Hello

[TRUCKJOCKY]

G-CPTN,

I am going to call my parents later today as they still live in Wark and I am sure with some prodding from them I will remember you Dad. I am remembering somebody coming to our house and a blue book would come out, money would change hands and the book would be marked up. Maybe that was my Mam paying the Pru.

My Granda had the Post Office and village shop in Wark and my dad had the trucks. I thought I would get an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic with Taits of Haydon Bridge who were the Volvo Dealers and friends of the family. My dad got wind of my plans and said no way and a few days later another family friend came to the house and asked if wanted to go to see a ship in Dry Dock. That was the tanker Cerinthus and it was in Bringham & Cowans dry dock at South Shields and as they say the rest is history.

I joined the merchant navy and went from cadet engineer up to chief engineer before coming ashore and settling with my 1st wife and 2 boys in Tarbert, Argyll. Got divorced and went back to fixing ships before settling down in Fort Lauderdale and working as a yacht surveyor.

I have 6 other guys working for me and we inspect those big mega yachts you see in the glossy magazines.

Married a 2nd time over here and now have a 4 yr old boy and a little girl who shares my birthday in June when she turns 2 and I will be 54.

I spent alot of my childhood on a farm between Bellingham and Woodburn called The Hole, this was farmed by the Robsons and Matt Robson was my Dads life long friend and Matt's Dad was I think a big wig with the Pru or another Insurance company. He had lost a leg so you may have met him.

Matt's cousin, Will Robson was the one who got me into the merchant navy and he also lives over here in Fort Lauderdale.

Funny how things work out, two guys from the North Tyne now living in Florida.

My dad would use his trucks to take loads of straw from the big fields around Ponteland up to the Hole and farms in our area so have many memories of trucks and farms.

You may remember Tucker Jameson in Wark, his son Walton and Tuckers brother Eddie from Bellingham. Tucker had the life stock trucks in the yard in the middle of the village. I was brought up working on them as well. Going up to the Hawick lamb sales and working all night chasing sheep out of the 3 decks of the float.

I remember a company coming to the sales from around Berwick who had a four deck sheep float (why were they called floats) on a 8 wheeler. I think it was a light green color cab and it was one of the first 4 deckers and the envy of everybody.

Us young lads would stand around at Bellingham mart hoping to go on one of the trucks to make a few shillings, I always tried to stick with the Jamesons though as I knew them and I could get a ride home. Child labour laws were not enforced if there were any back then.

I have to stop myself, many memories are flooding back but I have some work to do before the FA Cup final comes on.

[G-CPTN]

I think your friend's dad may have been the Pearl agent, and AFAICR it was 'just' an arm that he was missing.
The Bellingham Pru agent was Eric Rowland (he was also active in the local council). He lived on a farm. My father was 'supervisor' later on.
IIRC Eric Rowland replaced a chap called (Clive?) Bickley (who used a motorcycle and sidecar).
Gosh how the memories are coming out . . .

I used to visit the Hexham Mart rather than the Bellingham one - I even had my own 'cow walloper'!
Dickie Scott did the transport - I went to school with his son (or maybe his nephew). Red Bedfords (at least in the 1950s).
A neighbour called Davidson had 'one of the first' 6-wheeler four-decker sheep wagons. He had been a farmer but when he retired he 'just' bought and sold sheep - often visiting sales in the south-west.

I remember Jamesons (weren't they also red?).

[TRUCKJOCKY]

I asked my dad this morning and he thinks that guy was called Sid Davidson from Lid Lea up by Tarset.

He knows Dickie Scott from Hexham and he said he drove for Marley Tiles for 2 weeks when his own wagon was being fixed and one of their drivers was off sick. All Foden 8 wheelers, hand loading & unloading roofing tiles.

[Dingbat]

Originally Posted by TRUCKJOCKY

That was some welcome being called a Limy. On the sister web site "Ships Nostalgia" there is a thread titled "Stormy Weather" for heated discussions and being called a limy may force me to suggest a thread is started on those same lines. (*))

Any way all is said in jest.

Yes I am a "Limy" but I would prefer saying a Geordie unless a Limy means a posh Geordie, I was born and brought up in Wark, Northumberland and back in those days it was known as Dodge city thanks to all of the wagon owners, drivers or mechanics who lived there.

I do remember my dads first wagon was a BMC 4 wheeler, NJR 99, painted grey and red, flat bed and he would go off for a week at a time or longer if the loads were there. he had a piece of plywood down the back of the seats that he would lift over the seats and the engine cover to sleep on at nights.

I remember going with him to sit at the quay at Newcastle waiting for a load and then getting one and the adventure of going off to a new place. Once there and un-loading trying to find a return load. We were so poor we had canned grape fruit and potatoes from Forfar to live on for a few days until he got a load of crisps from Newcastle.

Then he had a 6 wheel Albion with a trailing rear axle that got him into alot of trouble when he went onto the building sites.

His first new truck was a 4 wheel Dodge with a Perkins engine and a long flat bed, followed by another Dodge, 6 wheeler with a first model Cummins that was so noisy it blew windows out of a bank in Cumberland.

Then he found and bought Volvo's and he stuck with them mostly except for a huge Ford which I can not remember the model name and then a couple of Mercedes.

I will have to see if I can find some photos of the old ones

any way thanks for the welcome and my dads trucks had J.O. & M.F. Elliott on the sides of the Grey & Red cabs.

so you finally ,made it.chinese six here we come.ford might have been D serie,s or the big transcontinentle.

[redd9]

Welcome TruckJocky

[TRUCKJOCKY]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the welcome redd9 and yes trucker 2 I made it over here. Did you answer my question about the pro's & con's of the "chinese six", how did it get that name and what was the benefits.

I think the Ford was a trans-continental, big ugly looking thing but it would not pull the skin off a rice pudding.

This site does seem as busy as the other one. Maybe not so many arguements either.

I posted some photos of some models I had bought a few years ago when my son was born but the most important one was the BMC 4 wheeler which was what my dad started with but I can not find it. They all cost a fortune over here and I have the wife turning the house upside down.

Any way there is a F88 in the Nicol's of Aberdeen colors and then an old Foden and a newer Scammel both in Stobarts colors. Those are the ones I wanted to keep good plus the BMC and the others are just toys.

[Dingbat]

Originally Posted by TRUCKJOCKY

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the welcome redd9 and yes trucker 2 I made it over here. Did you answer my question about the pro's & con's of the "chinese six", how did it get that name and what was the benefits.

I think the Ford was a trans-continental, big ugly looking thing but it would not pull the skin off a rice pudding.

This site does seem as busy as the other one. Maybe not so many arguements either.

I posted some photos of some models I had bought a few years ago when my son was born but the most important one was the BMC 4 wheeler which was what my dad started with but I can not find it. They all cost a fortune over here and I have the wife turning the house upside down.

Any way there is a F88 in the Nicol's of Aberdeen colors and then an old Foden and a newer Scammel both in Stobarts colors. Those are the ones I wanted to keep good plus the BMC and the others are just toys.

the name chinese six ,is because it,s [back to front ]as in a conventional six wheeler.single steer and double axle at rear.as in the chinese six twin steer and single axle at the rear.think the extra axle at front ,was for weight ratio,s.