Love them or hate them, we cannot do without trucks and lorries.
From the ones that deliver our food to local shops to those which carry material for mending our roads, lorries are the lifeblood of the British economy.
Almost everything we consume arrives onboard a truck or a lorry, even if its road trip represents just part of its overall journey.
Without freight transportation by road, the economy would grind to a halt within four or five days.
This selection was photographed in and around Arbroath, but as well as being of interest to vehicle fans, there is also a great deal of social history in what they were up to, from delivering lemonade to helping demolishing whole swathes of the town.
And there are also a few which are not quite the right way up!
Lorries and trucks are still turning heads after all these years.
These images will be of interest to the general reader, as well as those who cling to the childhood excitement of hearing a large diesel engine approaching from a distance.
Mud on the tyres
A small crowd gathered to enjoy the entertainment, as small crowds do when lorries get stuck.
This timber lorry foundered tantalisingly close to the refreshments available at the Star Hotel in Friockheim in the 1920s or 1930s.
The lorry’s registration, VA282, suggests it came originally from a Glasgow operator.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
This picture, taken at Arbroath Harbour, is undated but shows bricks being either loaded or unloaded.
As there were brickworks locally, our guess would be loaded.
Stewart Brothers, which owned the lorry, had premises in Ladyloan.
Irritatingly, the registration of the lorry at the top of the picture cannot be read.
When the guns fell silent…
Celebrations in Arbroath to mark the end of the Second World War included a vast procession down the High Street – far more than is shown here.
The leading lorry is probably an Austin K5, followed by a Bedford OY.
The tractor is a Fordson.
Somewhere else in the procession, further back, was a wartime stalwart Bedford QL, many of which would later see civvy life hauling trees about forests.
Shifting sand at Inverkeilor
There is no date on this picture of work ongoing at W. Clark’s quarry at Inverkeilor.
These Foden trucks were robust and reliable, but it seems odd to see such a small vehicle bearing the brunt of shifting tons of sand, compared to today’s eight-wheelers and artics.
The quarries at Inverkeilor are now operated by Geddes Group.
Disappearing streets
We might be in the 1960s with this view of some demolition work, with Arbroath Abbey looming in the background, and a Kirk towards the right.
The lettering on the Ford Thames lorry looks like “Royal Burgh of Arbroath Roads Dept.”
Demolition on this scale might indicate Ladyloan in this undated image.
Working for the council
This is probably the Hill Street car park in Arbroath, given that the building about three-quarters along appears to be Newgate House.
The Ford Thames Trader lorry in the centre of the picture was owned by Arbroath Town Council.
The registration on the Morris Minor suggests the picture was taken no earlier than the mid-1960s.
Dual carriageway demolition
Demolition in the Ladyloan area of Arbroath before the dual carriageway was built.
The trucks are of interest – the one on the left has the number plate CSR 950D, making the picture no later than 1966.
The one fully in view has lettering on the door: Sand and Whinstone Quarries Inverkeilor.
Not long before the photograph was taken, this would have been a bustling, thriving area.
The Bon Accord lorry
The Ford D Series lorry, pictured in Lochlands Street, in the livery of Bon Accord Sparkling Drinks was one of a large fleet which hurtled around Angus streets and as far away as Dundee.
The brand was born in Arbroath in 1903 and went on to become one of Scotland’s leading soft drink manufactures.
It had depots in Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh, starting points for a fleet of trucks carrying crates of clanking glass bottles of fizzy pop for home deliveries throughout Scotland.
Seaweed at the seafront
Foul-smelling, rotting seaweed being collected from the seafront at Arbroath in July, 1985 by Geddes Group, Swirlburn.
The late Matt Kerr, of the Miniature Railway, used to get quite vocal about the stench potentially driving away his customers.
RMS96P was the first articulated unit that Geddes Group owned.
But it has been followed by many more.
Sticking a thumb out in 1993
Sergeant Sandy Smith hitched a lift on an Edzell Engineering Iveco lorry to get through the flooded Dundee Road, Arbroath, in January 1993.
The lorry waiting patiently behind appears to belong to long-established family haulier Nelson of Kelty in Fife.
Edzell Engineering are now based at Brechin.
Over the edge…
In 1993 the brake on this Mercedes-Benz tipper lorry failed while it was at a quarry at Leysmill and it rolled away down the steep slope.
The driver tried to get into the cab to stop it before it went over the edge, but was just too late.
He was taken to hospital as a precaution, although he was not seriously injured.
An eyewitness said the powerful breakdown wagon that was recovering the stricken lorry was making slow progress hauling it up the brae until someone clambered down and either released the brake or knocked it out of gear.
It then reached the top in record time.
Dundee Tippers
Another victim of the Inverkeilor railway bridge, undated.
The lorry appears to belong to Dundee Tippers.
It was last taxed in 1997, so this would have been taken within 12 months of that.
How a relatively low tipper fell foul of the bridge might be explained either by the tipper body having been left up or by something like a mechanical shovel travelling in the back of the lorry.
Capsizing on Queen’s Drive
This articulated lorry and trailer came to grief at about 7am on Friday August 20 1999 in Queen’s Drive.
The driver lost control of the P-registered Leyland DAF unit as it rounded the last bend before the railway bridge.
He suffered a slight injury and, fortunately, no-one was on the pavement at the time, and the trailer’s load did not spill out.
Every Lidl helps
Big building ahoy! This shot, taken at the Lidl store-to-be in Arbroath in 2005, ends our gallery.
These roof beams were an ‘oversize’ load, and may well have come from Germany with the MAN artic, which appears to have left-hand drive.
Located where it is, in a relatively narrow street beside what is now Coast Nightclub, getting the contraption on to the site would have been a major exercise in delicate manoeuvring.
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