Gidders:
I suspect the starting handle at the front will not be missed by us old timers reminiscing.
Depends how old time the old timers are. I think I might qualify, but the only time I had to swing one (several in fact) was on a rope with some other drivers outside some digs one morning on the Great North Road. Haven’t a clue where, but the fact that this was my only experience suggests that whatever I had at the time, had a self starter.
I reckon the ropes were being consigned to history in the late 50’s. And self starter equipped Guy Arab double deckers were addicted to the rope in Dewsbury bus station. “# 26 has a flat battery AGAIN, get the bloody rope” It was common to leave the engine running the whole shift, early morning until last bus at night.
And now we are in an era where cars are equipped with stop/ start systems
That would fit with my memory then, GOM, I started driving in '63 (21st birthday right at the end of it and got into ‘big wheels’ immediately ) so that experience of mine would have been with some real old timers.
Birdie4x4:
An old Toft Bros and Tomlinson lorry from Darley Dale, it still has the logo on the cab after being taken over by BRS.
I started my driving career with TB&T. I think they ceased trading around 1974.
NMP
0
That one windscreen wiper, those mirrors, the “headlights” and no indicators…wow…
I can remember working on lorries like these back in the 60’ s the Dennis Max springs to mind, very similar to that one…and now, 60 years on…
The good old days ■■?. BRS 1950 ish usually fixed starting handle , one wiper, no n/s mirror ,1 headlight n/s fixed for kerbs , o/s headlight to dip for oncoming traffic , no spot light. ropes stored in cab along wth own tools,spare injector pipes and olives etc , 20 mph plate on rear , the lorries then were well worn out from the War period , Transport offices usually run by competant ex drivers -with dirty boots !------- toshboy
Seeing as this thread had been bumped recently it awakened my interest in the history of BRS after de-nationalisation. Searching through the internet I came across this article from the archives of Commercial Motor
It is interesting to note that of the companies that they specifically mentioned as having done rather well from the de-nationalisation process three of them (Road Services Caledonian, Road Services Forth and D McKinnon) were later brought back under the BRS umbrella. These were all sizeable operations when they were with the BRS group in the 60’s and 70’s.
So that got me thinking - how many other companies that emerged as a result of assets bought from BRS during the de-nationalisation era later got absorbed back into the nationalised company?
ERF-NGC-European:
Looks as if BRS was not averse to a bit of traction.
NMP
0
The crusader was abridgend motor the chris Hudson and Ferryside trailers used to have running repairs done to them as they were on ford engine work with many subbies pulling them tilt repairs brakes and springs regular jobs them trailers worked hard and heavy hope that answers your question. All the best alan
ERF-NGC-European:
Looks as if BRS was not averse to a bit of traction.
NMP
0
The crusader was abridgend motor the chris Hudson and Ferryside trailers used to have running repairs done to them as they were on ford engine work with many subbies pulling them tilt repairs brakes and springs regular jobs them trailers worked hard and heavy hope that answers your question. All the best alan
Amazing what people on here can remember! Thanks Alan.
The old BRS offices in Lady Lane, Leeds. Taken last week, it looks as though the building is about to be either renovated or demolished. Anyone know what it’s fate is?
Gidders:
I’m sure I recall some Crusaders when I was at BRS Newark (KH).I moved to Nottingham(KE)later when they had an influx of 110 Scanias.
This may have been around 1970.I moved up to Teesside a short time later and definitely drove a Crusader with a 280 Rolls for Bob Fortune for a couple of years until his Dutch boss terminated the company.
I note that BRS had a lot of its Crusaders fitted with Rolls 265s rather than Rolls Eagle 3 280s. But it still ran 280s too. I believe the 265 was a later design but was it significantly better than the 280?
ro
EDIT to say: done a bit of homework. 265 had higher torque at low revs than 280; 265 had turbo; 265 had Fuller RT rather than RTO 'box so H-pattern rather than U-pattern; 265 believed to have had more grunt. Can anyone add anything else?
At the Oxford depot we were running THE 280 Rolls in our Crusaders , later the Roadtrains were fitted with the 265 ,we never had any problem , but i know we broke the crankshaft on the last crusader we had but by this time it was a on the workshops fleet as a wrecker ,we fitted a rolls 265 in from a wrecked roadtrain .
HELLO all ex BRS DRIVERS, at MORTONS BRS we had the crusader 280 rolls David brown straight6 you could after time change up or down without any clutch what a machine ,sleep across the seats with a plastic bread tray in the middle the union was going ballistic however, they had the scania 80 with a bunk so we thought [zb]it and got on with it.dbp.
It was common to leave the engine running the whole shift, early morning until last bus at night.
) so that experience of mine would have been with some real old timers. 
