LITMIR.BIZ

      Charles Brain, Larry Kilby, Michael Brain and John Brain with Brains’ 100th Scania and first sleeper AEV 100L in 1973. The photo shows Larry Kilby, transport director, holding a plaque of crystal glass. which was presented by Scania Sweden.

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       INTRODUCTION

      BRAIN HAULAGE WAS FORMED BY CHARLES EDWARD BRAIN in April 1950 and ran to September 1992, when it closed after 42 years.

      Charles Edward Brain was born in Kentish Town, London, on 31 March 1915. He lived with his mother and father and four brothers, Reg, Albert, Arthur and Freddy, together with a sister, Dolly. When he was a young lad he used to go to work with his father, who worked for the L.M.S. Railway at Camden Town, which is where he learnt to drive at around the age of 12. He later worked for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway as a van boy but then left to drive an International tipper for a chap called Joe Cunningham, who ran George Wiggins at Globe Road, Bethnal Green, and drove daily to and from Hertfordshire (near Bushey Heath) to sites in London. He then went to drive for Robert Deard, working out of James Street, off Blackhouse Road, London N17, with an old Ford tipper that had a wind-up body. He met and married Rayan and had three children, Jean, Carol and John. Sadly, Rayan died in September 1977.

      When the Second World War broke out in 1939 Charles joined the RAF and trained as a pilot, serving as such until the end of the war. At the age of 30 he went back to work with Joe Cunningham at George Wiggins. Rebuilding projects in London in the 1950s and ’60s, such as the South Bank, Millbank Tower, Shell building, the Barbican, the Old Bailey, Bankside Power Station and the Victoria Line, turned the area into one big construction site. This was the time to go into the sand and ballast business, so Charles went for it and bought a small company to start up on his own.

      I worked for Charles for 20 years from 1972 to 1992, during which time I kept a diary and took hundreds of photos. People kept telling me I had enough information on the company to write a book!

      Working at Brains was not only my job but also my hobby, so after another 20 years I went to see Charles at his flat in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, and he related the first part of this story. The rest of the book is taken from my diary and from interviews with as many ex-drivers as I could find, as well as a few managers and office staff along the way including two managing directors, Larry Kilby and Russell Winmill.

      In the 20 years on the road I did see life and made a lot of friends, some sadly not with us now and others I still see.

      I’d been at Brains for about a month after I passed my HGV 1, and was in the yard in Magnet Road awaiting a job when a plain dark green Seddon unit came in with a 20ft box on. The driver stopped right outside the office and came in asking the office staff where he could park the trailer. ‘Put it where you can,’ came the answer. I was talking to other drivers when he came over and said hello to everyone. His name was Ivor and he said to me: ‘You’re the new driver, right?’ I nodded. He got a £10 note out of his wallet and gave it to me. ‘Park my lorry up for me and you can keep it.’ Well £10 was £10 in those days and I was only on £32 a week. I jumped into his unit, started it up and found it didn’t have power steering. Well with a 20ft trailer and box it was always tight in our yard, you just about got a fag paper between each trailer on rough ground, too! I did a lot of sweating for the next half hour and then gave up, went back in and gave him the £10 back. The lads were laughing as he had done this before. After that I kept my mouth shut. Ivor’s party piece was to go into a room or café where drivers were sitting and who didn’t know him and say, ‘Phew it’s hot out there’ and take off his flat cap, which had a wig sewn into it (he was completely bald – giving him his name, Ivor the Bald), wipe his forehead and put it back on and walk out again. You should have seen the faces on the lads – mouths wide open.

      But it was not all fun and games. It was hard work getting up at 2 a.m. to go to Liverpool or Manchester in snow and ice and sometimes working 12 hours or more a day but I would not change anything. It’s taken a lot of years to get this book ‘on the road’ but I’m hoping, like me, you think it’s worth it.

      George Batten Ltd, the company that started it all when Charles Brain bought the company in April 1950. Photo Peter Davies.

      Brand new S20 Foden registered 00 8876 in 1960. Photo Foden-Marcus Lester Collection.

      Driver Harry Harley with Foden eight-wheeler 137 UMV loaded ready to roll on the Durox contract dark green cab (Ex ICI) at the Durox yard at Linford, Essex, in 1965.

      Brains taking the blue clay out for the Victoria Line in the 1960s. The drivers are Johnny Earl and

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