Why is it that some people make a “mountain out of a molehill” by the sound of some of these pathetic recent posts it makes you wonder how the haulage industry of yesteryear operated,other than in the blazing sun of high summer,then I suppose they’ed moan about not having any sun-tan cream and they got sunburn !! Dear oh dear ! Cheers Bewick.
Well said Dennis, S,S,A,W, Itwas all part & parcel of the job, Snow covered sheets, frozen sisal ropes we just got on with it, after thats what drivers were paid to do THERE JOB, & theres a lot of us still about who did it, & speaking for myself Im proud to have been involved with the old haulage firms in those good old days, Regards Larry.
Bewick:
Why is it that some people make a “mountain out of a molehill” by the sound of some of these pathetic recent posts it makes you wonder how the haulage industry of yesteryear operated,other than in the blazing sun of high summer,then I suppose they’ed moan about not having any sun-tan cream and they got sunburn !! Dear oh dear ! Cheers Bewick.
So you enjoyed stowing frozen sheets, trying to hold sheets down in a gale, getting ■■■■■■ through, filthy and then driving a couple of hundred miles…I didn’t. It is not pathetic for people to not feel nostalgic about all the above, the haulage industry of yesteryear was a totally different beast, not saying everything is better now though…far from it.
"theres a lot of us still about who did it, & speaking for myself Im proud to have been involved with the old haulage firms in those good old days, "
I would agree with that and it was an experience I am quite proud of but wouldn’t want to repeat it, “good old days” different yes but good ■■
But we were young & it was all part of having grown up & become “A REAL MAN”. I lost count of the times that my father told me, “You’ll regret doing that when you get to my age”.
Silly old prat- what did he know?
Now here we are 50 years on & just discovered that he was right- lumbago, bad back, riddled with arthritus. Oh, yes, he knew more than I thought he did!
Aye but In my opnion in those days there was the ones that could do it & the ones that couldnt, & the ones who wouldnt do it, I did it because I earned some good money , hard work no doubt but it was a job , not for wimps but for real hard graffters, so you must be one of the latter who grafted to make money, I admit it was a grueling job even in the summer months, but if I could turn the clock back I would do it all over again., Its a differant job now for drivers, what with the CPC Coming into force, most likley invented by some UNI Geazer who no doubt knows sweet F/A about the haulage game, where will it all end ■■?, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye but In my opnion in those days there was the ones that could do it & the ones that couldnt, & the ones who wouldnt do it, I did it because I earned some good money , hard work no doubt but it was a job , not for wimps but for real hard graffters, so you must be one of the latter who grafted to make money, I admit it was a grueling job even in the summer months, but if I could turn the clock back I would do it all over again., Its a differant job now for drivers, what with the CPC Coming into force, most likley invented by some UNI Geazer who no doubt knows sweet F/A about the haulage game, where will it all end ■■?, Regards Larry.
Oh yes + dozens.
I’d like to see those days back, he says praying he can keep his cushty tank job mind… 
I was another one who had to provide for his family, no bloody govt subsidies then for pretending to do a bit of work for about 20 hours and get yer income made up with various vote grabbing schemes to more than genuine hard working self respecting blokes can make in 70 hours of ball breaking graft.
We went out and did what we had to do, taught how to do it by the old school and grateful to have been there.
I enjoyed my roping and sheeting, i took a pride in it making it neat and secure, doing the job well and i include driving them old lorries properly too, earned you the respect and acceptance of the old school…never an easy task and something the modern licence holder thinks is an automatic right for being a professional driver five minutes after passing a bloody test that didn’t even include a controlled emergency stop or a gearchanging exercise for goodness sake.
How many of you old salts out there ended up on your arse when you pulled on your first dolley knot? I’m not ashamed to say that I bit the dust on several occasions in my early days when I’d forgotten to put the twist in !
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye but In my opnion in those days there was the ones that could do it & the ones that couldnt, & the ones who wouldnt do it, I did it because I earned some good money , hard work no doubt but it was a job , not for wimps but for real hard graffters, so you must be one of the latter who grafted to make money, I admit it was a grueling job even in the summer months, but if I could turn the clock back I would do it all over again., Its a differant job now for drivers, what with the CPC Coming into force, most likley invented by some UNI Geazer who no doubt knows sweet F/A about the haulage game, where will it all end ■■?, Regards Larry.
If that was aimed at me I could and did do it, I learned roping & sheeting from an early age by going with family members in the mid 60’s. As for doing it just for the money I went to University got a degree and eventually gave up a teaching job to drive on general haulage and did it for many years until retiring, it’s in the blood accompanied now by the arthiritis etc mentioned in another post. I was, and still am,proud of the skills involved and under the same circumstances would undoubtedly do the same again but I was very grateful to some men in Cheshire who came up with the ‘Tautliner’ concept and as they say ‘times have changed’.Some ’ UNI Geazers’ do know about the haulage game but I must agree with you in general regarding the CPC, VOSA loading matrix etc what a load of b******s. It’s ended for me now but my son is still doing it…in the blood see!
with a flat you kept your sheets and ropes as tidy as you could , but with the advent of curtainsiders when you swapped trailers they had ripped curtains , bent buckles or damaged curtain runners and you got a bad name for defecting them . the start of the downhill slide of driving standards . half the drivers where i worked couldn’t be bothered to tension them properly .
Well by the time that Curtainsiders became popular in the later 70’s, sheets and ropes had been improved dramatically,with the introduction of lighter weight materials such as ICI Rip Stop weave and,of course, Polypropylene rope which didn’t swell with the rain same as the old Hemp materials did not forgetting also that if a load was properly “fly sheeted” this turned 90% of the water so no large main sheets frozen solid in Winter.I realise that some of the more “prehistoric” operators at the time continued to use the old materials i.e.20 oz heavy canvas and hemp ropes usually under the misconception that this was superior gear to this “new fangled” stuff that appeared on the market in the late 60’s.I always found that the further South you went in the UK the worse the standard and quality of both Sheets, ropes and Trailers became,just my opinion I know,so no doubt someone South of Watford Gap will disagree !! Cheers Bewick.
Hello Dennis,
2 very well sheeted loads of newsprint 3 high on the roll,Would they be for delivery to Abbotts or Translloyds in Manchester.
It would only be the old timmers who would have the knowledge to unload this type of load safely from the back of the trailer,
Plus Larry.
Use to often load 15 to 20 loads a day of three high reels of newsprint and sheet them.One of our Managers [non HGV Driver]
got the bright idea to save time sheeting and ordered 10 sets of main sheets 52 ft x27ft, to cover this type of load.
You sure didnt fall out with the clamp truck driver.
Regards
F Troop.
f troop:
Hello Dennis,
2 very well sheeted loads of newsprint 3 high on the roll,Would they be for delivery to Abbotts or Translloyds in Manchester.
It would only be the old timmers who would have the knowledge to unload this type of load safely from the back of the trailer,
Plus Larry.
Use to often load 15 to 20 loads a day of three high reels of newsprint and sheet them.One of our Managers [non HGV Driver]
got the bright idea to save time sheeting and ordered 10 sets of main sheets 52 ft x27ft, to cover this type of load.
You sure didnt fall out with the clamp truck driver.Regards
F Troop.
Hiya F. Troop,Thanks for the kind remark,our lads always took a pride in their Craft.I couldn’t really say where those two loads were going but it would more than likely to Scotland. One sheet 52 X 27,the bloke that ordered them should have been made to lift them !! I accept the arse hole couldn’t have used them,but it would have been interesting to see how far his Bollox dropped below his knees trying to lift them Eh! Cheers Dennis.
Aye F.Troop they were the type of sheet that did the drivers conkers a world of good, I dont think, H & S Would be surprised at what that drivers had to cope with, & of course they would ban such gear to-day, mind you it makes me wonder sometimes how in the hell did we cope with any type of sheet , The were terrible when they got wet, I remember when I worked at Baxters in the 50s they had lots of sheets for the soap job, & we used to drape them up in garage on the Quayside to speed the drying out period, Happy heavey going days Eh, Regards Larry.
All my own work,and photo,an early '76 shot of a Bewick F88 exiting Bowater Scotts Barrow Mill with a trunk load for their West Thurrock RDC.
Very tidy job Dennis It made a big differance in the fuel consumption when the sheets were secured correctley, Ive seen some right sights as no doubt you will have to, ships in full bloody sail Eh the drivers couldnt even see what was behind them in there mirrors, Of course we dont see a lot of loads like that to-day its nearley all curtainsiders, Regards Larry.
A 4x2 FL10 leaving the depot one Sunday lunchtime to run South,it would be fully freighted with 24 ton of Libby products from the factory next door to the depot.
Some TASK tri axles standing in the rank loaded with paper from the Henry Cooke mill at Beetham.
Bewick:
A 4x2 FL10 leaving the depot one Sunday lunchtime to run South,it would be fully freighted with 24 ton of Libby products from the factory next door to the depot.
thats a cracking pic so clear it could have been yesterday!
Could have been the crisp winter atmosphere that helped ? Bewick.
Bewick:
All my own work,and photo,an early '76 shot of a Bewick F88 exiting Bowater Scotts Barrow Mill with a trunk load for their West Thurrock RDC.
Dennis,
In 1976,they didnt refer as RDC ,'twas a yard!!!
David 