hi there
Seeing your photographs of the trucks - brings back memories - and, it is quite funny because the other day I myself was sorting through some 'old' photographs and came across three which were taken of a lorry which had turned over. I have told the story before, it concerns the gentleman with the glass eye.
The lorry in question, which is on its side, is an Avling and Barford 10 tonner; and, if you look closely you will see there is, what we used to call a 'D9' it is a Caterpillar bulldozer. What we were doing was righting the lorry using a steel hawzer and the D9 to pull it back upright onto its wheels.
The other shot you will see the workshops - this is where I used to work. These workshops were makeshift and made from anything we could lay our hands on, a bit like a Shantytown. This is when I worked in North Wales on the Dam.
Some of the lorries we used to work on 'Ukes' were a similar size to what your photographs are showing i.e. about 45-50 tonners PLUS - V12s under the bonnet. Do you know these lorries are 'air-start' the starter motor is actually operated by air and they often used to freeze up and one of the tricks was to disconnect the airpipe from the starter motor and pour petrol in. Reconnect the air pipe and then STAND WELL BACK - we did lose one or two starter motors through being over enthusiastic with the amount of petrol that we put into the starter motors.
Hope you had and your family had a good day - certainly brings back happy memories for me.
aye
john e
bluebird