They did a changeover at Chorley.
Ben.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Not sure about the changeovers you mention, But the did run down to Rotherham & back in a shift, & they didn’t hang about those Macks were flying machines on the level, & allways fully loaded, The good old days Eh, Regards Larry.
Larry do you mean fully loaded with a few plates on the bottom then a couple of ingots on top 
cheers Johnnie 
Lawrence Dunbar:
Not sure about the changeovers you mention, But the did run down to Rotherham & back in a shift, & they didn’t hang about those Macks were flying machines on the level, & allways fully loaded, The good old days Eh, Regards Larry.
The changeover you mention was near Chorley it was Scotland to the A49 White Horse Cafe Charnock Richard and back
wheeltapper:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Not sure about the changeovers you mention, But the did run down to Rotherham & back in a shift, & they didn’t hang about those Macks were flying machines on the level, & allways fully loaded, The good old days Eh, Regards Larry.The changeover you mention was near Chorley it was Scotland to the A49 White Horse Cafe Charnock Richard and back
It was George Paterson & Stark, Stark was a small Local firm he partnered with,it was the Macks that helped put him out of business then he went to Canada
Ben.
Those Macks couldn’t “pull the skin off a rice pudding” compared to the Leyland 680 Power Plus engine,especially the engine in the T. Brady and Sons Octopus that I was mate on in the mid/late 60’s, sat in the passenger seat in the Octopus I’ve waved bye bye to a few P&S “wind and ■■■■” Macks on both the A74 and the M6,and we were always well loaded,and I mean “Well” ,we regularly hauled 25/28 tons of plates out of the Barrow shipyard to Glasgow and 28 ton loads of Cellophane to London Docks.My mate on the Octopus,Eric Poss, always used to laugh at the “King of the Road” lettering on the Macks with words like " I don’t intend to bow down to them or anyone else" and “I’ve heard sparrows “■■■■” before”.Happy times,but thats how it was,great,Cheers Bewick.
This is a shot of the actual Octopus that I was mate on,but thats not me stood on the back,I was a little bit older 
We used to have a limestone quarry on Shap and my late father told me that a contractor’s vehicle, painted in our livery, once wiped out a queue of about six people waiting at a bus stop on the A6.
Apparently, it was on a bend at the bottom of a long hill…
I`m sure Dennis is singing : " Country Roads , Take Me Home …" as he crests the A6 Shap summit .
Cheers , Anon.
Im almost sure thats Dennis singing : " Country Roads , Take Me Home…" as he crests the A6 Shap summit .
Cheers , Anon.
cattle wagon man:
Im almost sure thats Dennis singing : " Country Roads , Take Me Home…" as he crests the A6 Shap summit .Cheers , Anon.
Aye,and I reckon you’ve got your “eye” on those Swardell gimmers over that fence CWM,I bet you were pulling your Barbour wellies on while you took the shot 
Cheers Dennis.
Wrong there , Dennis !! Have another (closer) look.
Id already been in amongst them ! :grimacing: :grimacing: Dont you think they all appear contented 
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
A typical winters scene on the A 6 over Shap Fell , as a Leyland Octopus "fuel" :smiley: tanker passes by the Leyland Clock on the
descent towards Kendal.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
I know this picture I took has been featured in Vintage and Classic commercial magazine before but I thought a second chance was called for here. It was taken in the 80’s of the now defunct Woolworth’s almost at the top of Shap
Bewick:
Those Macks couldn’t “pull the skin off a rice pudding” compared to the Leyland 680 Power Plus engine,especially the engine in the T. Brady and Sons Octopus that I was mate on in the mid/late 60’s, sat in the passenger seat in the Octopus I’ve waved bye bye to a few P&S “wind and ■■■■” Macks on both the A74 and the M6,and we were always well loaded,and I mean “Well” ,we regularly hauled 25/28 tons of plates out of the Barrow shipyard to Glasgow and 28 ton loads of Cellophane to London Docks.My mate on the Octopus,Eric Poss, always used to laugh at the “King of the Road” lettering on the Macks with words like " I don’t intend to bow down to them or anyone else" and “I’ve heard sparrows “■■■■” before”.Happy times,but thats how it was,great,Cheers Bewick.
Hi Dennis, its not very often I disagree with your comments but on this occasion i can’t agree with your thoughts on the B61 Mack’s that P&S Contracts used to run , I remember one of these passing me coming over Brough ( I only had an Albion Reiver at the time loaded with 12 ton of steel plate for Leeds .Well when I got down the A1 I pulled into a cafe at Caterick and the Mack in question was on there having a brew,and this was a right hand drive,I got talking to the driver and when I noticed the manufacturers plate on the door frame, the engine was a Thermodyne rated at 220 bhp which for 1966was quite powerful,when most of the big trucks of the day were running 150 Gardner’s or AEC 690s even the Leyland 680 was only rated at 150 bhp, I know the power plus was more powerful, but even so it was,nt as powerful as the Macks. In my opinion (for what it’s worth) I would put the Mack alongside any product from Leyland or AEC,Atkinson, Albion, for reliability , economy (, Comfort ere may be not) ,but the Macks did have a ■■■■ good heater in them, I’ve seen them P&S lads in the middle of winter driving in just the T shirt (& pants of course) when I’ve been in my mk1 Atki (150 Gardner) with more skins on than an onion.Please do not take comments the wrong way Dennis, your still a top man. Cheers Alec
They were never this clean anytime I saw them going past
Oily
Alec:
Bewick:
Those Macks couldn’t “pull the skin off a rice pudding” compared to the Leyland 680 Power Plus engine,especially the engine in the T. Brady and Sons Octopus that I was mate on in the mid/late 60’s, sat in the passenger seat in the Octopus I’ve waved bye bye to a few P&S “wind and ■■■■” Macks on both the A74 and the M6,and we were always well loaded,and I mean “Well” ,we regularly hauled 25/28 tons of plates out of the Barrow shipyard to Glasgow and 28 ton loads of Cellophane to London Docks.My mate on the Octopus,Eric Poss, always used to laugh at the “King of the Road” lettering on the Macks with words like " I don’t intend to bow down to them or anyone else" and “I’ve heard sparrows “■■■■” before”.Happy times,but thats how it was,great,Cheers Bewick.Hi Dennis, its not very often I disagree with your comments but on this occasion i can’t agree with your thoughts on the B61 Mack’s that P&S Contracts used to run , I remember one of these passing me coming over Brough ( I only had an Albion Reiver at the time loaded with 12 ton of steel plate for Leeds .Well when I got down the A1 I pulled into a cafe at Caterick and the Mack in question was on there having a brew,and this was a right hand drive,I got talking to the driver and when I noticed the manufacturers plate on the door frame, the engine was a Thermodyne rated at 220 bhp which for 1966was quite powerful,when most of the big trucks of the day were running 150 Gardner’s or AEC 690s even the Leyland 680 was only rated at 150 bhp, I know the power plus was more powerful, but even so it was,nt as powerful as the Macks. In my opinion (for what it’s worth) I would put the Mack alongside any product from Leyland or AEC,Atkinson, Albion, for reliability , economy (, Comfort ere may be not) ,but the Macks did have a ■■■■ good heater in them, I’ve seen them P&S lads in the middle of winter driving in just the T shirt (& pants of course) when I’ve been in my mk1 Atki (150 Gardner) with more skins on than an onion.Please do not take comments the wrong way Dennis, your still a top man. Cheers Alec
It’s only a bit “craic” and I never “tak a powder” But honestly we have blown a number of those Macks off with the Octopus and my old Pal the driver Eric is no longer with us sadly, the Octopus was very high geared, a bit too much really so it had the legs to fly when the occasion called for it, and I clearly recall with relish giving the hand gestures to the P & S drivers as we “walked” past them Anyway Ah the Best for Christmas and The New Year Alec,Cheers Dennis.
Hi Bewick
Dont you think we have heard enough as you once said to me,( and along with that probably highly suspect claim)this one about this Mythical Octopus Wagon and Drag of Bradys running at 40 ton or so and flying past everything especially P&S Macks as was pointed out had far greater BHP than the Octopus,I was on the Road at the time running along side P&S Macks and never saw any Wagon and Drags that were fully Freighted flying by anybody except when they were Parked up.
Ben.
ben walker:
Hi Bewick
Dont you think we have heard enough as you once said to me,( and along with that probably highly suspect claim)this one about this Mythical Octopus Wagon and Drag of Bradys running at 40 ton or so and flying past everything especially P&S Macks as was pointed out had far greater BHP than the Octopus,I was on the Road at the time running along side P&S Macks and never saw any Wagon and Drags that were fully Freighted flying by anybody except when they were Parked up.Ben.
Sorry to disabuse you Ben but for 99% of the time the Brady Octopus was worked hard(not flying about!) operating at 32 ton GVW weighing out over Steel works bridges mainly hauling tary coil from Barrow works but also back loads of tin plate from MB Neath, Velindre and Trostre works in S. Wales. However, interspersed with this regular traffic where heavy loads out of Barrow of Cellophane and Heavy plate out of the Yard also on some Sunday mornings another 5 ton of Signode strapping for another drop in S. Wales was transhipped onto the 22 ton for The Abbey (making 27 tons) but IIRC the heaviest loads of Cellophane were often 26/27 ton for London Docks or British Waterways at Brentford and there was no low flying with these weights although we never “hung about” as it was usually a “closing ship” the outfit had to be handled with care and who better than the driver Eric Poss (RIP) one of the finest drivers I ever had the privilege of knowing. The heaviest load I ever recall on the Octopus was 28 ton of Cellophane from BCL Bridgewater to Immingham dock. Anyway, as far as P&S Macks were concerned whether you want to believe it or not we did come across them on a number of occasions the last time IIRC was one late afternoon at The Rose Bank café at Gretna, we were loaded with 22ton of coil for Renfrew Cables and the P&S motor left just before we did and I can tell you we caught him and passed him and No the P&S Boy was no parked in the layby !! We also “did” them on a couple of occasions on the M6.You have no need to take my word for it Ben as I’m sure if “Leyland 680” reads this post he will confirm that this was normal traffic patterns at Bradys during the 60’s but his “bottle” went and he went shunting ( he was courting strong at the time as well ) Eric and I were to remain good mates for the following nearly 50 years and I had some of my best times as the mate on the Octopus ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
ben walker:
Hi Bewick
Dont you think we have heard enough as you once said to me,( and along with that probably highly suspect claim)this one about this Mythical Octopus Wagon and Drag of Bradys running at 40 ton or so and flying past everything especially P&S Macks as was pointed out had far greater BHP than the Octopus,I was on the Road at the time running along side P&S Macks and never saw any Wagon and Drags that were fully Freighted flying by anybody except when they were Parked up.Ben.
Sorry to disabuse you Ben but for 99% of the time the Brady Octopus was worked hard(not flying about!) operating at 32 ton GVW weighing out over Steel works bridges mainly hauling tary coil from Barrow works but also back loads of tin plate from MB Neath, Velindre and Trostre works in S. Wales. However, interspersed with this regular traffic where heavy loads out of Barrow of Cellophane and Heavy plate out of the Yard also on some Sunday mornings another 5 ton of Signode strapping for another drop in S. Wales was transhipped onto the 22 ton for The Abbey (making 27 tons) but IIRC the heaviest loads of Cellophane were often 26/27 ton for London Docks or British Waterways at Brentford and there was no low flying with these weights although we never “hung about” as it was usually a “closing ship” the outfit had to be handled with care and who better than the driver Eric Poss (RIP) one of the finest drivers I ever had the privilege of knowing. The heaviest load I ever recall on the Octopus was 28 ton of Cellophane from BCL Bridgewater to Immingham dock. Anyway, as far as P&S Macks were concerned whether you want to believe it or not we did come across them on a number of occasions the last time IIRC was one late afternoon at The Rose Bank café at Gretna, we were loaded with 22ton of coil for Renfrew Cables and the P&S motor left just before we did and I can tell you we caught him and passed him and No the P&S Boy was no parked in the layby
Brilliant memories, thanks Dennis. As said before, Eric did some loads for me before starting for Bowater Scott. He wasn’t going to to take any cr** from anyone! Was Frank his trailer boy before you or after you? I’ve seen the picture of Frank ‘lurking’ on the back of the Octopus.
John.
Just some photographic illustration (taken early September this year). It really is quite a nice and scenic place in summertime, but I can just imagine the same place in wintery condition with 1960s equipment. Oh dear…
[Please click and the picture will behave itself - I never understand why this sometimes happens]
And from there it went downhill…
