Remember these

[neilc]

Hi all,

I was fortunate to be trained to operate pavers by Mickey Tinker (Tarmac Corby) on his BK90 before we got onto the M40 construction job. So after laying a few thousand tons and the building up/knocking down the screeds of various machines on the M40..... I got my very own BK (ive got some photos in the loft that i will dig out and post). I was then sent out on various jobs with MY machine to work, sometimes the only Tarmac Roadstone employee with a gang of subbies.

So during the winter while the temps weren't rising enough to lay, 5 degrees and rising (Does this still happen?) . I was sent down to Blaw Knox with other Tarmac Roadstone lads.... Long time ago now!.... dredging through the names, Barry white, Jimmy Cullen ( im trying to remember but im sure you can throw some more in for me). The lads were from Alfs gang in chesterfield and Walt Wibleys gang in Blyth (or Paul Rodgers gang i think- Known as Kawa)- And of course me from Terry Coulsons gang running out of Corby.... Come on guys help me here and then the names will start flowing.
Anyway after a great week at the factory (and bl**dy good nights ) I was sent one of these in the post.

So do any of you remember these and did you go?

Regards

Richard

Hi mate
I think the gang from chesterfield was Bill Parkers gang, and of course I knew Walt Wibley, 1st time I met him was on M1 A42 link, he was as p****d as a newt, and that was 7.30 in the morning.

Hello Richard working with same chaps today as Saturday I think the ex Watts/Bardon foremans name is Steve another chap called Neil both about 6 foot 2" and another former paver operator who is Andy Deans brother they remember you with glowing terms ! Don"t see many outfits abiding by the 5 and rising rule now it"s largely self policed.Is that the same Jimmy Cullen who went on to form Needham and Cullen?Did Alf end up in Pete Pearsons gang? I did go down to Rochester but only to pick up a stub axel ,I would have loved to see round the factory,what amazed me also was the amount of new machines waiting for onward shipment, where did it all go wrong ? Actually I think I know some of the answers to that question.As for Walt Wibley I think he sold up in Huntingdon and moved back up north after his wife died I think he is now retired.Regards Neil

Hi Neil,
Still thinking about Steve and Neil ? will have to think harder
I know Roy Dean, we used to call him Trigger ( because he looked like Trig from only fools and horses).
Alf was in Petes gang then shortly after retired i think.
I think it was Barry Needham and definitely the same Jimmy Cullen.
As for the 5 and rising rule, you never see a roller driver with a punner now either.(we used to weld a tube onto the rollers to carry them)
The BK factory was amazing, and the courses they ran were second to none. I dont know if any of the manufacturers offer anything similar nowadays?
Didnt know about Walt and his wife, poor old bugger, i havent seen him for years.
I will keep thinking of the foremans names and let you know.
Regards
Richard

Hello Richard ,the only paver operator courses I here about are at Bircham Newton where they run 20 tons of sharpe sand through the machine then scrape it up and repeat operation . So glad that I learnt how to operate in the real world on real jobs with people whose whole lives revolved around surfacing and surfacing machinery. There really is no competition to that type of schooling no matter what any current hand ringer thinks. As I posted way back ,it was like one long apprenticeship .As you know this job can not be learnt from reading a text book ,it has to be learnt in the field . Regards Neil

[widget]

Hi Neil,
I agree with you, when i was on a steep learning curve i remember being put with a gang of subbies at Tarmac and if i got anything wrong i was given a clout on the back of the head with a rake (i was waring a hard hat!) by the Geordie foreman called Neil. I very quickly started getting things right

The only reason i think we were sent down to BK was because the training was thrown in with the purchase of the machines, and it was the same as you put about Bircham Newton, laying sand. It was still worth going but nothing compared to life skills!

Like any machine, anyone can drive one, but not everyone can operate one!

[mick h]

Hi all
Neil, I remember working with you in Milton Keynes around 1992ish, I'd been in the game a good 10 years then, starting as a rakehand and moving onto driving a Blaw Knox, and then obviously onto the screws, but I remember you cleaning the road up with I think it was a BK191 with a fixed screed like a tractor bucket. I know that the screwman I first drove for would have clouted me round the tab if I'd have used a screed for that, but I was amazed at your skill on the BK's. Happy days, when I get talking to the young lads in my gang all good drivers and screwman get bought up into conversation as I reminisce and I always bring up your name as I thought you were a cracking BK driver.
Cheers.

[neilc]

Hi all
Neil, I remember working with you in Milton Keynes around 1992ish, I'd been in the game a good 10 years then, starting as a rakehand and moving onto driving a Blaw Knox, and then obviously onto the screws, but I remember you cleaning the road up with I think it was a BK191 with a fixed screed like a tractor bucket. I know that the screwman I first drove for would have clouted me round the tab if I'd have used a screed for that, but I was amazed at your skill on the BK's. Happy days, when I get talking to the young lads in my gang all good drivers and screwman get bought up into conversation as I reminisce and I always bring up your name as I thought you were a cracking BK driver.
Cheers.

Hello all ,Mick thank you for your kind compliments ,I all ways tried to save the men on the ground as much work as possible I was taught that was part of a paver operators job .Certainly I have to give credit to the men who taught me , they don't make them like that any more !In a much earlier post I mentioned how I took over from my uncle on the M25 on a late PF90. One day whilst laying I came slightly of the driveline ,(bad news when operating with a fixed screed )a man by the name of Ritchie Diggin who I have spoken of in previous posts was screwing n/s I was driving n/s ,he shouted at me "Campbell your coming of the !!!!!!!!!!!! drive line " I told him to "go away" ,in an instant he was on the screed side arm and smacked me straight in the jaw! He meant no malice by it ,and I never held it against him .This was just their way of schooling ,instant and brutal, but it focussed my mind and enthusiasm, I didn't come of the driveline again .That scenario would be frowned upon now but I have no regrets only respect .As you know well Mick the long service men already in the job when we joined were a very different breed to today. Regards Neil

[neilc]

Hi Neil,
I agree with you, when i was on a steep learning curve i remember being put with a gang of subbies at Tarmac and if i got anything wrong i was given a clout on the back of the head with a rake (i was waring a hard hat!) by the Geordie foreman called Neil. I very quickly started getting things right

The only reason i think we were sent down to BK was because the training was thrown in with the purchase of the machines, and it was the same as you put about Bircham Newton, laying sand. It was still worth going but nothing compared to life skills!

Like any machine, anyone can drive one, but not everyone can operate one!

Hello Richard ,that Geordie foreman was he also one of the screw men and was he on for Billy O Neil , and a real well built fella ?Certainly second your last comment ,how true! Regards Neil

[widget]

Hi Neil,
Thats the same chap, Billy was in the gang shown here in the photo wearing the black baseball cap, im operating the machine but Neil is not there. He may have on the sick, i remember he came down with mumps, the poor chap as you said was a very well built lad and he needed a wheel barrow to carry his nackers in!He spent quite a few days just sitting on the screed because he couldn't walk
Regards
Richard

[mick h]

Hi all
Neil, I remember working with you in Milton Keynes around 1992ish, I'd been in the game a good 10 years then, starting as a rakehand and moving onto driving a Blaw Knox, and then obviously onto the screws, but I remember you cleaning the road up with I think it was a BK191 with a fixed screed like a tractor bucket. I know that the screwman I first drove for would have clouted me round the tab if I'd have used a screed for that, but I was amazed at your skill on the BK's. Happy days, when I get talking to the young lads in my gang all good drivers and screwman get bought up into conversation as I reminisce and I always bring up your name as I thought you were a cracking BK driver.
Cheers.

Hello all ,Mick thank you for your kind compliments ,I all ways tried to save the men on the ground as much work as possible I was taught that was part of a paver operators job .Certainly I have to give credit to the men who taught me , they don't make them like that any more !In a much earlier post I mentioned how I took over from my uncle on the M25 on a late PF90. One day whilst laying I came slightly of the driveline ,(bad news when operating with a fixed screed )a man by the name of Ritchie Diggin who I have spoken of in previous posts was screwing n/s I was driving n/s ,he shouted at me "Campbell your coming of the !!!!!!!!!!!! drive line " I told him to "go away" ,in an instant he was on the screed side arm and smacked me straight in the jaw! He meant no malice by it ,and I never held it against him .This was just their way of schooling ,instant and brutal, but it focussed my mind and enthusiasm, I didn't come of the driveline again .That scenario would be frowned upon now but I have no regrets only respect .As you know well Mick the long service men already in the job when we joined were a very different breed to today. Regards Neil

Hi Neil,
Too true, I remember I was a driver on a PF90, we were laying hot rolled asphalt on a long carriageway once, can you remember the big lugged shoes that used lug onto the side plate that you used to dig a grass sod off the side of the road and put it on top of the shoe to stop asphalt leaking behind, well the screwman I drove for was a very vocal and big chap, the first mat was I remember a doddle just following kerb, no probs , but second mat with lugged shoe in matching hot roll was a art. If you wandered a inch it was a couple of yards before you corrected it, poor old raker and screwman giving me some F's and B's, I soon learnt to keep that bloody machine on the joint with a slight touch on my slewing brake. Happy days though.
Regards.

[70's steve]

some good stories , tales coming out here lol ,must get me dad to post some on here , but i must say and agree with you gentleman ,that the best and only experiance you can get is out there on the site/ field with old hands , hands on skills , not even a college or training center can get these vitual skills , experiance , imhop !!

[neilc]

Hi all,

I was fortunate to be trained to operate pavers by Mickey Tinker (Tarmac Corby) on his BK90 before we got onto the M40 construction job. So after laying a few thousand tons and the building up/knocking down the screeds of various machines on the M40..... I got my very own BK (ive got some photos in the loft that i will dig out and post). I was then sent out on various jobs with MY machine to work, sometimes the only Tarmac Roadstone employee with a gang of subbies.

So during the winter while the temps weren't rising enough to lay, 5 degrees and rising (Does this still happen?) . I was sent down to Blaw Knox with other Tarmac Roadstone lads.... Long time ago now!.... dredging through the names, Barry white, Jimmy Cullen ( im trying to remember but im sure you can throw some more in for me). The lads were from Alfs gang in chesterfield and Walt Wibleys gang in Blyth (or Paul Rodgers gang i think- Known as Kawa)- And of course me from Terry Coulsons gang running out of Corby.... Come on guys help me here and then the names will start flowing.
Anyway after a great week at the factory (and bl**dy good nights ) I was sent one of these in the post.

So do any of you remember these and did you go?

Regards

Richard

Hello Richard, dug these out you may have some you may not, this is when Tarmac had health & safety about right, not the OTT regime they operate today administered by people who have never operated in the field.

[neilc]

Hi Neil,
Thats the same chap, Billy was in the gang shown here in the photo wearing the black baseball cap, im operating the machine but Neil is not there. He may have on the sick, i remember he came down with mumps, the poor chap as you said was a very well built lad and he needed a wheel barrow to carry his nackers in!He spent quite a few days just sitting on the screed because he couldn't walk
Regards
Richard

Hello Richard , just to update you Billy O Neil is now supervising Tony Davys gang on what was Foster Yeomans and is now Bardons down in the London and south west area.I always found Billy a decent well clued up gent to work with . I'm sure the big Neil you refer to was with Billy on the A14 Catthorpe - Kettering, again switched on ,sound lad .On another tangent Richard what have you done with the inspection cover for the engine bay on that machine ?Or maybe you just enjoyed listening to that 6 cylinder Ford working, HAHA .Regards Neil