Leyland AUT 579B in London 1964 taking blue clay away from the Victoria Line in Drummond Street to Woodside Brickworks in Croydon, which had exhausted its large pit and we were filling it back up. Photo Leyland.
Former Brain Haulage tipper CVW 927B bought new in 1964 working the fairgrounds in the 1980s. Photo Barry Brown.
CVW 926B also working the fairgrounds. Photo Barry Brown.
Eight-wheeler tanker 452 JMV belonging to CE Dormer Ltd, which Brains bought. Photo Peter Davies.
Former Brain Haulage Foden tipper at Gaydon truck show in 1999. Photo author.
(The History of JC Brain Ltd)
THE ‘BRAIN EMPIRE’ STARTED WHEN J.C. Brain was formed by Charles Brain in April 1950 after he purchased George Batten Ltd for £3,000. The company was small and consisted of three lorries and a Chaseside shovel/digger, had A licences for five vehicles and it was based by the side of the A127 London to Southend Road. The three lorries were all Bedfords, two short wheelbase ex-army type tippers and the third a civvy 7-ton long wheelbase tipper.
Charles stayed on this site until 1952, when there was a need for the A127 to be widened, so he moved to Morley Road, Romford. This was large enough to hold the five Bedford tippers that he had by then. Later he moved to Dagenham East, opposite the station yard, which was a sandpit (now a park). He also bought 12 Albion eight-wheeler tippers.
Most of Charles’ work now was for Ham River sand and ballast (later taken over by Hall & Co. in 1962). And the majority of loads came from South Ockendon and White Post Corner in the Rush Green area of Romford. He was still doing a lot of site clearing in London as it was still full of bombsites. Also, the Underground was being extended in all directions from the city centre so he was loading sand/shingle and ballast and taking blue mud out of London from the tunnelling. He also went on to work for Hall & Co. in the 1960s on the Victoria Line underground, which opened in 1969. It was a big contract in its day, taking blue clay from the Victoria underground line in Drummond Street to Woodside brickworks in Croydon, which had exhausted its large sand pit and we, along with other companies, were filling it back up.
Charles’ son, John, was about 15 when he went to work one day with his father, riding on the footplate of one of the Bedfords. The lorry went over a bump on a site near Victoria Park, London, and John went under the lorry. However, as it was soft, muddy ground he survived but it was a close call.
Loading ACT containers on Leyland unit DMU 701A in Linford yard in 1963.
Alf Elsdon and Colin Carley at the Orsett container base in 1969 posing with their two Leyland Shunters.
Guy KDX 427F still shunting in Magnet Road yard in 1984.
PMY 646F, a Guy big J Unit with a Jameson tilt loading in Southampton in 1968. Photo driver John Stowe.
Foden (Leyland 690 engine) MTY 129F. It is a poor shot but the only one I have got. Driver Ron Lucas told me it was a good runner.
KDX 425F Guy BIJ “J” Unit in Grays Magnet Yard Depot June 1968. Note the Corbett & Miller on the door. A company BH bought out in 1968.
The author’s first Brain Haulage vehicle, VMY 817G, at the Lorry Driver of the Year contest in 1970. Photo NA3T.
Volvo F88 tag axle NNO 681J. This is the vehicle the author had for his HGV training.
The first Leyland semi auto unit, VUL 883G, new on the ACT contract with John Brain, Ted Harold (driver) and company secretary Tom Wells. It is seen in the Magnet Road depot in 1969 on the first day of the contract.
Leyland semi auto VUL 883G with a Henry Smithers trailer unloading the first ACT containers into yard.
The company was now run under the name of J.C. Brain Ltd. The vehicles were yellow and white, the livery very similar throughout the company’s history.
Charles had leased 12 Thames Traders from Hensmen Ltd of Brook Street, Brentwood, and by 1959 he had a fleet of more than 30 tippers consisting of Ford, Leyland, Foden and Albion. Over the next ten years he bought several other companies for the A licences, including Tankard Transport, C.E. Dormer, Paddock Transport, Olley’s Transport, Fuller Transport and finally Corbett & Miller, all small companies, some with only two or three lorries. He also purchased the yard of Dawell’s Transport in Rainham on the A13, but not the fleet.
In 1953 the east coast of England sustained a disastrous flood and many people died so the Government had to act quickly to prevent the same thing happening again. Charles had a contract to run sand and ballast up to Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire to build the flood walls all along the east coast. He had ten Foden eight-wheel tippers working seven days a week alongside hundreds of other contractors and it was a job that lasted more than two years. Charles also joined the Road Haulage Association at this time.
In 1963 Charles bought his first two second-hand units; 14-ton gross 4×2 Commers that had two-stroke engines, purchased from a dealer in Carpenter’s Road. These units were to work for Silver Roadways out of Canning Town running sacks of sugar to Reading and Bristol on a trunk run. Trailers were loaded, roped and sheeted and dropped ready for the night drivers to pick up. Ted Parker, the manager, got on well with Charles and later went on to ACT (Associated Container Transport), which helped Charles again. A brand new Foden was purchased from Sandbach in the same year with a 180 Gardner engine and a 12-speed gearbox for a Ready-Mix contract. When the contract fell through, the Foden was converted to a six-wheel unit. It was very fast and the driver turned it over on a night run to Bristol. A Dodge six-wheel rigid was also purchased to run on a Durox block contract but this was written off in 1964.
In 1965 two Guy Invincible units with 220 Cummins engines and ten-speed Fuller gearboxes were purchased from Maston Motors in Seven Sisters Road. These units were dark blue (Durox livery) and had CEB on the headboard. Twelve Foden tippers were also purchased from Hovenham’s HQ at Nottingham. John Elsdon, the chief engineer, went with Charles to buy these and the Guys.
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