Hill climbing: then and now

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
1

With a day planned at home doing a few jobs, last night was one of the very rare occasions that I partook of a few pints down the pub.

Sitting in the beer garden of the Bull on Linton Hill, facing the road, it was possible to see the tops of the late evening farm collection lorries from Coolchain, Freshlink,Solstor etc and the later night-market lorries from Staplehurst Transits which all hardly seemed to notice the gradient.

A far cry indeed from times gone by when Alan Firmin’s Mandators, Mercuries and Mammoth Majors, which admittedly were hampered by a standing start from Redwall Lane, and Mitchell and Robertson’s Leylands and Scammells from another couple of miles down the road, all growled their way up the hill at a snail’s pace to the accompaniment of many decibels and a certain aroma, on their way to the London Markets or to destinations further afield.

2

cav551:
With a day planned at home doing a few jobs, last night was one of the very rare occasions that I partook of a few pints down the pub.

Sitting in the beer garden of the Bull on Linton Hill, facing the road, it was possible to see the tops of the late evening farm collection lorries from Coolchain, Freshlink,Solstor etc and the later night-market lorries from Staplehurst Transits which all hardly seemed to notice the gradient.

A far cry indeed from times gone by when Alan Firmin’s Mandators, Mercuries and Mammoth Majors, which admittedly were hampered by a standing start from Redwall Lane, and Mitchell and Robertson’s Leylands and Scammells from another couple of miles down the road, all growled their way up the hill at a snail’s pace to the accompaniment of many decibels and a certain aroma, on their way to the London Markets or to destinations further afield.

Ah! The Bull at Linton. It must be near on Fifty years since I had a Beer in there, a lovely old Pub it was in those days, it’s most probably a yuppie Pub now. Is the Style Bridge still on the go ? And does Pat Riley frequent the Pub these days I wonder.

3

Evening all, Archie, great memories, and they stimulate the little “grey cells”.

So there I am, coming down the slope, (and it was steep), from my Uncles yard at the farm on the hill opposite the Long Myndd at Church Stretton. Unsurfaced of course, and at the bottom we splashed across a little ford, (not so little in the winter)!

Down the grade in second, (Foden S18 4x2, Gardner 4 pot, …did Sandbach ever fit brakes, (or where they an inafordable option)■■?

Start the hill up to the road, two decks of prime Shropshire Mutton eased their weight to the rear…drivers window open, soft summer air blowing , (my goodness I did once have hair)!!! Switch on the (dim, oh so dim), headlights, as she crawled up the gradient…ahead something flashed…and then again…what the hell…

I could not dare to stop, let alone ease back, on that gradient it would be suicide, the brakes would never hold! Full bore, eyes straining ahead, headlights on main beam, flash, flash, …what is it?..there is something there, and its blocking my exit out onto the 10foot wide main road to Hope Bowdler!!

Suddenly the flash of red lights, ye Gods its a Sunbeam Rapier convertible…and inside the open car are two…as nature intended, people…naked as can be…the result of too much Ale in the Sandford…or just unbridled passion…I could not care…for they were in my way, and two decks of Mutton and the dead weight of that old Foden were more than Mr Claytons hydraulic braking system, or Mr Gardners few 4 cylinder horse power could contend with! GET OUT OF MY WAY , was all I could shout, along with the Soprano beep of Mr Lucas`s feeble horn!

And get out of my way they did…straight across the lane, into the opposite hedge, and I think through it!!

But by then, this highly relieved, and very young man, was well on his way to Shrewsbury…and the following morning my cousin earned 10 shillings for pulling the local Doctors Rapier out of the hedge bank…where it had skidded, “as he swerved to avoid a Rabbit”!!!..I could never , ever, go to see the Doctor without a very big smile on my face…and I could easily recognise the “stuck up face” of his receptionist…for I had seen it, (and substantially more), from the illumination of those "Prince of Darkness " headlights that night.

I always loved climbing hills…you could never anticipate what you just might see!!

Cheerio for now…I`m away to the Bollinger, that lass must be at least 80 now…wonder if I could recognise her now!!!.

4

Saviem:
Evening all, Archie, great memories, and they stimulate the little “grey cells”.

So there I am, coming down the slope, (and it was steep), from my Uncles yard at the farm on the hill opposite the Long Myndd at Church Stretton. Unsurfaced of course, and at the bottom we splashed across a little ford, (not so little in the winter)!

Down the grade in second, (Foden S18 4x2, Gardner 4 pot, …did Sandbach ever fit brakes, (or where they an inafordable option)■■?

Start the hill up to the road, two decks of prime Shropshire Mutton eased their weight to the rear…drivers window open, soft summer air blowing , (my goodness I did once have hair)!!! Switch on the (dim, oh so dim), headlights, as she crawled up the gradient…ahead something flashed…and then again…what the hell…

I could not dare to stop, let alone ease back, on that gradient it would be suicide, the brakes would never hold! Full bore, eyes straining ahead, headlights on main beam, flash, flash, …what is it?..there is something there, and its blocking my exit out onto the 10foot wide main road to Hope Bowdler!!

Suddenly the flash of red lights, ye Gods its a Sunbeam Rapier convertible…and inside the open car are two…as nature intended, people…naked as can be…the result of too much Ale in the Sandford…or just unbridled passion…I could not care…for they were in my way, and two decks of Mutton and the dead weight of that old Foden were more than Mr Claytons hydraulic braking system, or Mr Gardners few 4 cylinder horse power could contend with! GET OUT OF MY WAY , was all I could shout, along with the Soprano beep of Mr Lucas`s feeble horn!

And get out of my way they did…straight across the lane, into the opposite hedge, and I think through it!!

But by then, this highly relieved, and very young man, was well on his way to Shrewsbury…and the following morning my cousin earned 10 shillings for pulling the local Doctors Rapier out of the hedge bank…where it had skidded, “as he swerved to avoid a Rabbit”!!!..I could never , ever, go to see the Doctor without a very big smile on my face…and I could easily recognise the “stuck up face” of his receptionist…for I had seen it, (and substantially more), from the illumination of those "Prince of Darkness " headlights that night.

I always loved climbing hills…you could never anticipate what you just might see!!

Cheerio for now…I`m away to the Bollinger, that lass must be at least 80 now…wonder if I could recognise her now!!!.

Houseman had the Shropshire people summed up John ! :wink:
Cheers Dave.

5

Ah Dave, you are right, remember his, “Steeple of Hughley Church”…she never had one!! What a writer…
Cheerio for now.

6

As a youngster I would often go and wait by the roadside of our local steep hill to watch and listen as the lorries climbed the hill!! It was always more exciting when a driver “missed a gear” trying to do a quick change down the box. How sad was I? But a can still see and hear those distinctive lorries and sounds. Ah the Foden Two-Strokes of J.W. Whewell of Radcliffe.

7

Saviem:
Evening all, Archie, great memories, and they stimulate the little “grey cells”.

So there I am, coming down the slope, (and it was steep), from my Uncles yard at the farm on the hill opposite the Long Myndd at Church Stretton. Unsurfaced of course, and at the bottom we splashed across a little ford, (not so little in the winter)!

Down the grade in second, (Foden S18 4x2, Gardner 4 pot, …did Sandbach ever fit brakes, (or where they an inafordable option)■■?

Start the hill up to the road, two decks of prime Shropshire Mutton eased their weight to the rear…drivers window open, soft summer air blowing , (my goodness I did once have hair)!!! Switch on the (dim, oh so dim), headlights, as she crawled up the gradient…ahead something flashed…and then again…what the hell…

I could not dare to stop, let alone ease back, on that gradient it would be suicide, the brakes would never hold! Full bore, eyes straining ahead, headlights on main beam, flash, flash, …what is it?..there is something there, and its blocking my exit out onto the 10foot wide main road to Hope Bowdler!!

Suddenly the flash of red lights, ye Gods its a Sunbeam Rapier convertible…and inside the open car are two…as nature intended, people…naked as can be…the result of too much Ale in the Sandford…or just unbridled passion…I could not care…for they were in my way, and two decks of Mutton and the dead weight of that old Foden were more than Mr Claytons hydraulic braking system, or Mr Gardners few 4 cylinder horse power could contend with! GET OUT OF MY WAY , was all I could shout, along with the Soprano beep of Mr Lucas`s feeble horn!

And get out of my way they did…straight across the lane, into the opposite hedge, and I think through it!!

But by then, this highly relieved, and very young man, was well on his way to Shrewsbury…and the following morning my cousin earned 10 shillings for pulling the local Doctors Rapier out of the hedge bank…where it had skidded, “as he swerved to avoid a Rabbit”!!!..I could never , ever, go to see the Doctor without a very big smile on my face…and I could easily recognise the “stuck up face” of his receptionist…for I had seen it, (and substantially more), from the illumination of those "Prince of Darkness " headlights that night.

I always loved climbing hills…you could never anticipate what you just might see!!

Cheerio for now…I`m away to the Bollinger, that lass must be at least 80 now…wonder if I could recognise her now!!!.

A wonderful tale Saviem. Not connected wih a hill of such, but in my time with Mothers Pride bakeries as a junior manager back in the early '70s I was based at a particular bakery and in those days bread was packed on wire trays, not plastic baskets as today. Also the weekly trading pattern was different, with no Sunday trading, so production used to build up for the big sales day of Saturday. By every Friday morning the tray situation was always critical to keep the packing lines going, so we used to scour the entire site to find trays. This meant going looking in the backs of spare bread vans, such as those VOR for servicing etc. At about 7.00 am one Friday I opened the back door of a spare bread van only to find the canteen manageress and the garage foreman hard at it! Needless to say I didn’t bother about the trays!. A few weeks later the foreman had a heart attack. After that I always got large portions in the canteen. And a coy look from the manageress, who ran the canteen with her three sisters and rumour had it they all had different fathers.

8

Hey CAV551

How time (and technology) changes - I lived near Linton Hill and well remember a hairy trip down Linton Hill past The Bull, which I often visited.

In the late '60’s , My pride and joy was a Rover car not a truck , the Rover "75 model " I think it was - a heavy, solid tank of a car, all leather and wood finish - the model with a single spotlight in the centre of the radiator.
I picked up the new girlfriend in Maidstone on my first trip in the car - off to Hastings - at the top of Linton Hill I turned the freewheel knob under the dashboard for the first time, it seemed to disengage the drive to the propshaft. The engine revs dropped, an eerie silence took over, the heavy car gained speed and hurtled down the hill, ever going faster, the wind noise increasing dramatically - I managed to negotiate the bend just lower than The Bull, just bulleted past two Alan Firmin trucks grinding up the hill, I managed to fight the steering and stay on the road and was standing on the brake pedal, all to no avail - the drum brakes were not having any effect at slowing such a heavy car and it was almost The Stilebridge before I managed to stop, get out of the car to steady my nerves.

Strangely, the new girlfriend was impressed with my driving and thought I was driving quite normally ! I ended up marrying her of course.

Last month, on a trip over to UK, I again went down the hill in a brand new VW Golf turbo diesel and the braking was completely different on our trip to the coast, coming back up, she didn’t labour at all.

Happy memories

9

nothing really too exciting , just memories of struggling up mam tor with a fully loaded bedford s type . up round the hairpin with the revs dying fast , reach over and pull the cold start and she would just limp over the steep bit , timing was everything . at least the old fodens had a crawler gear , very slow but they would climb any hill . i think how easy modern drivers have it , where we plodded up the hills at 15 mph , they sail up in their superspacethingies at 30mph with the auto box changing up , but they will never aqquire the skill of getting the best out of their lorry , not that they need to , very sad .cheers , dave

10

Standedge (before M62 days) plodding up there, once you got baulked that was it, just sit back and enjoy the ride. I always got a buzz out of listening to a 2 stroke Foden, pulling hard with the bit between it’s teeth and the SKILLED driver changing smoothly.
Happy days.

11

The best lorry sound of all to my mind, and one of the earliest I can remember as a nipper out with my dad or big brother – a petrol, crash box Bedford O type working hard in 2nd or 3rd on a hill — melodious!
Bernard

12

My memories of hill climbing were on Fish hill out of Broadway and Warmington hill on the Banbury road, as a fitter I changed many a broken half shaft on those.

13

Ahhh, the hills. I remember the going up and the comimg down, coming down could be quite interesting when you dropped the Atki into silent 9th and it felt like being back in your childhood running down hills in a home made trolley and not having the ability to stop. The going ups, I remeber following a commer up hill near the Motormans on Stanage and the bloody thing seemed to explode, sparks and black smoke, I later found out that these old 3 potters had a habit of doing that now and again. Modern motors seem to take hills in their stride. I remeber the first 110 I got with a split shift box, no one could out pull it on hills except if it was from a standing start. I remeber being at Bridon wire loaded to the gills and trying to set off at the lights at the top of the hill. I could not get crawler so we had to stop the traffic so that I could have a run at it, very embarrasing at the time.

14

Hi Saviem love the tale you told and I have memories of climbing hills, as I told before to you about the little F86 ex Goodson lighting I bought from Hartshorne and the same motor that you sold to him new ( small world ) aint it, I used to call it my naturist motor and was asked why one day, I replied that I watched a rabbit mating while at the bottom of a hill and by the time I had reached the summit the litter was born an exaggeration I know but it felt like it at the time but then I did my initial training in a GUY Big J 180 Gardner six speed Brown box out of Cornwall, and no bypasses in them far away times, three hours to Exeter if all went well which was equally painful in the day.The yunguns of today who get straight into the modern trucks don’t know there born but in hindsight don’t think any of us would changed a thing about our past and just remember how it was, cheers Buzzer.

15

Carlc:
Ahhh, the hills. I remember the going up and the comimg down, coming down could be quite interesting when you dropped the Atki into silent 9th and it felt like being back in your childhood running down hills in a home made trolley and not having the ability to stop. The going ups, I remeber following a commer up hill near the Motormans on Stanage and the bloody thing seemed to explode, sparks and black smoke, I later found out that these old 3 potters had a habit of doing that now and again. Modern motors seem to take hills in their stride. I remeber the first 110 I got with a split shift box, no one could out pull it on hills except if it was from a standing start. I remeber being at Bridon wire loaded to the gills and trying to set off at the lights at the top of the hill. I could not get crawler so we had to stop the traffic so that I could have a run at it, very embarrasing at the time.

Aye, they used to de-coke themselves. It happened to me one dark winters night pulling up the Brecon Becons, bloody terrified me (I was only a young fella, just learning). I got back and told old Fred Chappell, (it was his Commer) he just laughed, it seemed the secret was if they started to de-coke keep em flat out, it did em the world of good. :laughing:

16

I can remember regularly coming up Glynneath pitch A465 in 1969 with a Bedford TK loaded with just under 10 ton of bulk slag and only a 4 speed gearbox. It was a long drag to the Storey Arms on top of Brecon Beacons.
Hard work with a small under powered lorry.
Cheers Dave.

17

Worst thing about the Commers de-coking was that ours had the exhaust exiting on the nearside under the front bumper and would easily set fire to grass verges.
Strangely I was on our local train station Saturday night when a steam train (Earl of Mount Edgcumbe) came through showering everybody with sparks and soot which reminded me of the old Commers.

18

To answer a couple of question about Linton, the hill and the local pubs.

Sunday night would be approximately 30 to 35 years since I set foot in the Bull at Linton. Then would probably have been with a mate and our respective girlfriends, later to be wives with his Anglia as our transport. It would have been a quiet evening, a number of draught Guinness, some Pork cratchings and a couple of games of bar billiards in the Public. To be honest it wasn’t a regular haunt, but the Stile Bridge most certainly was. Whether you can now call it a yuppie pub or not I can’t really say (especially as my daughter works there part time). But it has most definitely changed a lot - no bar billiards table to be seen. The bar has moved and like most village pubs that want to survive, food is the main occupation along with the live summertime entertainment. The beer garden has expanded enormously and the place is packed with families.

The Stile Bridge Inn has changed massively. Now painted bright blue outside, Jeff’s Spitfire mural was painted over long ago and is now hidden behind paneling, if my last (and it will be the last) visit is remembered correctly. The place seems to attract the better- off clientele now, so if you want a quiet drink the West End at Marden is probably the place since the Milebush closed down. But that has changed too, Tut is no longer behind the bar and the sawdust has long gone from the floor. The last time I saw Jeff he was a shadow of his former self,working on agency in Tesco Snodalnd.

I too had an exciting adventure on Linton Hill round about 1970. It had been raining earlier and unusually at dinnertime I had gone back to Mum’s for a bite to eat and was on my way back to Wares Farm in my Austin 1100. Coming up the hill was a Halls ? Albion Mixer ( it was orange so I guess that’s who it belonged to), since he needed to pull out round a parked car, I flashed him to keep going and braked. The next thing I knew I was heading rapidly across the road, under the nose of the lorry, and backwards straight into the Bull carpark. The lorry stopped dead.

I must have seemed a bit shaken up when I got back to work since Roger Turk and Bob Benstead kept asking me if I was OK. …… I never said a word about what had happened!

One other incident on the hill. Olly Holloway drove Firmin’s Guy Invincible at the time. Since it was the only ■■■■■■■ powered lorry in the fleet you could tell who was coming from quite some distance. On this day my mate Kevin Butcher came into the canteen chuckling to himself, he and “three thumb Fred” Zala were off to rescue Olly who had broken a half shaft about two lorry lengths down from the Bull.

Finally there was a bit more of a hold up than usual in Maidstone one Friday evening rush hour. Firmins ran Blue Cap canned goods from New rd Ditton to store in Pattenden Lane, there would be several lorries on this all day long every day. Before the second bridge was built in the town everything had to go over the one bridge so the Broadway (west of the river) was normally pretty chocka. One of the Mk5 Mammoth Majors decided to break down just short of the bridge. The only vehicle available to tow it in was AF 57, a tin front Mk3 8 legger, which was also fully loaded. Progress up Stone Street, the Loose rd and Linton rd (uphill almost all the way for about six miles) at something between 44 and 48tons was somewhat slow according to Bob.

19

Trev_H:
My memories of hill climbing were on Fish hill out of Broadway and Warmington hill on the Banbury road, as a fitter I changed many a broken half shaft on those.

HI Trev. ah yes Warmington has awoken the memory box .in crawler and counting the wheel studs out of the window.and glad to pull in at the cafe on the right just above it .choice was via Coventry from Stonebridge to Banbury for 12 ton loads or use Warmington for 10 ton max ,–happy days !!—toshboy

20

Boot hill - watford gap memories & sounds of those 180 gardners booming up there , you could count the revolutions of the wheels - seems unbelievable now