Smiths Bletchington now have 3 Fodens dumped in their yard at Enslow…
V771 GBY,4000 series 8wheeler with 395 Cat engine. Been mothballed since around 2009, my Dad had it from almost new then it passed to one other driver until it was retired (along with the driver).
RX03 FFW, retired with gearbox trouble since the Autumn. My uncle had this one brand new.
I heard today from a Smiths driver that the above two have now been joined by 6wheeler RX54 TUW. Been retired with engine trouble. Quite saddened by this as I had this one brand new and it was always brilliant on fuel and oil usage. According to several Smiths drivers it’s still noted “how good it USED to be.”
A good chance that Smiths will be Foden-free this time next year.
Muckaway:
Smiths Bletchington now have 3 Fodens dumped in their yard at Enslow…
V771 GBY,4000 series 8wheeler with 395 Cat engine. Been mothballed since around 2009, my Dad had it from almost new then it passed to one other driver until it was retired (along with the driver).
RX03 FFW, retired with gearbox trouble since the Autumn. My uncle had this one brand new.
I heard today from a Smiths driver that the above two have now been joined by 6wheeler RX54 TUW. Been retired with engine trouble. Quite saddened by this as I had this one brand new and it was always brilliant on fuel and oil usage. According to several Smiths drivers it’s still noted “how good it USED to be.”
A good chance that Smiths will be Foden-free this time next year.
You’ll be back at Smiths sometime this year I bet you Nathan ! Has young Callum got his 360" ticket yet Cheers Dennis.
No I wont, Dennis. I’m already delivering to quite a few of my old customers, and I love this job, it’s what Smiths used to be like years ago.
TBH listening to the cb, Earthline drivers seem to be the happier bunch now
Callum came out for a ride in the 360 last weekend, and the JCB. I hope he learns the 3cx first, I did it the other way roujd and still struggle once I turn the JCB seat around.
Muckaway:
No I wont, Dennis. I’m already delivering to quite a few of my old customers, and I love this job, it’s what Smiths used to be like years ago.
TBH listening to the cb, Earthline drivers seem to be the happier bunch now
Callum came out for a ride in the 360 last weekend, and the JCB. I hope he learns the 3cx first, I did it the other way roujd and still struggle once I turn the JCB seat around.
Muckaway:
No I wont, Dennis. I’m already delivering to quite a few of my old customers, and I love this job, it’s what Smiths used to be like years ago.
TBH listening to the cb, Earthline drivers seem to be the happier bunch now
Callum came out for a ride in the 360 last weekend, and the JCB. I hope he learns the 3cx first, I did it the other way roujd and still struggle once I turn the JCB seat around.
Those are part of the DOT fleet that I drove as a council driver in the early 1980’s and I ‘think’ I can even remember the actual reg of the one on the left.They were Rolls 265 powered and originally supplied with the Foden box and then retro fitted with 9 speed Fullers.They were great wagons to drive.
Muckaway:
Bloody Hell Dennis you brought a curse with your prediction…
Just off to work, on hire to Smiths.
Make sure that you wear your dark glasses and stick on beard Nathan,don’t worry we won’t “grass you up” and get you blown off the job mate Cheers Dennis.
Those are part of the DOT fleet that I drove as a council driver in the early 1980’s and I ‘think’ I can even remember the actual reg of the one on the left.They were Rolls 265 powered and originally supplied with the Foden box and then retro fitted with 9 speed Fullers.They were great wagons to drive.
So now we know why all the roads around Surrey and,in particular,Leatherhead in the early 80’s were always treacherous in winter ! Cheers Bewick.
Those are part of the DOT fleet that I drove as a council driver in the early 1980’s and I ‘think’ I can even remember the actual reg of the one on the left.They were Rolls 265 powered and originally supplied with the Foden box and then retro fitted with 9 speed Fullers.They were great wagons to drive.
So now we know why all the roads around Surrey and,in particular,Leatherhead in the early 80’s were always treacherous in winter ! Cheers Bewick.
Not those Bewick.They were only allocated to the councils as DOT agents just for Motorways.In our case they were based at Godstone,Sunbury and sometimes our depot at Ewell during the winter months then returned to the DOT for the Summer.If I heard it right the DOT based them on the Isle of Wight over the Summer.My job was mainly moving them between all the different depots as required with believe it not road maintenance gangs trained as drivers and given the best paying standby and call out snow shifting work.
While the councils ran their own fleets for non motorway roads.Mostly made up of rubbish like Leyland Boxer tippers with demount gritter units and Bedford TK gritters although to be fair in our case we also had a few great bonneted Magirus Deutz 6 wheelers based at Merrow depot near Guildford which were more or less as good as the Fodens.Like this one.
Some snaps of a few old battlers parked up in a yard I go past occasionally (see also the trucks from Australia thread). Any info on these welcome as I’m all at sea.
it must be the most comfortable mark of foden i drove , and i drove every one from an fg right through to an alpha . all the controls were where you could easily reach them and on a warm day the window ledge was just right the rest your elbow on .i haven’t driven a 12 speed for over 30 years but i can still still remember the gear sequence as if it were yesterday . dave
ParkRoyal2100:
Some snaps of a few old battlers parked up in a yard I go past occasionally (see also the trucks from Australia thread). Any info on these welcome as I’m all at sea.
It seems the pair of oldies are probably ex-Gascoyne Trading (from WA, later bought out by Wesfarmers), so they’ve done a helluva lot of hard work in their time.
Has young Callum got his 360" ticket yet 
Cheers Dennis.
Regards Chris