Hi Paul,
Congrats on keeping this fine thread going ! Can I ask if there are any shots of , not sure which one, of ? Gornalls the one I’m thinking of drove a smart WJR Beaver and during the days I was at Brady’s on the Octopus & Trailer we would occasionally meet this Riding Beaver usually running south but this Lad would see us coming well before we “clocked” him flashing and by the time we met he was hanging out of the Beaver window up to his waist and waving ! My mate Eric used to say "that silly ----- will fall out of that cab one day " 
IIRC we met him once in a Cafe on the old A74 can’t remember where about but his garb was white “T” shirt , brown bib and brace and , I think, Clogs . From what I could gather he would run up to Scotland at the start of the week and stay up there shunting ? Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s how I recall it after like over 50 odd years. But he sure admired our Octopus , he was a Leyland nut as I recall !! Regards Dennis.
YES T K GORNALL aka big Keith rip still as a LEYLAND octapus in his shed 
Lance Biscomb:
YES T K GORNALL aka big Keith rip still as a LEYLAND octapus in his shed
Well come on Lance give us the gen is this Octopus a 600 engine with Albion back end or a 680 Power Plus with Leyland heavy back end ? Cheers Dennis.
L A D cab 680 power plus leyland axles high diffs 6o mph no bother and sun visor 
Lance Biscomb:
L A D cab 680 power plus leyland axles high diffs 6o mph no bother and sun visor
Sun visor Lance ! now that makes me jealous as the Octopus I was on never had one but it’s sister Octopus did but it only ran solo !
So how is the Comet refurb coming on ? Cheers Dennis.
The late Tom Riding was kind enough to supply a vast number of photographs and information from his personal collection which i have posted on the dedicated W & J Riding Ltd web site
Click here for the direct link to the new web site.
Regards Paul Anderson Admin
I was told last week that TDG are closing the Longridge depot that was W & J Riding this Christmas. The drivers have been offered jobs at Runcorn with expenses paid for a few months. I think there are only a dozen or so still based there.
Well you learn something everyday, well I do, fancy Jim Riding being related to Walter Carefoot.
The DAF 2500 which I was on contract to Incobulk with. WJ RIding have a couple of motors in their colours too. We also tipped & loaded IFF containers out of ICI Wheatley or the “farm” in Bawtry and Ridings were often there. I was the kid who operated the blower units and cyclone machine.
Thanks to Riverside Commercials for the picture.
hiya,
One of my memories of Riding’s is receiving a bollicking off Jim Riding for applying the handbrake with my foot still on the footbrake this was the mid 60s he said i was to blame for making the brake drums oval and it was costing a fortune to have them re-skimmed, if the works cat at that place had had kittens Jim would have blamed me.it was an OK place to work at though brilliant tackle but the job was too repetetive for me same run day in day out Lancashire to Teesside i think i got a change of scenery just once a run to Newcastle but back empty to Middlesborough for loading back for Lancashire.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
One of my memories of Riding’s is receiving a bollicking off Jim Riding for applying the handbrake with my foot still on the footbrake this was the mid 60s he said i was to blame for making the brake drums oval and it was costing a fortune to have them re-skimmed, if the works cat at that place had had kittens Jim would have blamed me.it was an OK place to work at though brilliant tackle but the job was too repetetive for me same run day in day out Lancashire to Teesside i think i got a change of scenery just once a run to Newcastle but back empty to Middlesborough for loading back for Lancashire.
thanks harry long retired.
I thought that Riding’s livery was one of the best Harry,their tackle always looked decent.IIRC it said “Preston,Teesside,Glasgow” on the motors.
I know what you mean about Lancs/Cheshire - Teesside.I was on a job like that,Stanlow - Wilton,backload at Tees Storage - Northwich.Boring yes,but a dodgy every day/night .
Chris Webb:
a dodgy every day/night
Quelle surprise! 
Fantastic ,Photos of Atkinsons We are very lucky to share what is now classic Transport History.Thanks for your hard work Paul.
givover:
Fantastic ,Photos of Atkinsons We are very lucky to share what is now classic Transport History.Thanks for your hard work Paul.
Thanks for the comments still plenty more pictures to add over the coming months.
Regards Paul
hiya,
C’mon chaps just rescued this it was going into oblivion surely this fine upstanding outfit with so much history warrants more than such a few posts, there must be loads of their own drivers past and present who have stories to tell about the firm.
thanks harry long retired.
.
W &J were truly a cracking outfit of their time! I have met and chatted to Tom on a number of occaisons at “black tie” functions when he would always maintain that he couldn’t afford to run Scania’s like me and my old pal Malc Woodhouse Snr. RIP!!! Tom must have delivered the required margins to TDG because they never bothered him much from head office I believe!! Birmingham was the end of the world for Ridings so periodically we’d get a call at Bewick Transport to ask if we could haul something or other out of Kent for them as their traffic office map was just a white desert below Birmingham!!!Its a cracking site on Northwest Trucks of the photographic history of W &J! Bewick.
I might’ve mentioned on here a few years ago that I spent a good few months scanning Tom’s photographs back in 2004/5 - the same pictures which are now appearing on the North West trucks site. I was never in a position to offer them to Paul because they’re not mine, but I’m very pleased Tom has given his blessing for them being made available for all to see.
I made several trips to Tom’s house to sort through the albums and boxes & boxes of pictures. I was like a kid in a sweet shop - a real treasure trove of nostalgia, accompanied by some cracking background information. For those who were lucky enough to be in the audience at Tom’s presentation about Ridings a year later, they heard from the man himself all about the firm from it’s creation in the 1920s, all the way through to the days of the TDG juggler when Tom retired as MD in the 1990s. The place was packed and while Tom was talking it was so quiet you could’ve heard a cockroach ■■■■. I was made up to be 2nd man on the laptop/projector that night; it was one to remember, that’s for sure.
There are now over 450 pictures with plenty more still to come on the W & J Riding web site.
You can go direct to the gallery pictured below by clicking HERE
Regards Paul 
Comment on the site !Fantastic Not seen the wife since i found it .Cheers Paul .Mike Mulraney.
givover:
Comment on the site !Fantastic Not seen the wife since i found it .Cheers Paul .Mike Mulraney.
Please don’t name me should any divorce proceedings arise
Regards Paul