240 Gardner:
eagerbeaver:
There is an old Atkinson Borderer in there that a chap from Bowkers ran and did a million k’s in it. The boss of Bowkers was so chuffed with the driver and the condition that he kept it in, that he effectively gave it to him. It’s been completely restored and looks really good IMO.’
It’s actually an Atkinson ‘Silver Knight’ Mk.1: it was given to John Hemelryk, a London-based driver, when it first entered service in March 1967. John had first joined the company in the 1930s and left after nationalisation of the industry in 1949. He then re-joined when the company re-entered haulage in 1954, and was the first London-based driver for the newly-revived operation.
GBV 759E, fleet number 47, was one of the very first Atkinsons built with the then new Gardner 6LXB engine (the famous “180 Gardner”) and replaced a Guy Invincible with a 6LW engine. John didn’t like it at first, but soon took to it, and came to be absilutrely inseparable from it, referring to it as “My Friend”. Not only did it outlive all the other Mk.1 Atkinsons in the fleet, but all the Mk.2s and Borderers as well! In fact, it was only the impending tachograph legislation that ended its revenue-earning career in late 1980, by which time John was well past 65.
When withdrawn from service, the unit was given back to John to take home and look after. It was kept taxed as a private vehicle and MOT’d for him. In January 1983, he returned to work at Blackburn Depot as a yard shunter, bringing “Friend” with him, and this continued until December 1985, when John finally retired, and this time left his beloved Atkinson behind. It was rallied several times in 1983-5, in its working condition.
In the Spring of 1986, it was sent away for restoration, finally completed in 1987, and it has been active ever since, covering thousands and thousands of miles in preservation, to add to the million-plus it achieved in service. Not only has it been to both Lands End and John O’Groats in preservation, it has even been to Sweden twice!
It still has the original engine and gearbox, even the original Hardy Spicer couplings on the propshaft, and has neve left Bowker’s ownership.
Sadly, John Hemelryk passed away in December 1992, alongside the other love of his life, the motor boat Peacock, on which he had lived since the early 1950s. Peacock is also preserved, and is proudly displayed at the Black Country Museum.
47 when new:
GBV 759E Atkinson ‘Silver Knight’ T3046XB by Chris Gardner, on Flickr
And on the way home from Somerset with a new acquistion in May 1998:
GBV 759E & ABP 481 by Chris Gardner, on Flickr
GBV 759E Atkinson T3046XB by Gardner 8LXB, on Flickr
That is a story I wouldn’t mind hearing 100 times! Thank you.
Still a decent truck (the Alpha) and plenty around today earning a shilling or two.
a v reg 7.5 tonner doing 2 nights out a week up Scarborough bridlington whitby on multi drop in 1988 ice on the window in the morning after pulling down make shift curtains great days 
but the Ford used to go like the clappers 
![IMG_6009[1].JPG](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/business20/uploads/trucknetuk/original/3X/1/0/1098619ec9a7aa29c1db1b905b02bf88b6e28b86.jpeg)