Bedford TM

[oiltreader]

Back on track with TMs. Credit to AS for the photo.
Oily

[oiltreader]

Credit to Len Rogers for the photo.
Oily

[essexpete]

oiltreader:
“Sorry the picture quality was crap . Cheap camera and snow !”
a wee tweak mercman123.
Oily

Last taxed in 1987.

[carl_williams]

Some of our Bedford TM tractor units tucked up in these two photos of some of our tractor units parked at our depot at Green Lane Ind Est Spennymoor

[cornish_erf]

Pics sent to me

[robthedog]

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[big_ben]

Good afternoon. Years ago back in the 70s a company called V.M. TRANSPORT from High Wycombe ran a fleet of these TMs some with the V6 and some with the V8 all Detroit Diesels. Later on CAVE WOOD TRANSPORT bought them out…

[robthedog]

oiltreader:
Upton on Severn 2014.
Oily

Upton on Severn 2023

[andrew_brick]

OK , slightly offbeat subject as I always ran Volvos and Scanias (I almost bought one but chose another Volvo instead), but there doesnt seem to be many items posted about a good waggon and a mainstay of many large companies, I remember working hard to outrun a 290 TM in my 111, and there was a local owner driver who ran a detroit 2 stroke engined TM with a Emminox, sounded great, went very well but drank derv.
So there must be a lot of drivers with memories (happy or not) of driving and working this forgotten truck.

[ubym344]

andrew brick:
OK , slightly offbeat subject as I always ran Volvos and Scanias (I almost bought one but chose another Volvo instead), but there doesnt seem to be many items posted about a good waggon and a mainstay of many large companies, I remember working hard to outrun a 290 TM in my 111, and there was a local owner driver who ran a detroit 2 stroke engined TM with a Emminox, sounded great, went very well but drank derv.

So there must be a lot of drivers with memories (happy or not) of driving and working this forgotten truck.

I worked for a firm in silvertown in 89 they had 2 tm artics egc159x and egc157x with ■■■■■■■ 290s I think with the wide cab and a 4 wheeler narrow cab with I think a Bedford engine I did bump into a guy a few times with a sister to mine TM egc158x who did Europe in it , I drove one of the artics for most of that year just locals really home every night and it was a flyer with the ■■■■■■■ engine I really liked driving it it had a 10 speed box I suppose you would call it a splitter box every other gear was on the button and a nice easy gearbox to use I was told it was a david brown g/box but not sure if that is right I found it a comfortable motor and very easy to drive nice big bunk it was an old motor when I got it but I found it a good motor the steering lock I.E. turning circle was not that great the ■■■■■■■ always pulled well and in my time with it hardly used a drop of oil however I did have the rear axle u bolts nearly shear thru luckily I was coming off the m25 and when I went to pull away from the roundabout at the end of the slip road it was all over the place when it was fixed the fitter who did the job said that the u bolts were not as thick as a normal type not sure if that is true and spares were sometimes a problem as the army had carte blanche on them as they had a lot of tms , I did drive the 4 wheeler for a few days when mine was in dock it was ok nothing to write home about except the gear lever kept losing itself it would just float around and not find any gears but would find a slot after a few movements something was obviously wrong inside the box this had the narrow cab which I always thought looked odd, I was told that the tms we had and I suppose the guy who did Europe with egc158x were new to blue dart not sure if thats true maybe someone on here can rectify that I never drove a Detroit one I never liked the sound of them and don`t know much about detroits and do not want to upset anyone on here who do like detroits if you know what I mean, I think it quite sad that bedfords never carried on and developed the TM more as I liked it and it had the potential to be a great lorry yet another maker to bite dust

[pebbles_74]

andrew brick:
OK , slightly offbeat subject as I always ran Volvos and Scanias (I almost bought one but chose another Volvo instead), but there doesnt seem to be many items posted about a good waggon and a mainstay of many large companies, I remember working hard to outrun a 290 TM in my 111, and there was a local owner driver who ran a detroit 2 stroke engined TM with a Emminox, sounded great, went very well but drank derv.
So there must be a lot of drivers with memories (happy or not) of driving and working this forgotten truck.

Hello Andrew,

Heards of Honiton ran one, I think it was a tractor, they did Livestock so you might remeber them at the markets etc. Dark blue livery with the lettering in yellow / gold.

Parsons Transport Aylesbeare had a four-wheeler flat that used to run to Kent & back on Ruberoid roofing felt amongst other things.

Sid Knowles from Cornwall also had a few.

When I left College my first job was with Teagle Farm Machinery from Blackwater near Truro. They had run a pair of Detroit / Allison TM tractors, but unfortunatley gone before my time there. Apparently one of them was driven fairly hard & never gave much trouble. The other one, which was mothered, was a poor starter, gutless etc. I was told that they went back to the dealers about the ‘problem’ one, they sent out the Allison fitter (who also looked after Detroit) whose remedy was, having got it running, to remove the air filter element & throw in a handful of ‘Vim’ bathroom scourer!! This alegedly cured the glazed bores! I’ve no reason to disbelieve this tale, but I’ve often wondered if other operators experienced similar problems?

Andrew Stone.