cav551:
ERF-NGC-European:
gingerfold:
^^^^
Thank you Robert for your kind words. It was of course the Volvo B10M coach I was thinking of, couldn’t remember that this morning, then it came to me this afternoon when I was doing something completely different. 
I believe this East Kent batch had the 6-sp constant-mesh AEC box I secretly admire! Robert
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Correct, this batch originally had a 5 speed box, at the moment I can’t recall whether it was the AEC 5 speed synchro or a ZF.
Sadly WFN 513 has now been sold and I no longer have anything to do with it. It is a real flying machine with the 6 speed overdrive box, but that is why it was specified in the first place since the 5 speed was too slow for the newly opened M2 and Continental work.
Sunday I got the chance to drive one of the East Kent Regent Vs with a near full load, up over Beachy Head to Birling Gap and back down again into Eastbourne. The AEC 4 speed synchro box makes a glorious noise in the indirect gears… which was most of the time. 
. Only really matched by the pre war Leyland sliding mesh 'box.
Yes, I remember catching the L1 service to London in the mid-'60s and it being a WFN; it made short work of the M2. I take it that by ‘original batch’ you mean the TFNs.
That Regent would sounded a treat over Beachy Head - they made such a distinctive noise. In the day, of course, it would have been PD3 ‘Queen Marys’! Cheers, Robert
adr:
Lovely
That Hampshire Car Bodies cab always looked smart.
There were PD3 Queen Marys as well running over Beachy Head on Sunday as far as I know. They were certainly out for the day, as was a Lion. Going back a couple of years though a Queen Mary stalled on the rise out of Herne Bay, as you climb past the statue of Barnes Wallis on the road towards Reculver.
No I am informed it was the WFNs which had an early gearbox change to D197s. I did notice that one of the Stagecoach buses on rail replacement at Eastbourne had legal writng reading East Kent Road Car Company St George’s Lane Canterbury.
I don’t know who ran this AEC MK3 Mammoth Major with HCB cab,I can’t make out the reg number. It’s pulling a vessel made by APV Paramount of Crawley on a dolly,and looks like it’s bound for a BHC - British Hydrocarbon Chemicals - site,either Baglan Bay or Grangemouth.BHC was eventually BP Chemicals.Any more info would be greatly appreciated,it’s one of my favourite photos.
Operated by Sterling Dog Foods Ltd of Oswaldtwistle this AEC Marshall, Reg No OHG 25J, was new in January 1971.
An AEC publicity shot of a brand new unregistered AEC Mammoth Major about to enter service with Spillers.
Another Spillers AEC Mammoth Major Reg No PCK 356E which was new in 1967.
AEC Mandator GTR 953D was with Percy Powell Transport of Horndean, Hampshire,
until early 1970, at which time the company was taken over by a then expanding
Robert Baillie Transport of Portsmouth. I got to drive it just once in 1971, from
Horndean to Wigan depot, by then it had been painted in Robert Baillie “Midnight Blue”
with Gold signwriting. I would like to find a photo of GTR 953D in Baillies livery. Ray Smyth.
moomooland:
2Operated by Sterling Dog Foods Ltd of Oswaldtwistle this AEC Marshall, Reg No OHG 25J, was new in January 1971.
1An AEC publicity shot of a brand new unregistered AEC Mammoth Major about to enter service with Spillers.
0 Another Spillers AEC Mammoth Major Reg No PCK 356E which was new in 1967.
This was a Spillers Birkenhead based Mammoth Major and it could be in Northern Ireland in this photo. Spillers never had a flour mill in Northern Ireland, so bulk flour customers there were supplied from Birkenhead. Spillers did have a sales office and warehouse in Northern Ireland and bagged flour was stored there. Nowadays virtually all the flour used in Eire, and a good percentage of flour consumed in Northern Ireland is all supplied from North West of England flour mills. There is not a single large flour mill remaining in Eire these days.
Operated by De Eendracht NV of Antwerp
A 1967 AEC Mandator operated by Roadferry exit’s Mothercare’s warehouse.
A pair of AEC Mandators head South down the M1 at Junction 17.
moomooland:
0A pair of AEC Mandators head South down the M1 at Junction 17.
That’s a nice photo Paul,I seem to recognise the company operating those Mandators but can’t for the life of me recall the name. 
moomooland:
2
1
0
The first AEC Marshals used Eaton Hendrickson rear axles and suspension, and the Eaton ownership of the Marshal in the photo is virtually a prototype. A similar early Marshal was in the Southall works transport fleet. The first Marshals entered service in early 1961 and by late 1962 they were built with AEC rear axles with either under-slung 4-spring suspension (haulage versions) or inverted 2-spring suspension (tippers).
1966 registered AEC Marshall operated by Thomas Harwood of Bolton.
1969 registered AEC Mammoth Major operated by Whitbread Brewery.
AEC Mercury demonstrator in Liverpool at the entrance to the Mersey Tunnel.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Great shot of the `1966 AEC, The sheeting is crap IMO, Its terrible, Its like a ship in full sail, I dont know what Bewick think, I doubt it was one of his ex drivers , Regards Larry.
That photo was of a load out of either Dobson & Barlow or Mather & Platt, both were neighbouring factories at Bradley Fold. I can’t remember which it was now. However, the driver of the Marshal was an ex-bus driver who was not proficient at roping and sheeting. He had started sheeting from the front of the load and not from the rear. That photo is out of Tommy Harwood’s collection and it was taken in Bolton.
gingerfold:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Great shot of the `1966 AEC, The sheeting is crap IMO, Its terrible, Its like a ship in full sail, I dont know what Bewick think, I doubt it was one of his ex drivers , Regards Larry.
That photo was of a load out of either Dobson & Barlow or Mather & Platt, both were neighbouring factories at Bradley Fold. I can’t remember which it was now. However, the driver of the Marshal was an ex-bus driver who was not proficient at roping and sheeting. He had started sheeting from the front of the load and not from the rear. That photo is out of Tommy Harwood’s collection and it was taken in Bolton.
Morning Graham,
Apologies for going off topic but Mather and Platt manufactured the sprinkler system in a mill I worked at, bit more useless info! Cheer’s Pete
Retired Old ■■■■:
gingerfold:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Great shot of the `1966 AEC, The sheeting is crap IMO, Its terrible, Its like a ship in full sail, I dont know what Bewick think, I doubt it was one of his ex drivers , Regards Larry.
That photo was of a load out of either Dobson & Barlow or Mather & Platt, both were neighbouring factories at Bradley Fold. I can’t remember which it was now. However, the driver of the Marshal was an ex-bus driver who was not proficient at roping and sheeting. He had started sheeting from the front of the load and not from the rear. That photo is out of Tommy Harwood’s collection and it was taken in Bolton.
[/quote
It would have saved the bus driver some embarrassment if his company had invested in my Overpriced Roping & Sheeting Course. 
Yes I’m surprised that Tommy Harwood hadn’t shown him the ropes, so to speak. Tommy always liked things to be done correctly. Remembering now that the load on the Marshal was part of a very big export order, so it was probably ex-Dobson and Barlow, who manufactured cotton industry machinery. There were several loads all despatched over a couple of days and the Bolton Evening News (as it then was) ran a feature about it. Several of the Bolton hauliers had lorries on the job.
