man-tga:
Rayrosher:
Hi Guys
As a newbie on here, I thought I would add a thread of a couple of my and my Dads old motors,
Being from a Fairground Family transport is the one thing that was a must for us,
Although the mileage we did was somtimes a bit on the low side, Ie 3 vehicles we had, Once did in 7 weeks a whole 22 miles, between them
Hitting severial different Galas all local to each other,
Any Scottish Truckers looking at this thread may remember or may have seen the old Atkinson Borderer
This used to be an Artic unit that belonged to R,J,Strang of Airdrie Scotland,
We bought this from a dealer who got it from a friend of his who bought it from Strang, (phew)
Anyway a couple of the reasons why we got it! Well! It wasent an ERF! Although we had nothing against ERF’s
Nearly every showman had one,ERF that is!
And like my Father!
I wanted to be a bit different from the usuall showman’s follow the sheep crowd!
So we plumped for the acky Over a nice ERF that Dalkeith Transport had,
THat and the fact that Dalkeith Transport wanted £1150 for an ERF with a browns box and a Gardner 180 Engine, (Yes that’s Right (One hundred and eighty Horse)
Against this acky which had a 12 Speed Road Ranger Gearbox and a NH 220 ■■■■■■■ which Basicly ■■■■■■ over the Gardner all day long,and was in much better condition. and was a fare bit Cheaper £950 with six new tyres on it! I believe that Carters of Burntisland got the ERF,
Anyway back to the Atkinson, We extended the backend by I think 4 feet, And found a Nice 18 feet box-body from SAS air-transport out at Glaasgow airport!
we then cut the luton and fitted the body as we had got a smaller body it was only 7’10" wide although this fitted nicely and only just over the cab,
As the Wheels were now sticking out past the body!
We custom fitted a set of under-boxes and bulged and filled in were the wheel’s were!
The back of the atkinson was then fitted with air-lines and the various Draw-bar and Ball couplings that were required for towing showmans equipment!
Inside the Box-Body! we Fitted to very Large lister generaters and Fuel Tanks for running them,
(The Listers were later replaced with a Custom made 120 Gardner 100 KVA Generator.)
At this point we applied to DVLA for A Showmans Restricted Locomotive Special Haulage classafication) And Got it, I beleive at the time their were only 2 other vehicles in the UK with this now defunct Classafication,
What most showmen at the time didn’t realize was that this Classafication allowed us to tow 2 trailers as long as the Middle trailer was a Drawbar trailer! And the trailer being towed by this! Was a single or double axle Standard tow hitch trailer,
As some shomen wised up to the fact that they could cut their costs down by towing two trailers Swansea had already stopped anyone from getting the Classafication, Unless they could prove correct usage of the vehicle Classafication, We did on severial occassions and eventually got a letter from Swansee to hand to anyone that stopped us Ie Traffic Police! Vehicle Inspectorite! etc that we were road legal, Why would we need to prove we were road legal? Well at one point! the Atkinson (is Was) 23’ long, The middle trailer inc drawbar was 47’ long and the ball hitch trailer was 27 ’ long! Which came to 97 Feet. not forgetting it was also 9’ 6" wide. (middle trailer) We ran the Atkinson until a copuple of years after my fathers death (It was on the roads around Scotland for about 15 years)
I then sold it to a chap from Skegness to carry spares and workshop equipment to various sites, I heard that a showman had bought it to tow a set of gallopers and then I believe that Slaters of ■■■■■■■ got it for towing one of their Shows, My only regret was selling it as it was a beast on the road. stick 50 ton on the back end of it! And the ■■■■■■■ just growled and chewed up the road, i kind of hope its still in Service as it looked very smart once we got the michelin men on it and the chrome wheels Air horns on it…
Anyway pictures, nothing of it hitched up just a couple of pictures solo, First picture taken at Dunbar and the Second one was at The world Famous Lamas Market Street Fair At St Andrews Final picture was at Bo-ness Spring fair… Enjoy Ray:)Sorry forgot to Add! Pictures are copy-righted to me! I don’t have a problem if you want to use them for none profit, But please ask first! I usually say yes!
well bugger me …!!! aint seen your old Aki in a long time …is your or your fathers name Ruben,■■ many years ago i remember meeting you and your father and mother in Alexandria (1986/87) … did you have a travling Arcade or a ride i cant remember … you where pitched up the top of the train station car park next to John Codonas Dogem ride… !!i can always remember the length of your load with your living wagon that was the same colour of the Aki…and the load behind…
Indeed! Alexandria was one of our first fairs of the season! The Acky was hooked up to a Living trailer (drawbar) and worlds first totally fold up standing bottom juvenile (Kiddy ride) Tandem axle tow hitch trailer!
97 feet in total!
Acky and trailer were painted Maroon with a grey stripe!
