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First wagonI drove 1965 Trader very like the one mike thomas posted I was 19 & the unladen weight was 2t 19cwt 6lbs just under the 3t so you didn`t have to be 21 to drive it. Weight wise we could carry 7t but regulary used to load them with 10t when moving taties from Consett railyard back to Annfield Plain Somebody mentioned vacumn vipers ours were also vacumn assisted brakes had to be careful not to warm them up to much on adownhill 
. We used them most of the time for delivery of fuit & veg to schools hospitals & chippies & the constant in & out of the cabs took a strain on the steering wheel spindles as these were just 4or5 thin bits of steel in3 positions & we constantly pulled ourselves in & out of the cab using the sterring wheel, Also remember 3 or 4 tattie sacks over the bonnet to keep it quiet.
A couple of shots from the Darham archives
has anyone ever seen a trader with a sleeper cab?
old 67:
Hi all. I picked back load of bedroom furniure with the Trader(See earlier post) from a firm in Shoredich,I think they were called “Cyril Kaye”. Its about 6pm when I ring in to tell the gaffer,he asks where the drops are and how many. I tell him 17 drops,all over Yorkshire.He goes ballistic and says he needs the van empty at Crossley carpets in Halifax at
8am.on Friday.Seeing as its 6pm on Wednesday,and I am just about out of hours,and still in London,Itell him no chance.Anyway,he says he will pay me a fiver bonus if I get the job done(seemed a good deal as we were on £11 basic then)
Ran up to first drop(Sheffield Coop) That night.Went like the wind all next day,left with just one wardrobe on van for a dept.store in Halifax(half day closing in them days).I put the wardrobe in the back of our Transit,and got the Trader down to Crossleys for 8am and loaded it.That night got my wage,guess what,no fiver bonus. Gaffer said our deal was to deliver all the load,and I had failed!!!(it was a half mile trip for the local lad to drop the wardrobe in halifax).I got the cash eventually,but it shows how tight SOME of us Yorkshiremen are.hiya…sorry to disagree about the yorkshire man and his money…I can,t say who this boss is (YOU ALL know him).one saturday morning i helped my mate to reline the brakes on a trailer(helped means no pay at all)any way i got the wheels off(hub and all) and he knocked the old rivets out(no shoes left) and put the shoes on. as i rebuilt the shoes and put the hubs back on. we worked well about three and 3/4 hours to do the work. when it came to pay up. This boss
(not good at maths)said three and 3/4 hours at 7s/ 9d per hour eeeeerm call it 7/6 per hour 3x 7/6 well 3x 7 = 21.shillings hears a £1…this man is now worth
loads of dosh…can you see how he made his money…£1 labour to reline a trailer. mind you he did buy the new lineings and maybe the rivets.
John
Hi 3300JOHN.
You mention gaffers being tight about maintenance costs.I went to the yard one Saturday morning and hes on his hands and knees by the front wheel of my lorry.he says"watch this for saving money,Ive just bought one of these"then starts to re-cut the tyre(both tyre and wheel still on lorry).He pulls out a strip of rubber about 18 inches long,and all these little wire strands spring out from the casing!!!.He says"Oh eck I think Id better raise the blade a bit.“He sees the look on my face,and says"it will be ok,John,we can put it on the back”.I cant tell you my reply because of the auto-censor,suffice to say I had TWO new tyres on the front when I set off on Sunday.
This is the same bloke who told me I would have finish a 3 day trip with no windscreen in my TK Bedford,because he had on old screen in the shed back in the yard !!!.
Keep smiling…JOHN
old 67:
Hi 3300JOHN.
You mention gaffers being tight about maintenance costs.I went to the yard one Saturday morning and hes on his hands and knees by the front wheel of my lorry.he says"watch this for saving money,Ive just bought one of these"then starts to re-cut the tyre(both tyre and wheel still on lorry).He pulls out a strip of rubber about 18 inches long,and all these little wire strands spring out from the casing!!!.He says"Oh eck I think Id better raise the blade a bit.“He sees the look on my face,and says"it will be ok,John,we can put it on the back”.I cant tell you my reply because of the auto-censor,suffice to say I had TWO new tyres on the front when I set off on Sunday.
This is the same bloke who told me I would have finish a 3 day trip with no windscreen in my TK Bedford,because he had on old screen in the shed back in the yard !!!.
Keep smiling…JOHN
Youv’e just reminded me of what an old, long gone, pal used to tell me about an employer he once drove for and it was “when the canvas appears on the tread you are still good for another 10,000 miles” Bewick.
Bewick:
old 67:
Hi 3300JOHN.
You mention gaffers being tight about maintenance costs.I went to the yard one Saturday morning and hes on his hands and knees by the front wheel of my lorry.he says"watch this for saving money,Ive just bought one of these"then starts to re-cut the tyre(both tyre and wheel still on lorry).He pulls out a strip of rubber about 18 inches long,and all these little wire strands spring out from the casing!!!.He says"Oh eck I think Id better raise the blade a bit.“He sees the look on my face,and says"it will be ok,John,we can put it on the back”.I cant tell you my reply because of the auto-censor,suffice to say I had TWO new tyres on the front when I set off on Sunday.
This is the same bloke who told me I would have finish a 3 day trip with no windscreen in my TK Bedford,because he had on old screen in the shed back in the yard !!!.
Keep smiling…JOHNYouv’e just reminded me of what an old, long gone, pal used to tell me about an employer he once drove for and it was “when the canvas appears on the tread you are still good for another 10,000 miles” Bewick.
Sounds like something Syd would have said. If you could not see wires all round the grooves we had to cut them again. We had a full set of wheels with brand new tyres for test
truckfing:
Bewick:
old 67:
Hi 3300JOHN.
You mention gaffers being tight about maintenance costs.I went to the yard one Saturday morning and hes on his hands and knees by the front wheel of my lorry.he says"watch this for saving money,Ive just bought one of these"then starts to re-cut the tyre(both tyre and wheel still on lorry).He pulls out a strip of rubber about 18 inches long,and all these little wire strands spring out from the casing!!!.He says"Oh eck I think Id better raise the blade a bit.“He sees the look on my face,and says"it will be ok,John,we can put it on the back”.I cant tell you my reply because of the auto-censor,suffice to say I had TWO new tyres on the front when I set off on Sunday.
This is the same bloke who told me I would have finish a 3 day trip with no windscreen in my TK Bedford,because he had on old screen in the shed back in the yard !!!.
Keep smiling…JOHNYouv’e just reminded me of what an old, long gone, pal used to tell me about an employer he once drove for and it was “when the canvas appears on the tread you are still good for another 10,000 miles” Bewick.
Sounds like something Syd would have said. If you could not see wires all round the grooves we had to cut them again. We had a full set of wheels with brand new tyres for test
Hiya Truckfing the bloke I was referring to was Fred Shaw of Lindale----and no doubt Sydney was a pupil from the same class!!! Dennis.
Spotted this in Fethiye, Turkey:
By whiplash_012 at 2010-11-02
This old beauty seen at fairs and days out, near home.
Wow, this thread has got my memory going. First truck I ever got paid to drive was a Co-op Bakery Trader '64 BPB 365B.
I can’t understand how I did it legally, as I was only 19 at the time and I’me sure it was over 4t----was it legal ?
I know that you had to be 21 to drive the big stuff (Austin ff’s) that were used for inter Bakery night runs (which I did) but the Trader was used every day for shop runs.The year was '68/'69. Can anybody explain please.
midgeteler:
Wow, this thread has got my memory going. First truck I ever got paid to drive was a Co-op Bakery Trader '64 BPB 365B.
I can’t understand how I did it legally, as I was only 19 at the time and I’me sure it was over 4t----was it legal ?
I know that you had to be 21 to drive the big stuff (Austin ff’s) that were used for inter Bakery night runs (which I did) but the Trader was used every day for shop runs.The year was '68/'69. Can anybody explain please.
I think you had to be 21 to drive anything over 3ton, can’t remember it’s a long time ago I was driving an S type Bedford at 19 and that was illegal, but I got away with it.
altitude said
think you had to be 21 to drive anything over 3ton, can’t remember it’s a long time ago I was driving an S type Bedford at 19 and that was illegal, but I got away with it.
Yes ,thats what I thought, either I’me loseing my marbles or the Co-op had an exemption 
Bloody awful brakes BTW, I was always defecting it but the workshop just said: Ah, their all like that!
midgeteler:
altitude said
think you had to be 21 to drive anything over 3ton, can’t remember it’s a long time ago I was driving an S type Bedford at 19 and that was illegal, but I got away with it.Yes ,thats what I thought, either I’me loseing my marbles or the Co-op had an exemption
I was on the Co-op but not when I was driving the S type, It was a few years later when I was legal.
altitude:
midgeteler:
Wow, this thread has got my memory going. First truck I ever got paid to drive was a Co-op Bakery Trader '64 BPB 365B.
I can’t understand how I did it legally, as I was only 19 at the time and I’me sure it was over 4t----was it legal ?
I know that you had to be 21 to drive the big stuff (Austin ff’s) that were used for inter Bakery night runs (which I did) but the Trader was used every day for shop runs.The year was '68/'69. Can anybody explain please.I think you had to be 21 to drive anything over 3ton, can’t remember it’s a long time ago
Hello altitude, like you, I drove an S type Bedford ( petrol engined ) on general haulage aged just 19 and painted on the chassis was- unladen weight 2tons 19 cwt. 3qtrs. No way was it that light but I got away with it and even went on to drive a Commer artic aged 20, mind you I looked older and of course in the 60s things were not so strict as they are now, as long as you were strong and willing age did not matter.
Getting back to Thames Traders we had some, and one was an artic which was always coupled to a spread-axle tandem trailer. It was worked very hard up and down Gt.Yarmouth Quay with oilfeld equipment and you wouldn’t believe the weights we piled on it sometimes. Long days too. Regards, Haddy.
IMO the most iconic operator of Traders were Robsons 'frae Carlisle,their heavy fleet being Foden but their lighter end that carried a lot of Metal Box were Traders bought from County Garage in Carlisle,both Tractor units and 7 ton LWB ridgids(later they were called 75’s to denote 7.5 tonners)Fords used the Robson fleet as an endorsement for their products.I’m not certain wether Robsons had any 6 wheel Traders but it is quite possible as they always ran a sprinkling of other types i.e.Albion 4&6 wheelers.Cheers Bewick.
Is it possible that a Trader was made under 3 ton?
Does anybody remember the Traders used on the shale run from Ebbw Vale to Llanwern in the very early 60s? One lorry, three drivers, one licence! Heaps of shale on every corner! I was driving a little three ton Trader on builders merchants then. There was also a Trader with a long bonnet in their fleet.