One i found on internet, Broad Street bridge in background and i think it was called Can Lane Wharf?, Cheers Pete
That’s a pretty tight right-hand turn with a rigid, Pete!
Evening all,
Pete, where on earth do you get these pictures from? Talk about history!..
Can Lane Wharf…biggest, and oldest wharf on James Brindleys "Old Main Line " , (a contour canal), from Wolverhampton to Birmingham. Your picture was probably late 60s, when either T Walker, (Wulfruna Coal), or perhaps the company originally owned by Thomas Shelly, (originator of the blue Commer Shelly from Heath Town, and the Green and Red Fodens from Gordon Street, Blakenhall),were in occupation.
For those of you who may dismiss this as “non lorry”, please read on…for Wolverhamptons history, in terms of Canal, and Rail is quite interesting to say the least…For if you look at a map of both Canal, and Rail in the 1800s to the late 1900s, it looks like a nest of feuding snakes…and that was truly what it was!..Because non of the company`s had enough finance to do as they wished, so they had to, (reluctantly), collaborate…sometimes a little unwillingly…
The Riot Act, was read on more occasions in Wolverhampton, than in any other town in the British Isles…and the Scotts Greys…and Dragoons called to the defence of law and order on more than one occasion!
Can Lane Wharf…(and you are right ROF…that was a tight turn in a rigid of more than two decades later, let alone a true Birmingham Canal Navigation 72 ft Narrow Boat and “Butty Boat” of equal length…true 40 ton payload boats, that dwarfed the 20 ton “Shroppie” ones).
The original Can Lane Wharf was on the “old main line”, prior to it becoming a basin up to the Old Steam Mill, when the London and North Western Railway developed what we know as the High Level Station in 1849. The new Can Lane Wharf, (off what became known as Railway Street)
, became the home to numerous Coal Company`s, as well as the Packet Boat Company owned by James Shipton and family in the 1830s. Using specially constructed Iron hulled 72ft, by 6ft 10 in beam passenger boats, they could do the journey to Birmingham in 2hrs, 10 minutes, using two horses, the lead one Blinkered over its eyes, and the second ridden by a groom. Both would be changed every four miles of the 13 mile journey. Reaching speed of 10mph plus, (remember these boats were weighing 25 tons plus), they were very unpopular with both the freight carrying, and operators of the canal…real “hot rods” indeed. The Fare was 1shilling and six pence for a first class seat, one shilling as a “passenger”, and Shiptons "Swift Packet Boats " were averaging 7 trips per day!
Horsley Fields had 13 Coal Wharves, as well as Can Lane. The old Broad Street Bridge, on your image , as you may well know was dismantled and moved to the new Black Country Museum at Dudley, when the new Ring Road was built in the 1980s. Can Lane Wharf is now about 20ft, and several thousand tons of landfill beneath the central reservation of theis abomination, level with the entrance to the new Bus Station.
Odd how names never change, on the corner of Railway Street stood the yard of C Walsh Graham, a reputable Timber Merchant, where in the 60s I had to collect a load of floor boards…horrible to rope down, all ragged lengths, and leaning one on another…but Walsh Graham were agents for Celotex insulation…now the , (expensive), by word in thermal insulation for buildings!
Celotex lives on…Walsh Graham, and Can Lane Wharf are long gone…as is Wolverhamptons best years!
Thanks again,
Cheerio for now…
Oh before I go there is a good review of Phillip Charbonneaux`s work for Renault Cars in the September edition of Classic and Sportscars magazine…although the article does not really touch on his genius, let alone his lorries!
Hi Saviem,You are correct in that the canal was diverted with the coming of the railways,Miller’s sold them the land,I have a map of the land that was conveyed to the railway company.
Now for Shipton’s, you have really got me searching my childhood memories now, was there a sawmill/wood yard down Albion Street? because if i remember correctly you went past John Hill’s foundry and Albion Street ended and in front of you was this timber yard and to your right was Shipton Street which went back on to Horseley Fields,all now buried under those flats and the turning before it was Bradshaw Street with Biddlestone’s shop on the corner with Horseley fields,another street lost under those flats.
I have attached a couple of photo’s,these were took by Miller’s accountant,first one of the original line of the canal under corn hill, second one of the “tunnel” under the mill and this is what it looks like today.
Third photo is of the back of the mill and the old High Level Station, just in front of the white hut is where the canal basin finished, you can see the bridge parapet on left, there where grids in between the lines where they could drop coal down in to boats and later Pallants tipped coal down them for the boilers for the mill, this was when the canal had been infilled under the mill.
Final pic is took off the top of the mill showing the cattle dock, now buried under ring road,Cheer’s Pete
Few more old French trucks
Fergie put this shot on the Southampton thread but should be seen here also, I can remember this truck and it was when they were at Chandlers Ford near Southampton, also remember a F86 and the night a new Crusader sleeper arrived from Lex Tillotson. Drove a GUY big J for a spell on Squibb’s she used to do 85 mph if you was brave enough but stopping it was another thing, Cheers Buzzer.
Hi Saviem, Some more pic’s of the wharf,first one a 1919 map of the site,second one of Can Lane Wharf in the 70’s,third one of it all back filled to the incorrect level,because if you remember our wonderful planners put the ring road to same level as Horseley Fields even laying kerbs and laying black top then had to rip it all up and drop the level by 20 foot,a Wrekin Construction Bedford just in shot.
Last one an advert,Cheer’s Pete
Just to make a change, a few old retired girls, they did their bit, now they’re resting…
I very much agree Chris, and also the lack of preventing the forklift-driver with thumbling boxes,
where did the clock tick to? Pretty much a Lansing Bagnall livery isn’t it?
Evening all,
Where do we start?..Pete I am amazed at your pictorial history of old Wolverhampton. Now the Shropshire Union Wharf, at the top of the 21 locks up from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, (late 1700s), was built because the 40 ton payload Birmingham Canal Navigation Boats had too deep a draught when laden to navigate the Shropshire Union Canal, (Liverpool and Grand Junction Canal), up to its joining with the “old” Chester Canal at Ellesmere, and then on to Ellesmere Port, and the Manchester Ship Canal. Therefore they had to be trans shipped into the 20/25 ton payload Shropshire Union, (Midland and Coast), boats for onward shipping.
At the bottom of the “21” locks, the boats turned right for half a mile along the old Staffordshire and Worcester Canal, to Autherley Junction, where the “stop lock” was situated, (6 in fall), and the start of Telfords Liverpool and Grand Junction Canal began. (the last canal constructed in the UK), and halfway through its construction the shareholders wanted it turned into a Railway!..but they were unsucessfull!!
My late Grandfather, and Grandmother kept the Toll Office, and Stables at Autherley Junction from 1908, until 1926. My Great Grandfather had boats on the Chester Canal…and one day was caught between a loaded boat, and a bridge. The injuries were so severe that his leg had to be amputated to save his life…to dull the pain he was made totally drunk with Irish Whisky!..the outcome, he became an alcoholic, and was banned from the company property, lost everything, his boats, and his livelihood…and as a young man I wondered why my Grandfather hated me to have a glass of Beer!..family history!
Pete, now here is a task for you…can you find where the London and North Western Railways "underground stables " in Horsley Fields were situated? When Grandfather left the canal in `26, he was employed as a Dray Man, at Herbert Street Goods Depot, but during WW2 he used to “Fire Watch” at the Underground Stables, …(1 man…200 Dray Horses)!..I have no idea where they were! They must have been between the Chillington Steel Wharf, and the Old Steam Mill)…Any ideas?
To France…via Buzzer in Southampton!
That Squibb Relax Cab looks like a 12 litre…any idea where she came from…a rare lorry in the UK. Was Jim Squibb the famous Speedway Rider?
Fergie, what is this bike rally that you are going too?..not for the fans of those gross noisy US iron machines I trust…(some of your Southampton friends seem to think that those “Gardners on two wheels” are real motorcycles)…how misguided can you be?..Could you perhaps take a few pictures to show us all?
What a selection of old French Transport History you have put on for us all to share!
That Bernard of Transports SABATON, from the Ardeche, not one of their spectacular TD150.35s with the stylised and flowing Frappa cab and faired in chassis, (highly prized by their main client the Cooperative Suivont), a wine producer of some regard.
SABATON, (itself a cooperative of owner drivers), were a strong Bernard user, including several " Television", Charbonneaux cab TD 180.35, as well as a number of the quite peculiar, (to our British eyes), "Rail Route Wine Tanks, …see my previous posts about Kangarou SNCF, operations…
SABATON , on the demise of Bernard bought Mack, both the odd looking Geneve cab EFT35s of 214 “American” horse power, and the “proper” Mack F735, and F736s…including the “Euro” set back front axle machines…and never let it be said that they were tied by convention…SABATON also ran Krupps…with that “yowling” ■■■■■■■ V 8!!!
Now that is a nice picture of what (via very strong Bi Focals), I presume to be a Berliet 10 litre GL climbing Cenis…not really as steep as she looked…but to this, (then very young driver), bbbbbbbbbbbbb…Orrrrrrrrible steep bank…but later I became quite blasé about her…but not some of the other passes!!!
STG, that aged and faithfull Volvo 6x2…for Soc Transports Gauthier, to even think about pensioning a lorry off…she really must have been worn out!!! For , of all the French lorry operators that I knew, worked with, and loved, Transports Gautier, really was the closest to a UK haulage operation…if it could run, and earn a Franc…make it run!
Remy Gautier, from Hede, Ille de Villaine, created a company, and combine that when I knew them in the late 70s were certainly Frances largest Volvo operator, with a fleet strength of over 2000 units. And could they “cut and shut”…rigid 6x2s suddenly, when the weights went up from 35, to 38 tonnes, lost their bodies, and became tractors with tandem axle Cherau fridges, then of course were the odd balls…how many Chinese 6 Volvo`s did one see on French plates…STG had them!..or the F89 4x2s that suddenly sprouted Sema axles with single tyres and became 6x2s coupled to three axle single tyred , (heavy), meat railed fridge remorques…ideal at 40 tonnes on the hanging meat job!!!..no…I did not fancy that one up to Rungis night after night!!!
Then there was the "Petrol " job, Transports D ` hydrocarbues Bretons, (THB), where Remy first bought Volvo back in 74, with the bonneted L475 Titans…(but could that have beign a result of beign given the only two Berliet Stradair air suspended V8 6 litre tractor units ever built■■?..another story…for another evening I think…(and it is long and very complicated)!
Remy, whose company I greatly valued passed on in 2010, and I miss his wit, knowledge, and sense of fun, regarding our industry, and its vehicles, leaving his son Jean Yves to run this mamouth business, which he does so well!
I must resort to my medication of a large Bollinger…or three…so many happy memories!
Cheerio for now.
Remys son Jean Yves now runs the operation…and very well indeed!!!
Hi Saviem indeed you are right Jim Squibb was that speedway star you are thinking of and later on he and his son Barry got into auto cross and they did quite well at that as well. Remember Jim ran an F88 and used to change the shells every year also the oil on a regular basis, he reckoned it was preventative medicine, Buzzer.
