Spardo:
West Hallam Ram:
David,I am based in the yard at WH, TDG are my landlords, they own MS, and after numerous re-brandings, its now known as TDG Contract Logistics.
It was Transport Developement who owned it even in my days there (around 1970) and we were prevented from moving directly to another TDG company without a 3 month gap, to prevent ‘poaching’
I don’t remember him at K&M though now you mention it I do recall a slight sense of recognition the first time I met him at Wilsons. As far as I know they only had one Viewline in an almost exclusively Foden fleet (until the takeover of Bulk Powders’ Mk.1s that is) and a tall blond haired lad drove it (definitely not Mick
). He went on holiday and I had it for a few days pulling a powder tank. I was chuffed to bits but it was winter and that typical Atki heater coupled with the panoramic screen made it very cold except in strong sunlight - when I fried
. It was probably the first motor I had with power steering and the tiny little steering wheel felt really strange after the enormous circular levers I was used to
.
Salut, David.
There was a rare Atki kicking around for restoration a couple of years ago, and I wondered if it was ex-MS (from about your time there too). It’s a 6x2 Rear Steer, JRA 978J, still in its original twin steer format. I found an article in the Atkinson house magazine about MS, and it shows a head on photo of Atki JRA 977J.
And, yes, I’ve had the frying/freezing experience with my Viewline, especially with a (non-existent) Gardner heater! I do remember driving down the M40 one summer’s day and trying to hang my head out of the window for air!! I got quite used to it after 19 years!