Manton European Freezer Freight Part 9

Posted on February 7, 2012 by truckbloguk

I can’t quite believe we have made it to Part 9 of this, seemingly popular mini series. Mantons first appeared here on the blog, as I photographed one their Scania 143 on my childhood Industrial Estate in Braintree, Essex. Since the 21st February last year I have received a continual flow of Manton related info and photos. Contributers include one Dave Manton and a number of ex-Manton drivers, including Tim Speight and now I’ve had contact with Dave Peirson. Mr Peirson says he worked at Manton from 1986 and was there for about 3 years. In this time he was lucky enough to pilot the Scania above and below, F917 CUM, from new. Although having checked the DVLA vehicle checker, it says that F917 CUM was first registered 13/02/1989 which would have been near the end of Dave Peirsons 3 years at Mantons, although this is perfectly plausable of course. As it goes the DVLA checker also says that this truck has been out of road tax since 02/02/2004 so where is she now? According to the checker she hasn’t been exported. Do you know of her where abouts?? email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a comment.

The photo above was taken at Levante Beach, Benidorm, Spain. Mr Peirson said that they were “Parked up waiting to load.” You can’t deny that they are parked up, but i’m not so sure that parking on the beachfront was the only option, although back in the gold old days of International Trucking, there was no vehicle tracking so you could go where you liked and in all honesty most boss’s wouldn’t be bothered if you parked up on the beach or not, if you were parked up for a few days. Afterall the romance (GW) of the job were these far flung places across Europe. I know where I would have parked! I’m sure that Dave Manton falls into the easy going catergory. This photo actually unlocks another piece of the Manton puzzle. Back in Part 6 top Manton photographer Neil Jarrold sent a photo of a blue Scania pulling a Manton fridge. The truck was liveried as “Reiblein International” and that was all I knew, but now, thanks to Dave Peirsons email, the mystery has been unravelled. The email simply says; “In the back ground, in just the shorts, is Joe Reiblein also from Wetherby who also drove for Mantons before getting his own truck.” There you go. The photo of Reibliens truck obviously dates after this one, perhaps on this very trip Reiblein decided that he’d become an owner driver, who knows!

The next 2 photos Dave Peirson sent are a stark reminder to everyone, that while we all love trucks and driving (you do otherwise you wouldn’t have read this far!), the dangers of the job can easily be forgotten untill some thing like this happens;

Shiny truck rolling through France heding for the land of straw donkeys one day, not so shiny truck rolled onto its side the next. Not nice. Luckily for this driver he escaped with bumps and bruises. Dave Peirson says; “This driver had a mishap on his way to Spain. He was ok though. Can`t remember exactly where it was but I think it was south of Tours, France. I had to pick driver up on my way back from Spain.”

Were you part of the Manton dynasty? Have a tale to tell or a photo to share of these lovely green trucks from Yorkshire? Then get emailing; ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave your comments below. Thanks to Dave Peirson for his imput and I hope he has some more to offer.

HELP Finding: Scania 111 – Reg: XDH 849S

Posted on February 5, 2012 by truckbloguk

This week at blog HQ I had an email from Danny Harrison. He is trying to find out where his dad’s truck XDH 849S ended up or what happened to it after its life at BJ Adams. The truck was a Scania 111, sleeper cab, 4×2 tractor unit. Danny say’s his dad, George Harrison (no not that one) drove XDH 849S for about 5 years in the early 1980’s, but the last time they saw the truck was in Maidstone, Kent some time in the 1990’s.

Danny went on to give me the following info, in the hope someone out there can shed some light on what happened to the old girl;

“My Dads name was George Harrison and he and his mates, Johnny Edmonds, Keith Farrow, Eddie Childs all ran out of the Ruberiod Brimsdown, Enfield. It was in the early Eighties. He worked through BJ Adams and Graham Markham. Lots of work was to Cundell Corrugated in Chelmsford, loads of rolls of paper to them from Ruberiod then reload from Cundell with waste paper to Norwich Corrugated or Wormages in Norwich. Or they’d take paper to Louth, Reeds I think, then backload of steel from Scunthorpe to Murex in Waltham Cross. Yes I did spend every non school day with my old man at work.”

Can you help Danny and George? If you know of this truck, Scania 111, reg no XDH 849S, where it is, where it went or who may have owned it after BJ Adams, then please leave a comment, or email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Hopefully Danny is going to email me some more of these classic old photo’s from his early years bunking off, sorry when he was off school. Who’s is the Seddon Atkinson Borderer??

Portugese MAN-O-Juice

Posted on January 29, 2012 by truckbloguk

He’s back!! No not the man from Del Monte, but our old friend Steve Marsh, know to be known as the MAN from Um-Bongo! It may be a name from the past for most us, but surely you remember the Um-Bongo song on the TV advert?? These days I don’t think that it is sold in the UK, but I think there is a campaign to bring it back. “Um-Bongo Um-Bongo they drink it in the Congo” or Portugal as Marshy can testify. The load out to the Um-Bong factory in Lisbon, Portugal was chemicals. The good old concept of tipping and reloading is fairly basic to all drivers especially us, sorry, you owner drivers. So my old pal Mr Marsh sorted himself out a reload. A pipeline repair machine from Vale de Feto,Pombal, Portugal back to Swindon, nice. Having driven the 120-ish KM to Vale de Feto, Marshy received a call from the Um-Bongo factory to say the chemicals he delivered were to replace some faulty ones and now they wanted the faulty ones to go back to the UK. Marshy said;

“A Few miles from Vale de Feto I got a call to go back to Lisbon for the faulty chemicals the ones I took out replaced. Of course the staff at Vale were on dinner and the only one who knew about the machine for Swindon was off site. Eventually I got loaded and then I had a mad dash back down to Lisbon. I got there at 16:50 and they closed at 17:00″

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together! A double collection from Portugal and the 2nd drop just 30km from Steve Marsh Express, Warrington base. That is what you call logistical excellence! As you can see the photo below was taken at the Um-Bongo factory, note the tasty juice liveried car.

If you need Marshy’s services then go to his website, www.stevemarshexpress.co.uk or send him an email; office@stevemarshexpress.co.uk or if you want to contact me I can put you in touch, ben@truckblog.co.uk if you can’t wait too long there is more Steve Marsh to come in the next few weeks.

Kersey Freight Friday – It’s Back!!

Posted on January 27, 2012 by truckbloguk

Finally I hear you cry! Those big white DAF’s of Hadleigh, Suffolk based Kersey Freight are back on the blog, 4 months and 11 days after it’s first appearance. A lovely snow filled trip to Italy and back, provides a lovely back drop for photos and Kersey driver Geraint (Taffy) Richards, has taken a few crackers. I’ve been banging on to my good friend DC at Kersey Freight to send me more photos as his (and JM’s!) trucks go further and further from their Suffolk countryside base. Although Paris is a regular destination, the trucks are covering more and more ground, often finding themselves heading into deepest Germany and over the Alps into Italy. I was tempted to write this blog myself after getting the info from DC today, but his description is great, so I think I’ll use his words.

“We loaded a full load of Water Based Emulsion to be kept at +5’C ex Northampton to Caleppio Di Settala, Italy. Taffy took the easy road into Milan on the Ralpin piggy back train from Frieburg to Novara!!! Although due to being on the waiting list, Taffy had to wait 24 hours until finally getting the 11 hour train ride through Switzerland to its final destination in Novara.”

“Once off the train he proceeded to Milan to offload the paint and reload from one of our clients 5kms away from the tip. Once loaded in Milan with no return trains available he decided to head for Mont Blanc Tunnel and parked at Aosta. Saturday morning was ready to move but the Blanc was closed for 3 hours due to risk of avalanche. After finally getting the order to move, Taffy started the climb to the snowy Mont Blanc!!”

“On his decent he stopped near Chamonix (Check the spelling) and took a couple of nice pictures for you! Then Taffy made his way into France and rested in Troyes that evening.”

“Sure you will sex it up a bit” – Opps! that bit was meant for me, sorry DC!! Any way that is a great come back, lets just hope its not so long before the next episode of Kersey Freight Friday hits the blog. Not sure there will be quite as much snow on the next trip, but even so the Alps always make for good photos so keep them coming Kersey drivers and subbies. Email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk . Thanks to driver of K18 KFL Geraint Richards, for the photos.

SCOOP!! Cargo Undercover

Posted on January 25, 2012 by truckbloguk

Did you know this is a Ford Cargo? In an undercover guise obviously. The Ford Cargo is still produced by Ford in Turkey. This one was spotted in Portbury Docks on the back of an HC Wilson truck. Apparently it has come to the UK for crash testing. Judging by the undercover livery and disguised panels my detective skills hint towards this having been on road trials in Turkey or some where else. Looking how dirty it is, plenty of road dirt and covered panels mean it has been running about but without the public being able to see the finished truck. Now the road trials have finished this poor truck must have been short listed to come to the UK for crash testing R.I.P.

I have to admit that I have really struggled to find a great deal out about these Turkish built Ford’s. All I can tell you is what I have found on the Ford Media website. I’m guessing that this particular truck is a new version of the current range of Ford Cargo’s. It must be a new cab or at least a heavily face-lifted cab and likely to have a new engine or mechanical set up, as the last version was released back in 2004. I don’t know if the last version had adblue but this prototype has the tank, so perhaps this is a new engine to meet Euro emissions regulations. The Ford website says of the current range of Ford Cargo’s;

“Ford Cargo Tractors cover a range of 18 to 40 tons with different axle configurations, payloads, and chassis lengths. There are three different cab styles that enhance the versatility of Ford Cargo. These variants make it suitable for wide variety of customer needs. Ford’s heavy truck manufacturing experience dates back 40 years in history. The current Ford Cargo was launched in 2004 model year and was developed in 5 years.”

Then interestingly enough it goes on to say all about how much testing the 2004 released truck went through, including a trip to the UK for testing at the same place where this new version was being delivered too;

“The Ford Cargo Tractor was tested for 15 million kilometers (8 million kilometers road test, 4 million kilometers structural durability test, 3 million kilometers cab durability test) in total before it was launched. Besides the durability, noise, vibration, harshness and safety tests completed entirely in the virtual environment, actual field tests are also conducted. The durability tests were carried on Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium. The durability of the Ford Cargo cabs was tested in Istanbul Technical University. Ford Cargo Tractor proved its durability and reliability after this long period of stringent tests. Ford’s reputation in designing vehicles with superior driving dynamics and comfort is also valid for Ford Cargo trucks. Ride and handling performance evaluations were done in MIRA test track in England in comparison with the products of other European heavy truck competitors.”

I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for anymore undercover trucks. Thats 2 within a couple of weeks, as some of my Twitter and Facebook followers will know, I spotted an undercover new Volvo here in Colchester, Essex. These things come in 3’s so what will be my 3rd?? Can you tell or show me? then send me an email or leave a comment with your undercover spots; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Tatra Trucks and The Beast in The Bushes

Posted on January 17, 2012 by truckbloguk

These aren’t spy photos they are all legit! The photographer, Michael “Fingers” Bond, ok’d it with the Tatra staff first. I can’t really tell you a great deal about them, other than they had all been at Tatra’s factory / test track in Koprivnice, Czech Republic and also they all look like right old dog’s even though some are relatively new. Koprivnice, Czech Republic I hear you say, if you type it in to Google maps, to the East of the small town you will see the Tatra factory and the test track heading off into the forest.

The truck above looks to be a 6×6 troop carrier. The Tatra website says it could be a T 810-1R0R26 13 177 6×6.1R, so now you know. It comes with a Renault engine and clearly a Renault cab.

The 2 trucks above are both T 815-790R99 38 300 8×8.1R or if you like they are 8×8 military cargo trucks. The plain green one is a Universal Container Carrier. Where as the one with the digital camouflage is part of a potential order for the Polish army. This model happens to be the T 815-790R99 38 300 8×8.1R or in simple terms it’s an 8×8 High Mobility Heavy Duty Universal Cargo/Troop Carrier………….No I have no idea what i’m talking about either, although going through the Tatra website is strangely enjoyable and well worth a visit. The cab on the 2 above is apparently the new cab, although I don’t know quite how new, where as the old Beast in the Bushes below is the old cab.

If your going to try and break down the walls of Eastern Europe with your army then having this old thing as your back up was probably a good idea. This truck was parked at the test track and seemed to have been there for quite a while. Hence, the beast in the bushes title (not some smutty Essex related ref – GW!) To start your revolution, the truck has a dozer blade fitted to the front (or is it a snow plough?). Note the handy tow hitch on the blade. I guess that’s so you can pull who ever you have just pushed into the ditch, out again when they have handed over their lunch money. For the rest of the spec i’ll hand you over to Fingers Bond, seeing as he is the man who know’s his Tatra’s since his pre-Christmas visit;

“Full air suspension all round. Multi way diff’s on all axles. Total weight of 52 tons, plus a small payload. Full bullet proof cab with 5 inch thick window’s and windscreen. Full air cleaning system in case of a chemical attack on the crew. The whole country busting truck is powered by a massive Mercedes Benz V16 Twin Turbo engine connected to a fully automatic gear box and torque converter. The whole engine and gearbox is housed in one removable piece, so it can be lifted out / changed by a crane fitted to the body of the truck which has it’s own power source.”

It sounds perfect for Saturday night seafront cruising in Southend-on-Sea, it’d soon show those crappy boy racers in their Vauxhall Nova’s and Citroen Saxo’s who’s boss! Let’s go!!………..don’t mention the beast in the bushe’s in Southend or they’ll all want a go.

Have you got any thing to add about the beast’s from the East? Leave a comment or email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk

R.F. Interport Movements

Posted on January 10, 2012 by truckbloguk

Not a name i’m too familiar with i’m sorry to say. I have heard the name before but that’s about as far it goes. So this is where you come in. I have had a right good spring clean in the depths of the truckblog email inbox and I came across an email I flagged a while ago. The email was from a truckblog regular, Peter Metcalfe. In his email he informed me that he was involved with R.F. Interport Movements in the 1970’s. Peter’s email read as follows;

“I was involved with a company in the 70’s, based in Astley on the Outskirts of Manchester . The company was called “R.F.INTERPORT MOVEMENTS” whose main traffic was to the Middle East. They had a program made about them on the tractor units they where using on Tomorrows World (BBC) about all the cab fittings made in the cab i.e shower, cooker, sink. We also had a driver in prison for over 18 months for an aaccident he was involved in. So we would get drivers passing him to drop food off to him, as he was left alone. Do not get me wrong everybody seems to crave on the top firms and do not look Into the full running troubles drivers used to get into.The stories I could tell and write on your blog that would put a lot of drivers off driving. But I am sorry I have no pictures of the trucks.”

So that’s your home work bloggers, tell me more, search your archives, find the photo’s and get emailing them over to me, so we can enjoy them on here and also perhaps a few photo’s will encourage Peter Metcalfe to share a few stories of the good old days. I was emailed the photo I have used but I don’t know anything about it, aprt from it’s a DAF with a very nice spread axle tilt, the Middle East truckers trailer of choice! Get emailing; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Princess & The Giant

Posted on December 28, 2011 by truckbloguk

A Princess 32M and HC Wilsons European Giant that is! No delightful Christmas based fairy tale here, just a few Million GBP of top engineering. The Princess in our tale is The Princess 32M Luxury Cruising Yacht and the Giant is HC Wilson, European Giant, a V8 Scania 164 580hp. A good match perhaps, although the price difference between the 2 vehicles is fairly substantial. The fairy god mother marrying the two together is a monster Ainscough crane sat on the banks of the River Thames.

The Princess arrived at Excel London the last weekend before Christmas. The job was arranged by boat transportation specialist Abbey Transport from Norwich. Abbey and Wilson’s have always had a good working relationship, and as Abbey dont have a trailer large enough to carry the Princess, they use HC Wilson. Last year Wilson’s were only involved in removing the boat from the show hall back to the banks of the Thames, as the haulier who took the boat into the hall managed to have a little “incident” on the way in through the door. When the boat in question is 32m Long, 7.5m wide, 10.5m high and weighs in excess of 105 tons, a specialist truck and driver team are required; Que the Abbey and HC Wilson Transport combination.

The boat arrived in London in time to have the rest of it’s display built around it in time for the London Boat Show that starts at the Excel London on the 6th January 2012 and runs right through to the 15th January. First up, the 9 (I think) axle Ainscough crane lifts the Princess 32 clear out of the Thames and the then gently slews round to find the stillages that are already attached to HC Wilson 12 axle Scheuerle trailer. You can see the blue stillages clearly in the photo above. The boat is lowered into the stillages and thats where it will stay untill it is lifted back out into the Thames at the end of January. Once loaded onto the Wilson’s trailer it is only a short, although slow, drive across the Excel carparks to the the show hall. The total loaded drive is approx 200 yards.

The Princess 32 is a proper high class motor yacht, you just have to see the photo gallery on the Princess website to know what I mean. The boat will set you back some where between £6-£8 Million, depending on your spec of course. I think some one said at the 2011 show Princess sold 8 of these 32 metre super yachts, but don’t quote me! I am also informed by Mick Bond, the photographer and Wilson’s 2nd Man, that at full power the boat will use a 1000 litres of fuel an hour, that puts the big Scania V8 to shame! For now I will leave you with the rear view of the loaded truck, until the return leg back to the Thames at the end of January. The Scheuerle trailer is 2.75m wide so the full 7.5m width of the boat looks huge, in fact the whole boat looks huge, it really does look like a fish out of water doesn’t it. I have to say I think I prefer the blue paint scheme over the completely white boat we did in January.

Just so you don’t think i’m biased in any way, here is Abbey Tranport’s DAF being loaded with a slightly smaller boat.

Axel Dubois Thermo Transit – Belgium

Posted on December 17, 2011 by truckbloguk

A few weeks back while I was traipsing through the undergrowth of the Internet at endless truck photo’s I came across what I can only describe as an almost perfect truck. you know how in your head you have a picture of what your perfect truck would be, the colours, the truck, the wheels and accessories, if you had your own truck you know how you make it look. Having had my own trucks before, I have a rough idea of what I like. Blues and whites for colours, with a few accessories but nothing over the top. I have owned an airbrushed truck before and in all honesty I don’t think I would do it again. I’d rather have a simple but affective paint job. I also like painted accessories rather than stainless steel ones, things such as light bars and I even tend to favour a painted wheel at the moment over a shiny set of Alcoa’s. Having said all this you will now have a better idea of why this truck seems to be almost my perfect truck.

As you can see it has everything I like. Even better that it’s on a V8 Scania! The truck belongs to a small Belgian haulier who goe’s by the name of Axel Dubois Thermo Transit. Where to start??! The simple but stunning paint job, the painted light bars, cab steps, grill and wheels, the few spot lights, grill lights, the light box on the headboard and the aftermarket sun-visor. All in all I don’t think I can say much more other than it is virtually perfect. Even coupled to it’s plain-ish white fridge trailer it still looks good. I guess some of you prefer a painted trailer rather than the white. I can’t say I disagree, but in some case’s such as this I think the plain trailer makes the tractor unit stand out more. On the other hand if you painted the trailer the same scheme as the cab it would look very very impressive, but would it be too much?? They do say you can have too much of a good thing! The truck runs all over Europe pulling it’s fridge trailer mainly, but I have seen photo’s of it pulling a Euro-liner as well.

The other thing I really like about the paint job is the big star on the side and the smaller stars dotted about on the midnight blue part of the cab. When I had my airbrushed Mercedes Atego I had stars and planets painted in the background and I think it looks good. It breaks up the big expanse of one colour. Also note the little Polar Bear and the painted A-frame holding the air lines. The painted wheels look great, although I do wonder if Mr Dubois had as much trouble making his white nut covers as I did when I was making white ones for my old Scania 141. At this point I would like to thank Patrick Pawluk from www.padborg-express.com for allowing me to use the above 2 photo’s. They are both Patrick’s own. To see more of his handy camera work go to Padborg-express.com when you have finished reading this. I don’t know who’s the next 3 photo’s are, so apologies for not crediting you if they are yours!

The trailer is also simple but effective. Lots of marker lights but not they are not over the top, the LED rear burger lights are great and oh so red when you see them in the dark. In these 2 photo’s the truck has a set of ally wheels, I wonder which came first the painted or the shiny? Did / does the trailer have painted wheels? One of you must know the answer? Leave a comment or email me: ben@truckblog.co.uk

All in all I think i’d be hard pressed to find a truck better suited to my requirements, unless of course I ever get round to owning my own truck again. I just hope Mr Dubois isn’t one to keep adding little bits to the truck. When you find drivers who keep adding bits to their truck, eventually it becomes to much and it starts to look too busy and over the top. If it stays like it is, then perfect! I best get pally with Axel Dubois so I can copy the paint job!! Would it suit my little 12 ton MAN TGL LX?? I’d be happy to try and find out that’s for sure………..As it goes I have sent Mr Dubois a friend request on Facebook, but had no acceptance yet, then again can you blame him??!!

Still No Activ Update!!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by truckbloguk

One of my drivers was told by the staff at Bremen based Activ Cars that they’d send soe photo’s to the blog soon………..nothing yet!

After a delivery not far from Activ Cars base in Bremen one of our drivers had 30 mins to spare so he called in at Activ HQ. After a lengthy conversation they decided that he’d be allowed to take some photo’s all the great blog cause, only for the decision to be overtuned by the boss as all the Mercedes trucks were all dirty and they would email over some new fleet photo’s once they had a few trucks back and they had been washed and brushed up. Now I suppose it could be true that at this time of year it can be difficult to get any fleet clean, so i’ll keep my fingers crossed for a Christmas holiday surprise! My driver did say there is an English man working in the office who seemed quite keen on the blog so hopefully one of these days he’ll make contact!!

For now i’ll just have to make do with the few photo’s they emailed a few years back, how hard done by am I!! If any of you have any contact with Activ Cars (they do come to all Airbus facilities in the UK each week) drivers or vehicles then email over your Activ Spots; ben@truckblog.co.uk

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