The old type Albion wagon
 

Albion Clydesdales, the truck with the wooden joisted cabs,drove one of these in the early 60s, the joists would move about when travelling,no sleeper cabs then, had to sleep across the seats on a plank of wood and the boss paid me a £1 night allowance, pay was £12 a week,can`t remember if we got overtime payment then. The other Albion was the Revier 6 wheeler with a trailing axle ,there was a craze in the 60s at cutting these up and creating an artic unit but they lacked the power to do the job.
Those were the days"Tramps of the road", falsifying your log sheets to get home or to earn more from your tight fisted bosses, all went well until the ministry report came thro saying you had been spotted in an area which your log did`nt specify--try getting out of that!!!

ha ha ha!....been there done that. Ministry man came to the transport office.; Looked through my log sheets and said "Is that your signature"?...yes sir. "How about this one then"?
Is this correct you were parked up in Warwickshire at 6pm?...yes sir..."thats odd then, Our man clocked you in north Devon at 8pm that night.
I got done 20 quid for that. Transport manager got 40 quid for allowing me to do it. (big money in those days! (seem to remember it was 10 pm when i got back to the yard....LOL

I've been in the same position myself thinking I had been "silent checked" and then waiting for the Ministry man to turn up.:(
The worst one was when I thought I had been checked at Lichfield (before the by-pass was built) one Saturday evening way over my time and about two bob in my pocket.I had booked off at Swansea but was determined to get home.There weren't many wagons about late on Saturdays and I must have stuck out like a sore thumb:D. I thought to myself "I'll get time for this" and was wittled to death for at least three weeks but never heard owt.
I must admit I've been very lucky not to get caught as I knew plenty who had.

When the days of the British Road Service (BRS) were in operation here in West Cumberland, they travelled in convoy -5 wagons-going thro the Lakes,south, we would meet up with them at Cockermouth and tag on behind them, this would be about 4-5 am and going thro Keswick town centre the ministry man would be sitting there in his car , no lights showing but we all knew it was him so on those days we would travel legally down to L`pool Docks because you knew that if he was there then the ministry would be checking you on the way back, and you had to be careful on what loads you picked up on the return journey as the old A. B -RESTRICTED B. and the C licence was displayed on your screen, you were only allowed certain type loads depending on the class of licence.

When did the A,B,C licence system finish? "A" licences were like gold dust and I remember seeing all the licence applications in Commercial Motor.

A ministry man from Penistone used to park at Flouch Crossroads(now a roundabout) and all Sheffield drivers knew him,even wave to him:D. A favourite parking place on a dodgy was at the back of the Dog and Partridge pub about a mile further west.The ministry man once went on there to take reg numbers and company names off the wagons and was seen off by the landlord's alsatian.
When the old log sheets were superceded by numbered books it cocked things up a bit but never put me off.I used to run with a blank sheet and if you got the headlight flash it was time to pull in and put summat on it:D.

Been sitting on the sea front waving my arms off but did`nt see you waving back-ha, ha,---now you have started something off , when did the old A,B,C licences disappear, that my friend has made me think, could it be in the late 60s early 70s anyway when it did it gave the small hauliers more scope as everything had been in the large hauliers favour for years even now anyone wanting return loads from N Scotland have to go thro the big boys to sub contract, everything is tied up by them unless of course things have again changed since my days.

Dave

I'm guessing the old licences were abolished in 1968 with the new Road Transport Act.

Can't see Cumbria tonight from IOM - it's raining Dave;)


But on a good day I can see Tyson H.Burridges drivers filling up in Egremont:D

Chris.

deckboypeggy
well! was that you waving ,i thought "got to be a old sea salt or trucker" because only us ex travellers some time had wished we had jumped in the sea. if you had ever had to stay in some of the scottish digs esp if MUNROS drivers were there in their bib and bracces and selp in their boots, on,TRUE.late 60tysthe old A.B.C LIENCES finished.was BRSwho had the monopoly then.now just a few.1 from carlise,excel is a throwback from BRS in the70s.. Not many older drivers left who would remember the 50tys however they would appreciate the present conditions for sure,what do you think.
Im offdown the front now wear a brighter coat and ill spot you ,high tide at1630[flask and sarnies].

You are too far away deckboypeggy,I live in the Isle of Man and Dave is in Cumbria.It would have to be an exceptionally clear day to see you in Littlehampton from IOM.
I thought ABC licences were abolished late 60s too.And I'm sure us old buggers would appreciate the wagons that are running about today even if the camaraderie is missing.
Must go,got a changeover in Ramsey:D
Sea's rough tonight,gale blowing,no fastcraft sailings to L'pool tomorrow.Good job we've the Ben - My - Chree plying twice daily to Heysham,otherwise Tesco would have nowt on t'shelves.:rolleyes:

Remember years ago driving on contract to a local foam company who made foam seats for the car industry,the trailers were aluminium single axle 40ft box vans which when travelling in high winds caused quite a bit of trouble keeping them on the road not like curtain siders where when empty you tied the curtains back,one instance was when two of the firms own units were going towards Shap on the M6 m/way one of the vans began to sway in the strong wind (fully loaded with foam) but kept on the concrete until just after Tebay where the hills part slightly and form a gully, this is where the wind gets up to speed at that point,the van ran on one wheel and over she went, the other driver following pulled up to see if his mate was ok ran to the overturned unit/van just as his own van toppled over in the wind, from that day the company placed a floor with a covering of 2"x2"concrete slabs, this helped a lot to keep their trailers firmly on the ground-----remember using the CBs and drivers asking what you were carrying and we would reply
"Glider engines"--we were not far wrong as these loads carried no weight at all.Another day again on the M6 near the M1 junction I peered thro the left hand mirror and saw smoke billowing out of the rear of the trailer(another load of foam) pulled in and found the rear brake drum alight--panic stations ---within minutes the police and fire service was on the scene, a passing motorist had got in touch with them, when asked what the load was the police immediatly closed the M/Way down, the fire brigade hosed the drum down and after an inspection sent me on my way to the nearest truck garage to replace the old shoes and repair what other damage there was, if the van had caught fire the whole area would have been cleared, these van had very little service given to them and were only given a seen too when due for test as most firms did in those days, makes you thankful for all these roadside ministry checks although a few won`t agree to that----the only check I make these days is to the Doc for my MOT!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

Too windy out there today and raining, I of M not in view so its a feet up day watching the rubbish on TV--By the way mate, have you checked to see if your cash is safe in that bank, worlds in a sorry state at the moment.

The old Albion Reiver 6 wheeler was a double drive type which was very sensitive to tyre wear and size, if these got too uneven or the pressures were uneven the drive bogie used to overheat and sometimes caught alight. I have had a Chieftans engine of that vintage go into reverse and I have then pulled into the side of the road, going forward in reverse gear.

IIRC, there were two prop-shafts to two (single) rear axles rather than it being a tandem bogie with an inter-axle differential.

ALBION REIVER (LAD) Dropside Lorry
Corgi CC11607 ROAD TRANSPORT HERITAGE – THE GOLDER YEARS Series Die Cast Limited Edition – 3,100 produced
Scale 1:50 / O gauge, approximate size L 7 1/4”; W 2”.
http://www.notatoy.com/images/produc...e_richards.jpg


DDAD (Detroit) 2-strokes would quite happily (!) run backwards (especially if you botched a hill-start) but the throttle-control had no effect and, if not 'choked' with the emergency flap (that cut off the air-supply) they would run away until they burst. The first sign (apart from continued difficulty in hill-starting as the engine was running backwards) was the clouds of white smoke from the exhaust as the sump oil was sucked up and burned. Time to pull the big red T-handle or get out and run . . .

The Gardner 5 Pot was another engine that would happily run backwards and also if left in gear with no handbrake applied it would start and drive itself into the nearest obstruction, building etc. The Leyland 600 as fitted in the old Octypus, Steer etc. could throw its Governor weights and then they would runaway with themselves and if not stopped, not very easy, you had one ruined engine at the very least.

That is a familiar scenario, we had a meadows or a Cummins in a grader, and that started in reverse one day and sent a plume of oil lke a well strike, well not exactly, it had oil bathed air filters and it shot out from around the cap in all directions. good old Pete, braved the oily precipitation to shut it off.
It also happened with the large, drag mounted, compressor which had the other of the two aforementioned engines.

It sounds like trucking was really good fun in those days Gents!!!

Great fun ,would`nt have missed the experience for the world, no cab heaters, sleeping across seats, poor wages,putting a fire under the diesel tank to thaw the diesel out in a morning at winter, towing truckers up Shap when their lorry had`nt the power to get up (those were the days that truckers stopped if another trucker was in difficulty), changing your own wheels when you had a blow out in a gale, the truckers of today drive wagons that are better equipped than some homes, yes lads, great fun in the good old days.

And rubbing half a potato on the inside of the windscreen to try to stop it misting up.

I didn't know about the potato, though I had heard that if you peed on a cloth then rubbed the cloth over the windscreen that that would stop it misting up.

Rubbing half a potato on the outside of the windscreen will get you home if the wipers pack in. anyone know how this works? :confused:

Somethink to do with the starch in the potato putting a waterproof coating on the glass i expect.
However, although a very poor substitute for a demister it leave you a bit glass that you just about see through. Imaging it, a cold dark night, poor headlights (in those days) and a very noisy misted up cab. My the fun the modern trucker misses...LOL

That's a handy tip to know, anyone got any more?

Perhaps we should start a thread of handy tips for motorists.

We have all heard storys about female hitch hikers, But did anyone ever have one?
I stopped for one in her 20's and thought my luck was in, till her boyfriend a smelly hippy type appeared from behind bushes.

I think that was the standard procedure to get you to stop.

Just stories I think as often or not they always had companions who would have made excellent bodyguards or perhaps it was just my luck.

Maybe he was her pimp?

Maybe I was just lucky! I picked up a female hitchhiker on South Mimms services and ended up staying with her in Australia for some of the time and her staying in Leeds with me some of the time.
We've split up since but it was a great 3-4 years whilst it lasted.

robertdavey6, Hi , well that was some overnight tramp you were on, what ferry did you catch to and from Oz?. Further, were you getting night out money all that time?.