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- Herausgeber: Old Pond Books
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
Brain Haulage was formed by Charles Edward Brain in 1950 and played a major role in the container revolution in the UK, completely changing the way goods were transported over the world. Peter Sumpter was a driver with Brain Haulage until it closed in 1992 and is an unofficial archivist of the brand, having taken hundreds of photographs and chronicling his adventures in a diary for over 20 years. Brain Haulage Ltd tells the history of Brain and the container revolution as well as the story of Charles Brain; from his early years working for the L.M.S. Railway at Camden Town, to his time in the R.A.F. during the second world war, to eventually starting his own haulage company. The rest of the story is from Peter's own diary and the many ex-drivers and Brains staff he worked with over the years. Including over 300 previously unpublished photographs Brain Haulage Ltd is a unique book, ideal for anyone interested in containers and their revolution, as well as road transport and haulage trade enthusiasts.
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BRAIN HAULAGE LTD
A Company History 1950–1992
Peter Sumpter
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to thank my wife, Brenda, who over the last 20 odd years has put up with me and this book.
To all the following people who helped me on my way with photos, information and encouragement.
Denise Jenkins for translating my notes into readable English.
Ray Jenkins, Ken Elsdon, Nick Ireland and Simon Waspe for encouragement to write.
Charles Brain, Carol Brain, Pieter Van’t Hof for family photos and company information.
Larry Kilby and Russell Winmill for company photos and information.
Peter Davies, Marcus Lister, Adrian Cypher, Barry Brown, Ray Jenkins, PM Photos, Mark Soans, Arthur Hustwitt, John Skurr, Kenny Beadle, Lenny Young, Les Steward, Harry Harley, Bob Sullivan, Mark Benson, Tommy Collins, John Stowe, Tom Coulthart, Graham Spooner, Ronnie Lucas, Peter Mertens, John Alabaster and Ron Milledge for the kind use of their photos.
George Turner, for the Middle East photos, Dave Terry for the Russian photos and Arie de Lange for the Dutch photos and Dutch company information.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Sumpter was born on 23 July 1948 in Barking, Essex, and he has been driving trucks on and off for more than 45 years.
He started driving while serving in the RAF, and after five years including a tour in the Gulf he came home and started with Brain Haulage, where over the next 20 years he took photos and kept a diary.
After the company finished he worked his way up from driver to become the transport manager of Elstran Freighters. When that company also finished, he moved on to become transport manager of Pentalvers, part of the large Maersk group of companies at its Tilbury Docks depot, until his retirement from the transport industry.
He lives in Tilbury, Essex, with his wife, Brenda, and son, Leigh David.
The author and Charles Brain at the World’s End pub in Tilbury when Charles was 100 years old in 2015.
Charles Brain, Larry Kilby, Michael Brain and John Brain with Brains’ 100th Scania and first sleeper AEV 100L in 1973. The photo shows Larry Kilby, transport director, holding a plaque of crystal glass. which was presented by Scania Sweden.
1
INTRODUCTION
BRAIN HAULAGE WAS FORMED BY CHARLES EDWARD BRAIN in April 1950 and ran to September 1992, when it closed after 42 years.
Charles Edward Brain was born in Kentish Town, London, on 31 March 1915. He lived with his mother and father and four brothers, Reg, Albert, Arthur and Freddy, together with a sister, Dolly. When he was a young lad he used to go to work with his father, who worked for the L.M.S. Railway at Camden Town, which is where he learnt to drive at around the age of 12. He later worked for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway as a van boy but then left to drive an International tipper for a chap called Joe Cunningham, who ran George Wiggins at Globe Road, Bethnal Green, and drove daily to and from Hertfordshire (near Bushey Heath) to sites in London. He then went to drive for Robert Deard, working out of James Street, off Blackhouse Road, London N17, with an old Ford tipper that had a wind-up body. He met and married Rayan and had three children, Jean, Carol and John. Sadly, Rayan died in September 1977.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939 Charles joined the RAF and trained as a pilot, serving as such until the end of the war. At the age of 30 he went back to work with Joe Cunningham at George Wiggins. Rebuilding projects in London in the 1950s and ’60s, such as the South Bank, Millbank Tower, Shell building, the Barbican, the Old Bailey, Bankside Power Station and the Victoria Line, turned the area into one big construction site. This was the time to go into the sand and ballast business, so Charles went for it and bought a small company to start up on his own.
I worked for Charles for 20 years from 1972 to 1992, during which time I kept a diary and took hundreds of photos. People kept telling me I had enough information on the company to write a book!
Working at Brains was not only my job but also my hobby, so after another 20 years I went to see Charles at his flat in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, and he related the first part of this story. The rest of the book is taken from my diary and from interviews with as many ex-drivers as I could find, as well as a few managers and office staff along the way including two managing directors, Larry Kilby and Russell Winmill.
In the 20 years on the road I did see life and made a lot of friends, some sadly not with us now and others I still see.
I’d been at Brains for about a month after I passed my HGV 1, and was in the yard in Magnet Road awaiting a job when a plain dark green Seddon unit came in with a 20ft box on. The driver stopped right outside the office and came in asking the office staff where he could park the trailer. ‘Put it where you can,’ came the answer. I was talking to other drivers when he came over and said hello to everyone. His name was Ivor and he said to me: ‘You’re the new driver, right?’ I nodded. He got a £10 note out of his wallet and gave it to me. ‘Park my lorry up for me and you can keep it.’ Well £10 was £10 in those days and I was only on £32 a week. I jumped into his unit, started it up and found it didn’t have power steering. Well with a 20ft trailer and box it was always tight in our yard, you just about got a fag paper between each trailer on rough ground, too! I did a lot of sweating for the next half hour and then gave up, went back in and gave him the £10 back. The lads were laughing as he had done this before. After that I kept my mouth shut. Ivor’s party piece was to go into a room or café where drivers were sitting and who didn’t know him and say, ‘Phew it’s hot out there’ and take off his flat cap, which had a wig sewn into it (he was completely bald – giving him his name, Ivor the Bald), wipe his forehead and put it back on and walk out again. You should have seen the faces on the lads – mouths wide open.
But it was not all fun and games. It was hard work getting up at 2 a.m. to go to Liverpool or Manchester in snow and ice and sometimes working 12 hours or more a day but I would not change anything. It’s taken a lot of years to get this book ‘on the road’ but I’m hoping, like me, you think it’s worth it.
George Batten Ltd, the company that started it all when Charles Brain bought the company in April 1950. Photo Peter Davies.
Brand new S20 Foden registered 00 8876 in 1960. Photo Foden-Marcus Lester Collection.
Driver Harry Harley with Foden eight-wheeler 137 UMV loaded ready to roll on the Durox contract dark green cab (Ex ICI) at the Durox yard at Linford, Essex, in 1965.
Brains taking the blue clay out for the Victoria Line in the 1960s. The drivers are Johnny Earl and Colin Carley. Photo Leyland.
Leyland AUT 579B in London 1964 taking blue clay away from the Victoria Line in Drummond Street to Woodside Brickworks in Croydon, which had exhausted its large pit and we were filling it back up. Photo Leyland.
Former Brain Haulage tipper CVW 927B bought new in 1964 working the fairgrounds in the 1980s. Photo Barry Brown.
CVW 926B also working the fairgrounds. Photo Barry Brown.
Eight-wheeler tanker 452 JMV belonging to CE Dormer Ltd, which Brains bought. Photo Peter Davies.
Former Brain Haulage Foden tipper at Gaydon truck show in 1999. Photo author.
2
THE BEGINNING
(The History of JC Brain Ltd)
THE ‘BRAIN EMPIRE’ STARTED WHEN J.C. Brain was formed by Charles Brain in April 1950 after he purchased George Batten Ltd for £3,000. The company was small and consisted of three lorries and a Chaseside shovel/digger, had A licences for five vehicles and it was based by the side of the A127 London to Southend Road. The three lorries were all Bedfords, two short wheelbase ex-army type tippers and the third a civvy 7-ton long wheelbase tipper.
Charles stayed on this site until 1952, when there was a need for the A127 to be widened, so he moved to Morley Road, Romford. This was large enough to hold the five Bedford tippers that he had by then. Later he moved to Dagenham East, opposite the station yard, which was a sandpit (now a park). He also bought 12 Albion eight-wheeler tippers.
Most of Charles’ work now was for Ham River sand and ballast (later taken over by Hall & Co. in 1962). And the majority of loads came from South Ockendon and White Post Corner in the Rush Green area of Romford. He was still doing a lot of site clearing in London as it was still full of bombsites. Also, the Underground was being extended in all directions from the city centre so he was loading sand/shingle and ballast and taking blue mud out of London from the tunnelling. He also went on to work for Hall & Co. in the 1960s on the Victoria Line underground, which opened in 1969. It was a big contract in its day, taking blue clay from the Victoria underground line in Drummond Street to Woodside brickworks in Croydon, which had exhausted its large sand pit and we, along with other companies, were filling it back up.
Charles’ son, John, was about 15 when he went to work one day with his father, riding on the footplate of one of the Bedfords. The lorry went over a bump on a site near Victoria Park, London, and John went under the lorry. However, as it was soft, muddy ground he survived but it was a close call.
Loading ACT containers on Leyland unit DMU 701A in Linford yard in 1963.
Alf Elsdon and Colin Carley at the Orsett container base in 1969 posing with their two Leyland Shunters.
Guy KDX 427F still shunting in Magnet Road yard in 1984.
PMY 646F, a Guy big J Unit with a Jameson tilt loading in Southampton in 1968. Photo driver John Stowe.
Foden (Leyland 690 engine) MTY 129F. It is a poor shot but the only one I have got. Driver Ron Lucas told me it was a good runner.
KDX 425F Guy BIJ “J” Unit in Grays Magnet Yard Depot June 1968. Note the Corbett & Miller on the door. A company BH bought out in 1968.
The author’s first Brain Haulage vehicle, VMY 817G, at the Lorry Driver of the Year contest in 1970. Photo NA3T.
Volvo F88 tag axle NNO 681J. This is the vehicle the author had for his HGV training.
The first Leyland semi auto unit, VUL 883G, new on the ACT contract with John Brain, Ted Harold (driver) and company secretary Tom Wells. It is seen in the Magnet Road depot in 1969 on the first day of the contract.
Leyland semi auto VUL 883G with a Henry Smithers trailer unloading the first ACT containers into yard.
The company was now run under the name of J.C. Brain Ltd. The vehicles were yellow and white, the livery very similar throughout the company’s history.
Charles had leased 12 Thames Traders from Hensmen Ltd of Brook Street, Brentwood, and by 1959 he had a fleet of more than 30 tippers consisting of Ford, Leyland, Foden and Albion. Over the next ten years he bought several other companies for the A licences, including Tankard Transport, C.E. Dormer, Paddock Transport, Olley’s Transport, Fuller Transport and finally Corbett & Miller, all small companies, some with only two or three lorries. He also purchased the yard of Dawell’s Transport in Rainham on the A13, but not the fleet.
In 1953 the east coast of England sustained a disastrous flood and many people died so the Government had to act quickly to prevent the same thing happening again. Charles had a contract to run sand and ballast up to Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire to build the flood walls all along the east coast. He had ten Foden eight-wheel tippers working seven days a week alongside hundreds of other contractors and it was a job that lasted more than two years. Charles also joined the Road Haulage Association at this time.
In 1963 Charles bought his first two second-hand units; 14-ton gross 4×2 Commers that had two-stroke engines, purchased from a dealer in Carpenter’s Road. These units were to work for Silver Roadways out of Canning Town running sacks of sugar to Reading and Bristol on a trunk run. Trailers were loaded, roped and sheeted and dropped ready for the night drivers to pick up. Ted Parker, the manager, got on well with Charles and later went on to ACT (Associated Container Transport), which helped Charles again. A brand new Foden was purchased from Sandbach in the same year with a 180 Gardner engine and a 12-speed gearbox for a Ready-Mix contract. When the contract fell through, the Foden was converted to a six-wheel unit. It was very fast and the driver turned it over on a night run to Bristol. A Dodge six-wheel rigid was also purchased to run on a Durox block contract but this was written off in 1964.
In 1965 two Guy Invincible units with 220 Cummins engines and ten-speed Fuller gearboxes were purchased from Maston Motors in Seven Sisters Road. These units were dark blue (Durox livery) and had CEB on the headboard. Twelve Foden tippers were also purchased from Hovenham’s HQ at Nottingham. John Elsdon, the chief engineer, went with Charles to buy these and the Guys.
The company now had four units to start the general side of the business, which was called Brain Haulage Co. Ltd. The first jobs were for Ferrymasters, where Jack Clifford was the transport manager. Other vehicles purchased were Leyland Comets, Super Comets, Dodge (LAD cabs) and two Leyland Beavers. One of these was an export model with a seven-speed gearbox, a 680 Leyland engine and 1100 tyres all round, which was a cancelled order.
Tankard Transport was a small company based at Brimsdown, Enfield, with a yard and garage in the front when Brains bought it. It had an ERF A series unit with a Gardner engine and some Foden units, all in Tankard’s livery of dark green.
CE Dormer had three Atkinson eight-wheel tankers, one Atkinson and two Bedfords flat rigids. Charles purchased this company for the ten O licences only and the vehicles were sold on.
Fuller’s Transport was based at Brentwood, Essex, and Mr Fuller only had two licences with two vehicles (unknown). Olley’s Transport had two vehicles (unknown) and Paddocks Transport, based in Southampton, had three Bedfords.
In February 1967, Commercial Motor featured Brains and another tipper company complaining about fly tipping by non-registered tipper companies and owner drivers in an article titled ‘Pirates in the Industry’ (RHA).
John and Carol Brain were now adults working for the company. John was running it with Charles while Carol was the finance and administration director. Charles had purchased his last company in 1969, Ipswich-based Corbett & Miller, which had two Guy Big Js with Cummins 240 engines, LAD-cabbed Leyland Beavers, two ERF A series and some AECs and Bedford units, some of which went into service with Brains for a while. Although the name had changed to Brain Haulage Co. Ltd., the Corbett & Miller name was still on the vehicles until 1972.
3
THE CONTAINER REVOLUTION
(History of Brain Haulage Ltd)
BRAINS IN THE 1970S
As containers came into service, Brains went into artics in a big way. The company was still working for Durox Bricks at Buckingham Hill, Linford, and the rigids were working from Tilbury Docks on timber contracts (Montague Myers) but this all finished when containers came in.
Brain Haulage moved into a big yard just off the Old London Road in Grays behind the Magnet Timber Company. This yard had been owned by Ferrymasters but it had moved out to Ipswich. The company left behind a young office boy called Larry Kilby, with whom I went to school and who had told me that they were looking for drivers. He later became managing director of Brains and worked for the company for 24 years. In 1970 Brains bought another half-acre of land to the rear of the yard (now a body shop and repair centre). The company was now known as just Brain Haulage Ltd. Charles had bought a lot of second-hand units and was getting work from some of the early container lines.
It was at this time that I joined Brains. When I started I only had an HGV 111 and 11. I had been in the RAF so I had never driven an artic on the road. Based at Orsett Container Base in Brentwood Road, Brains had a four-wheel rigid Albion, VMY 817G. This was in Brain Haulage livery but it was being resprayed into ACT contract livery by the time I started to drive it. I worked for about a year on the four-wheeler and then I was asked if I wanted to take my HGV 1. I jumped at the chance and started to work every Saturday with Alfie Elsdon in a Guy Big J, shunting the MOT trailers in and out of the workshops at Grays. I did this for about two months and then Alfie told Larry Kilby, the transport manager at the time, that I was OK to go on the road.
