I paid a visit to Trembath Mills today (thanks Ian), the site where Arthur Freeman Sanders created one of the UK's first diesel motorcycles. Great welcome from John & Ruth Stedman who showed me round their house & garage, both of which were the workshops where the work was carried out. The place was a former generator station & still shows the signs of it, more so than its more recent history as a machine shop & drawing office where engines were experimented with. Green stone is laid on the floor to protect from battery acid & special drains are also in evidence.
John gave me a going away present of some swarf (stainless) that is still in evidence about the house grounds. Apparently Freeman Sanders was one of the first to experiment with stainless in engines so it's nice to come away with this little connection to the past. A large diesel tank is still there under the driveway. Interesting to hear that one of Freeman Sanders colleagues (surname Martin) returned to the site in the early 80's to see how things had changed. Apparently he was a native Cornishman & had been away designing engines (I presume?) in Detroit of all places.
I guess the next line of enquirery would be to trace these six or seven engineers to see if they are still around & if they know where this Diesel Norton went?
An interesting day all said & it may still produce something...!
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
I've just posted the finished article on the Freeman Sanders Norton. I will add to it if anything else comes up. Still getting the Gordon Glover piece proofed read by the ex at the mo but hope it will be posted soon enough. Still no confirmation on bikes location but I'll post anyway. But for now... http://www.dieselbike.net/Freeman/Freeman.htm
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
A delightful read Stuart. I confess to entertaining the fantasy that one day you'll stumble on someone who says "The Sanders diesel Norton - why yes, it's out in the garage. Would you like to have a look".
I might have to hire a professional detective to follow up on the engineers named. I'd like to have got into that original Mill building though. You never know!
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
There was crap in there but nobody answered the door of the farm up the track. It's possible that the old bike might have been found at the Pottery and wheeled up the track? Hard to get in the mill though. Even harder to get a heavy bike into it. But who knows? Next time I'm there I will knock again
Would have been nice to spend more time investigating the whereabouts of this machine but I'd weighed up various elements & decided to concentrate on Gordon's motorcycle.
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
I found a guy who knows a guy who saw the bike in Camborne. I tracked down what street it had been stored on & they had redeveloped it! I still have a few leads to work on but at least my theory that the bike had gone to Camborne seems correct.
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
Don't give up. My old 1961 Triumph 500 disappeared off the face of the earth in 1970... and It turned up all restored last year..Funnily enough in..... Camborne
3/08/15
It's one year on and I'm back in Camborne to ask more questions after the Freeman Sanders Diesel Norton.
I start with a trip to Trevu Rd, the site of the last sighting & pop into the town library which is right opposite after walking up through the town, grabbing a coffee on the way.
I'm going the route of looking up who developed the site from the Holman's estate but don't have much luck inside. The receptionist struggles somewhat with my needs and hesitantly suggests I look up the Cornish Studies Library in Redruth. This wasn't quite the start I'd hoped for but outside was another story. A young chap cycles up with his two kids and I ask him if he remembers who tore down the old buildings & built the new flats. He doesn't but suggests I look up Nostalgic Camborne on Facebook to see if anyone on there knows anything. A request has been sent just before starting this piece.
From the library I go up to have a closer look at the new development
And wander into a small automotive yard. I see a guy in a small office and enquire about the area and he in turn points me towards another building, Auto Leisure Specialist Group run by Paul Stimpson. I had a good chat with Paul who had been working in the area for fourteen years but had no knowledge of the unusual motorcycle I sought. I thanked him and as I left got held up by a passing train. At the barrier I get chatting to a passerby who turns out to be a biker on the point of restoring his Dad's old BSA Bantam. He points me towards some lettering in the bottom right of the flats main windows saying these people run the flat complex for disadvantaged people and I should try that route. I thank him and retire to the local Costa Coffee place to locate 'Coastline' the name displayed on the windows. Ten minutes later & I'm driving through Camborne industrial estate to arrive at Coastline, a pretty large establishment dealing with many people it seems. They promise to get back to me concerning who developed the site.
Next I head for a little old Morris garage hidden away just out of town. Here works a chap who might have a vehicle build by Freeman Sanders I'm told. I locate the place and, armed with all details of the motorcycle I seek, exit the car and wander over.
The gentleman is very interested in my quest but alas has no knowledge of Freeman Sanders or his engines. But, after listening to my tale, he offers a couple of other avenues to look down. Firstly the Holman's Social Club which is local to my campsite and secondly, he suggests I look up Camborne Joinery, a company that occupied much of the site years after Holman's had ceased to be. I do just that, using the Google maps on the iPhone to again find and direct me straight to the company in the same area.
I park up and to the sound of high powered saws cutting through wood, enter a large workshop dedicated to constructing anything from wood. With to smell of sawdust up my nose I get the attention of a chap who, as it turns out, happens to have worked at the Trevu Rd site for many years before they were forced to move out.
He tells me they pretty much had the run of the whole site and he doesn't remember seeing such a machine on the premises. He takes me into the main office and shows me an ariel view of the old site framed and hanging on a wall saying this shot was taken before it was completely developed. He goes on to say the company managed to get onto that site originally because the owner had previously been employed by Holman's and so had an 'in' to start with. He is sadly no longer with us he tells me but his wife will be in tomorrow and she has a very good memory for things like this. He says he will ask her on my behalf and as I hand him a card he says I could also try Camborne company Richford's Fire & Flood as they were also present on that same site.
I thank him and go back to the car where I again locate that company on the phone and drive straight over to them. Reception is secure and I am required to dial 0 to state my intention. I do this and a secretary comes out to hear my quest & take my details. She is most helpful and says she will tell the boss but that I shouldn't be too hopeful of a reply. I understood fully, it being a busy company.
I stop off at the local fast food joint to get my notes together and then do a quick shop for food before heading back to the campsite. On the way I stop off at the social club but nobody's at home.
On arrival back I'm told by the owners that they saw and asked a Rat Biker at Tesco if he had seen an old diesel motorcycle in these parts. He replied that he had and that he had seen it twice at Portreath beach car park.
I still had a few hours left that afternoon and being that it was only 15 minutes away drove straight over there. I wound my way down the steep road and entered the car park noticing that there were five or so bikes parked up. I grabbed my folder and lost no time in engaging the guys on the subject of the lost Norton. They immediately told me that the old diesel bike seen was in fact an Enfield and so my hopes were dashed somewhat. But we had a good chat about bikes in general before they rode off only to have another knowledgeable chap arrive on a beat up old Honda moped. This chap had been mentioned earlier because of his knowing about bike collections locally but he couldn't offer anything new about the bike I sought. He bought me a tea as I showed him my info and we talked bikes for a good hour before he mentioned the Hayle bike meet on Tuesday evening. I'd been to this last year and will attempt to make it along again tomorrow.
Driving back I pass the Holman Social Club and the lights are on! I swing the motor round and pull in. The green out back is populated by ex employees of the great company playing bowls. I am directed to the club hut to find Gerald who is the head man. After telling of my investigations he furrows his brow saying that the site was Holman's No.3 site and that hardly anyone there he knew had worked there. But he did mention apprentices were perhaps in that building which ties in with some having got hold of the bike.
Again, I left my details in the hope that something might turn up.
4/08/15
I start the day talking with David, son of the campsite owner & a guy who has been most helpful. Also there is his Dad and some campers. When the subject of my quest comes up the owner looks over and says, "my wife is obsessed with this fucking motorcycle of yours more so than she is of helping me run this place!". We all laugh but it's true. Along with David, his Mum has continued to ask about even though I've been away for a year.
Soon after I head into Helston to make enquiries at the town museum & grab a breakfast on the way. The Helston museum turns out to be a fantastic building crammed full of historical artefacts along with a good selection of local books - and entry was free! One such book entitled The Last Great Engineer gets my attention but the price almost immediately puts me off. It focuses on one William West & I decide that I will keep an eye out for it elsewhere.
I ask of the desk about artefacts that may have come over from Holman's in Camborne and the chap tells me my best bet is to go to Poldark Mine some six odd mile away. I do just that and they inform me that they took in quite a bit from there, even tracking down a catalog they had. Sadly there was no diesel Norton on the manifest but they did let me copy the said document there and then with the excellent Turboscan I had on the iPhone.
It turns out that this museum had recently gone bankrupt and was now under new ownership. They told me that the last owners had sold off some valuable stuff (much to the present owners disgust) and that they were trying to get some items that had been overlooked, cleaned up & put on display. Lucky I thought that the bike wasn't in the catalog or it too may have gone.
It was at this stage that I got talking to John Peck, local author & photographer and showed him some of my notes. Seeing that one of the original engineers was named 'Blewett ' he suggested I should try a bakery of the same name in Redruth in case the guy was related? An interesting angle I thought and he then when on to suggest I visit another mine museum situated behind Morrisons the supermarket. With time running out for the day I made a note to try this first thing tomorrow but not before I had joined the que again to purchase a copy of John's book 'Painting a Mine with Light'. Having bought a ticket for the tour of the mine I then made my way though the buildings before donning a hard hat and going deep into the ground with quite a few other paying customers.
With the tour guide being so knowledgeable about the different types & colours of rocks therein I take the chance to ask him about 'green stone', something I saw back where the motorcycle came into being. It was used there to line the floor as it was impervious to the battery acid used at that site. The guide tells me it was probably Serpentine.
The tour is most enjoyable & nobody dies before we make it out, passing on the way, Britain's one and only subterranean Post Box!
I leave the mine, grab a pizza and head off to the local biker night at Hayle McDonalds. Some interesting machines but certainly not the one I seek! I call it a day and head back to the campsite for a cuppa.
No call or emails had come in from the previous day's cold calling.
5/08/15
Wednesday dawns and today I head over to the East Pool Mine after a rather hasty breakfast of cold pizza & hot coffee. This particular mine is situated at the back of Morrisons which itself is on the main road through Camborne. I drive into the supermarket car park and because it is an NT property it's free entry for members like myself.
It's been raining hard all morning making life particularly difficult for campers like me but I suit up and, clutching my rucksack full of notes, dash from the car to the entrance of the mine itself. Shaking the rain off I approach the counter and mention that I'm looking to talk to people with a Holman's connection. The helpful woman gestures to a chap who suggests I visit the site across the road before noon on Thursday because someone there may know something? I promise to do this and then engage another guide, Steve Allen, who goes out of his way to call his wife to get a number for me. He succeeds and scribbles it down before handing it over.
"Try Mike Tredrea," he says. "He will know just about everything & everybody to do with Holman's Site No.3. I thank Steve and head off to take the Mine tour, climbing the three flights of stairs upwards to view & photograph the huge pump engine. On the way round I get some information on the engine itself from another guide but we're interrupted when my phone goes off.
It's Nigel from Camborne Joinery who informs me he cannot talk to the late owners wife there just yet as she is away but then he goes on to offer a few more names of chaps associated with Holman's, namely John Woodward & Paul Tallem (or Tallam?) from Weath rd? Surrounded by a visiting party of noisy school children I struggle to hear Nigel but thank him for his efforts before ringing off.
I wander back down to the reception and purchase some cheese palmiers before making the dash back to the car through the unrelenting rain. From there I decide to head to McDonalds for refreshments but pull into Jewson's the building merchants on the way to investigate what David back at the campsite had mentioned. This time I'm following up who developed the site in recent years having heard it could have been Howden's.
I approach the counter and the young chap listens to my request before turning on his heel to ask a more senior member of staff. After finishing a call he's making this guy listens to the youngster, picks up his tea cup and strolls over.
"It was more than likely Linden Homes who developed the Trevu Rd site." He says, "but don't quote me on that - I can't be 100% you understand ". I nod and venture the name Howden's but I see that he is immediately doubtful at my suggestion.
"We see a lot of so called building companies come and go in our trade," he said, with a wry smile. "It was most likely Linden." I thank him for his time and jump back in the car before taking off for the nearby fast food joint.
Soon after I follow one of Nigel's tips and travel over to JW Engineering down some of the tightest little roads I've been on. I arrive but cannot find anyone about the place and so decide to email them later. I drive back into Camborne, grab some cut price pasties for my evening meal & return to my car where I dial Mike Tredrea.
Mike is very knowledgeable about site No.3 having had the run of it for decades. He being an ex apprentice and all, he tells me there was no motorcycle in shed 4 because they weren't even marked up like that. Sure, there were Green doors but that was Holman's company colours and so all doors were green.
We talk of the Freeman Sanders workers who left and moved to Camborne, D.H. Harris & Clarence Blewett and my thoughts that they brought the diesel Norton with them. Mike (rightly I think) suggests that Blewett was more likely to have been a draughtsman and that he thought he recalled him going to work in America in Detroit perhaps? He tells me that Clarence had children but that they are probably Stateside.
He speculates too that perhaps the bike could have ended up at Holman's in Penzance because that was another part of the company (recently sold off it seems). Obviously this goes against what I have heard from David's friend 'Scottish Billy' who's story about having seen the bike started at site No.3 a year or two prior to the sites development is becoming 'stretched' if I can put it like that.
Mike tells me he oversaw the collection and sell off of the Holman's machinery from this site (of which I have the catalog) and there was no motorcycle on it.
Mike promises to ask about for information anyhow and I thank him for his time and trouble.
Maybe the bike ended up in Penzance after all but all other talk points to Camborne still.
Where the hell did it go?!
That's it for another year!
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
I've been out of the area for a few days now and no new information has turned up. I've not ruled out attending the Cornish Motorcycle show in October but we'll see. There are a lot of motorcycle collectors in the West Country so it maybe stashed away somewhere?!
I'm currently situated near the Devon diesel bike of Gordon Glover and trying to get a viewing. No luck as yet.
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
