Quick Pick of Channel Spotting

Posted on July 9, 2012 by truckbloguk

Although I run this little website for like minded truck types, I honesty still feel self concious (if that’s the right wording) about taking photos of trucks…yes really. I’m not like the Neil Jarrolds or Ferdy De Martins of the world, who happily take photos willy and indeed nilly. For what ever reason i’m still not a confident wagon snapper. Anyway I thought it’d be a let down to my loyal readers if I didn’t take a few photos while sitting in Calais waiting for my boat. The dock wasn’t busy and I was only snapping out the truck window through a handy sized gap in the car transorter next to me, so the photos are not that great, they are a bit dark. The wagon above arrived in Calais, followed closely by a slightly smaller version. Both Scanias are Austrian registered and are used on the F1 Grand Prix circuit. They are used to build the hospitality units that we all see on the TV. I did have a tip off they are just for the Red Bull team, but i’m not sure how true it is, as it seems a little odd for a racing team based in Milton Keynes, UK to exclusively use a truck mounted crane company from Austria. Leave your comments please.

Speaking of F1, parked next to me was the above Mercedes Benz Actros car transporter (you can just the KFL logo behind). This one was parked behind two others and there was also one at the front of my lane. As you can see they are all loaded up with the F1 support vehicles. Each silver Mercedes Benz car or Vito was marked up with its purpose, such as; Media, Medical, Race Support (the 6.3 litre AMG estate!), Extraction (??) etc etc. Very smart.

Being in Calais you’d expect to see a Norbert, but these days you don’t see French registered ones. Just like everyone else ND now uses Eastern European registered trucks. Plenty of other Eastern Europeans about including this odd liveried Bulgarian Scania. Apparently it is supporting the Aston Villa captain who has Cancer or Leukaemia, but is a Bulgarian national hero (I don’t know much about soccer anymore), but Mr Lloydswell Dodsworth filled me in.

Much to my delight there were also a host of little Tonka trucks of all nationalities coming and going. First a very old and over worked Red Atego. I think the number plate looked Hungarian, but what ever it was, it did look like it should be on it’s last return journey to its home land.

This little MAN drawbar was obviously not sure which boat, lane or line he was supposed to be shipping to the UK on as he was already in a lane when I arrived, but over the next 45 minutes, manged to change lines and line a further 3 times. I wonder if he ever got to the UK, or even if he wanted to get to the UK in the first place?! Remember 4 axles, means a GVW of 26,000 kg, according to my some what sketchy, previous research!

An English truck, heading off into France on a Friday morning. It would have to be some thing special and it was. A 7.5 ton Iveco Eurocargo Pigeon Carrier! The truck was a 54 plate and had a sleeper pod on the roof, so it must go a fair distance. Although it would be quite cosy with the 2 drivers in the cab.

Driving on the boat, there were a few more Angleterre trucks heading home. Armoric Freight Volvo and another big cabbed Mercedes Atego, that I want to say was Dods & Brown, but i’m sure that’s wrong. Please correct me.

I saved the best til last. This could be my current perfect truck, apart from, as another well know MAN TGL driver agreed with me, they should have put those fake side panels either side of the fridge unit!

If I was offered this truck with Euro work or a big artic with Euro work, I would honestly choose this. An MAN TGL LX, 12.250 with a Lamberet fridge body. Spare wheel, long range tanks and still with tyre shine on, this must be its maiden voyage to the UK and hopefully not its last. I think it needs a sun visor though. If I was Neil Jarrold, I would have walked off to find it and take some more pics and I wish I had. I think it was parked behind the Armoric Freight Volvo, unfortunately not on my boat. For any one rich out there who wants an investment, buy me one of these in blue and I will make your money back two fold!

There it goes…..Proof I was taking my pics through the body of that F1 transporter above. I do wish I had the time to spend a Friday or Monday sitting in Calais proper spotting……One day.

Mediterranean MAN (It’s Photo Heavy!)

Posted on June 24, 2012 by truckbloguk

A very leading photo, Marshy and TB on the move heading towards Athens. Where could they be off too?? With Marshy’s track record the answer really is; Anywhere!

How about that? I think that narrows it down some what. Mr Marsh sat in Lavrio Port, Greece waiting for the Salamis Lines ferry to??….you guessed it Cyprus. The job loaded in North Shields, GB and delivered to the vessel “Lewek Falcon” in Larnaca Port. The cargo was a 5 ton winch. The MAN for the job was Steve Marsh! Our top blogger and owner driver of Steve Marsh Express. Just while i’m hovering over the S.M.E. sales desk, there is really only one man worth trusting with such a job, when it’s crucial to get to a far away destination on time to meet a vessel that’s in Port for a few hours, call THE MARSH!

Now although we all love a photo Marshy didn’t start snapping until the sun started to shine, so first up on the way was the Port of Ancona in Italy. This place must be awesome. From what I can tell it is always rammo wall to wall with trucks, ships and any thing that will fit on a boat to the Islands of the Mediterranean. Luckily for our little MAN there was just room for him on the end of the row, while waiting for the Minoan Lines boat to Patras (I finally got a Minoan Lines sticker!). There was also a chance for the classic shot of truck next to ferry.

After arriving in Greece it was across to Lavrio in Greece for the Salamis Lines ferry to Cyprus. Having reached Lavrio, it was time for a weekend break before getting the Cyprus tub. Marshy wasn’t the only one weekended in Lavrio. Also in Lavrio port were 2 Jordanian’s who were putting 4 trucks on the boat to Israel to sell back in Jordan. Then they were flying back to Germany to pick up 2 more trucks. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with ferries to Cyprus, most tend to be multi-drop. By this I mean they tend to do a bit of a round trip rather than straight back and fourth. This ship was also bound for Haifa, Israel as well as Limassol. I know its out of focus, but Marshy spoke to this Dutch DAF driver, who was empty on his way to Israel, with what looks like a container trailer.

Dear Mr Marsh, I’m sorry to say I can’t remember which boat scene was the outgoing and which was the return. The on board boat shots are always good, as you can see who else is busy doing similar trips. I remember one leg out or back was quite busy from what Marshy said. Have a good look at both pics as I have no idea which is which, but the Greek Scania horse box is in both!

On arrival in Limassol, you are always greeted with some ex-pat trucks and of course every driver who goes has to get a pic of the Salamis Lines Scania 111 shunter. See if you can guess which well known UK haulier’s Volvo has a new life in the sun, leave your comments below.

…Too easy for all you spotters! As you can see on arrival it was straight off the boat in Limassol and on the road to Larnaca. About 70 km down the road is the Port of Larnaca where the ships winch was safely delivered to the Vessel.

All that’s left after tipping is a wander back to Limassol, a wait for the boat back to Greece and then a long empty run back to Neuwied near Koblenz in Germany for a prearranged load back to the UK. Marshy has now been to more Mediterranean Islands than any gang of pesky Mosquito’s that we are all plagued with on our holidays. Saying that a week after his return from Cyprus the little MAN was right up North in Finland and then last trip, last week he was back at yet another Mediterranean island, but a lot, lot smaller, still a top class story to be told….another blog for another day. Now it’s time for the little MAN to have a rest under a palm tree and wait for his ferry back to Greece. Nice one Steve!

MAN Makes New Friends

Posted on May 22, 2012 by truckbloguk

What happens on sunny Mondays in Suomi? It seems the answer is meet up with other Western Europeans heading home. Our little friend Steve Marsh has this week been to Pori, Finland (yes really, I know he has just come back from Cyprus…some people get all the glory!). After receiving his email looking for a reload, I had to admit that i’m not that big in Finland. The only person I could think of was Dutch long haul trucking legend, Frank Hoogenboom and his beautiful black V8 Scania. Mr Hoogenboom spends his weeks taking flowers from the Netherlands to St Petersburg, then he reloads in Finland on the way home. I sent Frank a message telling him about Marshy, but unfortunately the message got a bit lost in translation, so Steve Marsh headed to Finnlines Helsinki Port to ship back empty to Travermunde, Germany.

Low and behold I then receive this picture message from Marshy. It turns out he parked up next to Frank waiting for the ship. I dare say Frank noticed the TB sticker on the little MAN and a new friendship was born…..ha ha ha I make myself laugh! Any way, Marshy was gutted that when he checked the photo and it was blurry, but on this occasion I really like the effect. I better also mention the white Scania in the middle is also Dutch and I think it’s driven by Henk Prins. The little MAN would give the big Scania’s a run for there money mileage wise I reckon, although I think the big black V8 may have a coat or 2 more polish on it than the little MAN! 😉

New Truckblog Stickers Now on the Road!

Posted on March 9, 2012 by truckbloguk

The new Truckblog stickers are now in circulation, getting themselves around the UK and Europe. If you drive a truck any where in the world you can of course buy one as long as you send in a photo of where you have stuck it with some thing in the background, like Steve Marsh’s effort above. This is the first one “On the Move” that I have received, although Marshy has said it its not the greatest photo. The best thing is that he is showing the sticker off on it’s first trip, which is a good one, this photo was taken in Norrkoping Docks, Sweden. If you’ve got a sticker or you are getting one, click on the Truckblog Stickers heading on the home page of the blog. Then once stuck on your truck, email me your photos; ben@truckblog.co.uk

While on the way up through Germany to Sweden, Steve Marsh woke up one morning to see that his truck had had a baby! This little tilt turned up and looks like a mini-me version of Steve’s MAN TGL. I’m not to up on my vans but I think this could be a Renault Master perhaps?? Any way hopefully there will be more Truckblog stickers on the move to come!

Marshy’s New Year Marathon MAN

Posted on February 28, 2012 by truckbloguk

How many km’s do you clock up in round trip?? How many do you think this little 12 ton MAN TGL does?? Probably more than most give these little trucks credit for. Back in January your friend and mine, Steve Marsh, embarked on mini marathon around Europe. I’m hoping that if you click here you can see THE MAP of Marshys New Year Marathon.

So what did Steve get up to in his 9 day, 4,367km round trip? Pull up a sand bag and i’ll tell you a story;

– Start Culcheth, Warrington Thursday
– Load Thursday Westhoughton, Lancashire
– Ship Dover Calais
– Arrive in Vercelli, Italy on Saturday
– Unload Monday
– Load Baldenheim, France on Tuesday Morning
– Ship Calais Dover
– Home to Culcheth, Warrington Wednesday
– Ship Holyhead Dublin Thursday
– Deliver Limerick, Ireland Friday Morning
– Load Collinstown, Ireland Friday Afternoon
– Ship Dublin Holyhead Friday night
– Deliver Crewe, Cheshire on Saturday Morning
– Home for tripe, black pudding, liver and onions Saturday lunch.
– Walk the Whippet Saturday afternoon (I made this bit up.)

So you see, size doesn’t matter when it comes to covering big distances. For the narrow minded of us, these little trucks can cover just as many, if not more km’s a week than their big brothers. Another blog regular from Australia, runs a mini artic and he covers the whole of Oz driving his little rig, and can legally cover more of Kangaroo Land than the massive Roadtrains they have out there. Perhaps this helps explain my love for a tonka toy that does long distance work, its just more unusual I guess. Have you covered a decent round trip in a short space of time?? Legal (ish) stories only I think is best, email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Oh the romance of long distance lorry driving! Marshy keeps apologising for sending me photo’s that always have his table and chairs in. I don’t mind at all, it’s part of the job. How many drivers these days stop, park up and stay in their cabs all day every day?? Not Mr Marsh, my only worry is there is never any food on his table!!

…..Keep the photos coming Steve, I now have people emailing me asking if all is ok when we don’t hear from you for a few weeks. You have fans, it’s official! If you have any urgent cargo requirements please contact Steve, he can do vans as well if needs be, he says he is happy to quote on anything, but for his own vehicles 5 tons is his limit. Have a look at the website; www.stevemarshexpress.co.uk

Batman – Superman – MarshMAN

Posted on February 9, 2012 by truckbloguk

Is it a bird, is it a plane, not it’s super-Steve!! Marsh that is. Back in November your friend and mine, Steve Marsh Express was asked to transport some art, modern art, down to an exhibition in Courchevel 1850, France. Courchevel I hear you repeat to yourself, yes Courchevel its that rather exclusive ski resort in the French Alps. Marshy got the call to transport the sculpture work of artist Mauro Perucchetti, to the Courchevel Festival. Mr Marsh sent me some snaps of the stunning scenery but none of the cargo, so he described it as “Batman/Superman & Jelly Baby statues.” Not really knowing what Marshy meant by Jelly Baby statues I had to have a look for myself and sure enough they can only be described as the aforementioned Jelly Babies. This modern art stuff can be strange can’t it? There is pretty well nothing that can’t be classed as art. Personally I like a good old piece of picture art, nice scenery, good composure, some good detail and of course an ideal subject. Something like this works well………..

If my idea of art is not the same as yours perhaps the press release for the exhibition is more your thing. When you can, have a look through the gallery on Mauro Perucchetti’s website, you can see the Jelly Baby sculptures. If you look hard enough you’ll see a white marble carved sculpture of Batman and Superman, which actually is quite good, I like it. Anyway this isn’t weirdartblog.com.org so i’ll leave the opinions of modern art to those who claim to know what they are talking about!

Stunning views those mountains, quite steep too some of them, they look great as a backdrop for the little MAN. Come snow or shine Marsh’s little MAN seems to cope. So after unloading his arty farty load, it was time to head off to the reload. This time Switzerland was the loading point. 340 ish kilometres from Courchevel to Niederbipp, CH. The load was some tools and machinery GB05 STE had delivered out to Niederbipp two weeks earlier. They had been used to repair some machines at a papermill, but now had to be returned to Darwen, Lancashire. All in all another good trip for us to marvel at (ref to superheroes I think you’ll find!). Hopefully if you click HERE you can see a Google map of the trip. I thought i’d give it a go and see if it works. For now i’ll leave you with Mr Marsh heading off into a mountain filled sunset, until the next time……………………. Italy, France and Ireland next.

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.

Scotts-MAN

Posted on September 9, 2011 by truckbloguk

Its been a while since my friend and yours, Steve Marsh appeared on the blog. Like the rest of us, Marshy too has been a little quiet. Only doing quite alot of what he classes as locals, France, Benelux and Germany. Apparantly these destinations dont make the best photographs! Any way some where else Marshy doesn’t get to too often is the Tartan Territory. Since I’ve know Steve, I think I only rmember him going to Scotland once before. Unfortunately Steve picked that week where Scotland suffered a lot of flooding, back in August. Oh well you can’t have every thing!! Any way Steve has a lovely little 12 ton MAN, so a little wet weather even’s the Karma a bit!

Having delivered a local to Dunkerque, a reload was needed. It turned out the reload involved meeting a Spanish 18 tonner in Calais and transhipping the cargo. Mr Marsh has apologised for not getting a photo! Having loaded it was straight up from Calais to Invergordon in Scotland, to make the delivery. The above pictures were taken on the banks of the Cromaty Firth, just south of Invergordon. For those of you who dont know that part of the world, most times you can see the coast you tend to see some sort of oil related marine vessels. As in this photo you can see Marshy artistically placed the oil rig in the background. Very artistic Steven, great wheel trims by the way!!

There is more to come from Marshy, including a fleet photograph in Lodz, Poland (not so local).

Transit-MAN

Posted on July 23, 2011 by truckbloguk

Good title for the piece i think. My effort was going to be White Van MAN, but i have been overruled by both the wife and Marshy. A recent trip to Hamburg for the famous Steve Marsh Express 12 Ton MAN, was an automotive based round trip vehicle fest. The export load was parts, stock and bits and pieces for the new Mclaren road car. Delivered to a posh car dealer in Hamburg and at the same time an Ontime Automotive Mercedes Atego delivered a the actual car. I have got pics of the car rolling out of the Ontime truck, but i’m sorry to say this is a TRUCK blog not a car blog, so those pics are banished to the photographic vault.
Unfortunatley this Hamburg delivery was part of a round Europe run that Marshy missed out on. Originally Steve quoted on a run starting in Paris and then on to deliver to Brussels, Hamberg, Zurich, Milan, Monaco and finally Marbella. In the end SMEX did the Paris one week and then Hamburg the following. Not quite the same as the big run but good fun all the same.
As always after a delivery there needs to be a reload. Some how with all of his contacts Steve doesn’t seem to fail on the reloading front very often. This time round a very photogenic reload was the order of the day. A complete Transit Van shell from Geeste, Germany back to the Ford Factory in Basildon, in truckblogs very own home county of Essex. Now i dont know about you but i’d say that it was rather a good fit.

Just look at those shiny wheels disc’s! Just as a note for all of our older readers, isn’t it nice to see a well equiped proper tilt?! Expertly stripped and prepped for loading, even a propper step ladder to aid our driver in his efforts, it’s almost a forgotten art, like roping and sheeting!

Steve Marsh Express Meets BJS International

Posted on May 31, 2011 by truckbloguk

Whilst looking about on my Flickr page i started thinking how me and Marshy were both owner’s of Hatcher cabbed MAN’s. Back in the day i had a 7.5 tonner but Marshy’s was a 12 tonner, naturally he was one step ahead. My truck definitely lived up to my expectations and was doing the mileage of any big truck if not more day after day up and down the motorway, Glasgow 3 times a week from my base in Braintree, Carmarthen daily for a week, exactly 4 1/2 hours each way every day, i loved it! Marshy was undoubtedly doing similar mileage but the majority of his was continental with a bit of UK, where i was vice versa. I never quite worked out why i didn’t do more continental?? i think it was probably that i was just so busy doing my thing i never got round to getting more into it. I used to see V99 STE around quite a lot, i often used to wave in the hope he’d wave back, but with out any luck, i think Marshy was just too busy doing his thing while i was doing mine. I think there is a big “what if” here some where. What if we had been going the same way and had had time to stop for a cuppa………….

I often wonder what would have happened if i had got more into continental express type work. There was clearly a market for it a few years back and Steve Marsh is testament to the fact there is still a market for it now. With the office job i do now for HC Wilson, each week we have a couple of job offers that would suit some thing like a 12 ton rigid, more often than not if we can’t cover it some how i end up offering it to Steve. I do wonder if I’ll ever go back to it, running a little rigid, i think the answer is one day yes it would be nice, or perhaps we should get one at Wilson’s!?

I have no idea why they are my favourite type of truck, after all a simple person would call a 7.5 tonner a van!………… that’s a totally different blog all together! I guess at the end of the day there will always be a market for these cracking little rigids with in haulage, but how many there is the unanswered question. Like all area’s of our industry the numbers have declined and only the fittest survive. These day’s with all the driving license issue’s and pallet networks offering such silly cheap rates it makes Steve Marsh Expresses daily life all the more difficult. I think what a lot of companies/customers miss is the personal touch, the knowledge that Steve loads and Steve will deliver. The load isn’t going to get transshipped 5 times and put on a number of different vehicles before being delivered. Is it that customers have realised that their goods are more important than always getting the cheapest rates? Hopefully there will always be a need for a little rigid otherwise in the years to come I’m not going to be able to buy my son one! (if he wants one of course!). Any way enough of this inane banter. Keep the little trucks rolling that’s what i say, everyone loves a Tonka toy!! So until the BJS empire is rebuilt, best you keep calling Marshy.

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