ROF from Sprog’s:
As Rigsby says, it was just the normal thing to do. If two drivers were present when one of them was unsheeting, the other would lend a hand to pull them off, fold them up and lift them on to the vehicle. It wasn’t anything special, just the general thing to do and was only accompanied by a quick, “Thanks, mate”.
As for gloves, yes, you would beg or steal them from customers then guard them with your life. Personally, I preferred the red pvc jobbies with the cotton cuffs. Leather ones offered more protection but were hopeless when wet or, even worse, soaked in derv!
1 occasion i can vividly remember was when i was delivering to a regular job at Eaglescliffe near stockton ,i think the company was called Strand .I had a full load of glass on (shower screens) loaded at Solaglass in Bradford inside , they insisted that we sheeted them up even though Strand stored them outside in all weathers .It was pouring down with rain this particular morning and the wind was blowing when i arrived .I started undoing the ropes and sheets when i noticed a driver in a brand new F10 watching me in his t shirt ,i got absolutely drenched as i fought with the wind whilst trying to wrap the sheets up in some kind of acceptable fashion , he never moved from his seat , something i never forgot from around 20 odd years ago
Hi Ramone, you had it easy mate, in my days at Solaglas we had to struggle handballing 20 to 30 drops of the rack in a van, all over Scotland, or my other holiday, sorry run was South Wales, Devon, Cornwall and South coast, what a hard job it was, all the way to the bank, wish I still had a hard job like that.
Les.
Ha ha yeah i remember you Les , that place was so laid back .We had a nice steady run to Paddock Wood and Gillingham then into Barking for two empty 20 ft containers and back in the day , " oh and try and get them off tonight your loading early in the morning for Porth " .Geoff Burrons used to scratch his head at times lol
Hi Ramone, bye the way what did you do after dinner, well no sheets on the back load, but on a serious note Geoff was a great guy to work with, he was fair with us, and most of us didn’t take the ■■■■. Some runs were great, best one for me was Anglian Windows, Bradford to Norwich oh and back, bonus overnight, company policy, if you were lucky four a week, no wonder it went pop.
Les.
grumpy old man:
Oh the joy, frozen on ropes and sheets, bare hands, and nobody about to give you a hand.
Brought back memories has this, fellas helping, UNASKED, with the sheets, invaluable on a windy day, very welcome at all times.
Then you’d get some bolshy scrote with a fork lift, “lift me up on top with the sheets will you mate”…" No, can’t do that, company policy" Aye, right, you’d best p*ss off then.
I’M another one who could never get on with gloves whatever the load --■■■■■■■■ or nothing ! with only one exception and that was bricks .my protection from raw skin was a cut up inner tube -cut a slot put your hand in so the rubber was covering your fingers done the trick -imagine the poor dears with 5000 on board today to unload ----toshboy
hiya,
When a very young driver I got knocked back by a pretty young lady (I was single),
the young woman in question disliked my cracked calloused hands and told me it
was the biggest turn off ever, adding if the fellah was a film star lookalike no way
would she allow rough hands near her, lesson learned gloves worn from that day, I
do prefer to think she had spotted a man of substance instead of a rough old lorry
driver and found the hacky hands story was one way of getting me out the picture.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hello lads,great discussions about roping and sheeting,heres a few pics from yesteryear when it was the norm.Also theres another reason why I’m posting these photos and that the lorries in the first 2 shots are reserections from the originals.50 or more years ago it was quite acceptable to build your own lorry from bits of others,I recently had a conversation with my old pal Ade Cypher who told me that Keithleys or Dutton transport were a dab hand at creating lorries from their own workshops…take the first one which to the unwise was an “S” type Bedford 6 Wheeler,well it had an AEC chassis,a Leyland 0.375 engine,an Albion 6 speed box,an Eaton 2 speed axle and a Primrose trailing axle and to finish off a 24 foot flatbed body.Also fitted was a nice big fuel tank and was a good looker as well.
Ade also sent me this shot of a Guy Warrior light 8 333LTB (these pics were cuttings from an old Commercial Motor)…this motor had suffered a front end bump at some time and received a new cab,this came from Motor Bodies Ltd of Blackburn who fitted this lightweight aluminium alloy version which was a quarter of a ton lighter.These cabs were often fitted to Albions as the normal L.A.D cabs were very cramped.
Heres 333LTB in the middle of this trio with its original cab.
I bet our old pal Harry Gill might remember this firm and maybe the lorries as they were on his doorstep,I hope these are of interest anyway.
bubbleman:
Hello lads,great discussions about roping and sheeting,heres a few pics from yesteryear when it was the norm.Also theres another reason why I’m posting these photos and that the lorries in the first 2 shots are reserections from the originals.50 or more years ago it was quite acceptable to build your own lorry from bits of others,I recently had a conversation with my old pal Ade Cypher who told me that Keithleys or Dutton transport were a dab hand at creating lorries from their own workshops…take the first one which to the unwise was an “S” type Bedford 6 Wheeler,well it had an AEC chassis,a Leyland 0.375 engine,an Albion 6 speed box,an Eaton 2 speed axle and a Primrose trailing axle and to finish off a 24 foot flatbed body.Also fitted was a nice big fuel tank and was a good looker as well.
Ade also sent me this shot of a Guy Warrior light 8 333LTB (these pics were cuttings from an old Commercial Motor)…this motor had suffered a front end bump at some time and received a new cab,this came from Motor Bodies Ltd of Blackburn who fitted this lightweight aluminium alloy version which was a quarter of a ton lighter.These cabs were often fitted to Albions as the normal L.A.D cabs were very cramped.
Heres 333LTB in the middle of this trio with its original cab.
I bet our old pal Harry Gill might remember this firm and maybe the lorries as they were on his doorstep,I hope these are of interest anyway.
Have a great Christmas lads,take care,Bubbs,
hiya,
Can’t remember me seeing the “S” type but the Guys I remember very well and
although I knew one or two of their drivers by sharing a breakfast table on the
odd occasion and wasn’t aware Dutton’s put some of there motors together by
bolting a mixed bag of bits together, one firm I remember well who did make
a lot of their motors from bits and pieces was Oliver Hart’s, I remember they
did have a Bristol cabbed “something or other” when only the BRS were running
that marque. You and your family have a great Christmas Marc.
thanks harry, long retired.
3300John:
Hiya… how did they get the cover’s on top of the load■■? wouldn’t it be dangerous
to climb up on top of those round tins. did they have a gantry or special frame to
stand on so they couldn’t fall…it was very high… did they have bright
coloured coats and hard hats… and some glasses incase dust got in there eye’s.
did they have some gloves so they didn’t get sore hands tying them stings to hold
the tins on…why didn’t BRS have lorries with curtains so you didn’t have to
tie all then strings all the time.
bubbleman:
Hello lads,great discussions about roping and sheeting,heres a few pics from yesteryear when it was the norm.Also theres another reason why I’m posting these photos and that the lorries in the first 2 shots are reserections from the originals.50 or more years ago it was quite acceptable to build your own lorry from bits of others,I recently had a conversation with my old pal Ade Cypher who told me that Keithleys or Dutton transport were a dab hand at creating lorries from their own workshops…take the first one which to the unwise was an “S” type Bedford 6 Wheeler,well it had an AEC chassis,a Leyland 0.375 engine,an Albion 6 speed box,an Eaton 2 speed axle and a Primrose trailing axle and to finish off a 24 foot flatbed body.Also fitted was a nice big fuel tank and was a good looker as well.
Ade also sent me this shot of a Guy Warrior light 8 333LTB (these pics were cuttings from an old Commercial Motor)…this motor had suffered a front end bump at some time and received a new cab,this came from Motor Bodies Ltd of Blackburn who fitted this lightweight aluminium alloy version which was a quarter of a ton lighter.These cabs were often fitted to Albions as the normal L.A.D cabs were very cramped.
Heres 333LTB in the middle of this trio with its original cab.
I bet our old pal Harry Gill might remember this firm and maybe the lorries as they were on his doorstep,I hope these are of interest anyway.
Have a great Christmas lads,take care,Bubbs,
Great shot of the three Light 8’s Marcus,all the best for Christmas and New Year,Cheers Dennis.
lespullan:
Hi, could not rope up with gloves on always finished up with the thumb fastened in the dolly, as for Rigsbys comment on getting someone to catch the corners, loaded wool at Lyonshall, the wind was howling, had the wife riding shotgun so asked her to tie the corners down, I’m up on top 14 foot throws out one side, right grab the string on the corner and tie it to a hook,[wife] which hook, any just tie it quick, next thing theirs such a scream I looked over the side and she’s in a heap on the floor, she had wrapped the rope round her hand, the wind lifted her of the floor and smacked her into the trailer, I knew she was ok when the barrage of Glaswegian expletives came out,
Les.
[/quote]
Glasgow Expletives? Once in the Lilycroft pub with Les and his wife[Francis] when I said/did something to upset her and she swore at me for ten minutes non stop and never used the same word twice.
lespullan:
Hi, could not rope up with gloves on always finished up with the thumb fastened in the dolly, as for Rigsbys comment on getting someone to catch the corners, loaded wool at Lyonshall, the wind was howling, had the wife riding shotgun so asked her to tie the corners down, I’m up on top 14 foot throws out one side, right grab the string on the corner and tie it to a hook,[wife] which hook, any just tie it quick, next thing theirs such a scream I looked over the side and she’s in a heap on the floor, she had wrapped the rope round her hand, the wind lifted her of the floor and smacked her into the trailer, I knew she was ok when the barrage of Glaswegian expletives came out,
Les.
[/quote]
Glasgow Expletives? Once in the Lilycroft pub with Les and his wife[Frances] when I said/did something to upset her and she swore at me for ten minutes non stop and never used the same word twice.
[/quote]
Hi, don’t think you were singled out, theirs plenty more had a tongue lashing from Fran, including me.
Les.
bubbleman:
Hello lads,great discussions about roping and sheeting,heres a few pics from yesteryear when it was the norm.Also theres another reason why I’m posting these photos and that the lorries in the first 2 shots are reserections from the originals.50 or more years ago it was quite acceptable to build your own lorry from bits of others,I recently had a conversation with my old pal Ade Cypher who told me that Keithleys or Dutton transport were a dab hand at creating lorries from their own workshops…take the first one which to the unwise was an “S” type Bedford 6 Wheeler,well it had an AEC chassis,a Leyland 0.375 engine,an Albion 6 speed box,an Eaton 2 speed axle and a Primrose trailing axle and to finish off a 24 foot flatbed body.Also fitted was a nice big fuel tank and was a good looker as well.
hiya,
Can’t remember me seeing the “S” type but the Guys I remember very well and
although I knew one or two of their drivers by sharing a breakfast table on the
odd occasion and wasn’t aware Dutton’s put some of there motors together by
bolting a mixed bag of bits together, one firm I remember well who did make
a lot of their motors from bits and pieces was Oliver Hart’s, I remember they
did have a Bristol cabbed “something or other” when only the BRS were running
that marque. You and your family have a great Christmas Marc.
thanks harry, long retired.[/quote
Ref. the Oliver Hart Bristol-cabbed motor-
If it’s the 8-wheeler bulk tipper I’m thinking of, I seem to recall that most of it was a Leyland Octopus, although I haven’t a clue what engine was under the bonnet.
Years ago I do remember seeing a Bedford TK eight wheeler,don’t know what bits were used as we were travelling in opposite directions at the time and I didn’t have chance to take a closer look,but I certainly did a double take.
bestbooties:
Years ago I do remember seeing a Bedford TK eight wheeler,don’t know what bits were used as we were travelling in opposite directions at the time and I didn’t have chance to take a closer look,but I certainly did a double take.
Could have been this one Bedford TK 8 wheel rigid Reg No KNL 659
the sed/atki shunter in yellow looks like an ex renwicks freight lorry(the eddie stobarts of the early 1970,s)they had depots all over the country probably their down fall got to big and to much det.
bestbooties:
Years ago I do remember seeing a Bedford TK eight wheeler,don’t know what bits were used as we were travelling in opposite directions at the time and I didn’t have chance to take a closer look,but I certainly did a double take.
0
Could have been this one Bedford TK 8 wheel rigid Reg No KNL 659
I believe this exotic TK was new to Taits of Haydon Bridge,I could be wrong (and often am!) no doubt someone will set the record straight.Cheers Bewick.
bestbooties:
Years ago I do remember seeing a Bedford TK eight wheeler,don’t know what bits were used as we were travelling in opposite directions at the time and I didn’t have chance to take a closer look,but I certainly did a double take.
0
Could have been this one Bedford TK 8 wheel rigid Reg No KNL 659
I believe this exotic TK was new to Taits of Haydon Bridge,I could be wrong (and often am!) no doubt someone will set the record straight.Cheers Bewick.
hiya,
Dennis the NL in the reg says it’s got a North East connection my car
has the NL reg as well and it was distributed from Newcastle.
thanks harry, long retired.
bestbooties:
Years ago I do remember seeing a Bedford TK eight wheeler,don’t know what bits were used as we were travelling in opposite directions at the time and I didn’t have chance to take a closer look,but I certainly did a double take.
0
Could have been this one Bedford TK 8 wheel rigid Reg No KNL 659
I believe this exotic TK was new to Taits of Haydon Bridge,I could be wrong (and often am!) no doubt someone will set the record straight.Cheers Bewick.
Seen at Gaydon 2011, this vehicle has appeared on these threads with a different livery.
in my days at Solaglas we had to struggle handballing 20 to 30 drops of the rack in a van, all over Scotland, or my other holiday,
sorry run was South Wales, Devon, Cornwall and South coast, what a hard job it was,
all the way to the bank, wish I still had a hard job like that.
no wonder it went pop. 
Aye, right, you’d best p*ss off then.
