Leylands (and other UK makes) In The Antipodes

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Beaver with refrigerated van body. This had a 10’ 6" wheelbase and a 6.5:1 rear axle diff ratio. O.680 engine and 6-speed 'box. It carried two fuel tanks, each of 55 gallons capacity. The insulated van body was of aluminium construction and the van suspension was on air bags. The unladen weight of the complete outfit was a commendable 10 ton 16 cwt. Operated by Frig-Mobile of Sydney. (Photo, Young & Richardson, from Tony Petch)

LAD Beaver operated by Street’s Ice Cream from Turrella, Sydney. (Photo, Young & Richardson, via Tony Petch)

Leyland LAD sleeper-cabbed Beaver, - “Paula-Maree” (eat your heart out Stobart, the Aussies beat you to it by 30 years in naming lorries). Aboods Transport of Sydney operated mainly Gardner powered Fodens, but also ran Beavers for many years. (Photo, Len Bartlett, from Tony Petch)

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LAD Beaver with pusher axle added, operated by Sartori’s. No further details. (Photo, Peter Mendoza Studios, from Tony Petch)

A long door LAD Power Plus Beaver, 12’ 0" wheelbase operated by Express Freight Pty. of Maribyrong, Victoria. It is coupled to a 34’ 6" boxvan trailer, overall outfit length of 45’ with a tare weight of 11tons 11cwt. On a biscuit contract with a cap load rather than a full weight load a 4x2 tractor unit would comply with weight regulations. (Photo, Peter Mendoza Studios, from Tony Petch)

A tag axle variation of a LAD Beaver operated by Liquid Cartage Company of Melbourne, a division of the large Brambles organisation. (Photo, Peter Mendoza Studios, from Tony Petch)

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Long door LAD 4x2 Beaver operated by a Commonwealth Government Department, based at Sydney. (Photo, Len Bartlett from Tony Petch)

Err…don’t think it will go under here, or thoughts to that effect as the Brambles Beaver comes to a halt, indicated by the mechanical hand being in the ‘in between’ position’; neither vertical or horizontal. The abnormal load was being moved from Eglo Engineering at Silverwater, Sydney to the ICI Australia chemical plant at Botany. (Photo, Young & Richardson, from Tony Petch)

This looks as if it was new Beaver and trailer for John Darling & Son Ltd. flour millers of Adelaide. John Darling was an emigre Scotsman who left his home country as a young man and he eventually established one of Australia’s largest milling businesses in his adapted country. The photographer, Ringwood Studios, were official photographers for Leyland Australia. (Photo, from Tony Petch)

[dig]

This Super Hippo belonged to an old mate Dennis Meeker RIP who operated out of Kalgoorlie WA to remote aboriginal communities on what is now known as the Great Cental Road still a dirt road but maintained to a higher standard than in Dennis,s day when it was only 2wheel tracks through the bush.
Think Dennis purchased it new in 1966/7 and it was still in pristine condition 20 years later when I first saw it,it had a Leyland 600 engine a 5 speed main box and 2 joey boxes I recall him telling me one night at the camp fire in low low it took a blade of grass in the windrow 5mins to travel the length of the fuel tanks.
This photo was with the permission of Diesel dog 66.

Cheers Dig

[blackshadow]

Here are a few of my Albion Cameronian, these were built for the Aussie market and only 2or3 were sold in Scotland. They are basically an Albion Riever with an extra steer axle. They came in 3 wheelbases a short one for tippers a mid length one and mine is the long wheelbase version. Hope you like the photos I did a 1300kms trip last year to a Fordson 100 year rally.

[oiltreader]

I wrote to Trev Jones “The Road Ranger” in 2012 for permission to use his photos, nice response, so a few from NZ.
Oily

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The two major British exporters of commercial vehicles to The Antipodes, namely Leyland and AEC, also supplied PSVs and industrial engines in quantity. (Photo, Young & Richardson, from Tony Petch)

We saw earlier a Comet 90 and trailer well laden with apples. Kirby’s of Nelson upgraded in 1967 to a couple of Leyland Hippos, and here again there’s a good load of NZ apples for export on one of the two Hippos they operated. (Photographer unknown, from Rufus Carr).

Jelavich were well known for their impressive livestock lorries and as Rufus Carr commented on this photo of one of their Octopuses it was rare to see a Jelavich lorry without the “cattle crate”. Moving NZ share farmers’ herds quite often involved more than just livestock. Photographed at Springs Flat by Neil Shayler.

Marlborough Transport Octopus with O.680, 6-speed plus crawler 'box. At Blenheim, South Island NZ in 1977. Look what’s parked alongside…(Photo, Rufus Carr)

Unfortunately there are no details of this photo (or more likely I have lost the accompanying letter) but this Leyland wrecker was still in service in NZ many years after all of the previous photos were take.

[erf-ngc-european]

A couple of MV-cabbed ERFs: one in NZ, the other in Oz. Robert

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I have found a few AEC photos, and this one is a gem. No, it’s not a Mammoth Major Six, but its a Marshal with AV505 engine, and almost certainly with the optional 12=speed splitter gearbox, if that was its normal days work. The AEC AV505 engine had a standard rating of 150 bhp, but they could be tweaked to produce a reliable 170 bhp. Apparently there were two of these Marshals running daily between Blenheim and Nelson NZ. Operated by Nelson Transport. (Photographer unknown, from Rufus Carr)

Another AEC Marshal and trailer, new in 1967, delivering to the abattoir section of Westfield Meat Packers at Auckland NZ in 1971. (Photo Rufus Carr)

New Zealand Breweries of Kyber Pass Brewery, Auckland, ran two 1968 AEC Mammoth Majors. They had AV760 engines with AEC’s own 10-speed 'box. (Photo, Sue Montieth from Rufus Carr)

Two AEC Monarchs (Mercurys in the UK) operated by Kirby’s of Nelson, NZ. (Photographer unknown, from Rufus Carr)

[chrisarbon]

Here are some Fodens from New Zealand in 2011.

[deanb]

Article about Atkinson breaking into the Australian market.

Click on pages twice to read.

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Both of these taken on the South Island NZ.

[ramone]

Some absolutely brilliant photos , I wonder how the ergo motors coped with the heat in Oz , they were prone to overheating, is that why the LAD cab was so popular?

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Of the 385 AEC Mandator V8s produced 20 were exported to New Zealand and at least two of these have been preserved. Many of the 20 were stretched into 6-wheel rigids, with a trailer of course. This was a Southall approved conversion with the appropriate chassis rails being shipped out with the CKD crates. All the Mandator V8 photos that follow are from Rufus Carr.

AEC Mandator V8 6x2 tipper. Owned by Colin Poole, Taumaranui, North Island. (Unknown photographer)

Photographed in June 1976 by Sue Montieth, this Mandator V8 worked out of the Tauranga depot of Wilson’s Cement in the North Island.

This Mandator V8 worked out of Invercargill, Domett tipper body and trailer, the BPW third axle was also fitted by Domett. (Photo Jim Sharp)

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ramone:
Some absolutely brilliant photos , I wonder how the ergo motors coped with the heat in Oz , they were prone to overheating, is that why the LAD cab was so popular?

Yes, the Ergomatic cab was unsuited to the Australian climate and problems encountered there certainly contributed to the demise of Leyland and AEC in Australia. Something along the lines of the cab on the 3VTG concept motor was actually envisaged by AEC for hot climate countries, but the idea never got approved by “head office”.

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gingerfold:

ramone:
Some absolutely brilliant photos , I wonder how the ergo motors coped with the heat in Oz , they were prone to overheating, is that why the LAD cab was so popular?

Yes, the Ergomatic cab was unsuited to the Australian climate and problems encountered there certainly contributed to the demise of Leyland and AEC in Australia. Something along the lines of the cab on the 3VTG concept motor was actually envisaged by AEC for hot climate countries, but the idea never got approved by “head office”.

As you say ramone and gingerfold the Ergomatic with its crankshaft mounted fan was not suited in Oz in its standard UK assembly line form but in 1970 the Leyland workshops in Perth WA had an 8 wheeler tray top Octopus that they modified to help with the overheating problems with a water pump mounted fan with a taller radiator and it worked well it was sold to their Kimberly agent in Derby and did a reasonable job pulling a 35 foot dog trailer on station supply runs in the West Kimberly,regrettably Leyland head office wanted nothing to do with it so if you wanted one it was pay for the modification so not many took the offer up.

Cheers Dig

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This photo dates from 1999 and it was taken at Picton Transport, who are based at Picton Port, on the northern tip of South Island, NZ. At this date the three tractor units were just out of service awaiting their fate and latterly they had been used for shunting unaccompanied trailers onto and off the ferry running between North and South Island. (Photo, unaccredited)

A 1971 photo at Southdown Meat Packers, Auckland NZ, Octopus O.680 with 6-speed plus crawler 'box delivering a consignment of sheep. (Photo, Rufus Carr)

Back to Australia and long time Leyland operators Zarb Transport with an 8x2 Leyland Octopus on raw sugar haulage. This had the lower powered O.600 engine and 6-speed 'box. Taken at Mackay, Qeensland, in 1979 by Rufus Carr.

Still in Australia and a Beaver of E.G. Nissen of Sydney is en route for Melbourne. (Photo, Warren Noakes, from Tony Petch)

In NZ this Caltex Beaver was still in service in January 1980 when photographed by Rufus Carr at Whangarei, North Island. O.680 engine and 10-speed 'box.

Caltex NZ also had this very rare Ergomatic Leyland Steer, which was captured on film by Rufus Carr at Te Kuiti, North Island, in 1976. It was powered by an O.680 engine and 10-speed 'box. Caltex operated three of these Steers, converted by Leyland Motors (NZ). In the UK it is believed that there were no more than three factory built steers. In total Leyland NZ built five steers and two survived into preservation, including a Caltex example. The Caltex Steers pulled self-tracking semi-trailer.

CTL - Craddock’s Transport Ltd. was a division of Transport (Nelson) Ltd. and their Octopus was photographed by Rufus Carr at Westport NZ in 1977. O.680 engine and 10-speed 'box.

Tauranoa Depot, North Island NZ in 1974, Octopus 8x4 tipper and trailer, O.680 engine, 6-speed plus crawler 'box. (Photo, Rufus Carr)

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The following photos were sent to me 20 years ago (fleet line-up photo dated 1998) from an operator in a remote area of South Island NZ. His small fleet of Leylands was then still in daily service, and he was also restoring an AEC Mandator V8 six-wheeler. Unfortunately I no longer have his accompanying letter with further details.

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1969 Leyland Beaver with crew cab extension operated by Sydney County Council (later Energy Australia). (Photo, Energy Australia Archives, from Tony Petch)

1968 Beaver in service with Total Oil Australia on fuel deliveries in the Sydney metropolitan district. The location was Moore Street Fuel Depot, East Botany. (Photo Young & Richardson, from Tony Petch)

From 1969 and this Freightline Octopus was new into service with Allied Feeds in Australia. (Photo, Young & Richardson, from Tony Petch)

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Whilst in an approximate 35 years period until about 1970 Leyland and AEC were numerically the biggest UK exporters of premium heavy goods vehicles and PSVs to The Antipodes, many other British marques including Albion, Scammell, Thornycroft, Dennis, Atkinson, Foden, and ERF saw service there. In addition, medium and lightweights from Commer, Austin, and Morris were also plentiful. Not forgetting many well-remembered car makes, and loose engine makers such as Gardner supplied the industrial and marine engine markets.

Travancore Transport of Melbourne had been using Gardner Engines since 1937 and October 1988 they were still using them. This White Road Commander of theirs was fitted with a Gardner 8LXB 240.