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Postbox Maintenance Postman

Hi Bernard,

Many thanks for the pictures, think i will need to look a bit more closely
to see some of those rarer boxes here in Lincolnshire.


regards
Neville..
 
Hi there,have found a couple of Ist Day covers with photos of vans on them, the smaller of them I used to drive on a rural delivery round South
Derbyshire, we called quarter ton, Morris Z , we had 38 farms and four
villages over quite a big area, the second one is a 30cwt Morris Comm;
In those days the Post Office had their own driving instructors and also
examiners, I passed my test in Burton in the big van Later in 1970 I
trained on HGV at Desboro airfield and to Leicester for the test, Webb
Ivory the printers were in Burton and we tokk containers of them both to
Nottingham and Birmingham, what is now the Mail Box. Bye Bernard
Webbs used to print all charity Xmas cards.
 
Bernard you sure have some lovely photo's. My new hobby is going to be spot the post box and take a photo of it. I know a couple on my list at Arly and Button Bridge. Take care. Jean.
 
Hi John, not a bad one,thr trouble is over the years, that one GR is sometime between 1910 and 1936(The of the three Kings), and they get. painted over and over again.We had several old boxes like that we had them sandblasted, then they come up really nice. I have some photos
of the various stages if anyone is interested, bye Bernard
 
Hi Mike yes some of them rubber wings, the later one the Minor had rubber
mud flaps on the back, the sheep dogs used to love them, one farm I used
get one dog either side pulling and shaking the van from side to side,
oh happy days til you get a winter like 1963, snow over the top of the van.
I went out one day at 6,45am, and got back at 7,00pm, Mind you when you know everybody, tea here, coffee there, bacon buttie at Church Farm, I could go on,. bye Bernard
 
Bernard,
I know exactly what you mean,you see it all the time, a classic example are the seafront railings here in Brighton.
They must have had dozens of coats of paint without being stripped or shotblasted, therefore losing all definition and detail.
John.
 
This sack of Santas would not have fitted into a postbox, would they Bernard?. Len. (Thanks to the Daily Star)
 
I would love to drive one these little vans, I really enjoyed my 42 years at, the Post Office, its sad to see the service go down the nick, it has been
messed about from pillar to post ( no pun meant) by governments over the
years, did you know that for the whole of the 1990s neither BT or Royal
Mail paid one penny into the pension fund, they both had a "Contribution
Holiday for ten years",as Michael Cain would say, not many people know
that, cheers Bernard Quote; Save water Shower with a friend
 
I liked the vans on the First Day Covers, Bernard when would the Van in the last photo have been around
 
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Post Office Engineering factory, Garrison Lane r/hand side was the Fitting & Machining shop, the l/hand side was were they maintained the vans, handcarts etc, this van has been very well restored. Len.
 
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yes i can recall the days when then the named GPO
meant some-think to us all when i was a little kid
i used and stand and watch the man paint the old red pillar boxs
and the post man used to be very smart in iniform well kept and groomed not like to day s scuffy articles
its the same with bus drivers they are unkemped long hair and unkept beards dirty clothes
best wishes astonion ;;
 
You have me looking at and photographing pillar boxes now. More CDs cluttering up the place . My mrs will go mad.
I have to say our local postpeople ( we have both genders) are always smartly dressed in their uniform and the bus drivers seem to prefer the white or blue pilots shirt with dark trousers and perhaps a company pullover.
The driving of some of the Royal Mail vans can be as bad as that of a city taxi driver though.
 
Hi Alf, not sure about the van date, Im think some on the forum is looking
up the reg; number right now, the thing about vans then they no keys, you just turned on a lttle button on the dash, the starter was on the floor of the
van, you used your left Big Toe to press it, the doors had a spigit key, no heater
of course, it was well into 1960s before they came in. Later we had the Morris J type with a desiel engine, they were beggers to start when it was
cold, oh Happy Days, not many cowboys on the road in those days eh!
cheers, I passed my test in 1958, and HGV class 1 in 1970.
Bernard
 
Hi Alf, though you might like to what so of our so called drivers did to their
vans, although to be fair one of them left his van running with the door
while he went into an office to pick up mail, some youths drove it off and set fire to it, cheers Bernard
 
Although a telephones department van, this picture shows some of the differences the Post Office could require from a vehicle manufacturer in exchange for very large orders. Rubber front wings with separate headlights, and a hinged opening windscreen as there was no heater/demister.
 
Sort of, it is a Morris Motors (the car company) special version of the car-based Morris Minor van whereas Morris-Commercial made non car-based vehicles like this 1956 'LC5' model van
 
Hi Lloyd, thats the one I passed my driving test in 1958, my wife worked in the offices of the company in Drews Lane when we first got married, and before I think.
Hello Alf, have found two more First Day covers I got from the NPM in London, cheers Bernard
 
Hi Lloyd, our vans were sized in cf, cubic feet, and were allocated to jobs, the Moggie Minor were 50cf, the Morris J type were 120, the one you posted were in types, 240 and 360cf, after that you had 600 and 1350 were the
big ones, when you were sent out on a special collection the asst; inspector would tell you which size to take.. It was quite a well run concern in those days, almost army style. in 1992 everything changed, we
were told it was nolonger a servce, but the Postal Business and things went down hill after that. I have been a union member since 1955 in the retired section of the UCW. cheers now Bernard
 
Hi Astonian, I agree entirely with your comments on present day Postmans
dress, ours came round yesterday wearing shorts! The dress code states
clearly that shorts should not be worn after Oct; 1st. I said on this forum a few weeks ago, One time of day a postman used to look like Ronald Coleman, nowadays they look like The Coop Coalman, Have a nice
day, cheers Bernard. Quote; I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. Sir Noel Coward (1889/ 1973 )
Bernard
 
I do like this combined phone box / post box / stamp machine! I remember seeing an unrestored one at Blists Hill Museum, Ironbridge on my last visit there 30-ish years ago, is it the same one?
 
Hi Lloyd, as you say these combo boxes are very rare, I have seen one in London I think it was, it couldnt happen of course now with BT being seperate. Did you know that neither BT or Royal Mail paid one single penny into the pension funds during the whole of the 1990s! the funds were awash with cash due to the Stock Market being on a roll, then they
wonder why theres a massive Black Hole in them now, cheers Bernard
 
So, it looks as though the very earliest boxes were green, how interesting, thanks for posting Bernard...


regards Neville..
 
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