Tony B Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Do you know the cost of rail sleepers nowadays? A local place has them for sale £25 EACH!!! Pass the crowbar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Do you know the cost of rail sleepers nowadays? A local place has them for sale £25 EACH!!! Pass the crowbar! It was not just a straight railway line, most of what I did was in a marshalling yard, thats why he nearly passed out when he got out of his Merc, in a matter of hours we had the place looking like a ww1 battleground. hundreds of sleepers all over the place. Once that he had calmed down, and I told him that I was only applying the Henry Ford principal of the production line, and that he could not move them on until they were on his trucks........ it was just that he had worked out that in terms of time, (Man hours) I had a better profit margin than I think that he did!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Brilliant bit of lateral thinking Ray but what chance do you think you would be paid in full if that had been in today's world;) He was a man of his word, he never failed me, in fact I did many projects for him, perhaps I can relate some, some quite funny........ of course, being his nephew did`nt do me any harm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 (edited) Don't know what the going rate is these days for sleepers Ray.. .back in the '80s I used to sell a lot to farmers for making silage pits out of and back then, 'rough' were £6 each up to 'excellent' at £10 .. ..unless you had a real serious proper haggler of a farmer and to be fair most farmers were well versed in the art of the 'haggle' .... then they might have to come down to £8 a piece .....always plus delivery of course PS: a quick look on Google and there seems to be any number available around the country from 14 quid or so plus the VAT Edited February 8, 2013 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Used to buy them by the Dozen for gate posts and to make cross country horse jumps. Wish I'd laid in stocks now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 Amongst the vehicles that I drove back in the 1950s and 60s. A Morriss Commercial truck (van body) it was a 1928 model, it was about the size of a modern 7.5 tonner, I seem to remember that it carried about 1.5 tonnes max. It was fitted with a brakes on the back axle only !!!, I dont remember ever having any problems with thr braking, perhaps we did not take it out in the ice and snow?. I do remember that it was a real sit up and beg driving position with a bench seat. The fuel tank ran under the bulkhead with a motorcycle fuel tap under the dash. Another moter was a Commer TS3 with a drawbar trailer, I drove that one for quite a long time. The four wheel drawbar trailer had no brakes on the front axle (Turntable) only braked on the rear axle. When I first started to drive it I loaded a split delivery, I should have put half and half onto the truck and trailer so that my second delivery would have been with some equalibrium on truck and trailer. Instead I emptied the first delivery from the trailer. Traveling to my second delivery, on wet roads , I descended a hill, applied my brakes lightly and on looking in my mirrors, I was horrified to see that the brakes had locked up on the trailer rear axle and the trailer was beginning to slide out of line.......... I had only a few miles further to go, so I uncoupled the air line (You could not do that today) and drove steadilly to my destination. Other than that one experience, I dont recall having any more problems with stopping................. of course I have to say that the volume of traffic was considerably lighter than on todays roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 I was listening to a late night programme on the radio last night, the gist of the discussion was about the criminal record of people being a problem for people who were looking for gainful employment later in their adult life, only to find that an infringement of the law during their formative years (Teens) was proving to be a real stumbling block when it came to interviews. Most of the infringements were of a minor nature, but resulting in catostrophic results when it came to gaining employment. Some of these people had committed minor infringements during their childhood or teens, of course there was a large variety of offences, some minor, some relatively serious, but all proving equally devastating. Many of the people interviewed had let exemplary lives from their teens for as many as 25 / 30 years without further infringements, but still penalised for their earlier lapses. I reflected on my own childhood, I clearly remember that the local bobby would give you a good clip around the ear if he caught you doing anything anti-social, you certainly did not go to your parents ( In my case my grandparents, who raised myself and my sister) and tell them, you would just get another clip around the ear. I was involved with my friends (During WW2) in raiding a neighbours orchard and stealing apples from his trees. The policeman came to our home and told my grandparents that I had been involved in this terrible crime, the net result was that the policeman told my grandparents that I owed the princely sum of five shillings (25p) for the apples. I had no pocket money untill that "fine" was paid, and I had to take it personally to the neighbour concerned, all part of my punishment. Once that our own children had had gotten married and left home my wife became involved with youthwork to fill the gap that she now found in her life. Of course it was inevitable that I would become involved at some point, and I joined her until I finished at the age of 60, she continued until she was 70. I was asked many times by the authorities (Youth service) why I had not gotten into more trouble along with my friends, the only reason that I could give was that I never wanted to let my grandparents down, they had sacrificed a great deal when they took on the responsibility of my sister and myself, they were good people who led by example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted April 11, 2013 Author Share Posted April 11, 2013 Thought that this might be of some interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Our Dodge WC51 ran out of fuel while it was being ran in the workshop, not such a bad thing really, at least we do now know that it runs dry when the fuel gauge is still showing a little above empty.... no excuse now for running dry when out on the road. It did however jog my memory back to the 1950s, when one of our guys was traveling back from Munster in a Bedford QL. He was stopped for speeding by an MP(s) not really sure if the MP was on his own, however he asked our guy why he was speeding, he told the MP that he was very low on fuel, and was trying to get back before he ran dry..........the MP said, make sure that you have plenty of fuel in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Funny enough, so does my WC51! Scared the **** put of the first time it happned. . :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Funny enough, so does my WC51! Scared the **** put of the first time it happned. . :-D Our fuel gauges must be from the same faulty batch ????? but the rest of the truck is great!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Intresting thought, or is it just the way the gauges are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 My friends Stan & Margaret have a WC51....... I will ask them if they have ever ran out of fuel for the same reason. Or has anyone else on the forum ran out when still showing above empty ??????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted September 9, 2013 Author Share Posted September 9, 2013 Another three weeks and I will be with my buddies for our 54th re-union,we are beginning to wonder just how much longer that we can continue, so I suppose that we will have to make everyone count now. I am going to make a point of telling them just how much that they have meant to me over the last 57 years or so, you should do these things before its too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Another three weeks and I will be with my buddies for our 54th re-union,we are beginning to wonder just how much longer that we can continue, so I suppose that we will have to make everyone count now. I am going to make a point of telling them just how much that they have meant to me over the last 57 years or so, you should do these things before its too late. Well said. Its like War and Peace for me and my brother. We like to go if only to meet up with friends, especially a lot of our friends are British whom we met on the show. Even though we are in our 40's its still important. Especially after we lost our friend James,age 37, in Dec 2011. We met him and Mat back in 2001 at the show and became instant friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 What's the point of counting? as my late Mother siad 'No pockets in a shroud'. Just enjoy everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 My re-union with my army buddies of the 1950s was held on the weekend of the 4th of this month (Oct) Two weeks before the event I suddenly found that I had difficulty breathing. I assumed that the condition was related to my heart condition, but went along to my doctor for a check. She immediately sent me for x-ray and blood tests at two local hospitals on the same day. I was immediately sent to a third hospital for assesment, and the following day I had my chest drained of 4 ltrs of fluid, no wonder that I could not breath, the fluid was crushing my lungs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 That particular proceedure left me unable to attend the re-union, however our son Tony suggested that I should just go down on the Saturday and have dinner with everyone, which we did, and I am very grateful to him for making that possible. It was great to meet up with them all again, so I did not miss out completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Sorry to hear of your illness Ray and hope you are recovering OK . Great pity you missed your reunion weekend as it is obvious from previous posts how much it means to you but glad to hear your son got you there for the dinner. All the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Keep well! Can't go sick at your age! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 An update on our Ray he is very ill in hospital at this moment in time and I am sure that all our thoughts are with him and also his family at this time Commander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 An update on our Ray he is very ill in hospital at this moment in time and I am sure that all our thoughts are with him and also his family at this time Commander Please pass on our good wishes and hope Ray is back in good health soon. We miss his anecdotes on here. regards, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Please pass on my best wishes. Tell him we miss his humour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Please pass on my best wishes. Tell him we miss his humour. Likewise, my thoughts and prayers are with Ray and his family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesm_ndt Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Ditto, I hope Ray you are back on the HMVF soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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