Having growled up Detling hill in a fortunately unladen 80 year old Leyland TD4 yesterday on the way to the Heritage Transport Show, I wondered how many of us had found ourselves in a similar plight in the past. I think I would have gone for it a little bit earlier.
Nope, never had that trouble going forwards but I have many times in reverse! If a Foden struggled getting up a hill forwards then it would probably be steep enough to test Sir Edmund Hillary. 
Pete.
My c series l10 250 ground to a halt on the 1 in 5 bluebell hill near whitby, had about 26 tonnes of screws on.
Had to reverse to a flat bit and go up in crawler, she did the 1 in 8 hairpin no problem though.
cav551:
Having growled up Detling hill in a fortunately unladen 80 year old Leyland TD4 yesterday on the way to the Heritage Transport Show, I wondered how many of us had found ourselves in a similar plight in the past. I think I would have gone for it a little bit earlier.
should have got those able-bodied passengers to give you a push…then left them behind when you got going 
Yep he left it just a bit too late, probably hoping the old girl could pull herself up in 2nd?
Did he get it restarted or was it a dump the passenger and have another go?
My first artic was a mickey mouse Foden and my sheer ignorance and inexperience saw me come to a shuddering halt first time out with it when i missed a change and couldn’t find another bloody gear, didn’t stall it cos i couldn’t get it into a gear to stall it with… 
The only lorry thats ever dumped me by stalling out on me was my first 3 pedal Scania auto in 2006, coming out of the steep turning by Stroud Citroen dealer where i’d just dropped a couple of cars off and turning left onto the flat Cirencester road, the bloody box changed itself up half way up and round, in its own sweet got all day time , sure enough the engine couldn’t take it and stalled out.
Spat me dummy out at that and from that moment to this i’ve never driven an automated manual (Volvo excepted cos they got it right) in auto, i always override the thing and drive it manually.
Hearing that Bristol brought back some memories, the bloody Guy bigJ rolonoff (you’ll remember it TonyJ 105) fully loaded with scrap concrete could only just make the climb with its NA undersized Leyland lump and only 6 speed box, it would always get you there but 12 mph up a quite gentle slope was something else.
I checked the guy’s other videos to see and the passengers had to walk almost to the top of the hill, which was quite some distance. Even then a restart wasn’t easy. There is a bit of a problem in that today a full load of passengers on one of these old buses weighs about a ton and a half more than the same number of people did in 1950. Add that to the reputation many of these vehicles had at the time they were new for being underpowered and you can see why hills become a challenge. Unlike their modern counterparts, passenger vehicles of this era never had a manufacturer’s plate as such with axle and gross weights, so the only criterion for overloading is the number of people carried.
I was shouting at the video downshift it at around 2.35. 
But to be fair all part of the pleasures of old gutless motors and not enough too widely spaced ratio boxes.
I changed my Dennis gearbox from direct top to overdrive , when digging out 250 tonnes from my last house it was ok until I changed the box then crawler became first and it would no longer get uphill to the tip .
Evening all,
cav551, thank you for posting those videos…they are real memory jerkers!
When I go out with my 1930 Star, (which I try to do most days if possible), it really takes me back…back to when I was a callow youth, out, (without the proper licence), at 16, with an O serie Bedford Stock lorry in the Shropshire hills…and some are blooming steep!..complete with a load of energetic bullocks, or marginally less energetic sheep, to some little hill farm, with an impossible access, (and we always have bigger lorries in here), farmer.
When the revs go, and there a`int no more gears, (and the brakes aren’t too good either), that moment of abject panic…happened to me so many times when I was delivering to Preventauriums for Asthmatics high in the snow bound Alpes, my Fodens never failed to get me there, (but boy, oh boy, there were some tummy churning moments), when the snowy road, and sheer drops, and the almost lack of forward momentum really gave me the “collywobbles”…
But any of us who drive really old lorries or buses in todays traffic must experience the total lack of appreciation for, or indignation at, the inability of our steeds to be able to progress, stop, or generally to integrate with the modern traffic flow. “Gears to go-------Brakes to slow”, has raised a driving population that simply are slaves to their vehicles. Bewick calls them “steering wheel attendants”,and he is right! But it does make it more difficult to enjoy our pleasure, and remain safe.
Personally I stay well away from main roads, but then you encounter the men in Lycra…whose cruising speed is about the same as our vehicles…and because you follow them, they become excited at the threat that you pose…or meeting a modern 4x4, driven by the “yummy mummy”…now there is fun…reverse…yes I know its difficult with little circular mirrors…but its easier and quicker than waiting for the comical roadshow, that ends in anger from the other party , if they have to reverse!..or enter the nearest ditch…(as happens frequently on “our” farm lane)…funny how we have never had a problem with 44 tonners, or tractor trailer combinations…
Or maybe Im becoming a “Victor Meldrew” in my dotage…but I still enjoy driving old lorries…to me they are quite modern
Cheerio for now.