Railway Motors

[jcb 3c]

And a few more flickr finds.

 

If you havn't seen it , this was posted by Michael Delemar a few days ago on wagon labels thread. Very good shots of red & cream stuff on the North Eastern.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/41779-company-logo-labels-on-vans/page__pid__453642#entry453642

 

 

Merf.

 

Good find once I worked out they were on the post 20 video! Lots of vehicles come in at 13 mins for the impatient like me

[Rugd1022]

To which you need to add 'Side Saddle' (Lloyd Jackman) so named because he always sat sideways when driving plus the Indian 'gentleman' (Khan??? or something similar sounding?) who was a well known wrecker of clutches on the blue Vauxhall (which I think had probably gone by 1983?) and little Herbie ??? (who might possibly have gone back to the West Indies by your time as he was setting himself up over there with a delivery van business).

 

There was definitely one Transit with flared rear wheel arches - not always a popular vehicle because it was a bit of pig where bollards had been erected to stop lorries using a number of routes in West London and it tended to collect dents.

And with dues apologies to Merf for continuing this rather off the main course discussion.

 

Yes Mike I do recall Side Saddle now and the Indian chap too, though I can't confirm if Khan was his name. There were definitely some characters at The Oak in those days, and not all of them were drivers either!

 

Merf - that's exactly the type of Transit, many thanks for posting the photo. The one we had at OC had the red BR arrow logo on the side as I recall, as did the two Bedford buses we had during the same period. They do appear in the background occasionally of photos of the turntable area.

 

(Apologies for continuing to drag things off topic )

[jcb 3c]

Well you are talking travelling in BR road vehicles so don't think you are too far out

[Merfyn Jones]

Well you are talking travelling in BR road vehicles so don't think you are too far out

 

And I can listen about other peoples times on the railway for hours.

 

Merf.

[ringo]

I remember the Old Oak bus, first off was breakfast in the canteen on platform 1, then catch the bus to OOC, Side saddle and the others, they all had a death wish, from what I can remember, flying past the scrubs at breakneck speeds and down Old Oak lane! Also catching the bus back to Padd, so the tech team and QA team to go to the Pub (especially so on a Thursday night where it wasnt uncommon for a bit of a sing song to 70s/80s music used to break out......but thats another story).

 

I also very much remember that the Saltley bus which operated between Tyseley, New St and Saltley was also driven by mad drivers, Lenny the Lion comes to mind, that was a well beaten Sherpa minibus, one day, Lenny managed to pull out of Tyseley, into the back of a West Midlands double decker!

 

One day as apprentices, we went to Longsight, got picked up at Picadilly, in a Transit bus, and driven to Longsight at light speed, asked why we were driving like there was no tommorrow, the bus driver said that if he drove too slowly through Moss side heed get bricked!

 

Cheers

R

[Merfyn Jones]

Facinating memories there 'ringo'.

Mention of the Sherpa at Saltley. In days long gone when Sherpas came from Tibet and not Birmingham. Saltley had a purpose built bus rather than a mini. c1956 Ford ET6 with a crude body, SUR896 no. 766 S M. I have a shot of it (not mine) branded MPD Birmingham.

I suppose Saltley had to have a Sherpa, after all they were built across the road !

Merf.

[Lyddrail]

Finally found some pics from work as clearing depot for refurbishment. More slides as well but will need to go through them.

 

Plant Land Rover that I don't remember:

 

 

Plant Sherpa:

 

 

Red Star tug:

 

 

Hope these are of interest.

 

Cheers.

[Merfyn Jones]

Finally found some pics from work as clearing depot for refurbishment. More slides as well but will need to go through them.

 

 

Hope these are of interest.

 

Cheers.

 

 

As always Paul, looking forward to anything else from the slides.

Can you read the reg. numbers on the originals. I think the Land Rover is C508DJD but cannot make out the Sherpa ( A reg. ? )

There seems to have been a number of Land Rovers aquired around the early 80s that came in standard colours, I have also come across white and grey ones. Ours up here was yellow but seems to be a rarity.

 

A couple of my finds,

Very rare are BR vehicles on the Isle of Wight. A former Southern Region Bedford TKEA parcels unit at Newport, 3 years after the Station and the railway had closed. Parcels would no longer come by train from Ryde Pier, so what was the system used ?. I would assume the trailers came over on the ferry. CYT874C, no. B 5155 S.

 

 

Some time ago we discussed on here the Ford Thames Trader / Taylor Jumbo cranes after a photo of a Post Office Telephones one appeared. Then I found this today. Don't know if any were registered for the road.

 

[Fat Controller]

Whilst looking through the RCTS 'Mystery Photos' pages, I happened upon this shot, taken in the Normanton area in the mid 1960s:-

http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?page=10&serial=172&img=66-19-25

I wonder if those two 4-wheel excavators are in BR use? In any event, those are the earliest examples of this type of machine that I've seen- the earliest ones I remember seeing were Poclain ones during the 1970s. It must have been fun getting them on and off the Flatrols.

Is the bus in the background a BR one?

Paul- is that Vince's old van?

[Merfyn Jones]

Whilst looking through the RCTS 'Mystery Photos' pages, I happened upon this shot, taken in the Normanton area in the mid 1960s:-

http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?page=10&serial=172&img=66-19-25

I wonder if those two 4-wheel excavators are in BR use? In any event, those are the earliest examples of this type of machine that I've seen- the earliest ones I remember seeing were Poclain ones during the 1970s. It must have been fun getting them on and off the Flatrols.

Is the bus in the background a BR one?

Paul- is that Vince's old van?

 

The excavators could be going to a remote worksite, i.e. no road access. The Flatrol was often used, and for the tracked machines used to remove old ballast, in the pre road/rail days. I don't think B R had any of this type of machine, probably hired.

The bus in the picture looks to be a AEC Reliance or Leyland Tiger Cub. I have not heard of any in B R ownership. The livery could be that of PMT a nearby company to Derby.

It was quite common for B R to hire buses and drivers to transport relaying staff to worksites for many years. A late friend used to regularly drive ones for Crosville to move the Rhyl P Way gang throughout the North West.

Nice shot of the Sinfin branch in better days.

Merf.

[RANGERS]

The excavators could be going to a remote worksite, i.e. no road access. The Flatrol was often used, and for the tracked machines used to remove old ballast, in the pre road/rail days. I don't think B R had any of this type of machine, probably hired.

The bus in the picture looks to be a AEC Reliance or Leyland Tiger Cub. I have not heard of any in B R ownership. The livery could be that of PMT a nearby company to Derby.

It was quite common for B R to hire buses and drivers to transport relaying staff to worksites for many years. A late friend used to regularly drive ones for Crosville to move the Rhyl P Way gang throughout the North West.

Nice shot of the Sinfin branch in better days.

Merf.

 

 

More likely the bus is one belonging to Trent, they ran several with similarly styled bodies by Willowbrook, Saunders Roe, Weymann and Alexanders. My guess on this one is one of the SaRo examples - FCH 18 being one of them.

[Merfyn Jones]

More likely the bus is one belonging to Trent, they ran several with similarly styled bodies by Willowbrook, Saunders Roe, Weymann and Alexanders. My guess on this one is one of the SaRo examples - FCH 18 being one of them.

 

Yes Trent's area, you ar probably right. I had it in mind theirs had cream roofs. Although it was a long time ago.

Merf.

[The Stationmaster]

 

Very rare are BR vehicles on the Isle of Wight. A former Southern Region Bedford TKEA parcels unit at Newport, 3 years after the Station and the railway had closed. Parcels would no longer come by train from Ryde Pier, so what was the system used ?. I would assume the trailers came over on the ferry. CYT874C, no. B 5155 S.

 

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 

 

The Isle of Wight parcels traffic was road trunked - I think originally from Portsmouth but it might have later altered to somewhere else in BR days and as far as I can recall that was going on in the late 1960s (no doubt rail transit of parcels traffic ceased with electrification on the Island if not before?). However I'm not at all sure if BR remained on the Island in the parcels business after the NCL breakaway as they might have handled the traffic for BR on some sort of contracted basis as opposed to simply providing vehicles in BR livery.

[Lyddrail]

As always Paul, looking forward to anything else from the slides.

Can you read the reg. numbers on the originals. I think the Land Rover is C508DJD but cannot make out the Sherpa ( A reg. ? )

There seems to have been a number of Land Rovers aquired around the early 80s that came in standard colours, I have also come across white and grey ones. Ours up here was yellow but seems to be a rarity.

 

Merf,

The Land Rover reg is as you state as far as I can tell from the photo. Not sure about the Sherpa reg both photos of this van are very side on. Letter looks too square for an "A" but I will ask one of my collegues who might remember it. Both vehicles are at London Bridge E&F Block.

Included with what I found was a print of the Midi van line up at London Bridge you found in Railnews.

 

Cheers.

[Merfyn Jones]

Thanks Paul.

Merf.

[jcb 3c]

Like the picture of the Thames Trader jumbo crane , wonder why they altered it to single rear wheels?

On the same site theirs a Neals crane - is it BR ? -

 

[Merfyn Jones]

Like the picture of the Thames Trader jumbo crane , wonder why they altered it to single rear wheels?

On the same site theirs a Neals crane - is it BR ? -

 

 

I would guess the single wheels on the back are ample as the load is carried over the front axle.

 

The Eastern region had 10 Neal cranes but it doesn't look like a BR one, or does it ?. What looks like maybe a BR fleet number on the cab would have been a motor cycle. Cranes were numbered 'P' by the Eastern.

I looks to read MC 97S, and that may fit in with the Southern Regions odd numbering system, although I have no record of any on the S R.

Second thoughts are it looks like B R livery with the maker applying the logo for the sales brochure. The numbers certainly look the right style.

 

Merf.

[eetype3]

Inspirational and very useful thread - thanks!

 

My contribution: Coles Argus 6-tonne crane, based on the example which appears in the background of many Crewe TMD photos. I worked from about 6 grainy images, plus the one Merfyn added of 428 PRO on Page 29 of this thread. Mine's plated as 429 PRO... I've added the registration plate, cab safety cage, rear-view mirror, red Arrows of Indecision and OLE warning flashes, plus some weathering. Please excuse the pic quality; it's from my phone due to my digicam being stored unserviceable at present.

[Merfyn Jones]

Inspirational and very useful thread - thanks!

 

My contribution: Coles Argus 6-tonne crane, based on the example which appears in the background of many Crewe TMD photos. I worked from about 6 grainy images, plus the one Merfyn added of 428 PRO on Page 29 of this thread. Mine's plated as 429 PRO... I've added the registration plate, cab safety cage, rear-view mirror, red Arrows of Indecision and OLE warning flashes, plus some weathering. Please excuse the pic quality; it's from my phone due to my digicam being stored unserviceable at present.

 

Very nice Jim, the weathering does make a difference. Another one has just appeared on Paul Bartlett's site,Freightliner page, ULT180 at Kings Cross loading an ISO container. Never seen that before.

Merf.

[eetype3]

Empty I hope, at 6 tonnes SWL!

[jcb 3c]

Thanks for crane link Merf also some good pics of Guy and Seddon etc artics on the Freightliner section of Paul Bartlet site.

 

Some run of the mill yellow stuff ;-

 

 

Dodge Renault dropside Northampton

 

 

 

 

Marina Van Crewe TMD

 

 

Dodge with Hi-Lux Thornaby TMD

 

 

 

Few 90s Freightliner Fodens on trucknet

 

http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45394&p=513938&hilit=FREIGHTLINER#p513938

[Merfyn Jones]

Thanks for crane link Merf also some good pics of Guy and Seddon etc artics on the Freightliner section of Paul Bartlet site.

 

Some run of the mill yellow stuff ;-

 

 

Dodge Renault dropside Northampton

 

Marina Van Crewe TMD

Dodge with Hi-Lux Thornaby TMD

Few 90s Freightliner Fodens on trucknet

 

 

The Dodge at Northampton is a G08 Tipper D826WRC, we had an identical one up here at Bangor for the engineers, D828WRC.

My finds for this weekend are just this nice Morris Marina (TGW584M) van of the S&T at Brockenhurst Box, by 53A models.

 

Merf.

[BernardTPM]

The Marina at Crewe is one of the last; it has Ital door handles and no front quaterlight. Interesting contrast to the earlier one at Brockenhurst.

[ringo]

The Marina van at Crewe isnt actually a Marina, its an X reg Ital van, which also had the revised Ital "design" front end (although not actually desined by Ital at all, just a Morris marketing ploy), and also had the improved Ital dashboard.

Soho Distribution & Overheads had a brand new one delivered to them, which was taken out imeadiately after delivery, and road tested at speed, where upon they seized it solid, testiment to a) The brains within the depot and B), the quality testiment of the Morris build quality!

 

R

[BernardTPM]

Sorry Ringo, it's definitely a Marina - look at the front bumper and it's the pressed metal one with the recessed centre whereas the Ital had a plastic front bumper that was deeper and finished at the rear following the shape of the wheel arch (same as the car). The Ital commercials appeared a little while after the car versions, hence this extra last version that was the final fling of the Marina. There's a very good comparison in 'Classic Van and Pick-up' vo.1 issue 12 October 2001, page 7.