Hill climbing: then and now

[saviem]

Ah Boris, another memory…

from Shrewsbury out towards Much Wenlock lies Harley Bank, a barrier to get over to go towards the Black Country. Sharp gradient up from the Severn Valley, hairpin bends, and a surface so smooth…

Young lad, big motor, (8ft 6in WB Foden S20, Gardner LW, 28ft Boden tandem axle, and (at least), 22tons of best Wrexham Wire. Damp November night, B…y cold, (no heater then), and full bore…quick shift down to 2nd low…and the drive axle began to spin!

Those of you …of a certain age…just can anticipate it…the “jacknife begins”" What can you do? …Everything stops…including the bouncing of the cab! …but not your Heart!!

Steady as you go…1st low…she bounces more…the angle becomes more acute…now I am halfway across the road!

Quick outof the cab, several loose timbers are behind the tandem wheels, (remember those Foden transmission handbrakes)! Back to the cab…oh Gawd, those are headlights behind me…try again…buck, buck, …this is like Pat Collins Fair!..

Suddenly aware of a white face outside…oh Gawd its the Cops!!! Everything stops now!

I open the door, “your`e in trouble son” …yes I reply…An older man, in the immaculate Shropshire Constabulary uniform, together we inspect the situation…the angle of jack knife, the timbers behind the tandem bogie…the load…and my roping with double dollies…nothing has moved.

He instructs his colleague to reverse their Wolseley down the gradient, and to get out with his torch to stop any traffic coming up hill. Then together we put a shovel or two of grit from a roadside bin in front, and behind my drive axle, and I am told to have another go at it!..and if I can get going…keep going…but stop at the Police post in Much Wenlock!!!..oh sh…,!!! Now I am in it!

Gentle on the clutch, slip,bounce, slip, boing boing…I am going…straighten up, full revs, 3/4 mph for a good mile, then we are over…we are on our way…

The village looms, Much Wenlock, under the railway bridge, the yellow lights of the Police Wolseley illuminating my trailer…what awaits■■?

Tea, toast, and a half hour with two good men who recognised that a youngster was in trouble, and was absolutely in the “mire” and helped him get out of it…was it really that much better then , did people have more time for each other??

I do not know, but it gave me real respect for those Policemen, and it was something that I never forget each time I traverse Harley Bank today.

Cheerio for now.

[dave_the_renegade]

People like those two Much Wenlock policemen restore your faith in human nature John. Excellent read.
Cheers Dave.

[albion1938]

I’ve had cause to thank the old time “proper coppers” more than once — like the Met police “black rat” who got off his Triumph bike, laid on his back under the old A40 Somerset I’d borrowed from my big brother, and showed me how to adjust the column gearchange because I kept pulling away from the lights in reverse when he was behind me! And the traffic copper who changed the wheel on my Zodiac after a blowout on the M4, because I was booted and suited on my way to a wedding. Not forgetting the time or two when I was young and had done something naughty to get a roasting and then be told " now f–k off and don’t let me catch you doing it again". I respected them for it and probably didn’t do it again. We’ll never see the likes again I’m afraid, things have changed, and not for the better.
Bernard

[flishflunk]

Here’s a hill that used to sort a few out. Even if you could take a run at it, you still had to stop at the top. Note the background, a view never to be seen again.

Same view taken recently.

And a view up the hill, courtesy Google Maps.

Ray

[gingerfold]

flishflunk:
Here’s a hill that used to sort a few out. Even if you could take a run at it, you still had to stop at the top. Note the background, a view never to be seen again.

2

Same view taken recently.

1

And a view up the hill, courtesy Google Maps.

0

Ray

Stuart Street Power Station? Now the site of the Manchester Velodrome

[flishflunk]

gingerfold:

flishflunk:
Here’s a hill that used to sort a few out. Even if you could take a run at it, you still had to stop at the top. Note the background, a view never to be seen again.

2

Same view taken recently.

1

And a view up the hill, courtesy Google Maps.

0

Ray

Stuart Street Power Station? Now the site of the Manchester Velodrome

It’s Agecroft power Station viewed from near Bolton road.

Ray

[gingerfold]

Yes of course its Agecroft. I once had a runaway down that hill with a Seddon.

[valkyrie]

OzzyHugh:
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

VALKYRIE replies:-

Ah yes…“Rover One of Britain’s Fine Cars”,to quote their great adverstiseing slogan

And this is a ROVER P4 75 CYCLOPS 4-DOOR SEDAN SALOON MOTORCAR,LDD 118,1951 :-

THE FLUCTUATING ENGINE TONE OF A LORRY GOING UP HILL.

The fluctuating engine tone of a lorry going up hill is a phenomenon that you do not usually hear these days,but it was commonplace at
one time. Was it caused by the driver pumping the accelerator pedal up and down?..in the hope of pumping more fuel in to the engine in order to make it more powerful?..or what?

I recall watching a Scammell Highwayman 4x2 Articulated Tanker Lorry of Shell-Mex British Petroleum going up a hill,and the driver
smiled at me as he changed in to a lower ratio gear
These Scammell Highwayman’s of Shell-Mex BP were usually powered by down-rated Leyland O.680 160 BHP Diesel Engines,and here is a
Corgi 97840 model of one :-

VALKYRIE

[carryfast-yeti]

i’ll never forget the sound of the Commer 2-strokes screaming up the hill where i lived from Enderby Quarry my dad worked there for Redland Aggregates,but he was an Atki. man in those days.i did get a ride in one of the Commer’s once,but by the time i got to drive for Redland,they had down-graded to Bison’s and Octopus’s.

[toshboy]

VALKYRIE:

OzzyHugh:
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

VALKYRIE replies:-

CHASE THE SUN,performed by PLANET FUNK…a great Jet Set music song-record

The charismatic Dexter Koh ought to have won!

And now it’s the turn of CBB

Ah yes…“Rover One of Britain’s Fine Cars”,to quote their great adverstiseing slogan

And this is a ROVER P4 75 CYCLOPS 4-DOOR SEDAN SALOON MOTORCAR,LDD 118,1951 :-

THE FLUCTUATING ENGINE TONE OF A LORRY GOING UP HILL.

The fluctuating engine tone of a lorry going up hill is a phenomenon that you do not usually hear these days,but it was commonplace at
one time. Was it caused by the driver pumping the accelerator pedal up and down?..in the hope of pumping more fuel in to the engine in order to make it more powerful?..or what?

I recall watching a Scammell Highwayman 4x2 Articulated Tanker Lorry of Shell-Mex British Petroleum going up a hill,and the driver
smiled at me as he changed in to a lower ratio gear
These Scammell Highwayman’s of Shell-Mex BP were usually powered by down-rated Leyland O.680 160 BHP Diesel Engines,and here is a
Corgi 97840 model of one :-

Hi VALKRYE–possibly the governers cutting in and out on the mechanical pumps of those days??–toshboy

VALKYRIE

Hi

[bassman]

Hi Saviem
I enjoyed your tale of two " proper policemen" helping you out and then administering some home comforts. I think our generation had more respect for the boy’s in blue simply because they seemed to have more respect for us.
I would think most drivers have a story to tell about the police , good or bad. One tale can relate is of two of us in the early hours running back to depot loaded on the A46 past Swinderby . Nothing about (or so we thought) and we are letting them run, we went past the old deserted garage opposite the airfield and there he was ,not for long cos he comes after us and pulls us where the B&B used to be . I was running as rear gunner and he told me to sit in the cab and wait ,he then proceeded to check everything that was checkable on my mates truck plus of course logbooks. This was when we were using the books with the weekly sheets at the back of the book --remember them?–he told my mate not to move away until he said so and came to me and went through the same procedure. Altogether this must have taken the best part of an hour. At the end of this rigmarole he said to the two of us “you know that I know you were speeding, now you know that you haven’t gained anything by doing so, so on your way now but at 40 mph, bye lads”.
He had us dead to rights but he used what I would call “common sense” and I always after that made sure I WAS the only thing on the road on his patch before I let the truck run.
A Good Copper,and I’m sure there are still some about.

Cheers Bassman