cheers for this one bm as kid growing up near tamworth id see cts,s tippers everyday and remember these F7,s aswell as their sk merc artics
Carl,The CTS, F7,Did CTS rise from the ashes of Smith Brothers of Tamworth,
I remember quite a few years ago Smiths who had a fair number of I think Foden Tippers and there drivers going on strike,the boss sacked all the drivers and sold all the wagons,they were based (I think) at Birch Coppice colliery on the A5,but it was a lorra years ago and I may have bits of info wrong.
regards derek
your spot on derek cts were smith brothers and they had a big place at birch coppice mate
Hi BM,
This is the best thread for a long time, really appreciate all the effort you have taken to scan all these cuttings.
Just one thing how did that Binks motor get a 31.4 ton payload on that Roadtrain & Tasktip tri-axle trailer 
given they were running at 38 ton gross 
Maybe they got away with it for a couple of years and then retired to somewhere in the sun 
Thanks again BM really enjoying the pics;
Regards
Dave Penn;
Dave, I think it reads 31.4 ton for payload and trailer, had to read it twice myself.
davepenn54:
Hi BM,
This is the best thread for a long time, really appreciate all the effort you have taken to scan all these cutting
I concur completely… but how on earth did Ken Trowell get almost 9mpg out of an E290… and in a Transcon at that!
Hi DD6,
Yea absolutey right 
I’d already read it about three times but didn’t get it that they were including the trailer 
Bit of misleading copy, methinks, maybe the journalist who wrote it was getting a free lunch from Tasktip or Leyland
None of these Co’s seem to be around now are they?, but it seems about right given that a 4 x 2 Roadtrain tractor was was around 6 & half ton ready to roll.
Always understood payload to be what the weight the vehicle could carry that earnt revenue, wonder if anyone else got misled at the time thinking they could get a unit and trailer that would carry so much payload ? I’m sure if there was anyone around at the time who thought they could carry 31.4 ton on a 38 tonner they would have been falling over themselve’s to buy one.
Thanks Carl thought you would know,is there still a truck breakers yard,somewhere between Ashby and Derby, I was up there one day looking for bits and went in and some of the wrecked units he had in would put you off driving,although that was a long time ago.
Did you know Paul Mc ■■■■■■■ (I think thats how you spell it ) I think he did a bit of Truck Racing at one time and was a driver as well,he was a driver at DJ Bennetts as well.
Thanks and regards derek
the truck breakers in measham nera the aution is still there as far as i know .i know paul he married a lass from my village.i worked with him at a s taylors where he still works and he still truck racing mate
Hello again,heres another selection of cuttings 
. the first pic is every drivers worst nightmare!
The last pic may be of interest to the younger drivers who view this thread,they may have heard of a 4-in-line trailer but have never seen one…I’ve never pulled one personally but my old chap used to say you could’nt horse one into a corner as they were prone to rolling over,also if you had to change a wheel as most drivers were expected to do themselves back then ,the inner ones were b*stards to get off …I expect the older boys on here will be able to elaborate this.
Anyway I hope these pics are of interest.
:
Cheers Marc.
Marc:
The last pic may be of interest to the younger drivers who view this thread,they may have heard of a 4-in-line trailer but have never seen one…I’ve never pulled one personally but my old chap used to say you could’nt horse one into a corner as they were prone to rolling over,also if you had to change a wheel as most drivers were expected to do themselves back then ,the inner ones were b*stards to get off …I expect the older boys on here will be able to elaborate this.
As ‘one of the older boys’, you’re dead right Marc. The four-in-lines (or oscillating bogies) were a nightmare. Popular with hauliers because each single wheel counted the same as a twin on a normal tandem for weight purposes which I suppose was around 28ton gross at the time but may already have been 32. Can’t remember.
If each of the four tyres wasn’t equal in pressure the trailer was liable to sway from side to side alarmingly at speed so you can imagine the pantshitting results of a blowout.
I once came down Symonds Yat with a full load of timber at about 70 and, not daring to touch the brakes, could do nothing more than hold on like grim death merely trying to minimise the back and forth movement of the steering wheel. I came to a rest opposite the motel at the bottom and spent quite some time nursing a pint of tea before plucking up courage to continue.
You understate the problems of wheel changing. It wasn’t just the inside wheels that were a problem, it was any of them. This was because the oscillating bogie tilted towards the flat tyre (the same tendency which caused the frightening behaviour described above) and made it very difficult to jack and work with.
Other memories engendered by your latest crop. Marshalls, a very large player on the Nottingham scene for many years and, although I never worked directly for them, had plenty to do with them in very guises. An old mate of mine John Tinkler was a traffic clerk there and we exchanged a lot of work over the years. They also played host to Dawsonrentals and, wanting to keep in good books with me, the latter allowed my night man to drop and swop his trailers there when we ran our double night trunk to Hyde. Unfortunately Dawsons didn’t tell Marshalls so when the old man happened to see the gate man’s log one day tha proverbial hit the fan. He calmed down a bit when he discovered from John that I was giving him some work as well.
I wonder what the story was with that lineup in the rain of the Leggetts. Didn’t look like a dock queue but it did evoke some miserable memories. 
The pics of D Fords and earlier of the Thompson Jewitt F86 reminded me that their Scandinavian service started out with the former. They were at Ruddington in those days and I went down there to get my first continental job. No sleeper cabs but the rumour was that they put you up in smart hotels and allowed the wife or girlfriend allong as well . Didn’t get the job though.
Keep it up mate, all the memories, good or bad are - good.
Your right Spardo, back in the early 70’s I remember loading sugar beet in them for George Thorpe, mostly they were 28 ft bucks and I believe 28 tons max, and if you had an uneven load distribution they were horrendous. Loading on some of the old farms in those days the farm tracks left a bit to be desired as the bloody thiongs used to lurch around terribly. I know that over the three years I was there that one was rolled on a farm. In the end George just used them for light shunting. Tyre fitters hated them, still they hate everything !!!
Thanks to Spardo for giving a proper explaination of how the 4-in-line trailer worked and an exciting account of woking with one…Great stuff mate.
The pic of the line up of Leggetts Shed/atks was with a piece about the lorry drivers strike in the late 70s
Cheers Marc.
bubbleman:
The pic of the line up of Leggetts Shed/atks was with a piece about the lorry drivers strike in the late 70s
Cheers Marc.
Ah, that. I was a steward with Econofreight Leicester and, although off work recovering from a work injury, was running round on my own petrol organising pickets - mainly Conder at Burton, Morris Cranes at Loughborough and Trent Concrete at Nottingham.
When it was all over T&G(spit) refused to pay my expenses because I was on the sick. 
The company treated me better however (the old adage, militancy is its own reward ), swopping my old Atki rabbit hutch Borderer for a brand new Daf 3300 sleeper.
Hello again,done some more.
The last pic shows the Guy big J on the left with a Southampton address on the door s’pose I should have posted this on the Southampton hauliers thread .
Cheers Marc.
’
great set of cuts again bman
Love the pic of the Commer Luton van displaying TIR plates and not a sign of a tassled curtain
What a crap bit of sheeting on that Truman Scammel Trunker, the back sheet looks like it went on over the top of the front one & not a lot of rope to be seen either, shocking
I think these had a semi auto box in them, a lot of brewery motors were auto, don’t know why but they were, I had an ex Watneys Sudden Accident 400 that had a full auto & my mate had an ex Carlsberg Commer/Dodge Hi-line that was auto too, does anybody know what the reasons behind it were, the rigid I can understand because of the urban delivery angle, but the artics?
bubbleman:
Cheers Marc.
’
My first artic,what a flyer!
newmercman:
that Truman Scammel Trunker,quote]
In the early days of the M/E when guys were doing the run in all sorts of unlikely vehicles,Mk 1 Atkis and Guy Big J’s etc,I met a young guy,anO/D, who was doing M/E in one of these for quite a few trips.No sleeper cab,just a plank across the seats!