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Manchester Liners


arran
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HI All

 

I've been getting asked for Manchester Liner containers but info on 20ft boxes are a bit thin on the ground.

 

I have what you can find on the net but more info is required to get this up to an acceptable std, so any info could be of great help.

 

Regards Arran

 

 

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HI All

 

I've been getting asked for Manchester Liner containers but info on 20ft boxes are a bit thin on the ground.

 

I have what you can find on the net but more info is required to get this up to an acceptable std, so any info could be of great help.

 

Regards Arran

PM sent.

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Hi Arran,

 

I have sent you a PM with some photos attached. There are plenty of 20' boxes and also some 20' half height opens, you may be able to work out what the types are and also the Triang offering looks to have the correct style of markings that would only need slight adjustment for a 20' box.

 

Gibbo.

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  • RMweb Gold

Would love to see some early Manchester liners containers as my late dad worked for them when I was born in 1966

Some other early containers would also be good such as sainsburys beef and fyffes ala the triang ones

Edited by russ p
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Hi all

 

I think they went bust in the mid 80s so up until then and like all other bust companies there box’s linger on for a while.

 

As for N I dot have that sort of container yet .

 

Regards Arran

Edited by arran
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  • 2 months later...

HI Jim

 

I think i have enough info to do a 20f' x 8'6" as built by WH Davis in the 80s so hopefully the third quarter of this year, 

 

Next OO production back by popular demand will be the Freightline 20ft red and white due in this month .

 

Regards Arran

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  • 6 months later...
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A twist on the Manchester Liners theme, I wonder if anyone can help with more details or photos of what might have been their earliest container livery?

Manchester Liners carried their first ISO containers in 1966, two years before their first dedicated cellular container ships entered service. I think the familiar livery shown above dates from 1968 with the new container ships. But I've found several bits of evidence for an earlier livery.

 

Firstly, this photo dating from 1967 or the early part of 1968 showing off a Metro-Cammell soft-top container. Note the adjacent one has a pale colour, a dark square logo panel with the ML red/white flag and 'MANCHESTER LINERS' below. Also note the round holes in the corner castings which are not in accordance with the 1967 ISO standard. The doors have 3 hinges and each has only one locking bar rather than the usual two.
MSC_open-top_old_colours.jpg.1a174ea181235b944a638560841db4df.jpg

 

 

Then there is this photo (cropped from a much larger stack) dating from 1970, showing a container in the same livery. By 1970 it's a bit weathered and tatty, suggesting it is older than the one below it:

9dock_1970_zoom.jpg.0e305c51c5d7944912175801c71e0e9c.jpg

Although this is a conventional container rather than a soft-top, it has common features with the one above including the rib spacing, three door hinges and one locking bar per door. The livery looks paler than the red one under it.

 

Then (and this is where I start to get particularly interested) there are these two photos showing what appears to be the same type of soft-top containers on Conflat ISO (ex-Lowmac) wagons, also in 1970:

webmedia.php?irn=69681&reftable=ecatalog

Note again the 3 door hinges, 1 locking bar per door, same colour scheme. Although the photo below is distant (look above the concrete barge on the right) it looks to have the same square logo panel and flag logo as the ones above.

On a better quality version of the image above that I have purchased, the serial number begins MLS which would be right for a Manchester Liners soft-top 20' box. It might be MLS 748414 but it's a bit lost in the original film resolution.

webmedia.php?irn=69684&reftable=ecatalog

These containers were made from mild steel (we know that from the Metro-Cammell details accompanying the first photo) so they would have been painted. My guess on the livery is:

Pale grey main body, black panel with red and white flag, white 'MANCHESTER LINERS'. Other numbers etc in black, TIR in white on blue as usual. Red ML soft-top containers had yellow roof sheets, but I think these look darker - possibly blue?

 

So, has anyone else come across photos of Manchester Liners containers in this livery? And can anyone confirm the livery?
 

The final tenuous clue is this colour image from 1971 which does show two grey containers in the stack. Containers other than Manchester Liners ones were very rare on 9 dock at this time, but there's no 100% guarantee that those grey ones are ML.

mc-challenge1-mcr_sep1971.jpg

 

I'm contemplating making one of these early soft-top containers as a load for my Conflat ISO. The other option would be to go for a 'standard' ML container as in this photo at the same location. Perhaps I will do one of each?

Incidentally, note the prominent 'ML' on the roof of these ones below:

container_flats_zoom.jpg.a616945688006e6fa1123e58162ad6e9.jpg

 

Thanks,

Mol

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Now, at risk of boring anyone with more Manchester Liners container liveries, I have at least one more and possibly two, both from the late 1960s.

 

This photo at Manchester 8 pier in 1970 isn't very clear, but it shows two containers on the left simply lettered ML. The likelihood is that they are Manchester Liners containers, because the M slightly higher than the L was a feature of their logos.

There was also a Metric Line carrying containers from the MSC at this time, which is an outside possibility.

craning-containers_1970.jpg

However, of those two 'ML' containers, look at the box on top of the right-hand one. It has two vertical logo panels and four forklift slots, which were less common features at this time.

In fact, it looks a lot like this one, photographed on Manchester 9 dock in 1970:

manchester_liners_5_crop2.jpg.5dc40fc0ba694e23f770c2ca35f5a649.jpg

In the first photo we can't make out the black lettering, but the shape and position of the white lettering on the left-hand panel looks the same.

But what does it say? Well here's the third photo I have of this type, in the late 1960s:

L83272.jpg.948945f782ec48b92df0ecaea35f0179.jpg

And now we can see it is indeed a Manchester Liners container, complete with the usual lettering and logo, but laid out in an unusual way with small black letters. We still can't read the white lettering.

The base colour looks a bit paler than the normal Manchester Liners red, though it's hard to tell.

In the last photo we can read the serial number which is L83272. In the 1960s, Manchester Liners containers would normally have serial numbers starting ML then another letter indicating the type, followed by a 6-digit number.

So perhaps this type of container was leased to Manchester Liners and painted in a simplified livery? Red oxide base colour maybe?

 

Any more info, photos or thoughts on these would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Mol

 

 

 

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Moving forward slightly in date to the 1970s (I think), here is another type of Manchester Liners container - the bulk grain box.

1974 Commercial Motor ad.

 

Another is seen here in colour, showing the other end with the grain discharge door:

https://public.fotki.com/Scottishtruckphotos/scottish-trucks/glasgow__the_west/general_haulage/james-craig-barrhea/fxs-190f-volvo-f86.html

 

Both appear to be the same type of container numbered in the MLK series. Neither of the photos shows the top, but most grain containers had a filler hatch on the roof.

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And finally for now, if anyone wants to know what the underneath of a container looks like, here is one of the more common Manchester Liners alloy containers after a bit of a whoops:

Manchester side - Liners

 

I have collated some more images of different Manchester Liners containers. If people are interested, I can keep posting more here.

Mol

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I think I posted this in another thread on here, but I took this photo at the then brand new Walton Container Terminal in 1982 when I was working there.  It does show a few ML containers as they were users of that terminal when it opened and had their own staff based there as well.

 

82-452a.JPG.71e939fbf9a0b2c76e7d7460836518d7.JPG

 

The North rail terminal can just be made out, still under construction, beyond the shed & admin block as well.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Now, at risk of boring anyone with more Manchester Liners container liveries, I have at least one more and possibly two, both from the late 1960s.

 

This photo at Manchester 8 pier in 1970 isn't very clear, but it shows two containers on the left simply lettered ML. The likelihood is that they are Manchester Liners containers, because the M slightly higher than the L was a feature of their logos.

There was also a Metric Line carrying containers from the MSC at this time, which is an outside possibility.

craning-containers_1970.jpg

However, of those two 'ML' containers, look at the box on top of the right-hand one. It has two vertical logo panels and four forklift slots, which were less common features at this time.

In fact, it looks a lot like this one, photographed on Manchester 9 dock in 1970:

manchester_liners_5_crop2.jpg.5dc40fc0ba694e23f770c2ca35f5a649.jpg

In the first photo we can't make out the black lettering, but the shape and position of the white lettering on the left-hand panel looks the same.

But what does it say? Well here's the third photo I have of this type, in the late 1960s:

L83272.jpg.948945f782ec48b92df0ecaea35f0179.jpg

And now we can see it is indeed a Manchester Liners container, complete with the usual lettering and logo, but laid out in an unusual way with small black letters. We still can't read the white lettering.

The base colour looks a bit paler than the normal Manchester Liners red, though it's hard to tell.

In the last photo we can read the serial number which is L83272. In the 1960s, Manchester Liners containers would normally have serial numbers starting ML then another letter indicating the type, followed by a 6-digit number.

So perhaps this type of container was leased to Manchester Liners and painted in a simplified livery? Red oxide base colour maybe?

 

Any more info, photos or thoughts on these would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Mol

 

 

 

Interesting to see the trailer in the background uses a 'Scammell' coupling; I didn't realise they were used for heavier trailers.

 

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