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Girling Brakes - Tyseley

bigjohnuk

bigjohnuk

knowlegable brummie
Girling Brakes - tyseley

Hi all,

My grandmorther looked after the switch board girls at Girling, tyseley in the 60's and 70's Anyone have any information or pictrues of this old site. My borther and myself would go on the Christmas Panto trips every year.

John
 
Re: Girling Brakes - tyseley

Found a picture of the front 1950. Any other pictures welcome. Anyone who may have pictures or remeber the ladies on the switchboard for the factory. I can remeber where the room was that my grandmorther worked in. Just to the left of the front doors of the building.

girling%2520t.jpg


https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kueAVoMUXrdfuatOcT4qiO5DMTYeVfzby-xOUE9Dg84?feat=directlink
 
I am surprised to see only four posts on this Girling thread. I know it mentions specifically Tyseley but there must be much to record about the company. I note some information of outing and part threads plus more in a Lucas thread. Apparently Lucas took over Girling in 1939,
Was there a Garrison Lane site?
 
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I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
 
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Dave Lindup said:
I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
Click to expand...
Hi Dave
Good to see that you are still up and running and thanks for the mention. Happy memories.
 
Dave Lindup said:
I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
Click to expand...
Hi Dave
An interesting picture of your working life you have painted there. Thanks
The disc - brake that you fitted to the prop on a Leyland national, was that similar in operation to the 'Telma Retarder' that was popular on coaches?
 
bigjohnuk said:
Girling Brakes - tyseley

Hi all,

My grandmorther looked after the switch board girls at Girling, tyseley in the 60's and 70's Anyone have any information or pictrues of this old site. My borther and myself would go on the Christmas Panto trips every year.

John
Click to expand...
Hi John,
I worked on HDBS at Tyseley from 1977 until it closed in 1983 when I moved to Fen End, and left when it all moved to South Wales in 1989.
I volunteered for a few years to take the photographs of the children's Christmas parties at West Brom hotel with the help of Josie Queenan and Heather Knightingale and co.
We had some good fun, and the kids did as well.
Dave
 
Bob Johnson said:
Hi Dave
An interesting picture of your working life you have painted there. Thanks
The disc - brake that you fitted to the prop on a Leyland national, was that similar in operation to the 'Telma Retarder' that was popular on coaches?
Click to expand...
This retarder operated the same as any air disc brake but only bigger. Double disc with copper post and cooling fins.
The object was to slow the vehicle down without using the service brake. Because the bus was rear engined and very light at the front axle the front brakes were restricted to stop them locking.
The retarder was operated by a micro switch on th free play of the service brake pedal and cooled by a huge fan attached to the dynamo forcing air down aluminium ducting to The vented disc.
Tests were conducted on the hills in and out of Sheffield.
Service life of the rear brake linings were about 1500 miles, after the retarder was fitted the service brake life increased to 35000 miles. But as I said earlier Leyland wouldn't take it.
The Telma retarder was an electro magnetic device normally operated by a lever on the steering column and fairly expensive.I
Hope that explains it somewhat.
Dave
 
Dave Lindup said:
This retarder operated the same as any air disc brake but only bigger. Double disc with copper post and cooling fins.
The object was to slow the vehicle down without using the service brake. Because the bus was rear engined and very light at the front axle the front brakes were restricted to stop them locking.
The retarder was operated by a micro switch on th free play of the service brake pedal and cooled by a huge fan attached to the dynamo forcing air down aluminium ducting to The vented disc.
Tests were conducted on the hills in and out of Sheffield.
Service life of the rear brake linings were about 1500 miles, after the retarder was fitted the service brake life increased to 35000 miles. But as I said earlier Leyland wouldn't take it.
The Telma retarder was an electro magnetic device normally operated by a lever on the steering column and fairly expensive.I
Hope that explains it somewhat.
Dave
Click to expand...
Great.
Thanks for the info.
I was familiar with 'Telma Retarders' back in the 70's.
So it must have been similar to the Land Rover 'Drum Transmission' brake but used a disc and caliper instead.

Thanks for the info.
Who'd have thought that transmission brakes could be so interesting.
 
Bob Johnson said:
Great.
Thanks for the info.
I was familiar with 'Telma Retarders' back in the 70's.
So it must have been similar to the Land Rover 'Drum Transmission' brake but used a disc and caliper instead.

Thanks for the info.
Who'd have thought that transmission brakes could be so interesting.
Click to expand...
My memory is playing tricks on me, the caliper was hydraulic but air actuated.
 
Dave Lindup said:
I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
Click to expand...
Dave, great story! Welcome to the Forum and enjoy, I am sure you will...
 
Dave Lindup said:
This retarder operated the same as any air disc brake but only bigger. Double disc with copper post and cooling fins.
The object was to slow the vehicle down without using the service brake. Because the bus was rear engined and very light at the front axle the front brakes were restricted to stop them locking.
The retarder was operated by a micro switch on th free play of the service brake pedal and cooled by a huge fan attached to the dynamo forcing air down aluminium ducting to The vented disc.
Tests were conducted on the hills in and out of Sheffield.
Service life of the rear brake linings were about 1500 miles, after the retarder was fitted the service brake life increased to 35000 miles. But as I said earlier Leyland wouldn't take it.
The Telma retarder was an electro magnetic device normally operated by a lever on the steering column and fairly expensive.I
Hope that explains it somewhat.
Dave
Click to expand...
Doesn’t sound like a good decision on Leylands part unless they went with another device!
 
bigjohnuk said:
Re: Girling Brakes - tyseley

Found a picture of the front 1950. Any other pictures welcome. Anyone who may have pictures or remeber the ladies on the switchboard for the factory. I can remeber where the room was that my grandmorther worked in. Just to the left of the front doors of the building.

girling%2520t.jpg


https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kueAVoMUXrdfuatOcT4qiO5DMTYeVfzby-xOUE9Dg84?feat=directlink
Click to expand...
The only lady on the switchboard that I can remember was Carol, she went on to run a great big AB Dick printing/copier machine. I think her boss was a lady called Dinah Brown.
 
Does anyone know if the Girling Plant on Kings Road in Tyseley had it's own Home Guard unit During WWII? My granddad lived in Manor Farm Rd and worked at Girling throughout the 40's and 50's.
 
farmerdave said:
Photograph of Girling, Tyseley taken in 1988. Many small buildings in front of Girling, including The Tollman Group (right with blue and white sign). Any information on this company?
View attachment 161371
Click to expand...
Great Picture and thank you. This is for sure how I remember that building. I also remember the transporters with the Rovers and Land Rovers from Solihull. I think they were driven to Tysley to be loaded onto trains.
 
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Dave Lindup said:
The only lady on the switchboard that I can remember was Carol, she went on to run a great big AB Dick printing/copier machine. I think her boss was a lady called Dinah Brown.
Click to expand...
Many thanks. My Grandmother's name was Lily Cheshire. I suspect she may have retired around 1977. I remember going to her leaving party at the factory.

I remember the reception telephone room where she worked. It was a row of ladies sat on seats with a board in front of them which had the plugs on leads. When a call came in, they would answer the call and then plug the lead into the socket where the call had to go. The girls also had pencils with a plastic black end put on them which had a bit of a dome. They would use the end of the pencil with the dome to dial the ext number or external number as in those days you did not have push buttons but dials. The plastic dome would save their fingers.

Next to the room where the girls worked was a smaller room that had the racks with the machinal moving coils that would move up and round as the operators selected the numbers they wanted.

The room that they worked in was just off the main reception of the factory and the room had windows. Looking at the front of Factory main reception, I think the telephony room was on the left of the main reception.
 
bigjohnuk said:
The girls also had pencils with a plastic black end put on them which had a bit of a dome. They would use the end of the pencil with the dome to dial the ext number or external number as in those days you did not have push buttons but dials. The plastic dome would save their fingers.
dialpen.jpg
Click to expand...
I think the purpose of the 'dome' was to save the dial! The girls used a pen for filling in tickets and would use the pen to help dialling. A plain pen end would soon score the number plate, eventually requiring a new dial to be fitted.
 
Spargone said:
I think the purpose of the 'dome' was to save the dial! The girls used a pen for filling in tickets and would use the pen to help dialling. A plain pen end would soon score the number plate, eventually requiring a new dial to be fitted.
Click to expand...
Correct. That pic is just what it was like.
 
Dave Lindup said:
I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
Click to expand...
I wonder if you used to work with my father Dave? James (always called Jim) Jones. He was a machine tool fitter.
 
Dave Lindup said:
I worked at Girling from 1974 until 1990, I started as a mechanic working for Bob Morgan at the Proving ground at Fen End looking after the test fleet. In 1975 I went onto experimental fitting working on commercials with Chris Long. One of the first jobs was fitting a huge disc brake retarder to the nose of the rear axle of a Leyland National bus. After all the work Leyland never took it on.
In 1977 I started as a Dev Engineer on HDBS at Tyseley working for Eddy Sambrook and Chief Eng Dave Peasley, my first job there was durability testing of swan neck springs on L/Rover transmission brake. Very, very boring. Later on I then progressed to the Vehicle Test dept carrying out dynamic tests on vehicles. This was more to my liking and I really enjoyed this role. This is where I met Norman Clymer, a nice chap always ready for a bit of leg pulling. He worked for the Commercial sales dept.
1983 saw the close of Tyseley and Girling was relocated to Cwmbran and Pontypool in South Wales and Bromborough on the Wirral, I moved back to the Proving Ground at Fen End still working for the HDBS test dept.
During my 16 1/2 years at Girling I was lucky enough to travel to various test sites in the UK and Europe.
In 1989, the powers to be wanted to move the test dept to South Wales, after great deliberations I decided not to go and I left in December 1989.
On leaving Girling I was asked to apply for a position at Land Rover. I started at the Solihull Factory in January 1990, working for John Kellett and Keith Parsons (both ex Girling Engineers).
I still keep in touch with a lot of my old Girling colleagues, and I arrange an informal get together every Christmas (apart from last xmas because of the pandemic) but as soon as we are allowed I will arrange another. We call it the Girling Old Codgers Club and in 2019 saw around 25 or so turn up.
Click to expand...
Hi Dave, just doing a bit of research on Girling and came across your great post. I was just wondering if you had known a chap called Malcolm Downes (my Dad) who worked there in roughly that period?. Also his friend Roger Goadby? Long shot but thought I would ask! Cheers, Drew
 
Hi,

My great Uncle Arthur Arrrowsmith worked here, does anybody remember him or have any photos I’m trying to do my family tree so any information would be appreciated
 
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