Vintage Roadscene Archive

Edited by Mike Forbes, using the archives Jack Raine and the photographic collection of Peter Seaword. Design and Layout; Rob Terry. Published by Kelsey Publishing Group, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, M

Harold Wood & Sons was considered to be the largest tanker operator in Europe and the third largest in the world, according to the Managing Director, Barry Wild, in the late 1960s. By then, the company had around 600 vehicles in its fleet, although t

The 1960s saw additional vehicles added to the Harold Wood fleet. During the first half of the decade, these included many eight-wheelers, while there was no advantage in maximum weight for artics. The company added a large number of AEC Mammoth Majo

The increase in maximum permissible weights for artics, with the changes in Construction & Use Regulations in the early 1960s, would seal the fate of the eight-wheeler as the choice for heavy vehicles, although considerations of access to some premis

The company looked at a number of different vehicles and Peter Seaword remembers everyone was impressed when B & W Commercials from the Midlands offered a new Scania Vabis LB76 – it was LGK 4D in factory primer – it was so different to anything seen

Of the first ten ERFs delivered between December 1965 and September 1966, all Cumminspowered, LV-cabbed 4x2 tractor units, nine were in Harold Wood’s light blue livery, with the tenth in Total Oils contract colours. During 1967, another 25 similar un

During the 1960s, Bedford and then Seddon four-wheelers joined the fleet, with three Scammells for a particular job. By the 1970s, there were a few more Leylands than the single Beaver artic unit from 1960, plus a number of Scanias and MANs. By the t

In the early days, this might have been in part a way of identifying the various hazardous loads being carried. Some of the cargoes mentioned would not be allowed to be transported by road these days, especially in bulk, certainly without all sorts o

Surprisingly, the company also ran a couple of rather special skip loaders on contract to a metal company. We’ve also separated the vehicles which were photographed in the garage for maintenance and accident victims. It seems when vehicles were disus

Tilbury was a vital port for mainland Europe for Harold Wood, because the freight-only ferries ran from there – most of the chemical cargo could not be carried on passenger vessels and most ferries carried both freight and passengers. The company use