Axminster transport

Saviem:
Evening all,

Computer and Kitchen problems today…computer refuses to obtain a signal…long boring non productive conversations with people on another continent…

Kitchens, now I am (ordered), to retire, and have finished the Greenhouse project, I thought that with the relaxation of planning rules I would while away the hours by converting some of my , (now redundant), sheds into living accomodation for local young people.

But have you ever tried dealing with kitchen suppliers…back street cowboy hauliers never had such cheek…and as I wish to do it all myself, well they become most uncooperative…so off goes I to B&Q…(rest home for the elderly, and mentally challenged)…no wonder Kingfisher are in such a state!..but we shall persevere…

Cliff, thank you for creating such a delightful, and interesting thread. It really is great to look at!

DEANB, Cenis, in my youth my great discovery, and to this day my delight. Your picture, 9th down, shows the refuge tunnel for the Mt Cenis “Fell” Railway. Built by the British as part of our national “Red Route”, of Mail communication to India. The railway was eventually dismantled, and complete sold to Brasil, where it ran up until the late 60s.!

The only Fell system still running is in the Isle of Man,(albeit with electric traction), on the Snaefell Mountain Tramway.

When you transited Cenis it was very hard to imagine any possibility of a railway running in that terrain, but it did, and successfully!

In your pictures the road surface looks very different from what I used to run over in the 60s. Many sections were just loose gravel, (but so were so many other passes across the mountains) I smiled at Roberts comments about dropping 1, or 2 gears for the hairpins…with a 4 pot Gardner you were watching your wheel nuts to make sure that they were still turning in the right direction!!!. Changing gear was not an option at all…though later with all the power of a 150 Gardner, and a 12 speed box, one could look at the scenery, and no longer count ones wheel nut rotation!!!

But going down, (either way), was not so bad, Mr Foden, and his succesors designed good brakes into their vehicles!

About the middle of `65, traffic reduced considerably, as the Mont Blanc tunnel opened, but I carried on using Cenis, and the other passes, I hated the “pipe”, (and still do)!And has been said to get into that clear mountain air was heaven…

Were we not lucky to have experienced such times?And is not Buzzer so right in what he says, and diesel dennis also.

Thank you again for such enjoyment that this thread brings.

Cheerio for now.

Thanks Saviem for that very informative message about Cenis especially about the railway !
That must have been some hard going with a 150 gardner and a long old plod up there !
Do you have any photos from your travels back in the 60 s ■■