Stand-out Lorry Memories For You

[gingerfold]

I suppose we are all guilty of looking back through rose tinted spectacles and we all will have memories that are still crystal clear from 30, 40, or even more years ago. Here are one or two of mine connected with lorries, / road haulage.

1. My first ever trip in a lorry, circa 1953 when I was 5 years old. It was a pre-WW2 Leyland Lynx, Bolton to Liverpool loaded with chimney flue liners.
2. First time I was allowed to have a night out with a driver (John Cairns), it was in Oxford, in about 1964, lorry was a 1962 Seddon (Leyland O.400 engine 329 XTC), and we had 4 or 5 drops along the Thames Valley.
3. First time I drove a lorry on my own, I was 17, shouldn’t have done it but I had been left to load it and got fed up of waiting for them to come for me and it, so I drove it home, it was a 1959 AEC Mercury (PBN 995). Didn’t get a *******ing from Ray though.
   4 First time I was told to drive a lorry on my own, it was a Saturday morning, Ray was rough from a heavy Friday night in the pub, it was a load of steel pipes on a 1963 LAD Leyland Comet 6-wheeler with Primrose trailing axle (5781 TJ), Bolton to Birkenhead, I was 19 years old and King of the Road that morning.

There are a few of mine to be going on with.

What do you remember as your stand-out memories?

[flishflunk]

Brilliant.

Although I had been in my dads lorry since more or less being born, the first time I went with him by myself was so exciting. Mam had me up and ready not long after 6.00am and I spent the next half hour or so looking out the window waiting for dad to come back home. Then he came, what excitement, Mam, mam, dads here, dads here.
So off we went to Liverpool. A journey to be repeated umpteen times over the years. I remember standing up on the passenger side and barely being able to see out of the windscreen of the petrol engined OSS Bedford. Remember over the years going in all the caffs on the East Lancs, thinking how nice Chapel street looked and the funny colour of that canal, which none of my friends believed . Not forgetting the obligatory sitting on dads knee and “driving”

Round about 1962 dad got a new wagon, a Bedford TK. Wow, luxury, 2 wipers and a heater. I can still smell the newness now.

At the age of 15 I started work as a drivers mate. When I was nearly 17 we were delivering in Whaley Bridge, next drop was in Glossop. Driver said to me I,m going to have a kip, you take it to Glossop. That was my first time driving a lorry on the road. I liked it so much I wanted to do it all the time after that. Passed my car driving test not to long after.

At the age of 20 I was driving for a timber company, driving a class 4, remember them, at Christmas a Ship docked at Salford which had to be away before the New Year, but because quite a number of drivers were on holidays I was asked to drive a class 1, being told by thr TM, it’s OK you won’t be going off the docks, you’ll just be taking loads to our yard, which was on the docks. First load, I get the paperwork and the load is for our Trafford park yard. So I collared the TM, don’t worry he said, it’s all been arranged, we wouldn’t do anything illegal and risk your licence and ours
Passed my class 1 not to long after and spent the next nearly 40 years driving lorries. The only “truck” I drove in that time was a Forklift
Nothing though, could beat the excitement of going out with dad when a kid.

Ray

[gingerfold]

Another stand-out memory was my first eagerly anticipated trip over Shap on the old A6. Having heard all the drivers’ tales about Shap it was a memorable day in about 1959. I think it must have been in the Christmas school holidays and a Friday, the lorry was a Perkins R6 powered Bedford S Type (1953 TTC 57), the load was two muck spreaders out of Massey Ferguson at Trafford Park for an agricultural machinery dealer at Penrith. It was so foggy it was impossible to see anything of Shap. Repeated the same journey with the same load on the Monday following, this time in the other Bedford S Type Holden’s had, 1958, 914 CTE, Bedford Diesel engine. This time it was bright and sunny, Ray’s dad Fred was the driver (Flat cap and 60 Players a day), first visit to the Jungle Cafe, Ray had used the Redwings Cafe on the Friday. On entering the Jungle Cafe Fred looked around and noticed that most of the plates were being returned half full “Food’s off muttered Fred, sandwiches and tea for us”. Last time I was in Penrith, about 6 years ago, I noticed that the same premises where we delivered the muck spreaders was still trading as an agricultural merchants. Even after 50 odd years I still remember where it was located.

[brookie]

I’d made up my mind at a very young age to be a lorry driver, albeit against my parents wishes. So on leaving school I became a drivers mate at 16 (in '81), handballing pallet loads of china and glass for a wholesaler around the South East. This also involved hand balling artic loads into the warehouse for distribution. The guv’nor was too tight to buy a forklift, so a YTS spotty teenager was much cheaper… One lorry arrived which will always stay in my mind. A brand new F12 Globetrotter, white and yellow, all the bells and whistles, driven by a bloke age 23. I can’t remember the hauliers name, but it had come from Ashton-in- Makerfield, fully loaded with Ravenhead glass on a flatbed, all perfectly roped and sheeted. Me and a couple of others unloaded it with the driver, and then a natter and a cuppa followed. A friends dad (Del Martin of whose M/E pics I’ve posted before) had already sewn the seed of thought long ago about a life on the road. I asked the driver more about where he’d been etc and how he got the job. He had been put through on the “young driver scheme”, so this inspired me to ask my boss. After being politely declined, (f*ck off usually offends) I left and got a van driving job at 19 for local haulier Dobbs, where I “cut my teeth” and then put me through my tests at 21, then after the threat of redundancy onto Radcliffe Eurotrans at 26 doing European work. I never got as far as the M/E, but had 16 years on the road before leaving to drive trains. I will always remember the head turning F12 and its driver, and to this day a twin headlight F12 Globetrotter will always be my favourite.

Regards,

Mark.

[tonyj105]

having the drivers side windscreen shatter on my atkinson at 5 am on a very wet and windy November morning on the A45 near thrapston. it wasn’t very far back to our yard in wellingborough , but i was frozen by the time i got back there. i was only a couple of months into the job as well, and thats when i discovered the deep joys of windscreen fitting.

[bewick]

Having had many enjoyable hours as a school lad riding with the A.D.Boyes drivers,Alex Snr,William Gate and both Robbie and “young” Alex as well as with a mate in Kendal who drove for Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh the real high spot for me came in my late teens when I was working at Brady’s on the Octopus and trailer.Once Eric was satisfied that I wasn’t an idiot and I would do exactly as he instructed he would,regularly,let me behind the wheel of that Great motor,the Power Plus Octopus ! Initially I just drove it when empty,the likes of running back from Glasgow to Barrow was a favourite,good road and not over crowded.Then he allowed me to drive with the outfit fully freighted,on the M/ways but usually when it was dark for obvious reasons !!What a machine at that time in the mid 60’s,the Octopus really was “The King of the road” at that time,it had though to be driven with the utmost care and respect as to what else was around you and you needed to look well ahead because the main drawback was a lack of braking as the Octopus only had brakes on 3 axles and the trailer had them on one ! Although I have owned and driven many a top motor since, those days on the Octopus and the times I was allowed to drive the Leyland were probably the “best of times”,I never blotted my copy book at that time,although I did upset a Shell tanker driver one night on the M5 when we sailed past him,at 32 ton gvw and he was empty in his Scammell Trunker !!Happy days,Cheers Bewick.

[buzzer]

During my fourty odd years in transport, alot over the water in europe one of the most standout memories for me is when they did away with the international permit system for trucks,this really gutted me at the time as i had spent alot of my hard earned cash increasing the amount of permits i had buy buying other companys quotas.The first EC blue book i bought cost me ten grand and i bought many after that albeit not at ten grand but a goodly sum was paid out to boost my share of permits,in the end i had about sixteen blue books plus an ECMT book and a heap of ordinary permits all of which all became worthless overnight.This at the time had a devastating effect on the work as any Tom ■■■■ or Harry from the UK could go to europe and vice versa,this lead to a huge influx of trucks doing the job that before was regulated by those with the permits.I am pleased to say that we are one of a few british companys still plying this trade but today it has changed so much,when i first started the flow was 50/50 with foreign and british trucks shareing the workload but not so today,i doubt if the brits have 15% now of the international trade.My two sons now run the company that i started but i fear it is harder today than when i used to run the show,but at least we are still at it so all the hard work in earlier years was not wasted. This is why this is one of my stand-out lorry memories during my time,cheers Buzzer.

[frankydobo]

Lots of memories but the stand out ones must be sitting on Dads knee and steering his O Series Bedford tipper while he worked the throttle and brakes, I must have been about Six years old and this would be about 1958, I was wagon daft after that. During my young years the thrill of getting up early in the morning and going on trips, being shaken awake and thinking “Aw great he hasn’t gone without me”!

Next would be when Dad pulled up in the 150 Gardner Seddon with a 40ft trailer and timber load and saying “Right hop in the drivers seat its your turn”, I was maybe 17 and despite many shunting, jockeying and just starting the engine for effect of the various wagons I’d been a passenger in and worked on over the years, I was this time on the road, totally illegal but I wasn’t going to say no, can’t really remember much of the journey though I was too awestruck!

When I first became a proper (legal too) Class One Lorry Driver taking pipes to Scotland in a Scania 80, during the summer and getting waved to from young women in open top cars, thinking this is the life, this’ll do for me. Many years later thinking I’ve had enough of this lark its just not worth the hassle and deciding to stop being a lorry driver, the Rose tint had worn off. Nothing beats the memories from the early years, cafes, laughing at the other drivers jokes, learning the job, getting out on the open road, no road cones, hold ups or cab phones and having great nights out.
Franky.

[dave_the_renegade]

Riding around in the school holidays and Saturday mornings with my Dad who drove for Passey Nott & Co in the 1950’'s delivering animal feeds to farms and collecting feed from Avonmouth,Cardiff and Barry docks.He drove several Bedford’s which they replaced every six years.
I also went on the dock runs taking grain from the farms at harvest time and returning with animal feeds with a driver called Ted Moss in a Thames Trader for Roberts Transport who hauled for Passey Nott.I later drove with Ted for C M Philpotts of Kington,Herefordshire.Been involved with lorries as long as I can remember.I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything different.I can still remember seeing the lorries lined up waiting to load and unload at Passey Nott’s Kington warehouse,great days.
Cheers Dave.

[grumpy_old_man]

16, no licence, got into an AEC MM 8 legger, fired it up, knocked the big ratchet brake off , 1 st. gear and… The wall stopped it. No spring brakes in those days, you had to build the air up and the little red arm/flag had to disappear. Nobody told me.
It was Harrisons of Dewsbury, us young lads were unofficially allowed to fire em up on cold winters mornings. Talk about getting experience the hard way, it took a lot of living down.
But I was hooked, it was to be lorry driving for me.
Happy days

[lowreduction]

Hi everybody, my earliest memories of lorries was as a lot of drivers, with my dad. He drove a two stroke Commer 8 ton four wheeler for Flowers Transport York XDN141, I can still hear it now ! I would go with him at every oppotunity, weekends and school holidays saw me up at the crack of dawn dressed and ready to go with my dad ! Just like a lot of you my dad would sit me on his seat in front of him whilst I would steer he,d operate the pedals. The seed was sown and I was never going to be anything else but a lorry driver. I did 4 years as a drivers mate on heavy haulage then a year in the yard for Flowers sheeting and roping and of course shunting. At 21 did my HGV 3 and at 23 did my HGV 1, all in all I did 25 years as a driver and loved every minute of it (well not every minute but you know) since then I,ve been an instructor 10 years teaching Cat “C” and “C+E” and for the last 4 years I,ve been teaching instructors ! I absolutely love lorries and the world of road transport, I collect old lorry photos and go all round the country giving slide shows about them, I just live and breathe lorries. I also have an old lorry an S20 Foden 6x4 ballast tractor that I have presented in the livery of my first employer Elliotts of York ! Regards Tony H.

[sammyopisite]

My memories are just like most other peoples going with dad in the early 50s he drove a “Matador” with a big lump of concrete in the back for ballast and then came a day to remember he was double heading the 100 tonner scammell " Leaping Lena " driven by Cliff Lowther and I spent that day on the 100 tonner and there was a brass fuel tank fitted to the front bulkhead and my job was to pump the fuel up to it from the main tank ( and I ended up black ) , over the next couple of years I was lucky enough to have several more days doing the same.
My first drive of a wagon was around 58/9 on the perimeter road of a steel works in a Scammell Highwayman and later I started on the buses and went driving in 66 but in early 67 I got on at Pickfords mating and my driver was Cliff Lowther who used to drive the 100 tonner but this time he had a super constructor and starting on the Monday we were away all week, on the Sunday morning Cliff said to me right Jock lets see what you drive this like so that was me smiling a left ■■■■■■ 6x6 tractor only from the digs back to the load. I must have fared O K as Cliff had me driving quite often and used me as a second driver which allowed a 14 hour spread over and everyone earned a bit more.
I was only mating around 8 months when I was promoted to spare driver and then I got my own wagon a Bedford TK artic but I was hardly ever on it as a couple of drivers were on long term sick so I was on Highwayman artics but mostly the ballast box tractor which when the HGV license came in meant that I only qualified for a class 3 so I had to take my class one which I took as soon as I could in a highwayman.

cheers Johnnie

[georgeking]

.

[suedehead]

Breaking down on the A74 .
It was my first time on a distance trip with the old man and the Tk expired nr Beatock.
Can remember Millars of Abington coming out and i travelled in the Guy wrecker(seemed huge after being in a tk ) whilst towing the Bedford,would have been 1972 ish.

[norfolk]

Much the same as you lads travelling with my dad he drove for several firms including Caledonian / Forth i used to go with him in an Albion artic ( seemed huge at the time ) , then he got ajob driving for Hollands Toffee can see him sorting his del notes out copies of A to Z laid out all marked with crosses ( 30 / 40 drops norm ) i had my own night out case travelled the country staying in digs got spoilt rotten by sum landladies ,years later i still stayed at some of the digs i stayed with him in the late 50s by now it was the 60/70s . when i travelled with him used to collect Caledonian fleet numbers and Robsons Border names big excitement if new number or name spotted! Left school at 15 became drivers mate Albion Reiver then Atki 8 legger driver used to get in the passenger side cover himself with a greatcoat and tell me to get on with it, woe betide you missed a gear he used to crack you across the knuckles with a stick, i want those gears in the box not on the road when i get back in he,d say! If in the passenger side a piece of string stuck out the side of the engine cover it was attached to the front of the pump on the old Gardner we called this the : Jockey : you pulledon it when you hit a hill to give the old girl a bit more go; Worked my way through till ended up driving an Atki artic tramping ( 44 mph flat out unless you used silent seventh ) Bought my first moter F88 ran continent ect done most types of work have forthe last few years done low loader / heavy plant work. No rose tints but had some great times with a lot of great blokes a lot of whom no longer with us.

[dieseldog66]

1959 … 3 days after the M1 opened going with my Dad in his new that day Commer 2 stroke loaded with 4 hillman minx’s for London docks (Victoria I think)

1968… again with my Dad after getting his new 15 meter trailer from the earls court motor show,and new AEC Mercury , going the next day to Harwich Dock.

1969… being allowed by the driver Pete Smith to drive the company’s new Ford D 1000 rigid from Peterborough to Leicester, aged 15

1970… driving a 1967 Albion Clydesdale Artic with 16 ton of concrete on the back down the M1, aged 16, driver Ted Redsull

I’ll do some more later.

[valkyrie]

AN UNFORGETTABLE MUSIC AND LORRY MEMORY. TruckNetUK. My 77th Post! …in more ways than one! - Hawshaw Lane and all those halcyon days! A very appropriate
number! Talk about SYNCHRONICITY!
First of all,the following magical wonderful memories are so inextricably linked that they will remain as one forevermore ,because they had such a sublime impact on me They have delightfully haunted me ever since…

(I should warn you that this experience has got nothing to do with riding in lorries,journies in
lorries,etc.)

This post is about two landmark moments that happened to me in one weekend when I was about five
or six-years old). NOTE:I’ve always loved both motor vehicles of all types and music of all types ever since I can remember.

Period:Possiably one Whitsuntide or August Bank Holiday Weekend in around 19■■ .

Saturday night (…or it might have been Sunday night).We visited my Uncle Bernard and Aunty
Elizabeth and cousin Susan at their house.A music concert was being transmitted on BBC
Television;there was a Grand Piano,a full concert orchestra and the whole ensemble began to
perform one of the most magnificent,most memorable,impressive and freak-out worthy pieces of
music that I had ever heard! :-

RHAPSODY IN BLUE,a brilliant jazz/classical music concert instrumental,written by the music
genius,George Gershwin,this work is now a well-loved classic! I freaked-out!
WOW! That was the first almighty landmark moment

The following day:Sunday (…or it might have been Monday ),a whole gang of us,including Uncle Bernard,Aunty Elizabeth and Susan,went on a train excusion to the Buxton-Castleton area of Derbyshire - Foden land and quarry land ,where we did a lot of walking and sightseeing on
this warm and sunny day…and I sang Rhapsody In Blue to myself all day long

Then came the second almighty landmark moment of that wonderful weekend :-
We walked along this limestone-strewn road in the open countryside,and parked side by side in a
layby on the lefthand side of the road were the two most extraordinary lorries that I had ever
seen! Actually,they were both the same marque and model as each other,and they looked so
different to virtually all the other lorries that I had seen in my young life so far.

I didn’t know what the hell they were,but I was mightily fascinated and curious! :They
were painted a dullish white,and about as big and as tall as a Bedford O-Series LWB Lorry,and had
tough looking wheel hubs,wheels and super grip tyres.They also had hopper bodies and fascinating and delightfully unusually-styled enclosed cabs with reverse-sloping windscreens,cab doors with no windows-just fresh air! and the front ends of these forward control cabs were seemingly all angles! My senses were in overload! It was another WOW! moment

It was tantamount to seeing a totally fascinating and head turning motor vehicle,such as this
Oshkosh Conventional 4x4 Snow Plough,for the first time :-
flickr.com/photos/jackbyrnes … 53751@N06/

And loads of other specialist motor vehicles that are in exactly the same idiom as the above
Oshkosh and my two mystery lorries,such as these superlative examples :-

Faun ZR/ZRS/ZRG 4x2 Heavy Haulage Ballast Road/Rail and Road Locomotives:-
kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_ … un_zr.html

Faun ZR 4x2 Heavy Recovery Vehicle:-
alga.de/museum/details/1942_Faun_ZR.html

Faun ZR 4x2 Heavy Haulage Ballast Road Locomotive:-
google.co.uk/imgres?q=FAUN+Z … ,s:0,i:200

Faun ZR 4x2 Heavy Haulage Ballast Road Locomotive hauling a Messerschmitt Me 323 E “Gigant” auf
einem Flugplatz Aeroplane; PK Eins Kp Lw zbV:-
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0% … Gigant.jpg

Autocar U-7144T 4x4 Tractive Unit-Boxvan-bodied Articulated Lorry:-
military-vehicle-photos.com/ … er1579.asp

Mack NJU-1 4x4 Pontoon Tractive Units:-
trucksplanet.com/catalog/model.php?id=462

Mack NJU-1 4x4 Pontoon Tractive Unit/Heavy Recovery Vehicle,Fike Movers,Leipsic,Ohio:-
enginads.com/classifieds/sho … duct=75421

picasaweb.google.com/1007961143 … 7758298226

picasaweb.google.com/1007961143 … 4NJUTRUCK#

Federal 94X43A/B/C 4x4 Tractive Unit-Boxvan-bodied Articulated Lorry:-
travellerdave.co.uk/?p=7569

Federal 94X43A/B/C 4x4 Tractive Units,photographed in wartime during 1941-1945:-
lostimagesofww2.com/photos/machines/federal.php

Federal 94X43A/B/C 4x4 Tractive Unit and Tractive Unit-Boxvan-bodied Articulated Lorry:-
olive-drab.com/idphoto/id_photos … _94x43.php

Walter Forward Control 4x4 Snow Plough:-
hankstruckpictures.com/pix/t … le0008.jpg

Walter Conventional 4x4 Snow Plough:-
flickr.com/photos/corduroyboy/6969709631/

Oshkosh M-4815 Conventional 4x4 Snow Plough of 1964,powered by a Continental R-6602,in-line 6-
cylinder 232 BHP Petrol Engine:-
candhtruck.com/chtruckdb/big … 594&PICN=1

Oshkosh 1070F 8x8 Heavy Recovery Vehicle:-
flickr.com/photos/scammell_a … 53751@N06/

Or whatever motor vehicle…these types of motor vehicles,and many others,usually have several things in common being that they all are specialist vehicles,including those two fascinating motor lorries that I saw that day:they fall in to my special wonderful catergory - probably as a result of that magical weekend

So there they were,the cab doors were unlocked:"Can I sit in the cab? " ,I asked. “No”,came
the miserable reply from my mother or dad .“But Susan is in the cab! ” I said. Susan was only about two or three years old at the time,and Aunty Elizabeth,being a good mother,wanted to provide some amusement for Susan
No responce from my parents…
“Two steering wheels! ” I excitedly exclaimed - I could see the steering wheels of both lorries .

I didn’t know many marque names then - I knew of Foden,Leyland,Dennis,Bedford,Austin,Norton,BSA,
Commer,Karrier,Morris,Buick,Bristol,Ford,Standard,Singer,Vauxhall,etc - I had yet to make
seemingly endless and exciting marque discoveries in the future,such as Maudslay,AEC,Atkinson,
Cadillac,Mercedes-Benz,Chrysler,Lincoln,Pierce Arrow,Rover,Bugatti,Ferrari,Scammell,and so on.

Anyway,as we walked away from these two absolutely entrancing and special lorries,I asked my
Uncle Bernard “Are they Leyland’s?” His reply really suprised me: “They are Ford’s”. “Ford’s?
! ” I exclaimed. I was already familiar with Ford motorcars,and had ridden in them,but I didn’t know until then that they also made lorries

I continued to think about these absolutely fascinating and special lorries,while singing
Rhapsody In Blue to my self,and ever since that day I have always associated this superlative
piece of music with the above types (and others) of specialist motor vehicles - very appropriate
music! - the two melody-tunes (and variations of them) used mainly throughout this work and in the magnificent and impressive circa 53-seconds long Grandioso Finale are very much so!
The definitive recorded versions of both Rhapsody In Blue and An American In Paris are on the LP
Album by Paul Whiteman Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue & An American in Paris - Leonard Pennario
Piano,released in the 1950s :-
farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/495 … 3e75b5.jpg
They ought to be re-released on CD!
RHAPSODY IN BLUE is the second National Anthem of the United States of America!

Other versions by Andre Previn and Leonard Bernstein are absolutely inferior!

SO JUST EXACTLY WHAT WERE THOSE TWO MYSTERIOUS,MESMERIZING AND SPECIAL LORRIES THAT I SAW? :-

Ford F60L Canadian Military Pattern,CMP No.13-cabbed,Ford V8 petrol-engined,Limestone Hopper-
bodied,4x4 Lorries,painted in a dull white livery,and part of a fleet of these Ford CMP’s
operated by one of the quarries in the Buxton-Castleton area of Derbyshire .

Has anyone got any photographs of these lorries? Please .

NOTE:These Ford CMP No.13-cabbed vehicles should not be confused with the equivalent Chevrolet
CMP vehicles:There were both major and minor differences between the two marques .

The CMP No.13-cabbed military Ford’s and Chevrolet’s (and GMC’s) were built from 1942 to 1945 for
Great Britain,her Allies and the British Commonwealth of Nations,and the Ford CMP limestone
lorries would have originally looked like this beautiful preserved example :-

Ford F60L CMP,CMP No.13-cabbed,Covered Fixedside-bodied,4x4 General Service Lorry,FHO 501:-
flickr.com/photos/macspite/5005255486/

But they might have been built with other bodies,such as boxvans,or as recovery
vehicles,whatever.

Ford radiator badge on a Ford CMP No.13-cabbed motor vehicle:-
flickr.com/photos/carphotosb … 526020953/

Ford F60L CMP,CMP No.13-cabbed,Fixedside-bodied,4x4 Lorry of the Royal Air Force:-
flickr.com/photos/daveseven/4399297647/

NOTE:Over the next ten years or so we made several return visits to the Buxton-Castleton-
Grindleford-Hope,etc,area by train,by motorcoach and by motorcar,and I managed to see these
fascinating Ford F60L CMP,CMP No.13-cabbed 4x4 Hopper
Limestone Lorries in operation,several times .

EUREKA!!! I’ve just had another search on the Internet and found the following photograph
of a limestone lorry operated by Amalgamated Limestone Corporation Ltd., Chipping Sodbury, Bristol.
This lorry is very similar to the Ford F60L CMP,CMP No.13-cabbed 4x4 Hopper Limestone Lorries
that I became entranced with on that magical weekend :-
Ford F60L CMP,CMP No.13-cabbed 4x4 Hopper Limestone Lorry,NYE 75,London registered in July 1953 :-
flickr.com/photos/67384646@N … 384646@N08

VALKYRIE.

[rigsby]

those ford hopper lorries sound as if they would have belonged to adam lythgow , they were around the high peak area a lot in the 50s and 60s . i recall them having a good few of those lorries on the lime spreading . cheers , dave

[wheel_nut]

Buzzer:
During my fourty odd years in transport, alot over the water in europe one of the most standout memories for me is when they did away with the international permit system for trucks,this really gutted me at the time as i had spent alot of my hard earned cash increasing the amount of permits i had buy buying other companys quotas.The first EC blue book i bought cost me ten grand and i bought many after that albeit not at ten grand but a goodly sum was paid out to boost my share of permits,in the end i had about sixteen blue books plus an ECMT book and a heap of ordinary permits all of which all became worthless overnight.This at the time had a devastating effect on the work as any Tom ■■■■ or Harry from the UK could go to europe and vice versa,this lead to a huge influx of trucks doing the job that before was regulated by those with the permits.I am pleased to say that we are one of a few british companys still plying this trade but today it has changed so much,when i first started the flow was 50/50 with foreign and british trucks shareing the workload but not so today,i doubt if the brits have 15% now of the international trade.My two sons now run the company that i started but i fear it is harder today than when i used to run the show,but at least we are still at it so all the hard work in earlier years was not wasted. This is why this is one of my stand-out lorry memories during my time,cheers Buzzer.

When does the book come out Buzz, there must be some interesting stories to tell

[wheel_nut]

I am sure I have mentioned this one before, anyway I don’t think I can get into trouble for it now. I would have been 12 or 13 and I used to go into Hull every evening with the boss of a local transport company. He worked in the Hull office during the day and his brother ran the yard. One evening for reasons I cannot remember the dock shunter had left his lorry at the office. OBT 58G a tidy little F86. Alan had come back in his car and drove a loaded F88 back into Hull and I jumped in with him.

When we arrived at the dock shed, it was very busy with a queue, Alan left me there and got a lift back round to the office, meanwhile I got tipped and he came back in the F86. I queued again with this one while he disappeared with the 88. Once again I got tipped and I knew enough from going with other drivers about POD’s etc.

One of the other drivers told me they had seen Alan in the office so the obvious thing to do was to drive back there. I had driven them round the yard often enough, was fairly accomplished at reversing and was tall enough to see out of the window. I dropped the trailer on Black Hut and walked in the office. Alan looked and laughed at me seeing the F86 stood outside. I asked him if he wanted it locking up. He passed me the notes for another trailer and told me to tip that one, he was going to get a container on.

These 3 loads were refractory bricks from Crook on Lancashire flats so they were sheeted and roped to the flats. I was able to undo the ropes that held the flat to the trailer, before the days of twist locks. All I remember as I walked out of the door was Alan shouted don’t forget the yellow line.

This was my third trailer tonight, but the first loaded one, so I was getting a bit cocky as I went up the dock road, when I came to the T junction I had slowed down enough as there was no need to stop now as the gates from the main road were locked at night. As I crossed the line there was a loud shout. I looked around and there was a dock copper on a bike I used the brakes for the first time and realised the yellow line was on, the air tap wasn’t When I said there was no need to stop, that was normally the case, except when the copper was going for his tea break

Luckily he wasn’t harmed, he didn’t realise I was only 13 and I learned a fantastic lesson and never ever forgot an airtap ever again.

Those were the days and we were allowed to make our mistakes off road, todays modern driver doesn’t get this, the first time they come across a loaded lorry is after they have passed a driving test.

Good Experience. Certainly. Would it be be allowed today? Certainly Not!