malmic:
I ended up in the medical room at that foundry after stepping into one of those lagoons you are talking about. Ruined a pair of jeans and a very nasty gash on the leg. To be fair the doctor there was very good (probably had plenty of practice) he applied somE black gungy stuff that he said would stop any infection bandaged me up and away I went.
Blimey Mick, I didn’t know that! There could have been Alligators lurking in those lagoons! I believe that Kevin Hadwen has a mishap there as well, and didn’t ‘Carney’ drive straight through the barrier hoping to get banned and even that didn’t work? The whole place really was a death trap, I don’t know how it ever passed a factory inspection?
Paul you are correct, there was always an aroma around a lot of them, although to be fair as I said earlier some were quite clean and tidy. You often didn’t know what metalwork was buried in the ■■■■ you were driving over at some, you could see forklifts trundling around carrying stillages with hot metal dropping off the sides and vanishing in several inches of crap and then they wanted you to drive across it!
Do you think we have gathered anymore prospective tipper drivers though?
A bit before your time Pete one Ballidon job was 2 inch foundry stone to Holman Compressors in Camborne Cornwall Doug got pulled up and weighed at Sampford Peverell and was a bit over ,they let him carry on as he said I can leave the wife the dog or the baby but no stone !
Punchy Dan:
A bit before your time Pete one Ballidon job was 2 inch foundry stone to Holman Compressors in Camborne Cornwall Doug got pulled up and weighed at Sampford Peverell and was a bit over ,they let him carry on as he said I can leave the wife the dog or the baby but no stone !
I do remember them running down to Cornwall with the half cabs etc when I first started there Dan but didn’t know where they were going. Truro was one drop I believe? Cliff Wigley told me the four wheelers from Ballidon and (I think?) Bardon Hill took some material to RAF airfields down there to bind runways to prevent dust being sucked into jet engines and they slept in the accomodation on base overnight.
Punchy Dan:
Another job was prestwick airport presumably when it was being built then back for a chelmsley wood in the afternoon !
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
malmic:
I ended up in the medical room at that foundry after stepping into one of those lagoons you are talking about. Ruined a pair of jeans and a very nasty gash on the leg. To be fair the doctor there was very good (probably had plenty of practice) he applied somE black gungy stuff that he said would stop any infection bandaged me up and away I went.
Blimey Mick, I didn’t know that! There could have been Alligators lurking in those lagoons! I believe that Kevin Hadwen has a mishap there as well, and didn’t ‘Carney’ drive straight through the barrier hoping to get banned and even that didn’t work? The whole place really was a death trap, I don’t know how it ever passed a factory inspection?
Paul you are correct, there was always an aroma around a lot of them, although to be fair as I said earlier some were quite clean and tidy. You often didn’t know what metalwork was buried in the [zb] you were driving over at some, you could see forklifts trundling around carrying stillages with hot metal dropping off the sides and vanishing in several inches of crap and then they wanted you to drive across it!
Do you think we have gathered anymore prospective tipper drivers though?
Pete.
I was lucky Pete mostly BSteel n a good few to Rolls n Qualcast at Derby all tidy.
I think there might be a bit of a queue forming, but it’ll only ever be third longest ! 1st n2nd longest ? One for the woman who drops her knickers n tother for the man that works for nothing
One of my first loads was to qualcast Derby 29 tonnes of scrap bales ,a bit dodgy opening the doors without any bottom fingers then hanging on to the swinging door over that hole in the ground and having to let the body down after before hitting the overhead pipe lines .
Punchy Dan:
One of my first loads was to qualcast Derby 29 tonnes of scrap bales ,a bit dodgy opening the doors without any bottom fingers then hanging on to the swinging door over that hole in the ground and having to let the body down after before hitting the overhead pipe lines .
Can’t remember it now, I only took cast iron, but I do remember that the route in was over Swarkestone bridge. I’m not too happy going over in the car now, must have lost my nerve
Punchy Dan:
One of my first loads was to qualcast Derby 29 tonnes of scrap bales ,a bit dodgy opening the doors without any bottom fingers then hanging on to the swinging door over that hole in the ground and having to let the body down after before hitting the overhead pipe lines .
They had a load of limestone daily Dan, again you had to run through ■■■■ with all manner of stuff lurking in it! You were never there at the right time for the lad in charge, and if three of Waters were in front you were there a long time. Eventually our driver on STB transport, Sid Handley, took a load every weekday morning and had to be there before 6am which suited them better and also got Sid a great start to his day as he was often back in the quarry loading his second load before 7am (which was already sorted for him beforehand) while many of us were still waiting for our first one which sometimes didn’t go down too well!
Punchy Dan:
Another job was prestwick airport presumably when it was being built then back for a chelmsley wood in the afternoon !
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
Pete.
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
malmic:
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
You always did get the best work Michael, Chewy told me that! I could never understand why we didn’t pick up something better than Mancetter granite? We used to take chippings all over the place for roofing didn’t we, and then it all suddenly stopped. I think the last time I carried any was back when they were doing the Sainsburys on Kingsway at Derby and I took two 20 tonne loads the same day. I did take some to a small yard on White Hart Lane Tottenham once, (Baz McCabe must have had something better as that was his run and it wasn’t often that us lads on coated got those type of trips out!!) and picked a ‘hitcher’ up at junction 25 thinking he would be company but he slept almost all the way down! I must be a steady driver haha. He was heading for somewhere in the ‘city’ so I dropped him off near Tottenham tube station which pleased him.
malmic:
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
You always did get the best work Michael, Chewy told me that! I could never understand why we didn’t pick up something better than Mancetter granite? We used to take chippings all over the place for roofing didn’t we, and then it all suddenly stopped. I think the last time I carried any was back when they were doing the Sainsburys on Kingsway at Derby and I took two 20 tonne loads the same day. I did take some to a small yard on White Hart Lane Tottenham once, (Baz McCabe must have had something better as that was his run and it wasn’t often that us lads on coated got those type of trips out!!) and picked a ‘hitcher’ up at junction 25 thinking he would be company but he slept almost all the way down! I must be a steady driver haha. He was heading for somewhere in the ‘city’ so I dropped him off near Tottenham tube station which pleased him.
Pete.
I suppose they must have changed the materials used for roofing the idea of the white stone was to reflect the sun back.
Talking about Chewy we were both going to London and arranged to set off from home at 4.00. Got to the lorry and no sign of Chewy so I set off and stopped at the phone box down the road to ring him. Just picking up the phone and Chewy is coming down the road. He’d been in the pub the night before and then slept in the cab when I started my lorry it woke him up those were the days!
windrush:
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
Pete.
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
You always were bone idle Mick, Gavin used to do 2 London’s & a Manchester in a day, at least that’s what he told Chris Foot once & he believed him ever after.
I was also talking to Colin Grindey from Hartington & he said that he used to run to RAF St. Magawn near Newquay & back in a day when all you had to travel on was the A38 to Exeter then A30, all of which was single carriageway.
I remember when I first started driving there were parts of the A30 where you had to stop to let an oncoming lorry pass & I always remember a 24hr. filling station where you used to put £1 notes in to get filled up, that was between Redruth & Camborne.
I remember the firms name was Churchbridge that you used to do the dexion punchings for but the phone number just escapes me at the moment
windrush:
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
Pete.
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
You always were bone idle Mick, Gavin used to do 2 London’s & a Manchester in a day, at least that’s what he told Chris Foot once & he believed him ever after.
I was also talking to Colin Grindey from Hartington & he said that he used to run to RAF St. Magawn near Newquay & back in a day when all you had to travel on was the A38 to Exeter then A30, all of which was single carriageway.
I remember when I first started driving there were parts of the A30 where you had to stop to let an oncoming lorry pass & I always remember a 24hr. filling station where you used to put £1 notes in to get filled up, that was between Redruth & Camborne.
I remember the firms name was Churchbridge that you used to do the dexion punchings for but the phone number just escapes me at the moment
Gavin did do 2 loads to new cross glass works from time to time that Ford with the v8 ■■■■■■■ in would fly.
Yes it was Churchbridge at Enfield.
Punchy Dan:
Another job was prestwick airport presumably when it was being built then back for a chelmsley wood in the afternoon !
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
Pete.
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
I did a lot of roofing stone out of Ballidon in 1971/2 when I was on for Turners of Sterndale , like you , all round London . When I got a tipping trailer , I did a couple to Nine Elms when they built the new market , sand back from Redhill back . I went in one day and all they had was Airdrie so off I went . I rang the yard at about 6pm and Peter said , you’re late where are you so I told him , and asked him to get me a load of refractory clay from Bonnybridge for ICI , he was gobsmacked but came up trumps . Good 2days earnings for me .
ERF Lover:
No issues when I rode shot gun and non I ever heard of either, but this image is showing the Ram to one side but she took it all in her stride
To me that’s a pretty much a level tip there! I lost count of the number of times that the ram cover got wedged on the ram collars when tipping on a tilt with worn ram collars and I had to keep ‘jerking’ the clutch to shake it off again! That didn’t exactly endear you to some of the gangs but the other option was to pull off and give them a few tons to clear up. Some were too idle to supply sleepers to place under the wheels to level you up, especially when tipping along trenches, and it could be scary at times. Not so much a problem with four wheelers but with six and eights it was a dodgy experience. I remember just before I finished we were doing the new North Bridge in Doncaster one friday afternoon and laying on a sharp corner on a side street, the body was leaning well over to the nearside and (unknown to me) the top ram plate had broken off! No way would that body drop until I was level again, and it was 6mm wearing course so flowed like water, I wasn’t popular but it was beyond my control.
Punchy Dan:
Another job was prestwick airport presumably when it was being built then back for a chelmsley wood in the afternoon !
Ballidon (or the whole Central region really) did more distance work than most other Tilcon quarries Dan, of course their grade of limestone was excellent in those days and much in demand. The Isle of Wight and back in the day was one run. Even in my time on the road there were plenty of ten (and a bit!) hour days needed. I remember going to Hertfordshire with roofing chippings and calling in at Mancetter on the way back for granite for Ballidon and thinking a local one to Hulland products would finish the day off nicely, however Tommy Wibb had other ideas and sent me down to Small Heath with wet mix!
Pete.
I spent my first 3 years in Ballidon taking roofing stone all over London .South of the thames it was sand from Redhill or Reigate back to Hoben .North of the thames it was steel punchings back to Sheffield .
I did a lot of roofing stone out of Ballidon in 1971/2 when I was on for Turners of Sterndale , like you , all round London . When I got a tipping trailer , I did a couple to Nine Elms when they built the new market , sand back from Redhill back . I went in one day and all they had was Airdrie so off I went . I rang the yard at about 6pm and Peter said , you’re late where are you so I told him , and asked him to get me a load of refractory clay from Bonnybridge for ICI , he was gobsmacked but came up trumps . Good 2days earnings for me .
If they had offered me a load to Airdrie I would have said thanks but no thanks.If I’d gone AWOL from Ballidon for a couple of days there would have been hell to pay from Tommy Wibberley he ruled that place with a rod of iron.
Pete knows all about him!
rigsby:
I did a lot of roofing stone out of Ballidon in 1971/2 when I was on for Turners of Sterndale , like you , all round London . When I got a tipping trailer , I did a couple to Nine Elms when they built the new market , sand back from Redhill back . I went in one day and all they had was Airdrie so off I went . I rang the yard at about 6pm and Peter said , you’re late where are you so I told him , and asked him to get me a load of refractory clay from Bonnybridge for ICI , he was gobsmacked but came up trumps . Good 2days earnings for me .
If they had offered me a load to Airdrie I would have said thanks but no thanks.If I’d gone AWOL from Ballidon for a couple of days there would have been hell to pay from Tommy Wibberley he ruled that place with a rod of iron.
Pete knows all about him!
Two days Mick, he had a ‘dicky fit’ if you were ten minutes late!! Talk about running to a bus timetable, Tom had you timed to the minute haha. Dennis Bond tried his patience: “Has thee seen owt of Dennis Bond, I sent him to Lichfield two days ago and he hasn’t come back yet?” I remember one tarmac gang phoning him to see where their next loads were and got the not so gentle reply along the lines of “If thee sends me some lorries back that have been waiting there for hours then you can have some more!” I fell out with him many times when I started and found out later through his brother Dennis that it was because he wanted one of his lads to have the vacant driving job and instead I got it. I couldn’t do anything right for him, and then one day he had forgotten to send a load to a foundry near Gainsborough and Basil McCabe wanted to wash his lorry so wouldn’t go! I set off around 2.30 with it and they had almost run out, I got him out of a hole and we were (mostly!) fine after that.
Credit where due, if you had a bad day (and we all had our share of those) he would try to make sure you had a better one the next day. It also helped if you worked with him, as you well know ( not you though, but you know who I mean!) if the words ‘Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale’ etc were mentioned some of the OD’s suddenly remembered urgent appointments or had a brake problem etc but if you were prepared to help him out he did appreciate it.
I believe that Kevin Hadwen has a mishap there as well, and didn’t ‘Carney’ drive straight through the barrier hoping to get banned and even that didn’t work? The whole place really was a death trap, I don’t know how it ever passed a factory inspection? 
