jeffrey ellener:
Good day Carl, I’ve just been looking through u tube there’s a film on there bygone spennymoor in four short parts there is i pic of some of your fleet on film four and i think your yard on the ind estate on film three i think , just put in old spennymoor film it should come up . hope you enjoy them.regards Jeff.
Hi Jeff
Thanks for that information. Four very good films. Parts of Spennymoor long before my time and a lot of lost memories reminded
Thanks
Carl
Barrie Hindmarch:
Hi Carl.
I read with interest on previous posts as to why simple tasks are now becoming more difficult and labour intensive when performed by local authority labour. As you may or not remember I live in Green Lane opposite the Holy of Holy’s and recently witnessed a sight which would have made your dad turn in his grave. It took 8 men and 3 Transits 3 hours to cut the hedge outside of the offices . A nd we wonder why the Government are making cuts !Regards Barrie
Hi Barrie,
Worse than my dad, I hate to think what my Grandfather would say. The thought would have killed him, but you, Barrie were brought up to Work, and work very hard. Spennymoor has changed so much. Grays Leomonade, now houses, Most of Thorn going to be houses, and Watsons Carriers, now houses. They say manufacturing will come back, but where will they build the factories?
Thinking about Watsons Carriers, I can remember when they were at South Church, Bishop Auckland and a smaller business to yours, then eventually taken over by Tay Forth group, I never thought they would have closed.
But, I bet you got many a laugh at their vans parked up in all the transport cafes on an afternoon, killing time. Your lads would never have got away with that. You made sure they worked
Carl
Hi Carl.
When you mentioned Watsons and the vans being parked at locations such as “The Port” on the A1 I always wondered if they used load planners or did they just allow the drivers for each area to sort their own notes. Judging by the size of their fleet they certainly didn’t maximise the use of the vehicles.
With regard to the demise of Spennymoor I feel that it is rapidly becoming a commuter town . Before I worked for my father I served a six year apprenticeship as a Toolmaker with Smart&Brown Engineers on Merrington Lane Trading Estate. As well as S&B there was Siemens, Thomas Summerson and Ferguson Radio on that estate I believe that at its peak over 7500 people were employed there. I drive past every day and wonder what is the point of building houses when there is no local industry?
Regards Barrie.
Just thought I’d post a reply to get you back on page 1 where you belong. I,m only on page 6 and I’m rivited. An excellent read and a true picture of the early days. Along with Bewick and Buzzer and the other contributors your memories are priceless. Thankyou. Jim.
One of the vehicles used over the years by our Vehicle Maintenance Division. Obviously loaned as a float in 1979 Chilton (Co. Durham) carnival
I never end being surprised as these photos keep turning up. This one is a vehicle I had totally forgotten about. We always had three or four small vans etc. that were used by our fitters for general running around with mostly picking up vehicle parts. This one at first I couldn’t remember, as time passes I do remember.
Thank you, Gordon Ball for supplying this one.
Barrie Hindmarch:
Hi Carl.
When you mentioned Watsons and the vans being parked at locations such as “The Port” on the A1 I always wondered if they used load planners or did they just allow the drivers for each area to sort their own notes. Judging by the size of their fleet they certainly didn’t maximise the use of the vehicles.
With regard to the demise of Spennymoor I feel that it is rapidly becoming a commuter town . Before I worked for my father I served a six year apprenticeship as a Toolmaker with Smart&Brown Engineers on Merrington Lane Trading Estate. As well as S&B there was Siemens, Thomas Summerson and Ferguson Radio on that estate I believe that at its peak over 7500 people were employed there. I drive past every day and wonder what is the point of building houses when there is no local industry?
Regards Barrie.
Hi Barrie
My dad always told me, ‘Never ask anyone to do anything you cannot do yourself’, and apart from the mechanical side of the business I had to do everything one time or another. Unlike you, I was not gifted in that area, however I had watched and observed gearboxes being removed and engine changes, gone to the test station and observed tests being done, so although I hadn’t done it myself, I knew how to and how long it took to do things, I often wondered if any management at Watsons had a clue.
In this day and age, it seems to me that everyone thinks that all answers are to employ university graduates, and I can well imagine that many of todays transport operators have never set foot in a cab, so perhaps Watson’s were the forerunners of that type of management.
Since I have lost my driving licence I have to resort to travelling by bus, and the local Aycliffe town service has just been taken over by another operator. They have a few buses and already operate several services, and the owner is driving the bus on my route at the moment. He said ‘Whenever we take over a new route I do it a couple of weeks or so to understand it and get to know the passengers before I hand it over to one of my drivers’ I thought there goes a wise man. Thats how you or I would have looked at things, not just look over google maps.
Carl
Hi Carl.
How strange that your father told you exactly the same as mine did regarding never asking some one to do something that you couldn’t do yourself. I carried out that philosophy all through my years in business and it served me well. Your point regarding the bus operator doing the new routes himself tells me he will do ok. Whenever we took on a new area I drove that journey for the first month taking with me the most senior van lad so that he also knew the area and hopefully any pitfalls. My philosophy was never let a driver know more about the job than I did.
regards Barrie
jmc jnr:
Just thought I’d post a reply to get you back on page 1 where you belong. I,m only on page 6 and I’m rivited. An excellent read and a true picture of the early days. Along with Bewick and Buzzer and the other contributors your memories are priceless. Thankyou. Jim.
Hi Jim
Thank you for your kind comments,
I am so pleased you are enjoying reading
Hearing comments like yours encourage me to continue writing. I have so many memories still to write about, and they come into my head at the strangest of times, and then I forget when I feel like writing, but eventually come back. I am best helped by comments from others, so if you come accross anything you find interesting, please don’t hesitate but make another posting and tell me, as thats what helps.
Best wishes
Carl
Your father was correct Carl, I used to say the same right through my 50 years in the commercial motor trade, yet I cannot see the present regimes appreciating that idea,unfortunately.
A press photo from the early 1970’s
I remember almost like it was yesterday, a reporter and photographer from Northern Echo, our local newspaper unexpectantly came to our newly opened depot at Spennymoor to write an article and take some photos. With no preparation, about 2.00 PM on a weekday afternoon, we lined up the only vans that were in the depot, and this photo was the result. A real mix of British made commercials
hiya,
Carl I drove a little 4 wheeler Dodge flat same cab as the one in the photo
didn’t have it long but what a cracking little motor quite enjoyed it as not
having driven a rigid for years it was like having a few days off.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi, Carl,
How could you possibly have made it through all those years of trading without the benefit of a Degree in Logistics?
Moga:
Your father was correct Carl, I used to say the same right through my 50 years in the commercial motor trade, yet I cannot see the present regimes appreciating that idea,unfortunately.
Hi Moga,
From what I see now in life, very few people in ‘Management’ have a clue what goes on on or have a clue what it’s like to do the job they expect others to do. That’s one of the main reasons for the collapse of the Country’s finances in 2008.
Carl
harry_gill:
hiya,
Carl I drove a little 4 wheeler Dodge flat same cab as the one in the photo
didn’t have it long but what a cracking little motor quite enjoyed it as not
having driven a rigid for years it was like having a few days off.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi Harry
In total we ran 9 or 10 of that style Dodges, and in rigid form they were not bad, however not as economical or as reliable as Bedfords on our usage, with Bedfords on average achieving a much better engine life and fuel consumption, although from a drivers point of view I suspect much better as they were much more poweful than Bedfords.
However, as tractor units they were a terrible failure. Following the success with the rigids we bought two new tractors and both had replacement engines under waranty at about 3 to 4 months old and were totally unreliable with tremendous breakdown problems, In a few years later we bought out an operation Leggetts were running at Felling Gateshead, The contract was Drums Ltd and we inherited three Dodge Tractor units, but one was just used as a shunter and the other two were just on local work, and although we were worried that we would have to replace them fairly soon, they performed OK on local work
Carl
Retired Old ■■■■:
Hi, Carl,
How could you possibly have made it through all those years of trading without the benefit of a Degree in Logistics?
Hi
Isn’t it strange with all their training and exams the majority haven’t a clue.
In the fifties and sixties so many of the old hauliers hadn’t had much schooling, having to work from very early ages, but they had experience that taught them their trade, and they had learnt to be so careful with cash that they knew exactly to the farthing exactly how much it cost to run their vehicles and made sure they earned every penny they could.
I remember being told of a tipper operator from Binchester, near Bishop Auckland called Syd Brown. Although I never met him, he had a largish tipper fleet in the late fifties and I was told was unable to read and write, but apparently show him an old massive pit heap that needed levelling and he could work out exactly how many wagon loads it would take. Today it would take a team of ‘Engineers and Surveyors’ working for days and they still would get it wrong
Carl
Carl Williams:
Earlier in this thread I described how Durham County Council used to garage this library with us.
In 1954 Durham County Council introduced a mobile library in the Spennymoor area. The Council at the time had their own workshops including a bodyshop and had taken over two years building a library van on a new Commer passenger chassis which was two year old by the time tey had it completed and on the road.
They approached us at W.H.Williams Removals and Haulage and arranged to garage it at our Marmaduke Street Garage at Spennymoor. Straight after finishing the comer they set about converting this ex Leyland bus into another van. Again it took about two years and they decided to allocate the Commer into another area and send the Leyland, which I think was ex Northern to stay with us.
Shortly after arrival my father complained it had an extremely heavy oil leak and my father, being a perfectionist was having to clean it up each day off the concrete garage floor. Durham County Council’s workshop had the answer, not repair the engine but to supply a 6ft by 4ft deep drip tray, which in itself was a nuisance. Another problem was the Leyland was almost impossible to start on a cold morning, with the driver/librarian, a chap called Benny Waugh lighting fires under te engine and anything else he could think up to get the diesel engine going. Until one day it would not start no matter what he did. The old bus needed a new battery. He rang up and the workshops sent out a van with two fitters with batteries and jump leads and started it, but instead of putting new batteries on did this every day for about four months. Imagine the costs involved and the inconvenience of the library not turning up on time to the annoyance of the general public who used the service. It was a nuisance in our garage as we had to ensure it was parked in the front row of vehicles or the next morning vehicles parked in front of it would not be able to get out if we couldn’t move it. I remember as a young boy having to wait may nights for hours, with my father for the library to come in particularly on it’s late nights when it was parked later at night to allow people who worked to get access to the books
Then one day the library had to go into te workshops for its annual service, which took three days for Durham County Council’s hard working fitters. My father said to Benny Waugh ‘Well at least they will put a new battery on’. After three days late on the afternoon the library was returned and next morning it would not start. They had not replaced the batteries and the only evidence of any work being done was t would hardly move, once fitters had started it because in the workshop their idea of adjusting the brakes was simply to turn up the adjusters as far as possible and make the brakes bind.
Particularly as we started struggling for space at Marmaduke Street it became a nuisance as we needed where it stood for one of our vehicles, but even with my constant complaining, I could not get my father and grandfather to agree to give it marching orders I think they felt it gave them a bit lever with Durham County Council .The only good thing was they Leyland was eventually replaced with a Karrier which was a bit smaller.
The library stayed with us until about 1976, moving with us to our new depot at Green Lane industrial Estate, when it was built and replaced Marmaduke Street. When they built the new library, which today seems quite dilapidated on Cheapside Spennymoor they built an integral Garage to accommodate the mobile library.
Here is the Leyland in all its glory doing business in Ferryhill Market Place.
Hi Carl
Your library bus, a Leyland Tiger, would have been ex Yorkshire Woollen. Link below is of HD 5801 from the same batch when new.
Thanks
I always assumed it came from Sunderland Corporation or Northern. That photo answers the question.
Many thanks
Carl
Hello Carl. Just finished page 59 - catching you all up and loving all the tales! Beware somebody might start a fan club, and when they do, I’m in.
As a mate on 8 wheeler and drawbars in the 60’s I well remember the dockers at Liverpool, crossing the Pennines in winter and the weather we used to get (and dread). Inefficient brakes, over-heating, overloaded,etc. etc. I remember your vans too, and how jealous we were when parked up and your boys “retired to bed” whilst we curled up on our cases with the blankets off the bonnet over our greatcoats and balaclavas.
The good old days? Of course they were. Take care and keep this piece of history going. Jim.
jmc jnr:
Hello Carl. Just finished page 59 - catching you all up and loving all the tales! Beware somebody might start a fan club, and when they do, I’m in.
As a mate on 8 wheeler and drawbars in the 60’s I well remember the dockers at Liverpool, crossing the Pennines in winter and the weather we used to get (and dread). Inefficient brakes, over-heating, overloaded,etc. etc. I remember your vans too, and how jealous we were when parked up and your boys “retired to bed” whilst we curled up on our cases with the blankets off the bonnet over our greatcoats and balaclavas.
The good old days? Of course they were. Take care and keep this piece of history going. Jim.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your kind comments,
I bet if you parked up where our lot did,with the fellowship and friendship you developed in the car parks and surrounding pubs, even with sleeping over the bonnets, you had a better time than the drivers today have, even with their sleeper cabs and cab heaters.
Carl
Here I am again, The proverbial bad penny. Now I’ve caught you all up I notice no posts for a few days.
I hope you are OK and will be back with more memories soon.
Regards. Jim
