Eddie Heaton:
0
John
which SERIES had the clutch assist button on the gear stick, I do vaguely remember it, another feat of driving doing more than 3 tasks at once, clutch in . ,press button assist button on gear stick select gear without looking , watch traffic, ■■■ in hand ,change gear ,listen out of the open window .no modular for that task.
deckboypeggy:
which SERIES had the clutch assist button on the gear stick, I do vaguely remember it, another feat of driving doing more than 3 tasks at once, clutch in . ,press button assist button on gear stick select gear without looking , watch traffic, ■■■ in hand ,change gear ,listen out of the open window .no modular for that task.
Evening all,
Ah DBP, a man after my own heart, as is ROF, window down, just enjoy the noise…that third button…clutch brake on a Big J, only a man who had supped copious quantities of Banks`s Mild the night before, and was suffering the consequences on a wet and cold winters morning in downtown Fallings Park could possibly have devised a more fiendish non operator friendly device…then put it inside a steel pig pen that only a non porcine could inhabit! Did anyone from the exotic sub tropical Coventry works of Motor Panels ever, ever drive a lorry■■? Let alone devising a gear linkage that could savage any innocent persons left leg with ease…no wonder we drove with the window down…the wiring loom may break loose and throttle us!!! Heaven only knows what lurked within the deep dark depth of those “glove boxes” on either side of the sparse instrument display…The ultimate “Gaffers motor”, those Big Js…but by gum they were fun to drive…especially with the AEC box…by the time the old ■■■■■■■ had died down, and it was time for second…the B…, had stopped…but then with a Fuller, it was a different thing…like a rorty, torty, racing car…and a great soundtrack!!!
As was the 10 speed Fuller behind a 205 ■■■■■■■ in a Borderer…but if you drove a 6.500 Brown…Oh dear…
Then the same box in a Seddon with a Rolls, what a goer, but why could not Oldham`s sons devise a throttle linkage that did not surge…however good the driver, that throttle , (and its soundtrack), shouted cowboy! But it was a good try…for Seddon!
But I loved the soundtrack of my Gardner Fodens, that 12 speed could make any engine sound great…even a 150 Gardner…but when I graduated to a .680 Leyland S39…no one could touch me, that Leyland whine, and all that power…and that box, boy, did I show Johnnie Foreigner the way home up his mountains…and the window was always open…those plastic Foden cabs did stink when you got the old girl wound up…oh and the hubs did not like big miles at over 55 mph…Good try Sanbach…no wonder Roy, and Don, ( Richardson), bought a bun load very cheap…and sold them on cheap (ish)!..The only Foden that I drove to Sicily…that made it seem a long way home!!!
But the wonderful 240 8 potter, why was such a creamy engine saddled with possibly the worst Gearbox made by David Brown…that B awful Range device…its screaming made even the Leyland axle whine seem quiet. But with a 9 speed Fuller, those short bursts of revs sounded so heavenly, and cross the ground speed was deceptive, they were quick…and economic.
Similar soundtrack from the Deutz designed Willeme straight 8, but rare in a highway machine. I drove one once in the south of France, transplanted into an Horizon cab LD, and with a .680 ZF splitter box wow, what a nice lorry. But we go back to Fuller for the best soundtrack…try a big Detroit, especially a 5 and a quarter…(525 hp), as fitted , (retro), to many of Louis Willemes 8x4 200 tonners, let alone the 8x8s. Operators used to rip out the Clark Autos, because a good driver, could handle a Fuller/Detroit combination far better, the rapid die down defeated the autos, but not a good driver…
And weren’t we all, just that…no wonder we drove with the window down!
Oh, I think that the picture is Ellesmere Port.overlooking Telfords Canal Warehouses in front of the Big Js, …but Im probably wrong!
Cheerio for now.
I spent many an hour teaching our ex-David Brown drivers how to drive the AEC/Thorneycroft six speed in the 205 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Big Js when they entered the fleet. They had all complained that the AEC box was “Even slower that a Brown” but as I pointed out, all you had to do was thump the clutch down hard to bring in the air-operated clutch brake. Can’t remember how I found out about it myself- could have been in a pub somewhere!
Later in my chequered career it my pleasure to drive the Big J fitted with the 10-speed Fuller. I found the button-operated clutch brake was easier than slamming the pedal to the floor. Plus, you could make really fast, clutchless gear changes, ideal when you had an over weight low loader on a long hill!
Ahh ,
SAVIEM thank god I have found a fellow driver who does know what I meant, and SURGE what a wonderful word sometimes at traffic lights it would want to stop,the engine as if it wanted to catch its breath, then blow again ,and the old cab would rock with it, and sway, as if to say, old tight ill be away again,
, strange as it is" Surge" was a word used on the ships, ie, when tying up at a dock the ropes would be on the shore bollard and the other end [ships end ] would be on the drum of a winch [aft] or the capstans on the foculs’s head and you would have 4 turns around the drum steadly heaving the ship to the quay, suddenly the MATE OR BOSUN would shout SURGE=THROW ONE TURN OFF THE DRUM AND WITH YOUR HAND HOLD THE ROPE ON THE DRUM AGAINST PULLING ,so the drum turns around without doing anything, as maybe you were going in to fast… sorry got that of my chest…
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ps we used to take delight in going up and down the straight 6 DAVID BROWN in the crusader 220rolls eagle, all by ear .magic what your ears can do , even gave me TINITUS ON A LARGE SCALE RIGHT EAR.MY LEFT EAR IS TRYING TO COMPETE AS WELL. MUST BE A AIR LEAK SOMWHERE…
DBP- BOTH my ears are a bit knackered- the result of 40 years with an open window on one side and a load of screaming horses on the other, I reckon.
a BIT knackered ? i pulled in newark cattle market one evening just before i finished distance work , the erf wouldn’t go , brakes were locking on . eventually our fitter turned up and fired the engine up . he said the air is ■■■■■■■ out of the air dryer and i couldn’t hear it . i kept soldiering on and eventually had to get my ears checked and surprise surprise i only had 30% hearing in both ears all in the lower register , about 5% in the upper . hence the nice matching pair of hearing aids .i blame the michelotti scammel with a 680 leyland i drove for a while , the noise level was unbelievable . dave
Yes , I think we all are paying a price for the years of up the road it is a wonder all our old knees are not messed up,i remember having to nearly stand up when on a roundabout or sharp turning especially in the old cattle truck.
A NEW MANDATOR came in to the yard and we were all saying ORR -uck that, that bloody power steering, you will be all over the place , what about when its wet you will loose control etc, it was knew. like a light down the side of a 33ft trailer mega .
Hello Eddie, I thought that I would bump up this thread as you said “I’ve spent a pleasant afternoon riding the rails”. Well I have spent half of the bloody week trawling through old photos of Ellesmere Port and scanning Google Earth trying to work out where that photo was taken to no avail and it’s now sending me off the rails. Somebody on here must recognise the place like I did when I first saw it but trying to put a name to it is a different story. For some reason, I don’t think that the white building in the background is a Marks and Spencers and I have a feeling that the shop sold Silver Cross prams and bicycles at one time. Apart from loading or tipping at places on Oil Sites Road like I.C.I. Castrol and Air Products the only place I can remember tipping in the town was at the Rakkasan disinfectant works next to the canal which there is no sign of now on Google Earth. I don’t think that I ever parked up there overnight so there is a good chance of it being in the North West with a transport café being nearby. If it’s not Ellesmere Port then my guesses are Birkenhead, Widnes and Runcorn, the truth is out there somewhere so put your thinking caps on. 
Regards Steve.
Thanks for your input Steve, it would appear you’ve been to a great deal of trouble on my account and I appreciate that fact.
I have no real evidence that the photo was taken in the north west, in fact the registrations on both vehicles appear to suggest the South east would be a more likely location.
It’s just that it seems ’ northern ', especially on the original photo, which I no longer have, coupled to the fact that this photo turned up in a batch, presumably by the same photographer, the rest of which were clearly identifiable as having been taken in the north west.
Ellesmere Port was purely a guess on my part based on its proximity to the refineries at Stanlow.
The fact is, it’s somewhere, it doesn’t really matter where, but these wagons were driven by someone who would recognise them instantly if they saw them.
More to the point, the ■■■■ thing’s got under my skin now and it’s rapidly turning into an obsession.
Thanks again for your help.
Cheers. Eddie.
I’ve only just noticed this topic, but I am a (very) long time resident of Ellesmere Port so I’ll chuck in a couple of observations.
The bottom end of Ellesmere Port has undergone massive changes and rebuilding since the OP’s pic was taken, so that’s why Google Earth isn’t really going to be of much help.
I’m discounting the idea that the tankers are parked out in front of what used to be the Manchester Ship Canal’s office building, because I can’t remember any buildings behind where the trucks used to park.
If the pic was taken in Ellesmere Port, my guesses would be that the tankers were either at the back of the long gone Buffs (RAOB) club, or they were parked in Meadow Lane.
TBH, I’m not convinced the pic was taken in Ellesmere Port because I don’t recognise any of the background features.
The café by Cheshire Oaks was I think by where Wainwright’s yard used to be (now a Mazda/Lexus) dealership and there’s a Harley Davidson place there.
Looking at the original picture, surely that’s where DSM Resins used to be on Cromwell Road, the terraced houses give it away I think? I suppose it’s possible it could be Meadows Lane, but I’ll stick with Cromwell Road.