Old Pond publishing days

Filming Scrap Metal Giants - 2

In November 2009 Steven Vale started filming scrap metal giants for a DVD to be released in 2011. We continued filming recently as the guests of Thamesteel Ltd, a subsidiary of the Saudi Al-Tuwairiqi group of companies. Their site is in the grounds of the garrison town surrounding the historic Sheerness naval dockyard on the north Kent coast.

Thamesteel operates a 'mini' steel mill in which waste steels of various kinds are furnaced to produce new steel billets, bars and rods. Our main purpose was to record the MultiDockers handling the waste, but we found a great deal more of interest.

For a start there was the continuous flow of trucks bringing waste steel in. Some examples follow:

(Left) A DAF CF 85.410 operated by Van Dalen (UK) Ltd.

(Right) The arrival at the weighbridge was a Scania 124L 420.

There was a constant flow of Volvo FM 12s from Hargreaves (below) extruding their waste rather than tipping it.

Now, I don't think this (far left) is something you see every day: the truck being loaded by the Atlas is a Heathfield H33 from the 1970s. It is reckoned that only about 68 were ever built.

 On the right is another Heathfield tipping.

 

As an Ipswich resident I always like to see the name Rapier at work. The Koehring-based NCK-Rapier 1405D crawler-mounted crane and excavator was drop-balling a 12-tonne steel ball to break up large steel agglomerates.

Bill Friday, Thamesteel's safety manager, showed us that there was plenty to see at this fascinating site. For two more posts see 18 July.

Astran celebration and get-together

To celebrate the launch of his book The Long Haul Pioneers Ashley Coghill organised a get-together of as many Astran drivers and staff as he could locate.

They had a great time reminiscing on Saturday.

Co-founder of Astran, Bob Paul, is in the front row of the photograph, left of centre, wearing a bright blue shirt. He is shaking hands with Ashley. 

Chris Lockwood's combine harvester DVDs in stock

Combine Harvesters Part 1 and Combine Harvesters Part 2 by Chris Lockwood are both now in stock at Old Pond. Together, they show 43 different models at work, filmed in 2009.

Great commendations for Long Haul Pioneers book

Ashley Coghill has received a really great response from the first readers of his book about Astran, The Long Haul Pioneers. Here are some of them:

Hi Ash well done a fantastic book as I don't read but finding myself not been able to put astran book down best fathers day present I ever had !!! This book is brill. CG

Hey mate i got my copy of The Long Haul Pioneers today and it's exceeded all expectations it's fantastic a credit to you!!! Thank you. MJ

Hi Ash, Got your book on thursday & i hav'nt been able to put it down mate its just fantastic, i would say that its better than Cola Cowboys, in fact its the best truckin book i've read & the pictures tell stories as well, but thats just my opinion & im sure it is the opinion of a lot of others too. Cheers, G

Congratulations on the book, just had a quick look through and is looks excellent. Hope you have plans for a second book- general history of UK/European middle east haulage maybe. Thanks for a great book about a great company. JE

Hi  Ashley, i received your book thanks, i have to say a big well done to you!! what a fantastic book!! i have had nearly all the truck books over the years even the little observers books but yours is far far out in front. I have had a quick look thru, and now started to read it properly, already i can't put it down, the  wife has the hump because i'm not doing  my  chores!!
 
Ash: As you know I was always sceptical of how your book would turn out. Being an old hand myself, it is difficult for me to see the hard job from other peoples minds as I had some very testing times myself. I have to say mate, you have done a stirling job and you are to be congratulated in the biggest order! Very well done indeed. I cannot put the bloody book down which has made things a little tense with my wife as I promised her all manner of things which would get done, but alas they will just have to wait! I'm totally in awe of Gordon Pearce and Bob Paul. What courageous people and Gordons descriptive chapter and his photos have blown me away. All the best RC

Dear Mr Coghill. It is with the greatest of pleasure that I commend you very high on the best trucking book I ever have read. Stories form Asian drivers are exceptional and pictures clear and superb. With best wishes FD

Ferdy de Martin of Toprun, based in Switzerland, has put his own comments on  YouTube.
 

Farming Diaries Volume Two - new DVD from Tractor Barn at Old Pond

Farming Diaries Volume Two: from the driving seat (Tractor Barn Productions), Stephen Richmond & Jonathan Whitlam. DVD, approx 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-906853-48-8. In stock at Old Pond at £15.95 inc VAT.

For nearly twenty yearsStephen Richmond has worked for farmer John Raven, near Lowestoft, Suffolk. The farm has grown to well over 500 acres, an arable unit whose main crops are oilseed rape, sugar beet, potatoes, wheat and barley.

  Stephen’s DVD diary covers a typical year from January to December to include all the arable operations from seedbed preparation to harvesting. The machinery used is diverse, including Case IH, John Deere and Claas tractors, not to forget an MF 135 still drilling sugar beet. In addition to these there is a feature on the many demonstration models Stephen has been able to try out on the farm, while a second feature looks in detail at the MXM 120 as a ‘Jack of all trades’.

Other machinery includes the unusual Case IH Axial–Flow 2788 combine as well as a number of harvesters, some belonging to the farm and some run by contractors. The move to use contractors is one of the developments Stephen has seen during his working life, as he explains when he talks about recent developments in machinery and farm practice.

Stephen Richmond, along with Jonathan Whitlam, came to prominence in the late 1990s when their first ‘Tractor Boys’ videos were released. They have since been behind many popular DVDs and now run their own list which can be seen on our main website as Tractor Barn Productions.

Know Your Buses new book advance information

Know Your Buses by James Race. Pocket-sized (104 x 155 mm) paperback, 96 pages including 45 photographs. ISBN 978-1-906853-38-9. Now in stock at Old Pond at £4.99.

Every day in all corners of Great Britain, buses can be found transporting the public for local and long distance journeys as well as sightseeing and school transport.

In Know Your Buses James Race shows 44 models. He selects those which are the most popular among bus operators as well as a few of the models less commonly seen. They are all currently licensed for public use today.

Interestingly, many of the bus chassis are built in different countries from the bodywork which accompanies them. This is shown with the description for each bus.

The buses featured are: AEC Routemaster,  Bluebird AARE,  BMC 1100FE,  Bristol VR, DAF DB250,  DAF SB220, Dennis Dart, Dennis Dart SLF,  Dennis Dominator,  Dennis Dragon,  Dennis Enviro200,  Dennis Enviro400,  Dennis Enviro500,  Dennis Lance,  Dennis Trident,  Irisbus Agora Line,  Leyland Lion,  Leyland Lynx,  Leyland National,  Leyland Olympian,  Leyland Titan,  MAN 14.220,  MCW Metrobus,  Mercedes O405,  Mercedes O814D,  Mercedes Citaro,  Optare Excel,  Optare Solo,  Optare Tempo,  Optare Versa,  Plaxton Primo, Scania N113CRB,  Scania N270UD,  Scania OmniCity,  Volvo Ailsa,   Volvo B6B,  Volvo B7RLE,  Volvo B9TL,  Volvo B10BLE,  Volvo Citybus,  Volvo Olympian,  VDL SB200,  Wright Gemini 2,  Wright Streetcar.

Know Your Buses follows the success of nine other books in the Know Your ... series.

Long Haul Pioneers book in stock

Eagerly anticipated, and now here at publishers Old Pond, you can learn more about Ashley Coghill's new book, or buy your copy, at The Long Haul Pioneers.

Working Tractors Part 2 new DVD in stock

Another cheap and cheerful programme from Tractor Barn creatives Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam has come into stock at Old Pond. To see further details or order a copy go to Working Tractors Part 2.