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#1 retriever

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 10:25

Dear TNFers, As this is a Nostalgia Forum and space has been given to allow discussion on the Supermarine Spitfire I am hopeful that our moderator might look kindly on this submission being allowed to stay and not consigned to the bin.

I have been trying to identify the location of this wonderful scene without any success. It dates from the late 1950s / early 1960s.

Allison's worked out of Dundee and I believe the load on the AEC is jute bound for the mills in the north so it could be in the Scottish Borders or a location further south in Yorkshire or Lancashire. If anyone travelling in the region remembers the location of this transport cafe I would be most grateful for a response on this forum.


image deleted

Edited by retriever, 13 June 2009 - 12:06.


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#2 Tony Matthews

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 10:38

That's obviously cigarette smoke coming from the chimbley - happy days!

#3 FrankB

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 10:38

Sorry, but I can't give any direct help with your photograph.

Have you tried http://www.transportphotos.com/road ? They have an extensive archive, but I am not sure how thoroughly indexed it is. They had a photograph of my father taking part in a Lorry Driver of the Year competition with details of location / date etc. They may be able to help you with your research.

Good luck

#4 Twin Window

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 10:42

As I've always loved old lorries and still take great pleasure at seeing them at classic car shows (as well as spotting them in old photos and movies) I have no problem with this thread! I suspect Ghinzani will be here shortly too...  ;)

I can't help regarding the photo you've posted though, except to say it looks like an AEC in front of an Atkinson I think - both with twin windows! But someone else might prove of more help.

Meanwhile I shall endeavour to find a photo or two of my uncle's lorries from the 1960s when he had a small haulage company in Thrybergh, just outside Rotherham.

#5 bradbury west

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 11:27

Stuart, the front one is an AEC Mercury, the fibreglass cabbed model introduced in '54, so the picture could be quite early, although the newness seems to be wearing off the cab. The other one is an ERF, I suspect, with the centre/upwards taper of the bottom surround to the screen, plus the diagonal "flash" across the rad grille, in which Edwin Richard Foden's initials were carried. The vertical chrome trim on the rad grille suggests it is a post war vehicle, even with the old starting handle hole, although the vehicle was essentially still a pre WW2 derivative. I always recall the light switches etc being a pain on the AEC, being on a square panel on the rear wall of the cab behind your left elbow. At least it had decent brakes and the powerful 470 engine, IIRC, quite nice with an Eaton 2 speed rear axle.
Both vehicles were top range, with ten stud wheels and 10.00x20 tyres for maximum gv weight
Unless I have got it all wrong......
Roger Lund

#6 retriever

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 15:19

Glad to see that my submission has provoked some interest. The manufacturers/model types I am aware of - remember, if you have read the 'introduce yourself' thread that my daytime job is running Nynehead Books / Roundoak Publishing, a leading publisher / retailer of books on commercial road vehicles and plant & equipment in the UK - no false modesty here, after 25 years both my wife and myself have the scars to show for it!

Regards transportphotos - yes I know the gentleman and have spoken to him on occasions but I know he will not be able to offer / provide the information I require.

If anyone does remember this location I would dearly like to know. It is simply one of the best images on the subject I have ever come across - it creates the same feeling for me as those wonderful colour images taken of Bluebird in the final days before that fatal, final run that feature on another thread of the Nostalgia Forum,

The image is from the Roger Kenney negative collection, itself part of the Arthur Ingram negative collection which we own together with the copyright and intellectual property rights. He and Arthur captured some marvellous
scenes in the 1950s and 1960s, as did Philip Hine in the late 1940s just prior to the dead hand of nationalisation. All are on black & white film - no loss though, somehow more fitting of the times that they portray.

If anyone is interested I am quite happy to put up some more images for your edification.

Robin Pearson
www.nynehead-books.co.uk

#7 retriever

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 15:22

Dear Twin Windows

The late Roger Kenney hailed from Rotherham, so I would be interested to know of the company for whom you father worked. May well have images of some of their vehicles.

#8 bradbury west

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 15:29

We have threads for motorbikes etc so lorries should be OK, unless I am shouted down. Period shots though, like with the cars are SO much better and in keeping with the ethos of this place.

You might try the pension section of the old BRS/NFC/EXEL, as they ahve a monthly puiblication for pensioners, and there is no lack of interest in the old stuff, so one of the retd old "trampers" may recall the cafe
Roger Lund

#9 oldclassiccar

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 17:08

as a keen follower of the Transporters thread, this new one also sounds like a good idea :)

here's an old photo taken in Australia, does anyone recognise the two types of pickup shown??

Posted Image

thanks, Rick

#10 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 22:19

Very evocative period pics, and I am just old enough to remember!
What is the difference between ERF and Foden Trucks? We had Fodens here in Oz but never ERF [or that I have seen] I can remember Foden twin steers being used as heavy tray tops and tip trucks, about the model that is in the pic with the Victor.

#11 sterling49

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 22:30

What a great thread, any photos of those very ear splitting Commer Cobs that were, dare i say it, two stroke? I could have this completely wrong, as I was very young when they were around.

Thames Traders were also a favourite, and those oh so peculiar Scammels with three wheels that pulled BRS loads around London.

#12 retriever

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Posted 15 April 2009 - 23:23

ERF (Edwin Richard Foden) were a spin-off from Foden in the early 1930s when Fodens wanted to persevere with steam and Edwin Foden saw the future being the oil engined lorry. Both are now history; ERF consumed by MAN, badge engineered for a while but now even the name has gone. Same with Foden, owned by Paccar, last unit built two-three years ago - now everything is DAF. Many hauliers had a great loyalty for the names - but the corporates just have no idea about brand loyalty, what a waste.

Commer Cob - I think you mean the Commer TS.3. As for Scammel - it's Scammell, you would not get away with that in Watford - now just a name from the past, all subsumed basically into Leyland and closed down with special vehicles for a while being built by Unipower with ex Scammell skills until taken over by Alvis, in turn by BAE and so on..........

I will dig up some negatives and put them up in the morning - also Thames Trader and the Scammell Mechanical Horse.

#13 JtP1

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 01:15

Originally posted by retriever
ERF (Edwin Richard Foden) were a spin-off from Foden in the early 1930s when Fodens wanted to persevere with steam and Edwin Foden saw the future being the oil engined lorry. Both are now history; ERF consumed by MAN, badge engineered for a while but now even the name has gone. Same with Foden, owned by Paccar, last unit built two-three years ago - now everything is DAF. Many hauliers had a great loyalty for the names - but the corporates just have no idea about brand loyalty, what a waste.

Commer Cob - I think you mean the Commer TS.3. As for Scammel - it's Scammell, you would not get away with that in Watford - now just a name from the past, all subsumed basically into Leyland and closed down with special vehicles for a while being built by Unipower with ex Scammell skills until taken over by Alvis, in turn by BAE and so on..........

I will dig up some negatives and put them up in the morning - also Thames Trader and the Scammell Mechanical Horse.


Although closely related branches of the same family, ERF and Foden still wouldn't talk to each other over 40 years later. ERF had a full order book which the couldn't fill, Foden had an empty factory in the same town (Sandbach) and both built trucks for the same proprietory parts and they still wouldn't talk.

As for the passing of Foden? No one who ever trapped their fingers on the top of the unreleased handbrake while selecting reverse, ever bemoaned their passing.

The only good thing that ever came out the Foden works after the passing of steam? Their brass band.

#14 fredeuce

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 07:46

Originally posted by oldclassiccar
as a keen follower of the Transporters thread, this new one also sounds like a good idea :)

here's an old photo taken in Australia, does anyone recognise the two types of pickup shown??

Posted Image

thanks, Rick


The one on the right is a '27 Chev. As for the other that is possibly a '23 Chev. Less certain about that one however.

#15 exclubracer

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 11:35

Originally posted by sterling49
What a great thread, any photos of those very ear splitting Commer Cobs that were, dare i say it, two stroke? I could have this completely wrong, as I was very young when they were around.

Thames Traders were also a favourite, and those oh so peculiar Scammels with three wheels that pulled BRS loads around London.


Sterling, I remember the railways parcels trucks from when I was a mere lad, the Scammell Scarab was the 3 wheeler IIRC, with a trailer it could turn on it's own length on a street of terraced houses.

Aaaargh, beaten to it! :p

A great thread BTW :up:

#16 simon drabble

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 11:39

this thread is my guilty pleasure - keep them coming!!

#17 Mallory Dan

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 11:39

Ronnie the Railway-Dray.

#18 Twin Window

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 11:55

Originally posted by simon drabble

this thread is my guilty pleasure - keep them coming!!

Mine too, without so much of the guilt!

:D

#19 simon drabble

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 12:17

you are not looking at this in a dealing room!!!!

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#20 sterling49

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 12:42

Originally posted by exclubracer


Sterling, I remember the railways parcels trucks from when I was a mere lad, the Scammell Scarab was the 3 wheeler IIRC, with a trailer it could turn on it's own length on a street of terraced houses.

Aaaargh, beaten to it! :p

A great thread BTW :up:


Me too, they had a depot at Bermondsey and were always trundling up to Waterloo Station, such agile workhorses!

Thanks for posting the photos of the Trader and Commer retreiver, such memories, the Commers were used as tippers locally in Kent, until the mid '60s (IIRC) and MacIntosh the drinks vendor, did their rounds in a Trader as shown :up:

Re MMB, the poor farmers got really stuffed when it ceased to be, anyone remember the works RS1800s sponsored by the MMB, Timo Makinen possibly.

#21 garyfrogeye

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 13:43

I seem remember a corgi or matchbox rendition of that

#22 IrishMariner

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 14:00

www.biglorryblog.com - By the editor of the truck & Driver Magazine....

Not only do they feature bits about the latest kit from around the world, they frequently tackle stuff like identifying old photos. I can almost guarantee success.......

#23 Twin Window

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 14:26

Originally posted by garyfrogeye

I seem remember a corgi or matchbox rendition of that

Me too, as I do a few of the other wagons seen here! (Or at least derivatives of)

My model will be battered to bits along with loads of others in a box up in the attic, so I found this photo on eBay...

Posted Image

Looks like something you'd have seen on Thunderbirds doesn't it :eek:

#24 JtP1

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 14:37

Originally posted by retriever

http://www.nynehead-...images/1794.jpg

[img]http://www.nynehead-...images/1796.jpg

Enjoy - all taken by the late Roger Kenney

Since you have the book with the captions. Are these taken at Stainmore on the A66?

#25 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 15:29

Post 24 :

Thank you very much for showing these, Robin , very good pictures. The car was at the Belgian GP in 1961.

#26 ZOOOM

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 17:11

Posted Image

1948 Diamond T. Cab over.
Thought you guys across the pond would like to see one of our "classics".

ZOOOM

#27 retriever

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 18:26

Post 28 - JTP1 - "Since you have the book with the captions. Are these taken at Stainmore on the A66?"

Yes, this is the location that appears a few times in 'Views' although from memory the MkV AEC and the Scammell Tractor unit do not appear in that book. They could well feature in a second volume though.

I must be careful here what I say about our titles as I do not want to step outside of the ring into the commercial world, it is not to derive gain by way of the 'daytime job' as a publisher and bookseller that I have created this thread, its is purely for my love of classic images of working commercial vehicles of the 40s, 50s and 60s. These images specifically reflect the work of Arthur Ingram, Roger Kenney and Philip Hine held in our negative archive and I just wanted to repay those on the Nostalgia Forum with something that I could bring to the table, so to speak.

Apart from once being the guy with the wheel block at startline at Wiscombe back in 1967 (Patsy Burt being one of those that I 'chocked' in front of the rear wheel - it was downhill to the first l/h corner I seem to remember) there is little I can offer this exalted gathering by way of motorsport knowledge. Mind you I did get to be pictured in the following week's Autosport for my efforts! Still got that copy 41 years on (vanity will not let me throw it out), it was given to me on the coach that the Taunton Motoring Club ran to the 1967 Le Mans. What an event that was, and what a year to be present, the last year of the big bangers - and despite all those periscopes! P4s, MkIIs, MkIVs, GT40s, Mirages, Chaparall 2Fs, Lola-Aston Martins (well, they looked good).

#28 Leigh Trevail

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 18:51

Re Post 28 Scammell Tanker The first time I ever hitched a lift I was fourteen years old, a Scammell like this one stopped and picked me up. It too was a tanker; but it was carrying bitumin from the tar works in Diss, this would have been 1974 / 75 and would have been quite elderly even then. On another occasion a Volkswagen Beetle picked me up, it was the Truancy Officer; luckily I was making my way to school at the time!

#29 bradbury west

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 21:45

randomly;
Was Philip Hine on Motor Transport?
I always recall an AEC mk V tractor, C Reg, with actor Sidney Tafler driving, arriving at a famous cafe on the A1 in the film "Alfie", the name of the caff escapes me at present.
Foden used to have forced induction 2 stroke motors, sang like birds on full song. ISTR that Hoveringham ran them in 8 wheel tippers with alloy U section bodies. They also ran with 4 speed boxes and a three speed range change.
Roger Lund

#30 ghinzani

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Posted 16 April 2009 - 22:59

The Commer TS3 could have a thread all of its own - amazing engine, far ahead of its time. Its succesor the TS4 could have been a world beater that saved Commer. But like so many British projects of the time it was not followed up correctly.

I grew up around the MMB as our farms milk went to them and my Father drove ERF's for them - Osella blue B series with a Roller 265 under the hood, what a wagon that was.

Just thinking about Nostalgia perhaps we might like to consider the beautiful Rowe's from my homeland of Kernow, and the brutal Rotinoffs which I think were made in Surrey and were probably the biggest things on the roads in the UK in the 60s, except the Wynns converted WW2 Pacifics of course.

#31 sterling49

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 21:12

Originally posted by ghinzani
The Commer TS3 could have a thread all of its own - amazing engine, far ahead of its time.


What exactly was this engine? I would love to know more, they sounded brilliant :D

#32 fredeuce

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 22:18

Originally posted by sterling49


What exactly was this engine? I would love to know more, they sounded brilliant :D


Have look at the material posted on this link. It describes and illustrates the TS3 very well. Scroll to the bottom of the page and have a look at the live schematic. A very effective illustration.

http://www.sa.hillman.org.au/TS3.htm

#33 sterling49

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 22:55

Thanks for the link, a fascinating piece of engineering, they certainly did not run with the pack.

#34 Twin Window

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 22:55

Here's my Uncle Roy's Leyland outside his house in Thrybergh, Rotherham, in 1960 with my cousins Alan and Maureen posing;

Posted Image

There must be others around somewhere, but as yet I can only find the following from a job I went on in 1974 which involved - from memory - collecting our loads from a Christian Salvesen ship in Wigan (?), taking the cargo to British Steel Consett and returning back to Rotherham...

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

I'm not sure where the above station is, although I suspect it might be Peterborough. Pete Fenelon would know... The nearest locomotive is a Class 47, or Brush Type 4 as it would've been known back then.

Posted Image

Posted Image

When you consider that this was taken on a Kodak Instamatic - probably the most basic camera on the planet - then you begin to appreciate just how bright the molten steel was as it was poured into ingots from a roof-crane within the Consett works. The scale too is hard to comprehend as this flow was massive, and the heat... :eek:

Posted Image

Posted Image

Proving I was there? :rolleyes: :blush:

Posted Image

Is this Lincoln? Someone will know...

:up:

#35 Geoff E

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 23:03

Originally posted by Twin Window
Is this Lincoln? Someone will know...


No, that's Durham.

#36 Twin Window

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Posted 17 April 2009 - 23:16

Originally posted by Geoff E

No, that's Durham.

Ah, thanks Geoff!

:up:

#37 Bruce302

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Posted 18 April 2009 - 03:03

The only good thing that ever came out the Foden works after the passing of steam? Their brass band.


Sorry, I can't agree with that. My last truck was an 8 x 4 4000 series Foden, 425 Cat, but tweaked to closer to 500hp. It was very nice to drive.
My first drives were in S83's with Cummins and Rolls power, others nearby were Gardner powered.

But the brass band did have some success I believe.

I love the pics, The old trucks are another obcession.

Thanks,
Bruce.

#38 Wilyman

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Posted 18 April 2009 - 06:25

Originally posted by Twin Window
Here's my Uncle Roy's Leyland outside his house in Thrybergh, Rotherham, in 1960 with my cousins Alan and Maureen posing;

Posted Image

There must be others around somewhere, but as yet I can only find the following from a job I went on in 1974 which involved - from memory - collecting our loads from a Christian Salvesen ship in Wigan (?), taking the cargo to British Steel Corby and returning back to Rotherham...

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

I'm not sure where the above station is, although I suspect it might be Peterborough. Pete Fenelon would know... The nearest locomotive is a Class 47, or Brush Type 4 as it would've been known back then.

Posted Image

Posted Image

When you consider that this was taken on a Kodak Instamatic - probably the most basic camera on the planet - then you begin to appreciate just how bright the molten steel was as it was poured into ingots from a roof-crane within the Corby works. The scale too is hard to comprehend as this flow was massive, and the heat... :eek:

Posted Image

Posted Image

Proving I was there? :rolleyes: :blush:

Posted Image

Is this Lincoln? Someone will know...

:up:



Twin Window,
Re Uncle Roy's Leyland. Was that a single axle Beaver or six wheel Hippo with the 600/680 engine?
My employer at the time bought two of the latter, six wheelers for prime moving work each with 20++ ton capacity tipping bodies.
In the Australian heat they were shockers to drive, we would almost go through a water bag every trip about 15 miles !
They were known as the "PP" model, Power Plus ? The boss referred to them as 'piss poor'.
Diabolical things to work on, typical English. The cabs were known as LAD's. Leyland. Albion. Dodge.

They were a slight improvement on the earlier box cabbed Hippo and Octopus. Only in that the gearbox was 'friendlier', still a 'crash' box but a lot more forgiving than the earlier type. If a change was missed in one of these it meant coming to a complete halt and starting all over.

After the PP we advanced to the "Ergomatic" Michelotti design tilt cab. Very comfortable working environment.
One slight problem, the over centre cab hold down let go as I went over a railway crossing. The cab tried to tilt, because the floor and drivers seat were fixed I could only push back on the seat trying to hold the cab until I rolled to a stop!
Years later I read in a Classic Transport mag that the pommy drivers called them "Widowmakers".

Cheers, Wily.

#39 Twin Window

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Posted 18 April 2009 - 09:14

Originally posted by Wilyman

Re Uncle Roy's Leyland. Was that a single axle Beaver or six wheel Hippo with the 600/680 engine?

Wily, that was a single-axle, or 'four-wheeler' as we used to call them, painted in pale blue and darkish red.

At that time he was a one-lorry operation, but later he expanded to three, maybe four, trucks. From memory, the first addition was another of the same followed by a six-wheeled Albion. Eventually the Leylands were replaced by Volvos, as was the Albion in due course.

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#40 Bruce302

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Posted 18 April 2009 - 09:55

I spent some time driving an LAD Octopus, with 680 Leyland and 6 speed- 4 speed.
You are so right, If you missed one of the lower gears in the main box, it was all over until you started again, The Ergo's were a lot better, though not the AEC 505 I drove with the 5 speed and splitter. Absolutely diabolical.

Trucks have improved far more than cars over the same periods fortunately.

Thanks for the great photos, they were interesting times, and hard work.

#41 PCC

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Posted 18 April 2009 - 10:24

Originally posted by Twin Window
Is this Lincoln? Someone will know... :up:

For the record, Lincoln:
Posted Image

Durham:
Posted Image

Sorry for the OT excursion, but I don't get too many chances to indulge this particular passion on TNF! :love:

#42 ghinzani

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Posted 19 April 2009 - 22:22

Originally posted by Twin Window

There must be others around somewhere, but as yet I can only find the following from a job I went on in 1974 which involved - from memory - collecting our loads from a Christian Salvesen ship in Wigan (?), taking the cargo to British Steel Consett and returning back to Rotherham...



I'm not sure where the above station is, although I suspect it might be Peterborough. Pete Fenelon would know... The nearest locomotive is a Class 47, or Brush Type 4 as it would've been known back then.



When you consider that this was taken on a Kodak Instamatic - probably the most basic camera on the planet - then you begin to appreciate just how bright the molten steel was as it was poured into ingots from a roof-crane within the Consett works. The scale too is hard to comprehend as this flow was massive, and the heat... :eek:



Proving I was there? :rolleyes: :blush:


Is this Lincoln? Someone will know...

:up:



Jeez Twinny did you ever try and sleep in an F86? Not for the wider person - Indeed the only worse shelf must be on the venerable TK Bedfords - and I know firms whose drivers used to overnight in them. Then again when I first went away with my Dad in the A series and B series ERFs and AEC Mandators none had sleeper cabs and we slept on board and bits of foam slung across the seats. They have got it cushy these days!

#43 ghinzani

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Posted 19 April 2009 - 22:24

Originally posted by Bruce302
The only good thing that ever came out the Foden works after the passing of steam? Their brass band.


Sorry, I can't agree with that. My last truck was an 8 x 4 4000 series Foden, 425 Cat, but tweaked to closer to 500hp. It was very nice to drive.
My first drives were in S83's with Cummins and Rolls power, others nearby were Gardner powered.

But the brass band did have some success I believe.

I love the pics, The old trucks are another obcession.

Thanks,
Bruce.


Fodens 2 stoke, with a 12 speed box made an awesome noise - I saw one a couple years back at the Dorset Steam Fair and the years rolled back - Foden, although they didnt pander to fashion made some of the best Lorries ever, second only to ERF!

#44 ghinzani

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Posted 19 April 2009 - 22:25

Originally posted by Twin Window

Wily, that was a single-axle, or 'four-wheeler' as we used to call them, painted in pale blue and darkish red.

At that time he was a one-lorry operation, but later he expanded to three, maybe four, trucks. From memory, the first addition was another of the same followed by a six-wheeled Albion. Eventually the Leylands were replaced by Volvos, as was the Albion in due course.


Always nice to see some Beaver working out on the roads though! Thats what the lads in the canteen used to say when the old churn lorry would pull in from the drops that hadnt converted to tanks.

#45 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 19 April 2009 - 23:09

Those Volvo tip trucks are very long chassis. Having grown up around tippers those trays look big enough to carry about 25 ton, but the truck would struggle at 16. All of ours were short chassis, short tray.
I wish I had some pics, an old 50s Commer to a cabover 60s Commer. A couple of Bedfords one single drive the other tandem then a K series Ford with a laxy axle and a International Loadstar with an old Chev as a backup truck.

#46 bradbury west

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Posted 20 April 2009 - 07:37

Lee, in the UK it was always a matter of getting the regulation axle spacings and wheelbase to achieve the legal gvw. Many short chassised tippers were limited to 20t gvw then 22, then 24, with the longer wb ones at 26t later on. It also tied in with hp ratings, at 6bhp per tonne hence the popularity of the 192 bhp F86 at 32t gtw- but wonderfull at 24/26t as 6 wheelers,- and braking systems. The UK operators also had to consider the unladen weight since that was the basis for decades by which the Road Tax was levied.
Roger Lund

#47 ghinzani

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Posted 20 April 2009 - 08:10

Yeah 6hp per ton was great - it meant bosses could say "oh a Gardener 180s fine for 32 tons.. or indeed subsequently a "Rolls 265/Cummins L10 is fine at 38tons" - they didnt consider the fact that most of the UK is hilly... getting out of Cornwall & Devon on the old A30 used to be a mare. The worst offender were Thompsons down at Lifton who transported the Ambrosia rice pudding out of the creamery. They ran the F86s succesor the F7 at 38 tons, I swear old Grannies loaded with shopping were quicker up the hill in Okehampton.

Of course there was one way to get some performance, open the deisel pump right out. We had one 265 that flew, although it left huge clouds of smoke when accelerating. The authorities would have a fit these days.

#48 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 20 April 2009 - 11:14

Bradbury, In Oz we had 8 ton per dual wheel axle and 6.5 ton on the steer.And manufacturers specifications. So a tandem tipper with a 6.5 ton tare was legal at around 15.5 ton load. Hence short chassis with deeper trays. Concrete agitators were similar also.Has changed these days though still sems much the same.
And yes some of our trucks were slow too, our International with a 354 Perkins was not very quick, the V8 petrols would go past 2 gears up on the hills but our fuel bills were much cheaper!

#49 Bruce302

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Posted 20 April 2009 - 20:14

No hp/ton requirements in NZ, just axle loading limits, hence we had some very slow trucks out on the hilly highways.

#50 JtP1

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Posted 20 April 2009 - 23:34

Originally posted by ghinzani
Yeah 6hp per ton was great - it meant bosses could say "oh a Gardener 180s fine for 32 tons.


It depends on who fed the horses. I was coming out of Brighton one day at the end of the queue with vehicles of the same firm, but different depot. I missed the traffic lights half way up the hill. Never lost site of the Gardner 180 in front, did a hill start and still passed him before the left hand bend at the top.

It's all very well waxing lyrical about the great Britsh truck and its Gardner engine, but the reality was that of a workmate who drove the firms ERF, a considerably better truck than any Atkinson they ever had btw. He used to drive wearing a cap, scarf and leather jacket, he looked exactly like Delboy. He then put a blanket over his legs just to stop freezing to death in the cab.

Since the F86s tippers are based on the 32ton tractor unit, using them as a 24t tipper was no problem as they still had the 192 bhp engine.