Bookworm:
Andrew ,Im sure the unknown` chap in a previous photo is Jim Tremlett, he worked with us at Glyn Morgan for a while,shunted in the Abbey for a few hauliers and obviously ended up at J & M.I believe he is now in the big transport cafe in the sky. Best Wishes Mike
hello mike,
i can vaguely recall glyn morgan,seem to remember my old man repairing/painting a 290 for him.i have never heard of jim tremlett.dennis (bewick) the dragon coilers were from memory very popular with the south wales steel hauliers during the 1970’s,i can’t remember when they finished? though am fairly sure they never made any 38 tonne dragons, from 1983 onward when the armitage report pushed the weight limit up to 38 tonnes.
regards andrew.
Bookworm:
Andrew ,Im sure the unknown` chap in a previous photo is Jim Tremlett, he worked with us at Glyn Morgan for a while,shunted in the Abbey for a few hauliers and obviously ended up at J & M.I believe he is now in the big transport cafe in the sky. Best Wishes Mike
hi mate I remember jim tremlett we used to shunt in the abbey with blue line in the 80,s laughing jim we called him I remember him loading a hot roll coil in the well of a trailer pulled out of bay6 got to weighbridge they had to get the stocker of the coil he was stuck frozen to the coil jim didn’t know he was on the trailer
Bookworm:
Andrew ,Im sure the unknown` chap in a previous photo is Jim Tremlett, he worked with us at Glyn Morgan for a while,shunted in the Abbey for a few hauliers and obviously ended up at J & M.I believe he is now in the big transport cafe in the sky. Best Wishes Mike
hello mike,
i can vaguely recall glyn morgan,seem to remember my old man repairing/painting a 290 for him.i have never heard of jim tremlett.dennis (bewick) the dragon coilers were from memory very popular with the south wales steel hauliers during the 1970’s,i can’t remember when they finished? though am fairly sure they never made any 38 tonne dragons, from 1983 onward when the armitage report pushed the weight limit up to 38 tonnes.
regards andrew.
Thanks for that Andrew,there were a quite a number of trailer manufactures in earlier years 50’s/60’s/70’s,some good, many poor, and the new C&U regs that came in plus the additional costs related to low volume saw most disappear.During the 70’s and into the early 80’s the trailer,IMHO,that was market leader by far was the Crane Fruehauf.York were a close second and more than equal in some respects,but hey! that was back then in the distant past Cheers Dennis.
I once bought 5 near new Keltrail tri axle coilers off Keltruck,they had got an engineer from Crane Fruehauf to design and build them but I dont think the job lasted,they were well built trailers on BPW air suspension,I sent them to Grahams of Gildersom and had brand new Curtainsider bodies built on,we did away with the wells and fitted better floors.They worked out about two thirds of the cost of a brand new chassis and body and they came into the fleet spick and span and as good as new
Evening all, Dragon Trailers, could be a long story…but I will keep it brief… Do not know how many they built, but excellent welding, and structural integrity, built by men who knew the steel coil job very well! I think that they used the design of the aluminium Duramin coilers as their inspiration,…but used good quality steel instead!
I ended up with one in 89, well worn, bit of age in it, but cleaned up well…and a Jewish pal took to it, and away it went!! Amazing, she, (now a triaxle), is still used pounding the roads of Israel …hows that for quality■■?
Dennis, Chris really tried to deliver quality at an affordable price…but quality costs…and the market will not pay!! So he got shut , and turned the cash into something else…(with more profit in it)!
But Dennis…for a coiler…first Highway, Second M&G, (then of course when Tony Phillips saw the light, AHP), the rest, well the scrap bin was suitable for them!!
I once bought 5 near new Keltrail tri axle coilers off Keltruck,they had got an engineer from Crane Fruehauf to design and build them but I dont think the job lasted,they were well built trailers on BPW air suspension,I sent them to Grahams of Gildersom and had brand new Curtainsider bodies built on,we did away with the wells and fitted better floors.They worked out about two thirds of the cost of a brand new chassis and body and they came into the fleet spick and span and as good as new
Evening all, Dragon Trailers, could be a long story…but I will keep it brief… Do not know how many they built, but excellent welding, and structural integrity, built by men who knew the steel coil job very well! I think that they used the design of the aluminium Duramin coilers as their inspiration,…but used good quality steel instead!
I ended up with one in 89, well worn, bit of age in it, but cleaned up well…and a Jewish pal took to it, and away it went!! Amazing, she, (now a triaxle), is still used pounding the roads of Israel …hows that for quality■■?
Dennis, Chris really tried to deliver quality at an affordable price…but quality costs…and the market will not pay!! So he got shut , and turned the cash into something else…(with more profit in it)!
But Dennis…for a coiler…first Highway, Second M&G, (then of course when Tony Phillips saw the light, AHP), the rest, well the scrap bin was suitable for them!!
Happy memories indeed.
Cheerio for now.
Thank you for the,as usual,concise analysis of Coilers various Saviem.I was never a “coiler” haulier,however my old pal the late great Curly Cargill used to tell me that the M&G followed by the AHP were the best coilers and he ran a good number over the years,so I didn’t know that Highway were up there with these two market leading coilers,I never rated Highway trailers or ever came in contact with them,other than give them a "coat of looking at"occaisionally so I will gladly defer to a knowledgable ex dealer from the Black Country I once looked over a Crane Fruehauf coiler which looked a right “sample” I bet it would have been lucky to achieve a 20ton payload it looked so heavy.I’m not sure wether York built a coiler but no doubt Fred Davies would have dipped his toe in the water.I have seen a Northern example,but say no more,Northern were crap anyway which makes me wonder what Robsons of Carlisle saw in the Northern,they had a massive fleet of 33 footers when the 40 footer appeared,cost them a fortune to catch up with the rest of the industry.Then again,the Gennis boys could have had “something” on Stan and George wey hey!! Skeletons in the cupboard and all that,I wouldn’t put anything past Harry G,he once got my Manager absolutely “slaughtered” on G&T,just about legless he was Cheers Dennis.
There was a few driver’s based Swindon area with b a rogers, there was Eric from basset and another guy can’t remember his name, went to work for T D Williams after rogers.
Here’s a line up of some of the lorries at glyn john’s stoke depo. Not the best photo in the world but me and my mate were very young and only had a kodak brownie
hi all, had some sad news the morning courtesy of chris 143, blue line & carline driver terry lowndes passed away 4.30 this morning a character always joking around will be sadly missed rip terry mate
Cheers Dennis.
my old pal the late great Curly Cargill used to tell me that the M&G followed by the AHP were the best coilers and he ran a good number over the years,so I didn’t know that Highway were up there with these two market leading coilers,I never rated Highway trailers or ever came in contact with them,other than give them a "coat of looking at"occaisionally so I will gladly defer to a knowledgable ex dealer from the Black Country 
I once looked over a Crane Fruehauf coiler which looked a right “sample” I bet it would have been lucky to achieve a 20ton payload it looked so heavy.I’m not sure wether York built a coiler but no doubt Fred Davies would have dipped his toe in the water.I have seen a Northern example,but say no more,Northern were crap anyway which makes me wonder what Robsons of Carlisle saw in the Northern,they had a massive fleet of 33 footers when the 40 footer appeared,cost them a fortune to catch up with the rest of the industry.Then again,the Gennis boys could have had “something” on Stan and George wey hey!! Skeletons in the cupboard and all that,I wouldn’t put anything past Harry G,he once got my Manager absolutely “slaughtered” on G&T,just about legless he was 
Cheers Dennis.
