240 Gardner:
Mal:
Marky, I just had another look at the Hank’s pic, and of course it is a sleeper cab, it’s got the big roo-bars on and the front axle is as you say, further forward. I think the cab has something about it, it aint half bad, but for looks it dont come near the Borderer!Well, we’ve managed to steer this thread away from DAFs to Atkis, haven’t we??
Bloody Hell! I never realised that…
SOZ Carl! 
i,ll let ya off mal means as i know ya 
speaking of atki,s i really liked the 401 and 411
Cheers Carl! I liked em too, I did have the 400 and 401 and I nearly bought a 411 from trafford park to put a mate of mine on felix subbing to jock cowans, irt turned out his insurance was more than the motor and I couldnt afford him LOL!
OK - here we go for a trip down Seddon-Atkinson memory lane. We have each of the models that depicted the heavy tractors made by the Lancashire manufacturer.
First off, launched in 1975 is the 400:
Followed in 1981by the 401:
The last variant to use the same cab was the 4-11, released in 1987:
The last of what the purists considered to be ‘proper’ Seddon-Atkinson heavy tractors was the Strato, which used the Enasa ‘Troner’ cab, which was released in 1989:
Praise be to all the photographers out there who saw fit to snap the greatly missed fleet of W&J Riding, none more so than the Managing Director himself who took pictures for his own archive.
great pic marky ive got a book with a pic of a brand new 411 just off the prodution line no fifhwheel and a shiney set of allcoa,s really looks the part
If it’s the dark brown one with the red horizontal stripes around the cab, it’s a 1980 archive picture of a 401. It was taken at the back of the factory at Walton-le-Dale next to the River Ribble.
yeah thats the one it is a 401ive just looked can ya pop a pic of it on here cuz i cant put pics up or i would mate
I haven’t got a digital picture of it - it’s in a copy of TRUCK magazine I think.
I’ll have a look for it…
Great stuff, cheers Marky for those pics.
Im still nostalgic for the 400. I had one with a 240 Gardner in it, that was a day cab doing general on flats, lot of steel, but basically anything between carlisle and south wales.
And I later was tramping a 400 running out of Felix, Ipswich and Harwich on boxes, fridges and tilts and flats, all sorts really, went all over the place! in a sleeper like the one shown, that had the e290 in and it did go like a train, i love them motors! I must be one sad ■■■■■■■ to be nostalgic for them!
There’s a chap from up Newcastle way that has a restored Atkinson twin-steer tractor unit and his name is John Bramwell.
He was telling us some time back that he has acquired a sleeper-cabbed 400 with an E290 in it and apparently it was used as a shunter & kept in immaculate condition by it’s sole previous owner. He got it for a grand from a trader in Derbyshire somewhere.
I’ve seen a couple of pictures of it, and apart from an Eminox stack up the rear-offside of the cab, it is completely standard. If John’s rear-steer is anything to go by, the 400 will be near-mint by now.
240 Gardner:
Well, we’ve managed to steer this thread away from DAFs to Atkis, haven’t we??
And do you have a problem with that?
Perhaps more posts on the subject should be diverted to the correct thread? (I’m talking about the one that Mal has nominated ‘Thread of the Year’)
marky:
If it’s the dark brown one with the red horizontal stripes around the cab, it’s a 1980 archive picture of a 401. It was taken at the back of the factory at Walton-le-Dale next to the River Ribble.
True, some of them were taken in the car park of the Bridge Inn at the side of Walton Bridge, and where many an Atkinson pic was taken.
However, most of the pics of that lorry were taken the other side of the river on the Esplanade (just round the corner from the Boulevard where I was born!), and overlooking the football pitches of Frenchwood recreation ground!
As I recall, 250 of the new 401s were built at Winery Lane before it closed, and whilst people were working their redundancy notice period, my Dad amongst them.
Im glad to see someone is restoring a 400 Marky! I think they are great motors and I even like the back to front box in them, though I’d need an hour or so now. Im pretty sure that a year or so back, there was a pretty rough looking 400 working out of Felix on boxes, it had the origional IH logo the 2 circles!
It might not be there now, but the first Seddon-Atkinson 400 to be fitted with a Gardner 6LXCT (230 Turbo) was sat quietly in the TDG Nexus yard at Longridge.
Fleet name ‘Novelty’ it was new to W&J Riding, and it is still in their colours.
I can find out if you’re interested Mal - let me know…
Im intrested in anythiung to do with them Marky, info, pics or whatever! You can bet one would soon be on my list of trucks to buy if ever her indoors gets the 6 up!
marky:
It might not be there now, but the first Seddon-Atkinson 400 to be fitted with a Gardner 6LXCT (230 Turbo) was sat quietly in the TDG Nexus yard at Longridge.Fleet name ‘Novelty’ it was new to W&J Riding, and it is still in their colours.
I can find out if you’re interested Mal - let me know…
Not parked outside, in the rain, is it? 400s dissolve in the rain!
nianiamh:
Just seen this very unit in the village I live in delivering building materials to some new houses they’re building. It looked almost that shiny still. Not bad for a 20 year old truck!
Paul
Drove a standard 2800/3300 for one firm always wanted a go in the space cab.
Used to drive a 401 on fridges - ■■■■■■■ power fuller box was very good but sometimes when you changed gear going round a bend it stuck in neutral.
there might be some daf space cabs on this link.
you have far too much time on ya hands jd , what you need is a few weeks back at freightliner to sort yourself out and your time
