Watched a promo film a week or so ago showing a future looking gas turbine truck,i think it was a Merc,but turbines have been toyed with for over 50 years with Leyland,Ford,GMC,Volvo etc.thought it might make an interesting thread,anyone with any experience of them ,or drive one,or any pics or info.Here is one I found on google to start us off. 
Thanks John. Were they any good or just a problem?
Sorry shirtbox dont know much about them but I think their are a couple of lads on here who do,we will have to wait until they read the thread and then maybe we will get some info.
shirtbox2003:
Thanks John. Were they any good or just a problem?
I reckon the pic of the Castrol one would answer youre question 
hiya…they was quite fast and had no proper gearbox i believe it was a case of rev and go. i was quite young riding
shotgun when a mate was chatting with this tanker driver. i didn’t catch everything i asked my mate what was said.
the brakes was all you had to stop (yes i know thats what brakes are for) years ago drivers was used to changing down
and braking, these lorries needed to rely on brakes as the engine just run on no changing down to hold you back.
i was told they was heavy on fuel although there was no tax on aviation fuel at that time diesel was only about 24pence
a gallon i think.i’ve not seen the knowles lorry running but sat in it about 15 years ago at Flookburgh transport show
i think a chap near Carnforth owned it for a while he towed it round show grounds(with an ERF)nice to see it running
and been showed.
John
I saw the Leyland test truck once in Leeds (more like i HEARD it, it was dark and I thought hell, something has missed the runway up at the airport 
). It was nipping along quite smartly but IIRC they couldn’t make a success of it. It was reported that the fuel consumption was “poor”…very poor.
I think they fired up on diesel and when warm switched to kerosene, the fact that only oil companies tested them tells you a lot about fuel consumption.
The Marathon version was used on shunting ! duties at Jag/Rover/ Triumphs parts factory at Honeybourne nr. Evesham. pulling power was never a problem stopping with no engine braking was something else !
Trev_H:
I think they fired up on diesel and when warm switched to kerosene, the fact that only oil companies tested them tells you a lot about fuel consumption.
The Marathon version was used on shunting ! duties at Jag/Rover/ Triumphs parts factory at Honeybourne nr. Evesham. pulling power was never a problem stopping with no engine braking was something else !
You would imagine that an exhaust brake-type device could be engineered to work well. 
PS I know b. all about gas turbines, or any other parts of an aeroplane.
Don’t think an exhaust brake would have worked all that well, given that there are no valves on a gas turbine engine! In my opinion a Telma retarder would have been a better bet.
As long as the fan things in it were not stalled, IE the air next to the blades was not reduced to turbulence, I reckon it would make a good brake. It would work like a centrifugal pump in reverse. Maybe. As I said, I don’t care much for flying machines. This is as close as I have got to studying them in half a century.
The marathon was at noel penny turbines in Coventry in the early nineties and then in our car park at swifts Coventry was there for about a year and never moved , iirc speaking to to workshop at the time it ended up at unipart honeybourne , it did look a cracking motor this ones at the leyland museum not sure if it’s the same one
From the days when fuel was tuppence a gallon and our American cousins saw no reason to think the price would increase. To be fair, we didn’t expect it to be anywhere near what we pay now!
Slightly off topic but the US army’s Abrahams tank is powered by a gas turbine,as has been mentioned they are said to be very powerfull and very thirsty,also they can run on any fuel,was the Leyland the same?
Spotted this one in Lorraines lorry park in Southampton in the 80,s
dieseldog:
The marathon was at noel penny turbines in Coventry in the early nineties and then in our car park at swifts Coventry was there for about a year and never moved , iirc speaking to to workshop at the time it ended up at unipart honeybourne , it did look a cracking motor this ones at the leyland museum not sure if it’s the same one
The Marathon is in the stores of the Coventry Transport Museum - or at least it was when I took that second picture!
There was also a smaller engined gas turbine Leyland based on a Super Comet - destroyed in a fire a year or two back though
Leyland Beaver by Carricklad, on Flickr
IIRC apart from the fuel consumption issues (the vehicle turned out not nearly as light as planned) there were also transmission problems as the turbine ran at much higher rpm compared to diesel engines.
That old marathon hasn’t moved far in the last 20 years then got the pic off the net thought at least one of us at swifts might of snapped it in the yard
It would have been late 70’s early 80’s when I worked out of the Honeybourne factory and that Marathon was in there.
Retired Old â– â– â– â– :
Don’t think an exhaust brake would have worked all that well, given that there are no valves on a gas turbine engine! In my opinion a Telma retarder would have been a better bet.
I’ve used a Telma and a fine bit of kit they are, but I think things would get a bit “exciting” with the Telma just braking the drive axle on an artic.