Lots of action this week on my favourite subject and Facebook group, the small but mighty #littlebigcabclub – the place for all the lightweight big sleeper cabs. Got to be a maximum of 15 tons GVW and have a sleeper cab, tick those twos boxes and you’re in the club. Ideally you want to be part of the “6 Stud Mafia” that earns you extra cool points in my book. Look at Steve Marsh in the above photo taken by Mat Ireland in Ipswich this week;
12 Tonner
6 Stud Wheels
MAN TGL with Hatcher Components Sky Cab
That’s all it needs, add to the mix that Marshy is proper international too and it really doesn’t get any better as a club member. That said it’s not just Marshy flying the international flag, I spotted this lovely little 715 Atego this week in the traffic jam on my morning commute. The little Dutchman has the Atego BigSpace cab and would have come off the Hoek boat in Harwich that morning. Working for the Hizkia art group in the Netherlands, I’d guess it carries a lot of fresh air and the odd piece of artwork all over Europe. It’s also got the best number plate letters!
Further to the above spots, I’ve also been gradually adding more and more members to the Facebook group for the #littlebigcabclub. As I sort of predict, when I add new members they nearly always have a photo to add of a little truck they have driven. These days the more modern versions seem to be 12 tonners, due to the weight of the trucks but from the past they were all 7.5 tonners (without speed limiters!!) although I’m not sure if 8 ton was the going weight in Europe?? Perhaps one of the Dutch can confirm please.
This little German frigo was spotted by Gavin Pearson recently, about to load onto the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone. Looking at the truck it ticks all the boxes, right wheels, right cab, right weight, it’s an 8.220 so has power too and looking at the livery it’s engaged on international courier work, may be pharmaceuticals or samples looking at how small the body is. There was or maybe there still is, a chap here in England that had a little frigo and he used to do European round trips on samples work. That is the ultimate job for me. A 12 ton fridge on European work and I’ll be happy than the proverbial pig in faeces.
When you start your driving career by buying this little DAF 45, is it any wonder why I think they are the bees knees! My fondness of the little lorries even got me a mention in the latest Truck & Driver Podcast, so if you fancy some retro 7.5 ton truck talk, along with all the other new truck chat, head over to your podcast download site and search for “Truck & Driver” or click HERE to go to the Apple Store to download it. Enough little truck chat, if you want to be in the club, then search for the group on Facebook and request to join; #littlebigcabclub – stickers are available!
“The sun never sets on a long distance lorry driver” – This was a famous quote from a well known documentary. It applies to truckers of all size trucks. With the massive memory trip I’m on at the moment and with the response to the blog on Sunday, it made me think of the hours we’ve all put in in days gone by when we could get away with it. Far easier to click up mega mileages the further back in time we go. Less traffic even 10 years ago, higher speeds, lack of speed limiters, easier ways to bend the rules, we all did it and I’d be surprised at anyone who says they haven’t at least once.
Based in Braintree on the A120, at the time about 25 minutes from the M11, I was quite well connected to the motorway network which meant I could spend a fair percentage of my driving time at cruising speed. In fact the worst part of any trip was always the bit from the M11 back to Braintree on the old A120. Anyway an earlier start, beat the traffic to the M11 and I was off. I used to work a days work out at an average of 60mph, so in 4.5 hours driving I’d plan to do a max of 270 miles, make sense?? 270 miles from Braintree covers a fairly decent swathe of the UK. Proof in the pudding was the job I did to Carmarthen. Braintree to Carmarthen is 265ish miles or there about’s, so in my head possible to get there and back in a day. All I needed to do was average just over 60mph. Priced the job up as empty back and if I remember rightly I did it 3, 4 or 5 times I think. I dare say I did a 10 hour day or two but not having a speed limiter is what made it.
Thinking of other decent days out I can remember there were plenty and I’m not trumpet blowing in anyway, just remembering the love of driving!
Braintree – Exeter – Birmingham – Braintree. Quoted as empty back jobs to both destinations but they just about fitted on together. Saves a day in the week which meant another job could be done.
Braintree – Larkhall – Newcastle-Upon-Tyne – Barton Park Lorry Park. That was a busy day. Full load of sunbeds to Larkhall (Always priced empty back) then load lead rolls for home delivery from David Park Transport in Newcastle and then an hour back down the road to Barton Park truck park near the A1 A66 split at Scotch Corner.
I’m sure there were a few day trips to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, which again is a fair day out.
Come on, I want your genuine memories of long days behind the wheel. I am well aware of the days the international drivers put in during the 70’s and 80’s and I spent a very genuine afternoon with a couple of very well known Irishman who genuinely blew my mind with what they got done in a week to and from Belfast. If you can keep the anecdotes to your early days in the fleets little flyer, that’d be awesome, but big truck stories are always allowed. Just don’t turn them into a Fisherman’s Tale – “It was this big!!”. Leave your comments below or you can always email me with photos.
Why the title of this blog you ask? It’s a sticker I had made up and had on the inside of my drivers door in a few of my trucks.
I spend two days out on the road, and I end up reminiscing and missing the good old days. I haven’t been far by trucker standards. I left Essex yesterday morning, went to Wellingborough for a meeting, then onward yesterday afternoon to Tankersley, just between Sheffield and Barnsley. Spent the day on a training course then left Tankersley for Essex about half 4 this afternoon. Now parked in an old lay-by I used to stop in near Duxford having a well deserved McDonalds. All the way up yesterday and on the way down today I can’t stop thinking about being back in the #littlebigcabclub doing a bit and perhaps even heading off to Europa like the good old early days. Why doesn’t the love of driving and the open road leave you?? I miss it, even with the traffic jams today, seeing the sunset heading down the A1 through all of its stages made up for the jams. Day in day out the traffic these days does do your heads in I know that, but you should try spending most days within the same 4 walls…
This little beauty below is for sale in Germany. The newer version of my MAN above. Just need the cream job running up and down to the south of France, Spain or where ever and I’d be set! If your on the road and you enjoy, my advice is don’t give it up. It’s a lifestyle kids and it doesn’t leave no matter what you end up doing. I live my current job and it gives a great work life balance and I get to see the kids grow up, but still, Mrs Truck Blog wouldn’t miss me and the kids will both be teenagers soon enough and then they wont notice their own shadows let alone who else is in the house. Just the small matter of the dog and some work to sort then! Can anyone add my old livery to the blank canvas below, I’m not skilled enough on the photoshops.
Rose tinted glasses are great and the romance of the road is a bigger pull than Titanic was to that iceberg, but still the open road is the open road. Diesel in your chains and all that!
I might as well write about it again otherwise the photos will keep stacking up. Once again Mr Neil Jarrold spotted #littlebigcabclub member, Biondo, from Italy, a few weeks back sitting in Dover. Yes I have blogged him before and probably with a few of the same photos as below, but as long as Neil keeps sending me the photos, I’ll keep posting them. We have quite a collection now, from probably the last 4ish years. Can anyone tag the driver? The company perhaps? Would be good for him to see he’s regularly papped while in the UK. I’d even send him a #littlebigcabclub sticker if I could get a few messages to him.
I am sure that when I last posted about this little Italian MAN, one or two of you said that he brings in furniture and tips in South London somewhere, somewhere like Croydon perhaps. Let me know what you know and let’s see if we can get hold of the driver. Great looking truck, love the wriggly tin sides, the old school Italian look right there.
Please tag the driver, the company or someone linked to either.
More little MAN TGL’s I’m afraid, but if you cant appreciate them by now, then maybe move along. As always these little beauties seem to appear in my Facebook feed, I see them on the road or better still, regular bloggers find them out and about on the roads of Europe. This time, it was a couple of photos taken by Murray Grant at Gieselwind Autohof of the truck below taking a little break in the Germany sunshine.
Having looked then up on the internet and found they have a Facebook page, Click HERE, looking through the photos and reading the info, the Austrian company do what they say, Pooltransporte. Borders are no boundaries it would seem for a quality swimming pool and with a decent array of trucks, trailers and plenty of mini artics, you can have your new pool delivered anywhere in style.
Whether an artic with a specialist lowboy or a little rigid with a trailer, making a great looking combi, they all suggest a company that is a leader in the service they provide and also are incredibly image conscious. The trucks look awesome kitted out with lights, lightbars, headboards, air horns, metallic paint, a great livery and finished off with private registration plates!
A week ago my good old pal Seniór Marsh messaged me to say if you’re not busy this evening then can you have a look on Google Street View for this address near Madrigal, Espania. Seniór Marsh had an address and some directions both of which to be fair didn’t give much help as to the final delivery point for the little MAN to find. To give some context, Madrigal is in the mountains due west of Madrid and due south of Salamanca. Anyway the basics came down to; Finca Santa Zita, 2.6km south of Madrigal de la Vera. Not much to go on, so I went old school and got onto Google Earth and started measuring out some distances (while sitting on the sofa in Colchester!). Spanish pop quiz; what does “Finca” mean in Spanish?
Having measure out 2.6km on the map, I basically came up with the map above. On the right of the EX384 as we look at the map, you can see two long tracks to what could both be described as “Finca’s”. Depending where you look Finca means Farm or Estate. I gave Seniór Marsh the above screen shot showing him both options. My thoughts for some reason, leaned towards the lower red mark as the entrance on Street View had this Llama/Alpaca/Deer sign…..
Not much to go on but as El Marshó had to be there early to meet the offloading team, by the wonders of modern mapping, we had narrowed it down to two options within a few hundred metres of each other. Job done and El Marshó happy enough for somewhere to aim for, hotel MAN drew its curtains and I went back to another re-run of Open All Hours on DAVE.
I woke on Friday morning to the above picture from Amigo Marshó, now I’ll leave you to zoom in on the signs……. Good team work right there, especially as I was nearly 1200 miles away. Perhaps modern maps aren’t so different from old school paper ones, but I think it could have been a different story if The only option had been twat-nav sat-nav as the shipper had given the wrong postcode! Tipped and off to his reload, Seniór Marsh was off to Marcilla just south of Pamplona to reload 2x 300kg vibrators for the UK. Nuff Said.
Spare a thought for all the lorry drivers who had to work over new year said a small article in one the papers. There was me wishing I had a reason to get away from the chaos of kids and big family do’s over the festive period!!
Our regular blog favourite Steve Marsh was in Dover in the early hours of New Year’s Day getting on the boat to Dunkerque and off to Germany, no rest for the wicked as they say!
Having managed to get himself most of the way to Aschersleben, Germany on Saturday after a good run. It was time to park up until today where Steve has cleared customs in Aschersleben. Having waited nearly all day today for clearance, Steve is now on his way to Hannover for first delivery tomorrow after a delivery to Munich was cancelled. Then it’ll be back to Blankenberg for another drop and on to a reload. A nice quick trip to get the new year going, Marshy spends a lot of time in and out of England. Often on routes to Ireland as well as mainland Europe. I really should give him a plug as he is the best in Express work and dedicated hot shot loads. If you have such a requirement please call him as he or his team of dedicated subbies will genuinely give you unrivalled service.
I think it started on Instagram and the rest is history! My love of the #littlebigcabclub trucks, is becoming the stuff of legend, so when asked by another member of the club if he could send in a guest blog, what else could I say but yes. George Turner or @european_lorryist as he’s know on Instagram spends a lot of his time driving an LX cabbed MAN TGL collecting house boats from Poland for his business in Portugal. To good a story to miss right?? Over to George for Part 1, Part 2 will follow in due course.
Wednesday 6th January – The truck is always at home with me which is a nice little bonus with this job. I pop out to the little MAN and fire the night heater up, its the first time since living in Portugal its cold enough for an iced over windscreen. Card goes in at 9am and I head off in the direction of Lisbon. A quick pit-stop in Torres Novas to exchange a drop link for my own van, and onwards down the A1 to the capital. My company franchise & transport house boats, and I arrive in the marina in good time without issue. I’m only here to pick-up some paperwork and a few interior fixtures for return to Poland. All this only amounts to around 20 minutes and I’m back up the road and home by half past 1, just a little food prep and laundry to do for the off in the morning. 283Km today.
Thursday 7th. January – Not a particularly early start, loaded the last of my bits and bobs into the truck and I’m on the road at 08:30. Its always quiet on the A23 heading up to the Spanish border at Vilar Formosa, just a quick stop to drop in 50 euros of diesel to last me to the AS24 at Salamanca, AS24 are a bit thin on the ground in PT. Arriving in Salamanca I fill up with 250L worth of diesel, which is not far off what it holds, running a bit close to the wire here! I carry on another hour or so and pull in on 4h29, half way to Tordesillas. A quick bite to eat and back on the road, N/E direction, Burgos, Vitoria-Gasteiz, AP 1, AP 8. Plenty of snow over the hills at Miranda de Ebro, but its all running smoothly thankfully. A few days before this they had been over run with snow and shut the motorway, as they do in Spain. On 8h48 driving and at a quarter past 7, I pull into Itziar Services just before San Sebastian and make use of the empty car park as all truck spaces are occupied. One thing about being in a little truck is not needing to worry about parking, one can manage to find something suitable regardless! 757Km today.
Friday 8th January – 11h off and on I’m the road by 06:30. Cross the ESP/FR border at Irun still in darkness and not bothered by the Gendarmes this time. Usually they’re quite perplexed why an Italian truck with an English driver with Portuguese Documents is heading for Poland empty. I’m usually asked 3-4 times if I’m carrying more than 10k in cash, and then subsequently searched for the said non-existent cash! Carrying on I feel a bit tired, putting it down to having a month out the saddle and a relatively early start, I stopped just after castets for a quick 15 minute snooze. Still dark at this point, but the gendarmes are set up in this particular aire and doing checks on unsuspecting drivers, fortunately again, they left me alone. I clear a traffic free Bordeaux nicely by 10am and head east for Clermont Ferrand. Pick up some more diesel at Perigueux, then over the hills of the a89, snowing at points but all good and keeping at 90ks for the duration! I have to make a bit of a detour to avoid the closed N79 west of Moulins, but then rejoin the n79 for a frustrating 70kmh drive through the road works. I pull in on 10h03 at the last aire before the A6. Loads of space here, but then I suppose its friday night in the middle of france. 833Km today.
Saturday 9th January – Another 11 hours off and card in and I’m away by 05:30. It seems like what trucks are here, are all leaving as well, quite a busy rest area for the time. I crack on for an hour and a half along the A36 heading for Germany, when again like yesterday, i’m feeling pretty tired! I pull in for a 45 minute snooze this time, by which time its daylight again, albeit still white and frosty. Its a fairly long and boring road the a36, but I eventually cross the non existent border and head up the 5 towards Heidelberg. Another road with not much to see on it, as well as being a quieter than normal saturday morning. At Rastatt I pull up for a supermarket sweep, I just end up buying mostly alcohol for home and the lads in Poland though. The supermarket is quiet and i’m back on the road in 20 minutes. A quick AS24 diesel stop at Karlsruhe, then up to the 6 and heading east for Nuremberg. Fairly uneventful drive apart from a small detour north of Nuremberg to avoid an accident. Parked up at half 5, pitch black and again i’m pushing the boundaries on 10h 02. I’m about an hour south of Leipzig. Living the dream on a saturday night so cook some super noodles, hot dogs and had a can or two of Desperados. 856Km today.
Sunday 10th January – Its a half past 4 start on a Sunday, but i’ve only just over 600km to do, so it wont be a particularly strenuous day. 1H30 drive down, I top up the tanks again, plus remember to fill the separate night heater tank this time, its been working over time the last few nights! Onwards and up to Berlin, then east across the border into Poland at Frankfurt-Oder, never any police or problems here. 20Km along the A2, a quick interval for a ticket at the toll booth, then onto the hugely uninteresting drive to Poznan. A little snow in the air again, but solid KM covered, I head north after Poznan on the S5 and stop at Marathon Int. Transport for a final diesel top up, then just 1hr30 left up to Bydgoszcz. A little detour for the new motorway roadworks and I’m outside the boatyard nice and comfortably at 13:30. I Start my 24h rest and immediately set about changing the drivers front wheel as a previous small crack in the alloy has developed into a crack across two of the wheel nuts! Its a quick 30 minute job with the use of a long bar, it takes longer to get the spare wheel off its hanger! I stay put for the evening, cook some more dinner, a few cans and an early night ready for loading in the morning. 662Km, 7h48 drive today.
It’s been a fair while since I have been able to do a good blog on the logistical magician that is Steve Marsh of Express fame. Recently the Marsh MAN has been seen frequenting the A55 and the green roads of Ireland, in fact this week he has two trips to the Emerald Isle booked. Last week however it was a different story. A lovely little bit of logistical excellence with minimal empty running. Load Northern England, tip and load Italy, then back to Northern England.
Marshy is based near Warrington in the North West of England, not a million miles from Liverpool. The job started on Thursday, with the loading of a transformer housing from Sherburn in Elmet in Yorkshire. The little MAN TGL was built to Marshys own strict requirements and although it added a fair amount of weight, the importance of a sliding roof on the 12 tonner has been proven over and over. The truck has everything required to load a large but sensitive item through the roof and transported over 1200 miles to its destination. Once loaded it’s off down the A1, A14, M11, M25, M2, A2 to Douvres. Boat to Calais and then off down through France, up and over Mont Blanc and into Italia.
Break time in the Alps
Once into Italy, time was ticking for Marshy to take a weekend break. Having got most of the way down towards Subbiano in Tuscany, Steve parked up Saturday afternoon in the last services before the delivery point to take a well earned rest through to Monday morning. Up and away Monday to Subbiano, tip the transformer housing off for testing and then straight on to the reload. What a nice little reload it was! So a little empty running from Subbiano upto Comezzano-Cizzago near Brescia, just the 246 miles, to reload a small aeroplane back to the UK, loading Monday evening.
Loading finished Monday PM, then it was back onto the autostrada and head towards the Blanc and a full retrace of his steps back to Calais. A couple of stops along the way to make sure the plane hadn’t moved were required by Mr Conscientious as you can imagine. The plane was only 300kg all in, made from carbon fibre and fitted with a litre 2 litre engine. The hardest part of the load were the wings according to Marshy as they were so light and couldn’t rub on each other.
#volvogate
Another Calais Dover crossing and then back up North to Kirkby near Liverpool. The plane was delivered on Thursday last week to a flying school on a farm, so the final stretch was probably the hardest part, down through a farm track, plenty of bumps and pot holes and not to mention the low trees! All said and done, it’s all in a days work for the little MAN and it’s pilot. Another round trip complete and another couple of happy customers. The trucks capabilities, the sliding roof, the tail lift to load and unload the plane…..experience is key people, experience… is… key…
A little mileage breakdown just for fun? Yea go on then, why not!
Empty – Warrington to Sherburn in Elmet = 72 miles.
Loaded – Sherburn in Elmet to Subbiano, Italy = 1230 miles.
Empty – Subbiano to Comezzano-Cizzago = 246 miles.
Loaded – Comezzano-Cizzago to Kirkby = 1002 miles.
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