maxhagar:
could never understand why Aone never had a decent wrecker instead of the 86.Driving for Parrotts I came into wreckers on a regular basis,remember one time when I broke down near Leicester Forest south Melvyn came down in a Transit Van but he couldn’t help so a tow was needed so Tony Wood set off in the 86 but believe it or not that broke down and had to be recovered so Walkers of Wakefield eventually turned up for me but it was a long day!!
Few odd photos from my collection which may be of interest
Recovery of a stolen / abandoned car from the Leigh branch of the Leeds - Liverpool canal in Poolstock, Wigan. The tower of St. James’ church is prominent in the background. The chimney would most likely have been the one at Trencherfield mill in Swan Meadow road. The little lad stood behind the wrecker is Kirk Greenall, Barry’s son and the year would have been circa 1980.
As Mr. Wadsworth would say, " just a useless bit of info ".
jeffrey ellener:
When I was an apprentice at Tate Trucks I went there because A.One didn’t want to send me to college . We had a Thames Trader with a manual Holmes recover system. They then added an old Diamond T , What a machine , It only went 24 mph up hill and down no matter what was on the back . I once went to help recover a wagon near Bridlington I took us about 10 hours including recovering the wagon from a ditch. My ears were ringing by the time we got back . Another time it was sent to pull Wallace Arnolds wrecker that had got stuck recovering a stuck wagon . they chained them both up and pulled them both out at the same time . When I worked at Archbolds we had an old Scammell with a Gardner 100 5 cylinder that was terrible but got the job done but very slowly.They then got a Wardley France I think that’s how its spelt, they put a 250 ■■■■■■■ and AEC 6 speed gearbox in it and topped it off with a Guy Invincible cab. What an abortion it was ■■■■ near impossible to drive but the recovery bit was ok. I through the propshaft off on the M62 one night while towing a wagon back. the spring brakes lock up and the whole lot jack-knifed , after that the used used outside recovery firms .
Hi Jeff. I think the old trader had a Harvey Frost 7 ton manual crane with a holmes A frame. do you hear from "Milky these days last time i heard about you two was when you upped and went to Australia ( That,s a long time ago),
jeffrey ellener:
When I was an apprentice at Tate Trucks I went there because A.One didn’t want to send me to college . We had a Thames Trader with a manual Holmes recover system. They then added an old Diamond T , What a machine , It only went 24 mph up hill and down no matter what was on the back . I once went to help recover a wagon near Bridlington I took us about 10 hours including recovering the wagon from a ditch. My ears were ringing by the time we got back . Another time it was sent to pull Wallace Arnolds wrecker that had got stuck recovering a stuck wagon . they chained them both up and pulled them both out at the same time . When I worked at Archbolds we had an old Scammell with a Gardner 100 5 cylinder that was terrible but got the job done but very slowly.They then got a Wardley France I think that’s how its spelt, they put a 250 ■■■■■■■ and AEC 6 speed gearbox in it and topped it off with a Guy Invincible cab. What an abortion it was ■■■■ near impossible to drive but the recovery bit was ok. I through the propshaft off on the M62 one night while towing a wagon back. the spring brakes lock up and the whole lot jack-knifed , after that the used used outside recovery firms .
Hi Jeff. I think the old trader had a Harvey Frost 7 ton manual crane with a holmes A frame. do you hear from "Milky these days last time i heard about you two was when you upped and went to Australia ( That,s a long time ago),
I remember the Diamond T coming it came from Ruddington in the old army colours and the cargo body was filled with 56lb weights old Georde Gilpatrick had me unloading them and changing all the tyres before it went for the crane fitting and painting
Eddie Heaton:
0Oops, sorry about that. here’s the wagon in question.
A guy called Pete was the driver of this when Warren got a Scania with similar spec. Remember Warren’s constantly barking dog? Warren and IW Brimec (Ian Walsh) from Golborne were the regular hauliers when I was an office boy Leverton Wigan fork lift service. Whatevere happened to D&B Haselden?
Couple of pictures of A Stevens haulage from Great Ayton recovery vehicle pulling tractor out of the River Leven in Great Ayton. Although Stevens had this vehicle for ages I don’t think it did a lot of work as top speed IIRC wasn’t that great!
Talking to my uncle about this wrecker he said this Scammell had a Gardner engine which had a rope start so it took 3 people to start it. 2 to pull the rope and one on the engine decompressor levers. It was handy locally when it snowed as it would pull anything out of trouble.
This motor in your photo was quote a rare beast - UYM 3F, new to Graham Adams of New Malden as a 6x2 Rear Steer tractor with a semi-auto gearbox. It still exists, and I understand that the current owner intends to restore to to 6-wheel glory. I know I have a photo of it in its original form, but can I find it■■?
We must have made a special effort for the photo shoot on this occasion, as the place wasn’t usually this tidy.
Not quite three years since you posted this… I just spotted the Atki on the left hand side, third row back: with its red radiator cover, it looks for all the world like an ex-Killingbeck motor. Might it have been?
I couldn’t in all honesty say with any degree of certainty Chris, as it’s getting on for forty years since this photograph was taken, but I can see where you’re coming from, as the colour scheme is shouting
’ Killingbeck ’ to me also. What I will do though is this, I’ll have a rummage through the old shoebox and see if I can come up with something to confirm your suspicions, although to be honest, I don’t hold out too much hope.
Well stone the bleedin’ crows…if I haven’t only just gone and found this rascal. I don’t know if it’s of any use to you Chris. The reg. is difficult to make out. The letters could be WTN, NJW, MTW, or something of that nature. The numbers are a little clearer, and seem to read 599L, but either way, it’s almost certainly the same motor as the one in the previous shot… Buoyed up by this minor miracle, I now feel encouraged to dig deeper into the farthest reaches of the old shoe box to see if there’s anything else of interest that I may have missed.
Does anybody know what happened to this Magirus Deutz Uranus after it left Yorkshire Traction? I heard that it went to an operator in Kent who put the recovery gear on a more modern chassis, but what type, and what became of the Maggie chassis/cab? Does anyone have any photos?
Well, I do recall them running MTN 595L (I think I have a photo at home), which was a Borderer they ran before moving the fleet up to 38T. Not particularly common for Killingbeck motors to escape intact in t hose days, but I think one or two did.
Eddie Heaton:
Buoyed up by this minor miracle, I now feel encouraged to dig deeper into the farthest reaches of the old shoe box to see if there’s anything else of interest that I may have missed.
Regards. Eddie.
Anything relating to Bowker, Pandoro or Atkinsons in general would grab my attention! Thanks very much for searching
Recovery of a stolen / abandoned car from the Leigh branch of the Leeds - Liverpool canal in Poolstock, Wigan. The tower of St. James’ church is prominent in the background. The chimney would most likely have been the one at Trencherfield mill in Swan Meadow road. The little lad stood behind the wrecker is Kirk Greenall, Barry’s son and the year would have been circa 1980.
Taken at Wreckers International. Credit for the photo, Barry Greenall.
here’s the wagon in question.
What do you reckon Chris?