• Despite the efforts of REA chairman Glynn Samuel to
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encourage closer cooperation between road hauliers and the railways, it is still unusual to see hauliers and railways working together.
Rarer still is a haulage company which has used the railways for some of its freight movements for almost a quarter of a century, and now owns several million pounds worth of railway wagons.
Most unusual is a haulage company with a railway locomotive named after it — but that honour was bestowed on the Toleman Group this week by British Rail's Rai!freight division.
Locomotive 47016, now named The Toleman Group, will be used by Rai&eight to haul, among other things, Ford cars from Dagenham to Scotland and the north of England for Toleman.
The naming of The Tolman Group locomotive is an acknowledgement of a 23-year relationship between Toleman and Railfreight, which began in 1964 when Toleman operated the first liner train service to Scotland for Ford.
• As if to remind us that the car industry is where Toleman's roots really lie, however, the group set something of a record last Wednesday, by transporting some of the world's most valuable cars... by road.
A brace of Toleman transporters headed off to Monaco, carrying 14 Bugatti
and Ferrari classics with an estimated value of 24 million. They are to be auctioned there by Christies, who presumably expects them to fetch the highest possible price in that millionaire's playground.
Strict security surrounded the multi-million pound cargo, which included gems such as the Ferrari 330P4 prototype arid a 1958 Testa Rossa. Mike Toleman, who has the unenviable task of looking after the collection — some of the cars have ground clearances of just 60mm — promises that "...none of the cars will sustain so much as a fingerprint."
Somehow the Hawk's Morris Traveller seems to pale into insignificance...
• The Toleman Group carries the world's most valuable cars (see left) — but removal specialist HouIts has just brought a rather special ship back home to Scotland. The 1.2m model of the Malachite dates back to 1894 when the model (and the real thing) were built by Scotts of Dumbartonshire. The ship, alas, is no longer plying the briny, but the model, which has been residing in the Newcastle Maritime Museum, is now back in Dumbarton. It is being renovated at the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank Building prior to joining an exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine. Hoults personnel John Cameron, Nigel Smith and John McWilliams are pictured with Fiona Mc Murray, head of research at the Tank Building.
• A survey conducted by the Local Authorities' Co-ordinating Body on Trading Standards (LACOTS) has found that 30% of second hand tyres bought from dealers' premises were unfit for road use. Some 20% were in such bad condition that prosecution is being considered. Some of the tyres examined by an independent tyre consultant had nails embedded in the tread rubber. Several had suffered severe weathering of the sidewall rubber and one had been fitted to the wrong size rim.
Trading standards officers are justifiably appalled by these results and are strengthening their long established campaign for stricter controls on the sale of second hand tyres.
People who deal unscrupulously in a commodity which contributes so much to 'the safety of a vehicle are nothing short of criminal. Any driver who has recently fitted his vehicle with a second hand tyre should have it checked by a tyre specialist who is a member of the National Tyre Distributors Association.