The Classic Machinery Network

Hiya all!
My dear old pa, Charlie Weaver was on for Hamptons & others for years. Remember when i was at school, Easter time there would almost be a queue to our door bidding to get Charlie to operate Draglines. . Mainly the 22RB. Also remember he had a winter subscription to Jackers Journal..... Construction News?... Did loads of work on the M5 & M50, Morriston, Bassingstoke etc. May not have all been Hampton jobs. Told me tales of a D8 buried under an island at Jct1 M50. Must have been stolen as it got buried when the law turned up. Said it was a Hamptons subbie. There was My dad, Geof Hill & Paddy that were sought after in our area for Dragline work. Also had Oscar Morris on tanker work, The Professor (Graham Pass) from Malvern on Graders, He had a fall out with an agent & got his grader stuck big time then shut it off. Not normally a problem but his machine had a screwed starter on it so he grounded it so the engine was half submerged. Loads of other tales but sadly no photos that i know of. Will ask around the family incase anyone has any.

Paxman, I used to get involved with a Charlie Weaver that used to live at I think Picken End H-Swan, if this is your Late Father he was some real gent, the last time I spoke to him he was off to Sun City to stay with family, we did a bit of a deal about the time he lost his Wife on a heap of old service tools from the Hampton days, 1 tool being a pry bar that I use near every day, as I use it I recall his words to me on how good a bar it is.
tctractors

Hey TC!
Certainly is my dear old Pa. After mother died, he sold the house & went on a world tour with the proceeds. Good for him sez I! Often wondered what happened to his kit, thought it got "moved on" when he moved in with my sister in her small house in Upton on severn. On his world tour, he did Sun City, South Africa, St Lucia & so on. Even ended up on the lash with a couple of pilots who were going to Antartica. He couldnt blag a ride down there though. Went on Concord, went in a hot air balloon, lord knows what else. Boy oh boy, he certainly did some catching up with his travel bug.
Any time he touched down long enough for a chat he always ended up talking about the days at Hamptons, McAlpine & others.
Where did you know him from?.

I think I first met Charlie on the Defford Air Field a million years ago, he was fixing the prop shaft into a Bedford Fuel Bowser, the usual stuff 3 Bedfords and 1 prop shaft, your dad had a hat with all sorts of junk hanging off it and overalls thick with grease and gunge, but as always a very happy and polite chap that was RAF pilot standard with his tash, the pry bar I used just this morning ,every time its in my hand I think of your Dad so its gone to a good home, many a time people have told me how good he was with a Drag Line etc, I can recall him driving a D8 on a site at Basingstoke that was a nasty bit of muck to shift, Chalk with Flint that made sparks like fireworks then after travelling about 100 yds this chalk would turn to rice pudding, I had a tough time keeping tractors working, but I am very happy to hear he managed to live it up some in his final years, as I feel sure all his days on the Earth were far from easy.
tctractors

I,m currently working on the backfill of one Hamptons docks at Liverpool
Over 5 million cube getting pumped back in getting spread about with 4 D6's and an 8

Sounds like a proper Hampton job! Your gonna be home gor Christmas.

Hi

As an owner driver working for Richards & Wallington at West Allotment near Newcastle, I met and became friendly with an old Hampton hand called Willy Schuppe, who at the time was area manager for R & W. He said he started out on Stock Cars for Dick Hampton and used to regale me with some great stories about the man. Willy himself was something of a character. A German POW who did his courting and married a lass from around Leicester I think, all while being a POW. He always lived on site in a caravan with the missus and a little dog called Tess. He gave me my first opportunity at contract muckshifting on the Felling bypass in Gateshead in 1968. Last saw him in the early seventies taking up a post as a director for a Devon based company called Daynton (wrong spelling?) Dumpers/Earthmoving. Still owes me for letting him park his caravan in our yard though

68a wrote:I,m currently working on the backfill of one Hamptons docks at Liverpool
Over 5 million cube getting pumped back in getting spread about with 4 D6's and an 8

I worked on this Contract in 1970 digging it out!!!!

I worked on seaforth dock on nights good job good set of lads there mash

Came across these on Flikr the other day. May be of interest. Shame theres none of my ole man giving it large with the 22RB`s he was so fond of.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/2710873@N23/pool/