ROADLINE resurrection thread

[autohausdolby]

Lynx certainly had a lot of early roadrunners, they used to deliver to the crap clothes shop I worked as a yoof. Disapointingly the paint was never peeling off to reveal that yellow, green and White joy underneath.

[Tayne]

I must be too young to remember roadline? or were they more an english firm? I do however remember seeing old Sunblest van bodies lying in various fields etc ,and think i spotted one the other day, no doubt tayne will confirm soon.....

 

I've not seen old Roadline or Sunblest bodies up here, but I can't say I've seen all of the county.

 

Railway carriages are more common roadside/farm furniture up here, they were made in Inverurie for many years.

[kinkersaab]

I have remembered where the old sunblest body was, on the kintore to leylodge road, on the left, on the bad corners near a house that a subaru svx used to live..... I will look and see if its still there next time i pass.

[kinkersaab]

bloody hell i've found it on google, i hope this is the link...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 9,,0,10.42

[Tayne]

That's about 5 miles from work.

I'll take a run over tomorrow night.

[CreepingJesus]

Where I grew up (Paisley), there were always tons of Roadline motors going about. I've a feeling they had a depot around the Rutherglen area, and quite a few more in the Central Belt. There may have been one around Aberdeen, 'cos I do recall seeing them coming down A90, when I was out on the road with my dad.

For the record, BRS still exists: these days, they do 'logistics solutions'. In other words, if you can't be arsed/afford to buy a truck...lease one. They started on that in the mid-90's, after their MBO, realising that haulage was a mug's game!

As for Lynx: the only green you'd see if the paint peeled off was slime mould. Tho', the depot at Loanhead had a lone F-plate Roadrunner (this was in '02) which I inspected a couple of times to hopefully find some Roadline evidence. Never did, sadly.

[Gompo]

 

Best one of the lot can be viewed from the train (looking west) from London to Leeds, about half way up I think in the Lincs area, before Notts altough I cant really remember. A whole VA Noddy van in green with the Roadline logo fully viewable, yet the thing's been dumped at the side of the road for what looks like decades. Hope to god it's still there, I saw it aobut 2-3 years ago.

 

I was going to mention this as I was sure you'd spotted one around this area before, but in your openning post you mentioed about one near Potter's Bar rather than more northern.

 

I make this journey now and again(King's Cross to Retford, anyway) and have tried to look for it in the past. Would it be safe to say it's between Peterborough and Grantham and/or Newark? You could always try and find it on Google Maps from above.. I'd happily take a drive or a train journey to the location sometime if found.

 

Cheers, Greg.

[Tayne]

bloody hell i've found it on google, i hope this is the link...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 9,,0,10.42

 

Its still there.

No photos owing to darkness and other traffic, I'll try and get some pictures at the weekend.

[Electric Leyland]

Loving the Sunblest crate!

 

 

Best one of the lot can be viewed from the train (looking west) from London to Leeds, about half way up I think in the Lincs area, before Notts altough I cant really remember. A whole VA Noddy van in green with the Roadline logo fully viewable, yet the thing's been dumped at the side of the road for what looks like decades. Hope to god it's still there, I saw it aobut 2-3 years ago.

 

I was going to mention this as I was sure you'd spotted one around this area before, but in your openning post you mentioed about one near Potter's Bar rather than more northern.

 

I make this journey now and again(King's Cross to Retford, anyway) and have tried to look for it in the past. Would it be safe to say it's between Peterborough and Grantham and/or Newark? You could always try and find it on Google Maps from above.. I'd happily take a drive or a train journey to the location sometime if found.

 

Cheers, Greg.

 

When I first saw it I spent an hour or two looking on GoogleMaps, but to no avail. All I can say it it wasn't hard to spot at all, quiet near to the train in fact, and completely in tact. If you're travelling North you need to be on the left side of the train. Yes vaguely in the Peterborough to newark area-ish, I really cant quite remember now! When you next doing the trip Mr. G?

[trigger]

Worse screen grab eva, but this is the Roadline truck from Minder, Series 1, Episode 8 - Come in T64, Your Time is Ticking Away, FYI.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

TK-2 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

TL-1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

TK-1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

The scans I did out of some old Bedford brochures. These are great publications, chock-full of liveried vans and lorries whereas Ford didn't often have that in their brochures IIRC.

[autohausdolby]

How futuristic does that TL look? I had a Britains one as a nipper, it was ace.

[Electric Leyland]

Flipping eck, Waterman with a Roadline lorry, followed by more pictures of Roadline lorries.

 

What a start to the day, it can't get any better.

[autohausdolby]

This site needs a Roadline banner ad at the top.

[M'coli]

This site needs a Roadline banner ad at the top.

Yes!

[Electric Leyland]

It's a great idea.

 

What could it clicking on it most amusingly link to?

[autohausdolby]

Some git has registered Roadline.co.uk and Roadline.com

[Electric Leyland]

Indeed, if you Google Roadline you get 3 main search results, 1) Autoshite, 2) A midlands based company that provides road markings, and 3) that tiny Aixim car that looks lke an electric car but isn't.

 

There's also a courier company in Leicester claiming to be Roadline Logistics, but the registered address appears to be residential. And anothr in Florida.

[autohausdolby]

Oh please, someone with more graphic design skillz than me make it happen

[Gompo]

 

When I first saw it I spent an hour or two looking on GoogleMaps, but to no avail. All I can say it it wasn't hard to spot at all, quiet near to the train in fact, and completely in tact. If you're travelling North you need to be on the left side of the train. Yes vaguely in the Peterborough to newark area-ish, I really cant quite remember now! When you next doing the trip Mr. G?

 

Damn, sounds like I should have spotted it in the past. I can almost guarantee I wont see it when I know where it should be, for whatever reason.

 

Unfortunately I wont be making the journey in the very near future, but I imagine in the next couple of months. I'll have to make sure I travel in daylight hours.

[KruJoe]

Check this out for a co-incidence!

 

Best one of the lot can be viewed from the train (looking west) from London to Leeds, about half way up I think in the Lincs area, before Notts altough I cant really remember.... between Peterborough and Grantham and/or Newark?

It wasn't hard to spot at all, quiet near to the train in fact, and completely in tact. If you're travelling North you need to be on the left side of the train. Yes vaguely in the Peterborough to newark area-ish,

 

Yesterday on the way home from Stanstead, I opened this thread to catch up after I got on the train at Peterborough to go to Leeds! We had a left side (West) facing window seat, too!

I read the above at about Grantham or Newark, so from there to Retford, I was glued to the window but saw nothing

So I'd guess it must be closer to Peterborough than Retford.

Never mind, thought I, I'll look out for the R16 before Leeds, but we were diverted via York to avoid a broken rail

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Can you put a Flash banner on the forum?

 

>> Roadline Banner <<

[trigger]

Another screen shot from Minder.

 

Vauxhall Viva HB Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[trigger]

Roadline mono-colour by dodgerdolan, on Flickr

[autofive]

i found a full page ad for Roadline in Commercial Motor (Jan 27th 1978)

 

[Guest]

Hi guys, just a quick one re. Roadline...Back in early 80s, my dad used to work for them at their Burnley branch. I was born in '81 and he was working for them then. I distinctly remember the Noddy vans lol. Around '85 - '86ish, my dad got transferred to Leyland to work at what was now called Lynx Express Delivery Network...He was there for about 30 odd years working the night shift and around '97 - '98, I worked for them. I know when I was there they had a Roadline Bedford TL and a Roadline Sherpa van at the back of the Admin offices. At Present, the site is now under UPS so not sure if they are still there or not... Also, just a further note to add, when the flailing Roadline name was dissappearing off our roads, it was briefly brought back...under Green Line Packaging. Didnt last long though. Thanks for listening guys

[Guest]

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 8&t=h&z=19

 

I think this is the link...The Roadline Vans used to be where the little bunch of them are on the image...

[fotorabia]

Cool thread..cos I was brought up in the Highlands in the 70s 80s I missed out..it was all Forestry Commission or Telecom..so it was Landies..Sherpas n Commers as nothing over 7.5t could stay balanced on our single track roads...but when I was in Berlin 90s ..one of our techno soundsystem trucks was a Mothers Pride Leyland Terrier..rusty as fuck but incredibly reliable.. /////////that wasnt much help was it!

[warren t claim]

Hi guys, just a quick one re. Roadline...Back in early 80s, my dad used to work for them at their Burnley branch. I was born in '81 and he was working for them then. I distinctly remember the Noddy vans lol. Around '85 - '86ish, my dad got transferred to Leyland to work at what was now called Lynx Express Delivery Network...He was there for about 30 odd years working the night shift and around '97 - '98, I worked for them. I know when I was there they had a Roadline Bedford TL and a Roadline Sherpa van at the back of the Admin offices. At Present, the site is now under UPS so not sure if they are still there or not... Also, just a further note to add, when the flailing Roadline name was dissappearing off our roads, it was briefly brought back...under Green Line Packaging. Didnt last long though. Thanks for listening guys

 

Lol! I used to deliver to Lynx Leyland depot about that time! One of the night managers was a right prick who used to delight in keeping me waiting for a van to go back home in. One day my boss flipped at having to drive up to collect me so we hatched a plan....The following day after we had loaded all the parcels into my 7.5tonner we loaded my old GPZ750 onto the back. When I arrived at Leyland the prick scampered out of his office to tell me that I couldn't borrow a van to go home. No problem! I replied, I simply hopped onto the bike and noisily road along the loading bay and down the fork lift ramp. We NEVER had a problem borrowing a van after that.

[scooters]

Re Sunblest:

 

Sunblest is a value brand owned by AIB who als make Kingsmill. It is most usually found in the North, Scotland and frequently in Northern Ireland. Sunblest like other 70's value bread brand Mothers Pride (now owned by Premier Foods) isn't seen as a drive brand by AIB these days so you can safely say that Sublest Bread will be carried in Kingsmill branded lorries just as Mothers Pride will be hauled by Hovis branded lorries.

 

When I worked for Premier Foods I did a lot of work with Hovis. Food companies have enormous logistical challenges and Premier own over 6000 Hovis branded delivery vehicles alone - not including other branded vehicles in the group - ie Mr Kipling, Sharwoods, Bachelors. On top of the 'bread fleet' Premier also have contracts with the vast majority of major logistics solutions companies (Stobhart, DHL etc) for shipping their products - running a fleet of such size is a very expensive business - drivers are sourced from agencies as directly employing them is beyond the pocket of most firms these days.

 

There is literally no money in making bread - Hovis turns over around £780m per annum for Premier Foods and makes £5m profit - compare this to Bisto (another Premier Brand) which turns over about £100m per annum and is profitable by £87.5m to the company - now that's making gravy!

 

the problem is in the UK is that the demand for quality bread undermines the bread industry that was based around the industrial production of crap 70's bread - ie Sunblest - add in the price of flour (150% inflation in the last 3 years), diesel and power together with the ability to deliver it to shops from the Sciliys to the Shetlands you can see the issue. Hovis have 6 mills and 12 industrial bakeries and make bread for all the supermarkets as well. Huge operation indeed.