anybody seen the january edition of the vintage & classic commercials yet? it’s got a nice painting in the middle pages of an artic in the snow. the caption says “christmas leyland” i dont know whaich leyland it would be as it looks a lot like a bristol tractor to me, anybody?
Its a painting of a BRS Bristol HAL stuck on the A6. It was done by Mike Jefferies who paints a lot of old scenes for them.
thought so col, bristols are pretty easy to spot, im just wondering why they called it “christmas leyland”!
what did you think about the marathon article? i liked it a lot.
It was very interesting, who’d have thought BL engineers designed a truck that Volvo had to take note off. 
Makes you wonder what it could have been like if the car division wasn’t stealing all the money from the truck division.
Was the painting of the place rather than the vehicle?
Maybe it should have been called Bristol stuck on A6 near Leyland at Christmas 
although that might confuse the Sat Nav
Sounds interesting, any chance of anyone scanning and posting here? No chance of me finding the mag in foreign climes 
Salut, David.
Alright here goes. If this works after 4 no sorry 5 stellas I’ll be impressed. Never posted a photo before. 
Scanner is only A4 so image has been cropped a bit.
Time for more beer.
well done col, thats great! nice picture aint it lads.
That truck looks very sad 
It has a sad face if you get my drift
Just look at those wipers and mirrors
Thanks for the pic Mal
it does look a bit sad malc! but thank col for the pic, he put it up! nice though aint it!
Thanks for that Col, great picture, Bristols always did have that hang dog
expression .
Mal:
i dont know whaich leyland it would be as it looks a lot like a
bristol tractor to me
Surprised at you Mal, should have thought it was obviously a Bristol
to an old hand 
.
Now it’s my turn to shock with ignorance, is the Atki a 1 or 2? I reckon 2 but
thought that BRS wouldn’t have had a lot of Bristols left when they were
common 
.
Whatever, it’s going straight into my picture file 
.
Salut, David.
Right, just had another look and it’s definitely a MK 2 
, but has anyone
noticed the deliberate mistake?
That very neatly sheeted BRS load has no dolly hitches .
He can’t be an Australian with all the hitches down one side because he’s
wearing the regulation BRS flat hat and no corks!!
So what is occurring here 
Salut, David.
well spotted dave! i didnt look that hard at the picture! there aint one dolly, that load would have been off in short order! i aint an old enough hand to know much about the bristols dave, i cant say i ever saw one on the road, i might have done…BUT, it will be 26 years in hgv next year, ( a mere trifle to you I know) but it’s tought to try and remember everything i ever saw
i agree on the actki, its a rendition of a mk2.
It would have to be a Mark 1Atkinson - there’s no illuminated sign above the windscreen.
As the Bristols were all 7’6" track, it’s extremely unlikely that there were any left in service with BRS by the time the first Mark 2 Atkinsons entered service in 1968/9. even the last Mark 1s were 8’ track by then (they were the ones with the flared front arches and the vents in the wings for the new air circulation systems in the upcoming Mark 2s)
marky you are a mine of imformation m8! it looked to me like it had got twin headlights, if so, thatd make it a mk2 right? but it looks like neither, which is why i called it a rendition, but is it a type of transition model than?
It’s a bit of a mish-mash to be honest Mal.
The changeover from Mk 1 to Mk 2 was a bit contrived due to the difficulties in ironing out problems with the newer cabs. Mk 1s had always been available as either single or twin headlight versions from the introduction of the range in 1958; (twins were referred to as the ‘deluxe’ variants), but by the time the Mk 2 was on the cards, the twin headlight cab was the standard offering and the front arches were flared 3" to account for the wider 8’ track of the new Kirkstall front-axle.
The early Mk 2s used the same chassis as the outgoing Mk 1s, as well as the single stem mirror arms, round fuel tank and a host of other ancillaries. Mk 1s were available with unlit sign boards as standard, latterly becoming illuminated.
The run-out Mk 1s that shared features with the delayed Mk 2s were labelled as Mk 1-and-a-halfs. As far as I can make out (and 240 Gardner will know more about this) there was no clear cut-over, more a gradual move.
I have pictures of Mk 1s registered in 1970/71 that were in the fleets of Sutton of St Helens and of F B Atkins of Findern, so Atkinson must’ve acceeded to requests of operators for quite a while after the Mk 2 was officially launched.
this is certainly the place for info!
This had been bugging me since I got the issue in question, I assumed it must be of the place called Leyland, which I believe is somewhere near Scotland, hence the snow
marky:
It would have to be a Mark 1Atkinson - there’s no illuminated sign above the windscreen.As the Bristols were all 7’6" track, it’s extremely unlikely that there were any left in service with BRS by the time the first Mark 2 Atkinsons entered service in 1968/9. even the last Mark 1s were 8’ track by then (they were the ones with the flared front arches and the vents in the wings for the new air circulation systems in the upcoming Mark 2s)
For the first time ever, can I disagree with you about a wagon we’re looking at?
I presume that the Atki that we’re talking about is the one behind the Bristol? If so, aren’t we actually looking at a glassfibre-cabbed Thornycroft, such as a Swiftsure??