The Classic Machinery Network

Met my old boss on Dowsetts the other week after nearly 30 years Mark Kettlewell.
When I was with them in the early 80s they operated 637s they bought if I remember correctly 4 new ones for the M20 think they had 7 or 8 of them.
On the M20 one of the banksmen was doing oil changes on the new scrapers and he fired one of the front engines up without any oil and seized he was down the road fairly sharpish.
They operated quite a few 769s must have had at least 15 Belaz on the M20, .The Cat 16 was operated by Punch Ellis.They had several D8s an old D9 some D6s and D4s they had a few 22Rbs.
They operated 2 batching plants a 3 lane concrete train a slip form paver and a fleet of Ford tippers.Imagine there not to be many companies operating that amount of plant in Britain today.
Remember John Tarn or JT as he liked to be known as,was informed he was taking entrance fees at some theme park in Yorkshire.Sid Procter was known as Sack em Sid.
I will see if I can find some old photos and post on here.

Hello Fred & Graham,
I remember the foreman fitter on the Dowsett Cardiff job,nice man,Dave can't remember his surname came to work for Finning and was the workshop foreman,didn't stay long though ,just before I started for them.Do you remember his name?
regards,
Mark.

ChrisMk1 wrote:Think they did the earth-moving on the Leeds Bradford Airport runway extention in early 1980s

you think right

Dowsett Boy wrote:Met my old boss on Dowsetts the other week after nearly 30 years Mark Kettlewell.
When I was with them in the early 80s they operated 637s they bought if I remember correctly 4 new ones for the M20 think they had 7 or 8 of them.
On the M20 one of the banksmen was doing oil changes on the new scrapers and he fired one of the front engines up without any oil and seized he was down the road fairly sharpish.
They operated quite a few 769s must have had at least 15 Belaz on the M20, .The Cat 16 was operated by Punch Ellis.They had several D8s an old D9 some D6s and D4s they had a few 22Rbs.
They operated 2 batching plants a 3 lane concrete train a slip form paver and a fleet of Ford tippers.Imagine there not to be many companies operating that amount of plant in Britain today.
Remember John Tarn or JT as he liked to be known as,was informed he was taking entrance fees at some theme park in Yorkshire.Sid Procter was known as Sack em Sid.
I will see if I can find some old photos and post on here.

One thing I remember about Mark was his dog Toby. Pete Nolan

After seeing Mark Kettlewells name I started wondering what has happened to others I have worked with. They are Albert Turner, John Lavender, David Jones, Glen Fielding, Mick Hook all Dowsett and "Cat"Jack Walsh that I worked with at MK-Shand, Shinco Nigeria and Ittalmontaggi in Bangladesh he also worked for Nacap in Algeria and Iran he was also a mate of Jimmy Saville but I dont know if he would admit to that now, He comes from Leeds and spent a lot of years in Nether Kellet near Carnforth Lancs.

Seeing Mark Kettlewells name on one of the forums it reminded me about his dog Toby and Marks wellies, Then I started thinking about others I worked with at Dowsetts Albert Turner, David Jones, Glen Fielding, John Lavender. also Chris Palmer from Dowsett Piling and "Cat" Jack Walsh who I worked with at MK-Shand, Nacap Algeria, Shinco Nigeria, and Ittalmomtaggi in Bangladesh, he came from Leeds lived in Nether Kellet and was a mate of Jimmy Saville in his youth.

Hi Dowsett Boy
What is your name and where did you work. I started on the M62 at Birkenshaw and then moved to Normanton, I also looked after the transport on a small M42 contract in Coventry. Later I worked on the A19 and M69 contracts. I also worked for Dowsett Piling before West bought them out before going to work overseas. I worked for Nacap in Algeria, ICG in Baghdad, Shinco Nigeria and Italmontaggi in Bangladesh.

Re Dowsett, very big in the opencast coal business in the 50s and early 60s, mostly in Co Durham and Northumberland. They had a substantial presence on the first section of the M1 with Laing, in the early 60s they worked on the original Wetherby By-pass (1963) and various other A1 improvement schemes as far north as Darlington. My last sighting of them was on the M62 near Leeds in 1971. Their HQ was in Low Fell just south of Newcastle.

aftter Low Fell their plant yard was at Boroughbridge and head offices were at Bilton Hall, Harrogate.

Hi Tony (Dowsett Boy)
Who was your plant manager? I worked with a few, Charlie Robinson, George Rollins and 5years with Bill Smith, who was the only bloke I know who would get changed, then get washed and shaved.
Regards
Pete