1:50 SCALE 180MM Leyland Octopus 8 Wheel Platform Lorry with Fruit and Vegetable Load, Entress Transport Ltd, Swansea-CC10605 FULLY CERTIFIED LIMITED EDITION Entress Transport of Llansamlet, near Swansea, was one of a number of South Wales haulage companies mainly serving the steel industry. Under the control of its founder, W H ‘Bill’ Entress, it was well established before nationalisation in 1949 when the fleet strength stood at ten lorries. Under British Road Services control until 1954, the company then returned to private ownership and during the 1950s underwent expansion, reaching a fleet of some twenty eight-wheelers during its heyday in the late 50s. Outward traffic would consist mainly of steel to the London and Luton areas while most return loads would be fruit from Covent Garden. The company later became part of the large Transport Development Group and the fleet grew to around forty trucks, still engaged mainly in steel traffic. During the 1970s a decline in the steel industry resulted in the loss of business for many transport companies involved and in 1982 the Entress business was sold off by the TDG to Roberts of Knighton. During the 1970s and in its latter years Entress ran mainly Volvo F86 artics, a far cry from its ex-BRS Leyland, Atkinson, Foden and AEC eight-wheelers of the 1950s era.
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