Lorries from the North East by Peter J Davies

(Torque 60)

 For this colour edition of Torque Peter has selected a number of pictures depicting hauliers from the North East of England .  Many famous haulage companies come from the North East; Fergusons of Blyth, Hewitts of Morpeth, Hopps of Consett and Siddle Cook of Consett to name but a few.  Siddle Cook celebrated their centenary in 2012. All of the photographs were taken by Peter Davies except where stated.  Again, Malcolm Wilford has managed to identify some of them with chassis numbers by trawling through his extensive chassis records and we thank him for that.

Not instantly recognisable as a Leyland, this 1953 22.O/1 Octopus began life with a streamlined integral van body  built by Modern Coachcraft of Newcastle-on-Tyne.  Later converted to a fl at retaining the original cab, TBB 213 had chassis no. 532066, line no.1312.  This black and white photo is included due to its rarity and was taken at Grantham in May 1965.

Pictured in June 1967 on the A1 in North Yorkshire, ECN 449 is a Comet ECO2.1R from the Gateshead based fleet of the Armstrong Cork Co. Ltd.  This lorry had chassis no. 552833, line no.1727.

Pictured in March 1969 against the backdrop of the Tyne Bridge is 24.O/4 Octopus of the Newcastle City Council refuse dept.   BBB 798B was one of a pair with chassis nos.

L03264/5, line nos. 1685/6, new in November 1963.

An early Marathon supplied to F Horne (Transport) Ltd of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, coupled to a container-fl at carrying an IFF (International Ferry Freight) container.  It was brand new when photographed at Toddington M1 services in August 1974.

Considering most road construction and repair vehicles work locally, this 1977 registered 500 series Octopus of Road Materials (Middlesborough) Ltd was quite a long way from base when photographed at Watford Gap M1 services in May 1978.

Hauliers, D Seaton of Redmarshall near Stockton-on-Tees, operated this nicely liveried Constructor 8 dating from 1982. VRR is a Nottinghamshire index mark - did Seaton’s acquire the lorry second hand?  The picture dates from June 1989.

Elddis Transport is a well-known haulier still seen throughout the UK. Elddis is Siddle spelt backwards as the firm is run by the sons of the famous Siddle Cook. This Roadtrain was photographed at Darlington in May 1991.

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