Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Heritage Commercials

Welcome to the January 2024 issue of Heritage Commercials. I have to start with the very sad news that regular contributor to the magazine Ed Burrows, has recently passed away. I knew Ed through his writing and the occasional phone call, but in the time I have been editor of this fine publication, I can honestly say that Ed’s writing was first class and his attention to detail was second to none. His space in the magazine will take some filling. R.I.P Ed, you will be sadly missed by many. Charlie Bob Weir starts this issue with a feature on Welsh wizards, Ivor Owen and Sons, which is followed with The Waste Equipment and Vehicle Show, July 1995 which at that time, a 15-year-old Timothy Byrne visited. Next we have…

I was 15 years old at the time and I was in year ten at secondary school and my late grandparents took me to visit the exhibition. Refuse collection vehicle manufacturer Jack Allen’s avidly supported the idea of the new exhibition, as did other competitor refuse collection vehicle and waste management equipment manufacturers, including Boughton International, Cargotec, Dennis Eagle, Fuller Tankers, Huwer, Laird Anglesey, Terberg, Trio Containers and Whale Tankers Ltd. Chassis manufacturers such as ERF, Iveco Ford, Leyland DAF and Scania also supported the event. Their associated equipment suppliers such as By Pass Filtration Ltd were also in attendance. Finally, Jack Allen’s municipal hire company, Municipal Vehicle Hire Ltd were present. The Torbay Wastes Management Show had taken place a month earlier so, therefore, a large number of the…

One of the best known and most respected firms in the county is Lloyd’s of Ludlow, who are well known for their extensive fleet of restored motors. The firm was started by Norman Lloyd in May 1937, when he acquired two lorries – a Commer and a Dodge with livestock bodies – together with their carrier’s licences from Dick Davies from Ludlow, with money lent him by his parents. He regularly attended livestock markets in the area and expanded further by the collection of milk from farms. Post war he escaped nationalisation and in 1949 acquired Temeside Garage in Ludlow, developing a Vauxhall-Bedford dealership until the business was sold in 1964. Norman’s son Tony joined the business after leaving school in 1955 and he was later instrumental in acquiring and…

I spent many a happy hour as a young lad whiling away my time observing the comings and goings to/from Fletcher’s garage and the lorries loaded with coal from Nailstone, Desford or Merrylees pits on their way to the Birmingham area and beyond. Lorries entering Ibstock had to slow down at the 30MPH sign at the bottom of Hinckley road causing the drivers to change to a lower gear, thus giving me a birds eye, view as they passed by only about eight feet away, and not to mention the noise! Likewise, Fletcher’s lorries braking and revving and changing down as they descended Melbourne road to make the hard right-hand turn around the ‘Keep Left’ bollards into Station road. This is where I first observed Cliff Bennett and his driving…

Brian has lived near Wrexham all his life and has been involved in the family business since he left school. “My father started the business in 1955,” he explained. “He was a bus driver for a local company but was made redundant for health reasons. One of his friends suggested he bought a lorry, and it all started from there.” Owen snr started driving his Austin K2, for a local limestone quarry. “The government was looking to promote the farming industry and lime spreading was steady work,” he recalls. “My father worked for Adam Lythgoe and if you agreed to paint your lorry in his livery, you were given priority for any jobs. He worked all hours, and it wasn’t long before he could afford to buy a second truck.”…

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If anywhere could be said to be an epicentre of transportation, then Dover would be a good place to start. Trains, ferries and even at one time, hovercraft, all used the Kentish port. Dover has been a crucial transportation hub since Roman times and in the 21st century it continues to operate 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Dover Transport Museum, just outside the town at Whitfield is home to a huge wealth of interesting historical items collected by its members over the years. Dover Transport Museum is set in nearly two acres of attractive grounds, with ample free car and coach parking. The museum’s two large galleries include more than 50 historic road vehicles, many sets in period street scenes, with shops and displays showing off the…

For what it’s worth, I still think the modern trucks scene has plenty of interest in the different vehicle makes you see on the roads, but also the variety of liveries. But in fairness, the 2020s pale into insignificance compared with 40 years ago. Akey change those four decades ago was up until 1983, the maximum legal gross vehicle weight in the UK was just 32½ tons, on four axles and so the UK’s roads were a wash with 4x2 tractors pulling two-axle trailers. The maximum length was 15½ metres, and trailers were typically ‘40-footers’. The tractors were mostly day cabbed units, although the sleeper cab was becoming more commonplace as more operators sought to take on longer distance work and that meant drivers having more nights out. Most operators…

While the Renault Magnum was never the world’s greatest seller, not that it was ever intended to be, you still saw a good few of them on the road in the UK in the 1990s and 2000s, but nowadays, ten years after production ceased, it is a rare treat to see one still at work. And you can justifiably argue that over three decades after it first appeared in the UK, there is still nothing as striking, quirky or just plain different as the Renault Magnum, with its big, boxy cube of a cab, in terms of standing out from the crowd on the road. The Magnum was launched in 1990, and it was the following year when it finally hit the UK’s roads. That was also the year it…