Great storey Dennis, And I hope you get well soon my friend, Regards Larry.
Patience, dalesman, he’s hanging out the suspense!
Bewick:
shugg:
peggydeckboy:
Sorry to hear you are not full MOT, if you were left handed like me it would be ok .so long as you can pick a nice cut tumbler up you will be fine,you know what driving with the window half down has caught up with you…or maybe load a few bags from a elevator just to get you going…all the best,southern roping /sheeting superintendent.visual pdb.Could just be something as simple as lifting his wallet in and out of his jacket pocket .
Correction ! “Donkey choking wad in arse pocket”
Bewick.
Glad to see you have not lost your sense of humour Dennis !!! , hope you will be back to full fighting fitness soon . I am waiting to learn if TDG ever put its foot in your door , I take it its a matter of watch this space .?
Cheers ROF - happy to wait knowing it will be delivered in Dennis’s unique style at a time of his choosing.
I’ve got a lot of respect for Bewick- DON’T TELL HIM! He was one of the new starters who went about things in the right way and succeeded. If there had been a few more Bewicks the industry wouldn’t be in the state it is now.
Bewick:
John West:
Hope you’re starting to feel better Dennis.Any chance of continuing the tale to and beyond the takeover by WRM?
Fascinating stuff.
John.
Maybe up to 1995 John but I’m struggling to concentrate at the moment my bloody right arm and shoulder is giving me a bit of constant pain at the moment, taking the ■■■■ with the odd post is about all I’m capable of at this time
although the mention of those three initials momentarily increases the pain.
Cheers Dennis.
You’ve been counting all your money again haven’t you, it’s called Repetitive Strain Injury. 
Here you go Dennis, your shoulder will be back in shape in no time pulling the trailer brake on and off! Would this be the motor Possy and you had when new? Cheer’s Pete
pete smith:
Here you go Dennis, your shoulder will be back in shape in no time pulling the trailer brake on and off! Would this be the motor Possy and you had when new? Cheer’s Pete
Hiya Pete, Now that is a great shot mate but going by the profile of the headboard behind the cab this is a shot of the first one HEO 557 which only pulled a trailer for a short time then went solo whereas the second Octopus JEO 192 that Eric and me were on pulled a trailer for more-or-less it’s whole time on the fleet from may '62 until it was scrapped in Dec '68.It apparently finished it’s operational life running Tuborg tanks from Felixstowe into London. I finished at Brady’s in Jan '68 and I believe I was the last mate he had on the Octopus and IIRC Eric left not long afterwards to start at Bowater Scott when they started running a few motors of their own out of Barrow mill, BMC Lairds pulling billowing single axle curtainsiders (not Boalloy) which had their curtains secured by bungee rubbers. Eric soon got the job as yard Foreman at Bowies which he spent the rest of his working life doing with his own strict methods of parking properly and generally running the yard with an “iron fist”, do you know I often wondered why I could always get quick loads when I used to shoot down to Barrow in the early '70’s when we were busy and under pressure ! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
pete smith:
Here you go Dennis, your shoulder will be back in shape in no time pulling the trailer brake on and off! Would this be the motor Possy and you had when new? Cheer’s PeteHiya Pete, Now that is a great shot mate but going by the profile of the headboard behind the cab this is a shot of the first one HEO 557 which only pulled a trailer for a short time then went solo whereas the second Octopus JEO 192 that Eric and me were on pulled a trailer for more-or-less it’s whole time on the fleet from may '62 until it was scrapped in Dec '68.It apparently finished it’s operational life running Tuborg tanks from Felixstowe into London. I finished at Brady’s in Jan '68 and I believe I was the last mate he had on the Octopus and IIRC Eric left not long afterwards to start at Bowater Scott when they started running a few motors of their own out of Barrow mill, BMC Lairds pulling billowing single axle curtainsiders (not Boalloy) which had their curtains secured by bungee rubbers. Eric soon got the job as yard Foreman at Bowies which he spent the rest of his working life doing with his own strict methods of parking properly and generally running the yard with an “iron fist”, do you know I often wondered why I could always get quick loads when I used to shoot down to Barrow in the early '70’s when we were busy and under pressure !
Another one of Brady’s for you Dennis
Hi THE last photograph looks as if it has “comet” painted on the near side ,i thought it looked like a “beaver” the fuel tank does not seem right for a comet even a super comet, with the eaton two speed, please put me right or wrong. see the old budgie cage mirrors round that is correct.there was another old photograph on he
re and it said it was a commet but had oval mirrors shaped like n oDAYS .that was not correct.
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU THINK WE USED TO JUMP IN AND OUT OF THEM CABS IN A WEEK,now you modern ,day ,drivers that was driving apprentice ship plus you were sat above the battery,under your seat… no fly swatter there Andrew…
Evening all,
Now pdb, batteries under the seat…what a delight…especially when the worn out old heap would not start!
Couple them up…sizzle…sizzle…(are they connected ok)…by then the sizzle and smell were very strong…press the starter…wurrr, wurrr, catch, (thank goodness)…nothing, (a whisp of smoke in the mirror)…again…that smell…suddenly a roar…its started, (totally drowning the sizzle, bang, and thwang), as the electrical bits finally gave up…Keep the window open, it will go away…
.
Untill next morning!..Why , oh why did we do it?..Then worked for a good 10/12 hours sitting in that noxious odour, …but we had to get there…WHY?
Ive a scar on my arm from a recalcitrant 1617 Mercedes set of worn out batteries!..My pal Chris Kelly has a broken nose courtesy of the same on an old Atkinson…(even if you have an Empire, it started humbly with real hard work…)
I often think that the “barstewards” who created these hell holes for us to work in, should forever be made to endure just what we had to endure to work with them!!!..Engineers…Naw…plonkers of the first order…an engineer would have considered the end user, (not the buyer), first…
And let it be said, many years away from driving for a living I encountered such educated numbskulls…and when challenged to spend 30 hours, driving, and living in “their” creations…I had no takers…but many ruffled feathers, …and lifelong enemies…blooming sad men!!!
Cheerio for now
Saviem:
Evening all,Now pdb, batteries under the seat…what a delight…especially when the worn out old heap would not start!
Couple them up…sizzle…sizzle…(are they connected ok)…by then the sizzle and smell were very strong…press the starter…wurrr, wurrr, catch, (thank goodness)…nothing, (a whisp of smoke in the mirror)…again…that smell…suddenly a roar…its started, (totally drowning the sizzle, bang, and thwang), as the electrical bits finally gave up…Keep the window open, it will go away…
.
Untill next morning!..Why , oh why did we do it?..Then worked for a good 10/12 hours sitting in that noxious odour, …but we had to get there…WHY?Ive a scar on my arm from a recalcitrant 1617 Mercedes set of worn out batteries!..My pal Chris Kelly has a broken nose courtesy of the same on an old Atkinson…(even if you have an Empire, it started humbly with real hard work…)
I often think that the “barstewards” who created these hell holes for us to work in, should forever be made to endure just what we had to endure to work with them!!!..Engineers…Naw…plonkers of the first order…an engineer would have considered the end user, (not the buyer), first…
And let it be said, many years away from driving for a living I encountered such educated numbskulls…and when challenged to spend 30 hours, driving, and living in “their” creations…I had no takers…but many ruffled feathers, …and lifelong enemies…blooming sad men!!!
Cheerio for now
And then there was that strangely discomfiting smell when the battery under the seat is being over charged by a faulty alternator! Just the time NOT to light up that roll-up you prepared earlier. Been in that film. Phew, still alive all these years later. 
Robert
I think you are right ROF but i can only go off what I read on this forum. I was 3 when Dennis started out but remember seeing his vehicles as they stood out in my home town Rochdale as I grew up. The others I remember were Henleys,who also suffered from those who shouldn’t be named, at their new depot and the couldn’t miss the orange of Nuttalls. Had a British Vita factory at the end of our lane but cant really recall them apart from when they came past the house. Didn’t start driving till 2004, as had a career elsewhere but always wanted to drive, so Bewick had long since been lost.
I take my understanding from reading the posts re Bewicks and Dennis’s tales. When you read the comments of those who worked with him they show he must have done something right or they wouldn’t be making them.
PDB, that motor is definitely a Comet. If you look at the Octopus, you’ll see that the door is full height, as was the Beaver, whereas the Comet had a step attached to the wheel and another step at cab height on the mudguard.
I still have the scars on my leg where the boot slipped from the wheel step, raking down my shins!
I’m also sure that in that lovely ‘publicity’ shot, the British Cellophane load was well within the GVW of a Comet unit and single axle trailer.
I seem to think that Bewick has driven a Brady Comet - maybe that very one - coupled up to a 33’ or 40’ trailer, loaded with over 20 tons of steel, from the steelworks, maybe only back to the yard on Duke street one Saturday morning. Possibly many Saturday mornings.
When I took my Mastiff in for MOT at the Barrow test station, chatting to the Chief Engineer, who had moved up to Barrow from another depot about six months previously, he said he had been warned about the Brady lorries, but he found them to be very well maintained and in good condition.
That was true. They always looked good as well, great colour combination. Of course, he didn’t weigh them - that was perhaps another story…
Ah, the batteries on the Comet! One under each seat. (Luckily I didn’t smoke Robert!)
As I headed towards Carter Bar, on the road from St Boswells to North Shields, loaded with round timber, one early morning in 1969, I bent down to scratch my leg. The front wheel momentarily left the Tarmac and caught the soft turf. No power steering. Try as I might I couldn’t drag it back onto the road. There was a 10 foot banking, and in slow motion The Comet 4 wheeler rolled over. As I tried to extricate myself from the upturned truck, I realised that I was being gently doused in an acid rain.
I was very lucky. There was almost no damage to the Comet. When I released the chains, the load obligingly rolled away. A crane pulled it back on its wheels and we reloaded the timber. The cab stank of sulphuric acid, but apart from that, as said, very lucky, no glass broken, no visible damage.
I unloaded in South Shields and by the evening my clothes had rotted away to rags! I cleaned the cab as best I could, but thereafter, the first thing anyone getting in the cab asked ‘what’s that smell?’
My next load was to Wigan. I had added distilled water to the batteries, but obviously they needed more.
I unloaded at Riding & Anderton and headed back through Wigan and along the A49 to the motorway. I had to stop for something. Starting had been sluggish, but now - not a sausage! I was on a slight hill, but it wouldn’t start rolling.
Can you imagine nowadays leaving the lorry out of gear, climbing out with a crowbar, levering it under the front wheel and jumping back aboard as it starts to roll. Throwing the crowbar over the passenger side, sliding it into gear and releasing the clutch, slamming the door, hearing the Leyland 375 roar into life and heading back up to Scotland.
Happy Days!
John
Dennis/John W,
Is this from your neck of the woods? The Brady’s motor is Comet,front wheel trim is not big enough for a ten stud hub.
U
The Brady Comet EEO 551 1st Reg 23:7:59 scrapped 31:1:69. That is a shot of the loading bay at BCL Sandscale Barrow probably very early 60’s and that Comet would probably have been one of a number that operated on a “Contract A” licence but then Jack and The Big’un never paid much attention to the requirements of the then Carrier Licencing Regs I recall one morning Possy and I were in The Hollies having breakfast and a Brady Comet pulled on coupled to a four-in-line loaded with steel for Birmingham. It was a new Driver IIRC who we didn’t know (Bradys did have an above average driver turn over!) So when me and the G’uvnor went out to set off again my mate looks at the Comet and says “That’s a BCL Contract motor loaded with steel from Barrow works” he just shook his head and climbed into the Octopus and off we went! 
While I can’t just recall all their old Comets they did however remain " in service" running around Barrow as shunters ! The Big’un was a very close mate of the then Chief Constable of the then small Barrow Borough Force prior to it’s absorption into first Lancashire then the ■■■■■■■ Constabulary. I would be locked up now as nineteen year old flying around Barrow in a wreck of a Comet and some of the weights the night shunter put onto a four-in-line in the Steel Works for transhipping were ■■■■■■■ horrendous ! Although in defence the Works entrance was just a couple of hundred yards from the Brady yard But I also used to run up and down to the Dock when there was a pulp boat in and the motors were loaded up and beyond “the Gunnels” for the short couple of miles up Park Rd. But Hey! that’s was then in the days of yore ! The Big’un once told a Bobby to " ■■■■ off Son" who had followed me into the yard on one of said Comets ,"No trailer number plate, dodgy tyres, no rear lights, no tax disc, no brakes to speak of etc etc I kid you not but The Big’un looked on Barrow as his personal “fiefdom” and no wet behind the ears Bobby was going to dispute the fact ! Cheers Bewick.
pete smith:
Dennis/John W,
Is this from your neck of the woods? The Brady’s motor is Comet,front wheel trim is not big enough for a ten stud hub.
Yes I believe it is a Barrow based Mastiff doing some kind of driver testing by the looks of it. Bowater Scott replaced their fleet of Lairds with the Mastiffs then in turn the Mastiffs were finally replaced with a fleet of Seddon 32/4’s with a mixture of ■■■■■■■ 220 and Gardner 180LXB engines, I recall we carried out quite a number of major repairs on both their Mastiffs and Seddons in our workshops at Milnthorpe. The fleet of vans Bowater Scott ran were 36ft single axle YORK Freightmasters fitted with Jo-Loda tracking. Cheers Dennis.
Hello Dennis. Hope your recovery is gaining pace. That post about the “Big-un” made me wonder what happened to the sort of men that ran haulage outfits. The sort of guys who took the job by the scruff of the neck and would never allow anybody to talk down to them? A different breed who dealt directly with Bank Managers and frowned on any hint of delay that might let a customer down. We need them back - NOW! Jim.
jmc jnr:
Hello Dennis. Hope your recovery is gaining pace. That post about the “Big-un” made me wonder what happened to the sort of men that ran haulage outfits. The sort of guys who took the job by the scruff of the neck and would never allow anybody to talk down to them? A different breed who dealt directly with Bank Managers and frowned on any hint of delay that might let a customer down. We need them back - NOW! Jim.
Reading this reminded me of a tale, told to me by Sonnie Swinton of the Pentland Garage Loanhead.
There had been a complaint made to the Post office telephones dept, about Barney Mullen the Musselburgh Tipper Owner’s Foul language to the operators on the switchboard.
The post office supervisor then threatened to cut off Barney’s phone, so after a chat it was decided that if he apologised to the offended telephonist he may be able to keep his phone service. So the following conversation took place. “Hello was it you I told to go and F–k yourself this Morning?, well do’nt bother your arse” !! and put the phone down, saying to the supervisor, that should do.