Thank you TIDDERSON , Yes I only use to use it when I was a driver for the truck wash ,it was a pain in the arse to turn a A frame drawbar round at the top of the yard , so I cannot ever recall seeing any fleet vehicles there , saying that im bidding on a few Rover /BRS pictures on ebay ,three of them are in h/w depot but the last one is at Oxford depot ,Brs Oxford took the fleet over from Wincanton ,but those C d reg Cruisers were mainly yard shunters from new .
This small cruiser was based at Swindon ,but the picture is taken at Brs High Wycombe depot , they use to do the refurbs on the trailers, I would of thought that little cruiser was sent down to collect it from Swindon .
Another Brs contract , this vehicle I never saw for real ,and I think it was based at Wellingbrough , but the picture I am sure is taken in Brs Northampton depot (lodge farm ) , we did have some of these small Mercs but never Sleeper cabs at Oxford .
I like this next picture , a small fleet line up of Roadtrains and a small cruiser,i do recall some of that fleet .
JAKEY:
This small cruiser was based at Swindon ,but the picture is taken at Brs High Wycombe depot , they use to do the refurbs on the trailers, I would of thought that little cruiser was sent down to collect it from Swindon .
Those Cruiser’s were a tidy little motor if you didn’t want to go too far, but in day-cab form with the Range-change box you didn’t so much drive them as wrestle them into submission 
, and if you were empty they bounced & bucked & threw you all over the place 
. Going up to Longbridge or Canley from Cowley you had to stop at the Fountain Café, Wellesbourne for 1 of Harry’s breakfasts to get your shakes under control for the rest of the trip 
. Regards Chris
Hi Chris , never drove one on the road but they seamed to soldier on a bit ,in day cab form they must of been great for shunting at Cowley .
JAKEY:
Hi Chris , never drove one on the road but they seamed to soldier on a bit ,in day cab form they must of been great for shunting at Cowley .
Hi Steve, yes mate they were a good shunt unit, do you remember when Wincanton first took over the Cowley fleet, they put a load of brand spanking new Cruisers in to do the Factory shunting, they only did about 5 miles a day & they only did that if they got lost & had to go round the block again 
. I’ll call round your yard soon mate for a cuppa rosey, picked up a great photo at Gaydon, real memory jogger that you will like 
. Regards Chris
hiya,
A little story from one of my stints at the BRS, I never drove four wheelers very much in all my
years on the road but one morning I got into work about eight o’clock my motor being serviced
and was given the keys to the only rigid we had a four wheeled Leyland the only driver with a
class three having phoned in sick it was loaded with two drops for Aberystwyth and another one
over the mountains with written instructions to only be delivered by four wheeled vehicles due
to the access to the drops both farms not able to accept wag and drag or artic’s, what a change
for me and I managed to get “tramped” all over the UK for a fortnight ( I was on top pay) they
couldn’t pay me less, the regular driver having returned the day after I “nicked” his motor wasn’t
best pleased having to work in the yard not being licenced to drive anything else, it took both
him and the yard foreman with crowbars to get me out the cab, never did get another go in that
motor I think the regular lad super glued himself to the seat and kept the door locked.
thanks harry, long retired
Same as me ,driving artics for Dutch firm over here doing markets. They asked me to take over a rigid box. Money was fantastic.
A reminder, Gentlemen, that BRS 66 is a week on Sunday.
All welcome to this free event.
Alex
alexsaville:
A reminder, Gentlemen, that BRS 66 is a week on Sunday.
All welcome to this free event.
Alex
Sorry I missed it Alex,
I’ve been back in hospital again.hope it all went well and if anyone took photo’s it would be great to see them,so really upset I missed it as I was so looking forward to a great day out.Only hope I’m well enough to see if someone is running in this years Trans-Pennine run
regards to one and all
Chris B.
I noticed on another site a picture of a recently preserved Albion HD57L.
I am was wondering if this was one of the vehicles I had read about recently in a magazine story about the history of Albion.They were building vehicles for a government contract for abroad,which was cancelled,leaving Albion with vehicles it had built and had no customers for.Were these the vehicles which British Road services bought?The article appeared I believe in Classic and vintage Commercial a few months ago.It was a very interesting article and I just wondered if anyone knew anymore about the cancelled contract,unfortunately my copy of the magazine was given to someone and they have lost it.
chrisb01:
I noticed on another site a picture of a recently preserved Albion HD57L.
I am was wondering if this was one of the vehicles I had read about recently in a magazine story about the history of Albion.They were building vehicles for a government contract for abroad,which was cancelled,leaving Albion with vehicles it had built and had no customers for.Were these the vehicles which British Road services bought?The article appeared I believe in Classic and vintage Commercial a few months ago.It was a very interesting article and I just wondered if anyone knew anymore about the cancelled contract,unfortunately my copy of the magazine was given to someone and they have lost it.
They were built for the failed ground nut scheme,here is a sales brochure and a pic of a one when new[still lives,just]
pete smith:
chrisb01:
I noticed on another site a picture of a recently preserved Albion HD57L.
I am was wondering if this was one of the vehicles I had read about recently in a magazine story about the history of Albion.They were building vehicles for a government contract for abroad,which was cancelled,leaving Albion with vehicles it had built and had no customers for.Were these the vehicles which British Road services bought?The article appeared I believe in Classic and vintage Commercial a few months ago.It was a very interesting article and I just wondered if anyone knew anymore about the cancelled contract,unfortunately my copy of the magazine was given to someone and they have lost it.They were built for the failed ground nut scheme,here is a sales brochure and a pic of a one when new[still lives,just]
thanks Pete,
I knew it was some contract,but couldn’t remember the name.Thanks for pictures,nice to know BRS were supporting manufacturers,I suppose they got a good deal out of it and still better to see some still around.
many thanks.
chris…
Hi all , I got a lot more photos of Oxford depot pictures to post later this week , but has any one got some photos of Oxfords Crusaders they ran ?, the only one I recall was there wrecker which was the last of the general haulage fleet .
Thanks Jakey
chrisb01:
pete smith:
chrisb01:
I noticed on another site a picture of a recently preserved Albion HD57L.
I am was wondering if this was one of the vehicles I had read about recently in a magazine story about the history of Albion.They were building vehicles for a government contract for abroad,which was cancelled,leaving Albion with vehicles it had built and had no customers for.Were these the vehicles which British Road services bought?The article appeared I believe in Classic and vintage Commercial a few months ago.It was a very interesting article and I just wondered if anyone knew anymore about the cancelled contract,unfortunately my copy of the magazine was given to someone and they have lost it.They were built for the failed ground nut scheme,here is a sales brochure and a pic of a one when new[still lives,just]
thanks Pete,
I knew it was some contract,but couldn’t remember the name.Thanks for pictures,nice to know BRS were supporting manufacturers,I suppose they got a good deal out of it and still better to see some still around.
many thanks.
chris…
Hi Chrisb01, We had several of those Albions at Oxford BRS in 1951 ,ours were 4w’s with trailers 120 hp engines and full air brakes -quite a spec for the era ,they came from a government ministry source ,in fact our trucknet member ADR(chris) father Charlie Emsden had one on tramping with me -he went first- no chance keeping up with him with that ! I believe chris has a photo of Charlie and his Albion , they were the good old days --toshboy
The 4 wheel and drags would be HD 53’s and the 6 wheelers like Smiths crisps ran were HD 55’s,as far as i know the millers HD57 came from Albion motors Perry Bar depot Birmingham
JAKEY:
Hi all , I got a lot more photos of Oxford depot pictures to post later this week , but has any one got some photos of Oxfords Crusaders they ran ?, the only one I recall was there wrecker which was the last of the general haulage fleet .Thanks Jakey
Only found 1 in old colours. I’m not sure if both wreckers were at Oxford
Hi Tidderson
Thank you for the photos , yes that top photo is a Oxford fleet wagon , the Rusty looking Crusader wrecker was our wrecker for many years, the third picture does not ring a bell at all , but I will keep thinking today .
When I started at Oxford in early 84 we were still running Marathons and the odd Buffalo plus a couple of Mastiffs etc , there were 4 roadtrains then a couple of Scanias which came from Herford depot .
I bought some photos from Lincoln farm café last week of Oxford fleet , and I have won some off ebay , I will scan this week and post them on here or the Oxford section .
ROLL ON MOR MAG OR TAG PHOTOS . PS 1 old ex Oxford driver of 37 years was there last week len gardner , retired 1984/85 , another ex Brs Oxford driver of 37 years was in my van yesterday Ivor Parry , his health is very poor now and in and out hospital and with no relatives local I visit every week now .
Hi Chrisb01, We had several of those Albions at Oxford BRS in 1951 ,ours were 4w’s with trailers 120 hp engines and full air brakes -quite a spec for the era ,they came from a government ministry source ,in fact our trucknet member ADR(chris) father Charlie Emsden had one on tramping with me -he went first- no chance keeping up with him with that ! I believe chris has a photo of Charlie and his Albion , they were the good old days --toshboy
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2 photos. Not sure of copyright
