Sniffy:
The Milk tankers built by Crane Fruehauf used on the rail projects were just built from slighly thicker steel as i remember, the shell had additional rings to carry the lifting pockets, landing legs and chassis sections were beefed up and the bumpers were a fold away design. The manlid was sunk to meet the rail profile measurements
When the rail projects finished they dropped back into normal service, they just carried a bit less milk! I wonder if “Penrith castle” is still in use
We had one in Immingham depot (TF) for a while on GP work in about 96, I dont rmember who built it though. I dont think it was ever a milk tanker, It had 3 manlids and a top discharge leg had been fitted as an after thought. It also had nice shiney unpainted lagging with Tankfrieght on it. We used it for nitric out of Hydro, dont know where it went to after that. It had the lifting pockets on it, and as you say it was a heavy tank. I will see if I can hunt down some pictures.
Wheel Nut:
P&O Roadtankers and P&O Tankmasters were sold off as were H&S in Holland. P&O Containers (OCL) became P&O Nedlloyd became Maersk. P&O European Transport became Wincanton PLC and Pandoro became P&O Ferrymasters
Pandoro & Ferrymasters were sister companies, but there were lots of in-house political angles arising from the merger of Northern Ireland Trailers and Ferrymasters (Ireland) to form Pandoro. In the end, Pandoro became, effectively Ferrymasters Ireland again, I think. In earlier years, ex-N.I.T. people held senior positions above ex-FMI people, and so on.
P&O Roadways (made up from an amalgamation of Containerbases, North Western Roadways, West Midland Roadways, Coastal Roadways, Eastern Roadways International and Henry Smither, ended up as Roadways Container Logistics, passing to P&O Nedlloyd when that company was formed.
POETS (P&O European Transport Services) included P&O Distribution (including the old Butlers Warehousing) and P&O Roadtanks (made up from Thomas Allen, A S Jones, John Forman, James Hemphill), not to mention the continental interests - POETS as a whole passed to Wincanton. The P&O group had previously owned Bovis Homes, Arndale, Pandair Freight & Anglo Overseas too! It was one hell of an outfit, but Ferrymasters is the only bit remaining under the P&O banner, along with Ferries & Ports, and now owned by DP World of Dubai.
H&S were sold before P&O changed from Olympic blue to the darker shade used by RCL until recently, and they still run today in the old P&O livery. They can be seen on the A303 most days.
Steptoe - I think these are the tanks you mention, GP tanks running from Freightliners Manchester terminal down to London and back by rail. These were built some time after the milk tanks, maybe four or five years later I think
Yes thats the one, (or same as) we used it for nitric when the Kosovo job was on, going back and forth from Immingham to the ordanace factory in Bridgewater. Happy (well payed) days.
Hi All, not been on for a while. Just browsing through and found some references to Alan Walker and Smith and Robinsons.
Alan was a driver for many years for S&R and as someone said he was well respected. He was also a natural comic and when he went onto the training staff proved a natural Leader and his experience showed when he faced a class of Drivers. If memory serves me right he left S&R soon after Bill Dobson took over in charge of driver training. Bill was an ex RAF officer and still thought he was in the forces when ordering men about. He was not a trainer he was paper shuffler and I think one of the reasons Alan left. The quality of the training certainly nose dived after.
I used to be one of the Drivers Committee at Rothwell and Bills attitude didn’t go down well with a lot of the drivers. When we were making a claim for tax relief on meals allowance he undermined us by passing on information to Inland Revenue which scotched a few of the lads from claiming, so you can imagine the response of many of the drivers.
I organised a re-union for S&R about 3 years ago and Alan was very much alive and kicking then. I think I have his e mail address somewhere, I’ll try to find it and post an update if I am successful in contacting him.
The Yorkshireman:
Hi All, not been on for a while. Just browsing through and found some references to Alan Walker and Smith and Robinsons.
Alan was a driver for many years for S&R and as someone said he was well respected. He was also a natural comic and when he went onto the training staff proved a natural Leader and his experience showed when he faced a class of Drivers. If memory serves me right he left S&R soon after Bill Dobson took over in charge of driver training. Bill was an ex RAF officer and still thought he was in the forces when ordering men about. He was not a trainer he was paper shuffler and I think one of the reasons Alan left. The quality of the training certainly nose dived after.
I used to be one of the Drivers Committee at Rothwell and Bills attitude didn’t go down well with a lot of the drivers. When we were making a claim for tax relief on meals allowance he undermined us by passing on information to Inland Revenue which scotched a few of the lads from claiming, so you can imagine the response of many of the drivers.
I organised a re-union for S&R about 3 years ago and Alan was very much alive and kicking then. I think I have his e mail address somewhere, I’ll try to find it and post an update if I am successful in contacting him.
I’ve attended many of Alan Walkers training courses when he was at LPG and he certainly made the sessions not only informative but also entertaining, he was a master in the classroom and could easily command everyones attention, no matter how much experience the students thought they had.
Hi All, I have just spoken on the phone to Alan Walker and I am pleased to say he’s still as full of Bull… and life as ever. I have given him the website address and he’s going to look in when he comes back off holiday. (He’s probably on his Yacht somewhere like the Bahamas) Any way it’s somewhere where there’s a lot of water.
Sadly he tells me he is just as he used to be in his S&R days, no improvement there then. I still remember one of the lads coming into the drivers room, looking across at Alan and saying with concern in his voice “Alan,are you allright” Alan replied “why what’s wrong” “You’ve got your head on upside down” was the reply.Alan had just started to grow a beard at the time. Of course as those of you who know him would expect Alan had an answer. Nice to know so many people remember and speak well of him.
The Yorkshireman:
Hi All, not been on for a while. Just browsing through and found some references to Alan Walker and Smith and Robinsons.
Hi Yorkshireman.
I worked at S&R Urmston 1968 for a short spell then came back 1982.
I expect you may remember some of the old crowd. Norman smith, Charlie Becket, Tommy Preston, Bernard cafe, Derrick Hopkinson, Rod Bates and Alan on wash bay grounded as Lost Licences! To name a few. What’s Terry Macnulty up to now (the Black Dog?) We would stay over at Rothwell for our Hazchem (ADR) early days of Hazchem, there was a professor resembled beaker out of the Muppets who was simulating a BLEVE, he put a balloon on the end of a gas bottle, moved the Bunsen burner close to it. As the balloon had inflated it was getting closer to the burner, it exploded and half the class rushed to the loo! Correct Alan walker was a character; he placed our Hazchem cards in a room filled with ammonia. You had to go in with PPE. He put Vaseline on the visor so you had to slip the mask off to pick up your card. When you came out off the room he would have his Polaroid camera ready to take your photo to place on the Hazchem card. I looked like the missing link!
I moved to Norfolk 1985; I was carting out of DOW chemicals at Kings Lynn and had to renew my (ADR) 1988. I was booked in at Hargreaves Training Services Stanningley Leeds. Alan Walker was running the course!
The Yorkshireman:
Nice to know so many people remember and speak well of him.
Hear Hear. A Gentleman of the old school
I too remember Alan, he was at LPG Batley I think when I saw him (may be wrong on that though) - he made the course interesting and didn’t talk down to us.
I bumped into him at the Yorkshire Show a few years ago, he said he was retired then and enjoying life (not sure he knew who the hell I was though).
The Yorkshireman:
Hi All, not been on for a while. Just browsing through and found some references to Alan Walker and Smith and Robinsons.
Alan was a driver for many years for S&R and as someone said he was well respected. He was also a natural comic and when he went onto the training staff proved a natural Leader and his experience showed when he faced a class of Drivers. If memory serves me right he left S&R soon after Bill Dobson took over in charge of driver training. Bill was an ex RAF officer and still thought he was in the forces when ordering men about. He was not a trainer he was paper shuffler and I think one of the reasons Alan left. The quality of the training certainly nose dived after.
I used to be one of the Drivers Committee at Rothwell and Bills attitude didn’t go down well with a lot of the drivers. When we were making a claim for tax relief on meals allowance he undermined us by passing on information to Inland Revenue which scotched a few of the lads from claiming, so you can imagine the response of many of the drivers.
I organised a re-union for S&R about 3 years ago and Alan was very much alive and kicking then. I think I have his e mail address somewhere, I’ll try to find it and post an update if I am successful in contacting him.
Alan was born in the next street to me, he was/is? a good man. I was up the road in Rothwell at Hargreaves for a while, then did a bit at S&R then moved to Liversedge, all in the same group. You might remember my younger brother David, he did his apprenticeship at S&R’s, he then went to “the ministry”, he’s now (whisper it) a senior engineer at VOSA. If any of you fellas have had “dealings” with him, it’s nowt to do with me.
Blimey, this topics turning into the Alan Walker appreciation society.
Hi Kev. Yes I remember a lot of the names you mention from Urmston, this is most unusual for me as I have never had a good memory,for names especially.
It was Alan who first got me interested in the LDOY competition. He then retired from competing, couldn’t take the pressure of competing against younger better looking lads I suppose, so he moved over onto the training staff to avoid the stress and possible humiliation of coming second.
He will be coming on shortly so he will no doubt have other explanations (excuses) on offer.
The Yorkshireman:
Blimey, this topics turning into the Alan Walker appreciation society.
Hi Kev. Yes I remember a lot of the names you mention from Urmston, this is most unusual for me as I have never had a good memory,for names especially.
It was Alan who first got me interested in the LDOY competition. He then retired from competing, couldn’t take the pressure of competing against younger better looking lads I suppose, so he moved over onto the training staff to avoid the stress and possible humiliation of coming second.
He will be coming on shortly so he will no doubt have other explanations (excuses) on offer.
A top bloke was Alan and a great credit to the haulage industry but did he ever learn to play snooker properly .
Sniffy:
Wim Vos, big over here at one time, I always liked the F10’s and skelly with the deflector on the front, Rinnen’s used to have similar kit
Are Wim Vos still around now ■■
Wim Vos were taken under the Nedlloyd banner. WIM VOS staff went their own ways eventually and it morphed into FoodTrans and Eurovos, the one with the odd coloured wheels, green, red and blue
H&S bought Foodtrans and were then themselves taken over by Den Hartogh
Gentenaar bought P&O Tankmasters and became simply Tankmasters.
The RTT site has many more images of long gone Dutch tanker companies in exotic and not so exotic locations.
RTT (Rotterdam) became part of Hoyer along with ATT (Antwerp)
Where was the photo of the Den Bosch Merc on the rola train taken Malc? I’ve seen a lot of those trains in Switzerland.Bustio Arsizio was a destination in Italia via the Gotthard line I think,via Lugano and Chiasso.
If any of you fellas have had “dealings” with him, it’s nowt to do with me. 
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