Scriv

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Everything posted by Scriv

  1. Ashley, perhaps the topic's run out of steam?
  2. Well, all these bloody years and I thought my old man was the only one who did this! He used to reckon it was tradition too, but I've no idea where it originates from. Denshaw, I have heard the expression used but didn't know what it meant, thanks for that!
  3. Poor man's Black Velvet (for the real thing you use champagne of course) but not for me thanks. In a perfect world, mine'd be a pint of Fullers' ESB (cask, not the bottled stuff in Sainsburys) but that means going to London so the pain outweighs the potential pleasure. I'll settle for a few pints of whatever my local real ale pub's got in at the moment; pedigree last week.
  4. "Clanking" being the operative word with that thing! I remember when it was at GCR some years ago, at the same time as "Blue Peter"; the two engines were like chalk and cheese in terms of ride quality, as far as being on the footplate was concerned. In fairness "Scotsman" was in pretty bad shape then, and apparently rides much better since her overhaul.
  5. Scriv

    Ey Up !

    Since we're in dialect mode....... it's "Aystwood"!
  6. Best ones I've found in a supermarket are the Walkers (Leicester) ones which Morrisons have on their deli counter. I agree Pork Farms aren't owt like they used to be.
  7. Agreed. I have a couple of photos somewhere of "Royal Scot" arriving at Butlins (Filey I think, can anyone please confirm?) on a Pickfords low-loader. I'm guessing that this would date it to about May/June 1962. Pics were taken by my Mum and one of them shows a baby Scriv in his pram! Scanner not working at the moment but I'll try to get 'em on here ASAP.
  8. Funny innit, wall-to-wall trains then it gets to 1965 and the buses take over. Plus ca change..........
  9. According to Wikipedia the last steam road vehicle was built in 1956. In the final years, most of them worked successfully as tar sprayers, a task ideally suited to the design. I guess the advent of bottled gas as a means of heating the tar, and also the insurance costs and lack of skilled operators, finally did for them.
  10. According to the BBC report in the OP it was 18.40 so it would have been well dark by then.
  11. Ah, the Southwell "Paddy" as it was known locally. Before my time, regrettably. Regarding your clock, I might just know someone who would be able to verify its provenance. There's an old chap in Thurgarton, my home village, who's well known in railway circles, he's restored the old St. Pancras clock on his barn wall. Chap's name is Roland Hoggard, he's well into his nineties now but when I last heard quite sprightly. What he doesn't know about Midland and LMS railway clocks isn't worth knowing. When I was a kid, back in the 1960's, Roland had the Y7 0-4-0T , BR number 68088 stored in his b
  12. Given that you've got parallel train and tram lines, it would be all too easy to forget that traffic runs in both directions on both lines, and I strongly suspect that this is the root cause of this accident. As Bip rightly says modern trains are all but inaudible until they're right on top of you. Even at slow line speeds they can't stop as quickly as a bus, and of course they don't have the option to swerve. Most modern railways are constructed with Continuous Welded Rail, which IMO increases the risk to crossing users as the familiar "clickety-clack" of an approaching train no longer exist
  13. How's about I go one better and start one?
  14. Like these? Hoveringham Wrecker The wrecker still exists. My old man, Bob Scrivener (known throughout the company as "Bob the B.....d" )was foreman of the Static Plant department , worked for Hoveringham for 43 years and was involved in its build. Dad claimed that when they tested the crane, the fitters positioned the wrecker at the top of a loading ramp, and used it to lift a loaded 4-wheeler clean off the floor; about 16 tonnes deadweight. I was fortunate enough to grow up within sight and earshot of Hoveringham quarry, and to this day I can tell a Foden two-stroke miles away..... mu
  15. catfan, I'm not sure. Last I heard (which was some years ago) he wasn't in the best of health. He'd probably be in his mid to late 70's now. rob237, Roger was a Brummie, he did live at Eastwood and last I heard was driving for Raleigh.
  16. Certainly was. I don't recall his name but I bet he'd remember a few of the blokes who were there with me; Derek Hayman, Bob Rutter, Roger Hursthouse? Bill's "gofer" was a bloke called Ron Dyer, not universally popular to put it mildly!
  17. Sladens are still going as well, I think. Seems like Nottingham hasn't suffered too badly in comparison to other places, with hauliers going out of business. Probably not so many smaller outfits left, though; I think the aftermath of the pit closures did for many of them.
  18. How did you know that fiddling Scotch git? I used to work for him! Bill Kelly's yard, when I was with him, was in Langley Mill, off Cromford Road. Bill wasn't a bad lad actually, broke every rule in the transport book but he did help me through a very rough patch.
  19. They're not, I'm afraid. Finished quite a few years ago; ISTR under rather unusual circumstances but can't remember the exact details, could anyone please enlighten us? Didn't know about the geese, but it's not an unusual set-up down here in Wales; one alarm system you can't bypass! There were a lot of smaller carriers around years ago; I worked for Rainbows of Southwell, still going as a founder member of the Nightfreight group. Crowfoots were another, and there was also Ben Copes of Ilkeston, who did a lot in the hanging garment trade. K & M (Keetch and Marshall according to my old man
  20. I suspect it's probably more to do with the fact that the internet has by and large made phone books obsolescent if not actually obsolete. Rather than video killing the radio star, Google has killed Yellow Pages!
  21. BRS, when I worked there, was on Carrington Street opposite the Midland Station. they later moved to Castle Meadow Road. Used to pick up a unit from there, go to Langley Mill, collect a trailer with 300 barrels of Guinness, and deliver to Shippo's in Basford; reload with empties, back to Langley Mill, have dinner, then do the same to Home Brewery in the afternoon. Just remembered, they also had a big depot on Wells Road though I never went there. Now that was a proper day's work! Thompson Jewitts ended up on Fulwood Industrial Estate at Sutton-in-Ashfield, just off Junction 28.
  22. Indeed they did, Rob; they had several trucks on the Middle East run, couple of AEC's and a Fiat. In the June 2008 issue of Classic and Vintage Commercial magazine, there is a feature on a Scammell Handyman tractor unit which has been restored to Bartons' colours. One interesting fact I gleaned from comments on another site about this; apparently Bartons were, for many years, the biggest private bus operator in the UK. I still clearly remember the distinctive bark of the exhaust on their buses.
  23. Think that'd be the demolition side, Baz. I knew Dave Watts slightly, he and his pal Roger Radford (who owned Thomas Long) used to drink in the Red Lion at Thurgarton, opposite my house. Nice bloke, no side to him at all. The artics were mainly used for abnormal loads ISTR, usually big steel RSJ's. Ashley, you are quite right; Rennie Hogg are now RH Freight, big depot on Lenton Lane and apparently doing well. Most of their work is European groupage. Katyjay, I think Newtons are still going too, and yes they did do mostly bulk milk.
  24. Does anyone remember the batch of really low-budget "local" adverts that used to come on; usually for furniture or second-hand car dealers and the like? They all seemed to be businesses in Cradley Heath or somewhere like that. The best ads of all were the ones for Heineken and Hamlet cigars; my favourite was the spoof of the Andrex ad where the bloke goes into the outside "thunderbox", the bog-roll drops under the door and the puppy runs off with it...... cue striking match, puff of smoke through peep-hole in door, and Handel's Air on the G String.
  25. Just by way of a change from railways; whilst driving my lorry to a West Wales farm the other day, I came across an old "Marshalls" trailer, still in original livery but looking decidedly tired. The farmer was using it for storage; it brought back a few memories. There used to be a lot of hauliers around Nottingham, sadly I don't have any photos but perhaps some of you guys do. Ones I remember; Geo. Dominic ( STR they were on Glaisdale Drive?) Stirlands (still going but now TDG I think) Marshalls (was their yard near Balloon Woods?) Clearway (Triumph Road, still see them about) Watts of