Nobody has mentioned Roadtrains yet! If only they had come out 5 years earlier 
mikeyb:
Nobody has mentioned Roadtrains yet! If only they had come out 5 years earlier
If Leyland hadn’t been forced into taking on the car division and wasting resources on the delights turned out by that esteemed operation then it very likely would have done. 
Limey:
mikeyb:
Nobody has mentioned Roadtrains yet! If only they had come out 5 years earlierIf Leyland hadn’t been forced into taking on the car division and wasting resources on the delights turned out by that esteemed operation then it very likely would have done.
Why? It wasn’t groundbreaking in any way, the TL12 engine had been in the Marathon, the alternative ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ engines could be found in ERF/SedAk/Foden, the Spicer gearbox was used in the Bedford TM, the rear axle was an old design and wasn’t very efficient either being hub reduction, oh and it was only available as a day cab for the first year or so
Fair enough that you have a soft spot for them, I quite liked the look of them myself, but groundbreaking? No way 
Why? It wasn’t groundbreaking in any way, the TL12 engine had been in the Marathon, the alternative ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ engines could be found in ERF/SedAk/Foden, the Spicer gearbox was used in the Bedford TM, the rear axle was an old design and wasn’t very efficient either being hub reduction, oh and it was only available as a day cab for the first year or so
Fair enough that you have a soft spot for them, I quite liked the look of them myself, but groundbreaking? No way
Totaly Agree mate we had one as a wrecker when I worked for mr ken compleate ■■■■ whiney axel awkward to get in silly little steering wheel
Hardly a benchmark I had a f86 on a G reg years ago now that was nice in them days then a h reg 110 on Leps of Charlton These were nice at the time
Hi Billy wrong again mate I never had a roadtrain or T45 I looked at one once at CV Sales in Basildon and from the drivers seat when you looked at the wipers behind the panel it never looked like it was finished correctly so i gave it a miss. What you are thinking of was the Marathon wrecker which I never converted it was like that when i got her from G.L.Bakers all we done was painted her.
Bench mark vehicles nothing new there been mentioned already
TK D series
freightline cabed layland group
LB 76/110/140/ f86/88/89/Transcon
Merc 1418/1924 basicaly all what Marks said already what about the Atki veiwliner that was different
Leyland comets (both cab over and conventional)in the mid fifties could do around 60 mph when fitted with a two speed axle Dodge were quick to follow this trend but had the sense to have an air braking system .The early comet which came out several years before the motorways could go like a rocket but needed and airfield to stop one.As a ten year old in 1959 Itook a trip on the m1 motorway from Rugby down to watford in my Dads Maudsley eight wheel tipper (1950)basically an AEC mk 3 flat out at 35 mph…it was obvious that the motors from the 20 mph fifties by then were hopelessly obsolete.
sammyopisite:
I agree Will the trans con was ahead of its time and it was more roomier than the swedes the marathon and crusaders were never developed and could have been improved quite a bit marathon was quieter than the crusader but I preferred the crusader and from a drivers view point out pulled most of the continentals of the time but gaffers liked the patricroft smokers as they returned better fuel returns.In the late 80s I think the Sed-Atk Strato with the DAF cab 14 litre ■■■■■■■ with jake brake and twin splitter was the best wagon in my humble opinion as you seemed to have the best of both British and continental engineering.
cheers Johnnie
I agree with you also on this one,in 1989 i had a brand new strato G333 AGL with a 365 ■■■■■■■ & twin splitter,a few teething problems but a nice motor to drive.I drove it for a few years for N J Grose of St Austell Cornwall.Wonder if Bubbs has any pictures of it in his very nice collection,i pulled a variety of the trailers on the firm,but mostly pulling loads of scrap metal out of Cornwall to various locations in th UK.
MrKen I had a Atkinson viewline on Pickfords for around 4 years and it was a lovely motor to drive ( mind you I came off a Scammell Highwayman ) so it was the bees knees to me power steering a heater and no draughts. In all the time I had it the only thing that let me down was the power steering once I can’t recall the exact problem now but it would go anywhere being a 6x4 with all that glass it did get hot in summer and was a bit cool in the winter while it warmed up I put over 200,000 miles on the clock which was not bad for Heavy Haulage in the early 70s.
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
MrKen I had a Atkinson viewline on Pickfords for around 4 years and it was a lovely motor to drive ( mind you I came off a Scammell Highwayman ) so it was the bees knees to me power steering a heater and no draughts. In all the time I had it the only thing that let me down was the power steering once I can’t recall the exact problem now but it would go anywhere being a 6x4 with all that glass it did get hot in summer and was a bit cool in the winter while it warmed up I put over 200,000 miles on the clock which was not bad for Heavy Haulage in the early 70s.
cheers Johnnie
I think you’ve stuck an extra nought(0) on the end of that mileage Johnnie----or you did all the work at Pickfords----which one is it then? Dennis.
Bewick:
sammyopisite:
MrKen I had a Atkinson viewline on Pickfords for around 4 years and it was a lovely motor to drive ( mind you I came off a Scammell Highwayman ) so it was the bees knees to me power steering a heater and no draughts. In all the time I had it the only thing that let me down was the power steering once I can’t recall the exact problem now but it would go anywhere being a 6x4 with all that glass it did get hot in summer and was a bit cool in the winter while it warmed up I put over 200,000 miles on the clock which was not bad for Heavy Haulage in the early 70s.
cheers JohnnieI think you’ve stuck an extra nought(0) on the end of that mileage Johnnie----or you did all the work at Pickfords----which one is it then? Dennis.
Dennis at Sheffield we were the busiest depot and all depots were run separately and we always making the most profit but the gaffers were good and would often send you down the road 1530 or later knowing you were not going far but they always got it back next day even our big out fits would do 120 miles a day as that was max as they were limited to 12 mph by law but some depots there was no give and take where we always had the carrot dangled but Mr. Fitzpatrick knew H H inside out and knew how to get the work out of you.
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
Bewick:
sammyopisite:
MrKen I had a Atkinson viewline on Pickfords for around 4 years and it was a lovely motor to drive ( mind you I came off a Scammell Highwayman ) so it was the bees knees to me power steering a heater and no draughts. In all the time I had it the only thing that let me down was the power steering once I can’t recall the exact problem now but it would go anywhere being a 6x4 with all that glass it did get hot in summer and was a bit cool in the winter while it warmed up I put over 200,000 miles on the clock which was not bad for Heavy Haulage in the early 70s.
cheers JohnnieI think you’ve stuck an extra nought(0) on the end of that mileage Johnnie----or you did all the work at Pickfords----which one is it then? Dennis.
Dennis at Sheffield we were the busiest depot and all depots were run separately and we always making the most profit but the gaffers were good and would often send you down the road 1530 or later knowing you were not going far but they always got it back next day even our big out fits would do 120 miles a day as that was max as they were limited to 12 mph by law but some depots there was no give and take where we always had the carrot dangled but Mr. Fitzpatrick knew H H inside out and knew how to get the work out of you.
cheers Johnnie
What was your main traffic out of Sheffield Johnnie and where to? In Barrow when the shipyard used to get Pickfords in for a big lump,my mate on the Octopus used to go mad and say we could do that job better than Pickfords!! what they doing bringing them into Barrow!!! Oh the aggro Johnnie!!! Dennis.
Bewick:
sammyopisite:
Bewick:
sammyopisite:
MrKen I had a Atkinson viewline on Pickfords for around 4 years and it was a lovely motor to drive ( mind you I came off a Scammell Highwayman ) so it was the bees knees to me power steering a heater and no draughts. In all the time I had it the only thing that let me down was the power steering once I can’t recall the exact problem now but it would go anywhere being a 6x4 with all that glass it did get hot in summer and was a bit cool in the winter while it warmed up I put over 200,000 miles on the clock which was not bad for Heavy Haulage in the early 70s.
cheers JohnnieI think you’ve stuck an extra nought(0) on the end of that mileage Johnnie----or you did all the work at Pickfords----which one is it then? Dennis.
Dennis at Sheffield we were the busiest depot and all depots were run separately and we always making the most profit but the gaffers were good and would often send you down the road 1530 or later knowing you were not going far but they always got it back next day even our big out fits would do 120 miles a day as that was max as they were limited to 12 mph by law but some depots there was no give and take where we always had the carrot dangled but Mr. Fitzpatrick knew H H inside out and knew how to get the work out of you.
cheers JohnnieWhat was your main traffic out of Sheffield Johnnie and where to? In Barrow when the shipyard used to get Pickfords in for a big lump,my mate on the Octopus used to go mad and say we could do that job better than Pickfords!! what they doing bringing them into Barrow!!! Oh the aggro Johnnie!!! Dennis.
Dennis we had English Steel all big castings roll housings ships prop shafts rudder housing then Davy United Hadfields Robert Jenkins Rotherham tanks and vessels Newton Chambers Fabrications tanks and vessels and NCK crawlers cranes and diggers FirthVickers ship parts Brown Baileys and firth browns that is just the main ones and we only had 15 wagons and there was quite a few smaller firms and most other depots were back loaded from there. We had craneage and storage so on the holiday shutdowns we usually had quite a few loads in the warehouse. cheers Johnnie
I have just remembered the most famous bench mark wagon it as got to be the 100 ton Scammell artic and Scammell were the pioneers of artics 
this must have been one of the biggest steps forward in the haulage industry I think the pics are from of Bob Tucks books
cheers Johnnie