think it was an old showmans Scammell . anyhow i saw it yesterday on the A12 going north pulling a similar truck on a trailer-likely going to a show . What struck me was the really loud drone of its engine- id guess it was doing 40 mph flat out
surely nobody back in the day could have enjoyed driving day in day out for years in such a truck.
lol you had to listen to the engines back in the day with crash boxes there was no way you get change gear without marrying up the speed and revs of the engine
sure they were noisy but i never heard anyone complain about the noise as it was just part of the job double clutch kicking the engine to get the revs up was normal driving even the automatics do it but much quieter if you listen to it when it goes from low to high range or back down again you will hear it rev a little then change range
Twas an art driving them,better trucks now but not as much fun learning how to get the best out of a truck by driver skills.lots of interesting features like aircon(hole in floor 
) adjustable mirrors (lengthen/shorten string) etc 
ALL best left in the past now 
ah yes you must be talking about the good old days. Back when lorries were drafty, slow, uneconomical, noisy, uncomfortable, tiny and worst of all, manual!
if you were really lucky back then you’d work for a creme de la creme company that would let you drive such a dream machine for days on end, none of this tacho nonsense.
i never drove in the “glory days” and i thank my lucky stars regular 
maga:
ah yes you must be talking about the good old days. Back when lorries were drafty, slow, uneconomical, noisy, uncomfortable, tiny and worst of all, manual!if you were really lucky back then you’d work for a creme de la creme company that would let you drive such a dream machine for days on end, none of this tacho nonsense.
i never drove in the “glory days” and i thank my lucky stars regular
Ah bless, a “Today” trucker with all your mod cons auto h this,electric that, everyone else making you decisions etc.(just joshing u)us old buggers got lost sometimes,but had a good life on the road,and when all said an done paved the way for you guys.
We old sods deserve your accolades and hero worship cos we set tbe
standards.after us the only way was up
only way was up
An a thin bit of rag tied to the arm to keep the mirrors clear, and no bloody power steering either!! And wot was a night heater? 
loved it
raymundo:
An a thin bit of rag tied to the arm to keep the mirrors clear, and no bloody power steering either!! And wot was a night heater?
■■■■ night heater, wot wos a day 'eater Lots of whining noise might have been straight cut gears or diffs. The old Albions used to like killing a diff.
it was something like this,only a navy blue colour, in fact there were 3 of them in convoy . the 1st one had the 2nd on a trailer
i was on the opposite carriageway and the impressively awful din /drone/bellow coming off the no.1 driving flat out was similar to several low tone car horns pressed continually
im sure the driver must have look shell shocked at journeys end
gezt:
Twas an art driving them,better trucks now but not as much fun learning how to get the best out of a truck by DRIVER SKILLS
ALL best left in the past now
At least then if you were incapable of acquiring those skills you never got to be a driver, where as today any limp ■■■■ whit is able to drive a modern truck, just look at some of the stars today that THINK they are drivers just because they hold a licence, you see them every day 
Does anybody remember the morning chorus on lorry parks (in the days when parking was actually provided for you) of Gardener engines in ERFs Atkis and Fodens taking about 3 to 4 minutes for the starter motor to turn the engine over, followed by the thick blanket of fog caused by the exhaust fumes, that always managed to get in your cab.
You had to get out of your bed then to avoid being gassed by carbon monoxide, I say ‘bed’ I mean the board across the seats with a bit of foam mattress 
, but could not set off until you scraped the ice off the INSIDE of the windscreen 
Good days but wouldn’t want to go back to all that, even though it WAS a better job then in most other ways, and the only ‘Agencies’ in transport then was what you used to get diesel, and nothing to do with any parasitical activities towards drivers.
The droning was probably a combination of engine noise diff and gearbox, there was no emission laws or limits to noise levels most trucks only had one silencer on the exhaust and no soundproofing of the engine bay, I can remember the smoke test which involved a
Couple of stout revs of the engine with the tester assessing if the cloud of fumes was excessive or not.
For the most part old trucks were crap
the droning noise was probley the two old lags driving it going on to each other about how great it was in the old days scraping ice of the windscreen fighting up shap in a snow storm no power steering night heaters or beds and how all these young uns dont know they are born there just glorified steering wheel minders !
and im just having a jest no offence meant
Latique:
the droning noise was probley the two old lags driving it going on to each other about how great it was in the old days scraping ice of the windscreen fighting up shap in a snow storm no power steering night heaters or beds and how all these young uns dont know they are born there just glorified steering wheel minders !and im just having a jest no offence meant
You’re probably right mate, sorry if you mean me 
, I’m only a (youthful) 56 though, so I’m too young for the snow up Shap bit.
robroy:
Latique:
the droning noise was probley the two old lags driving it going on to each other about how great it was in the old days scraping ice of the windscreen fighting up shap in a snow storm no power steering night heaters or beds and how all these young uns dont know they are born there just glorified steering wheel minders !and im just having a jest no offence meant
youve taken it as its meant mate tounge in cheek levity lol
Remember when "air con"on an AEC was window dropped down (no winder) and the windscreen was on hinges so it could opened up to get air in.
You knew when you where at full throttle when the gear stick started to shake and rattle
robroy:
Does anybody remember the morning chorus on lorry parks (in the days when parking was actually provided for you) of Gardener engines in ERFs Atkis and Fodens taking about 3 to 4 minutes for the starter motor to turn the engine over, followed by the thick blanket of fog caused by the exhaust fumes, that always managed to get in your cab.
You had to get out of your bed then to avoid being gassed by carbon monoxide, I say ‘bed’ I mean the board across the seats with a bit of foam mattress
Aye it was a better job and wee were a lot happier in those days simply because there was not as much pressure on you. Eddie.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the bonfire you had to light under the engine in order to try and thin out the oil and to de-wax the diesel so that you could start/turn over the engine when parked up at shap in the middle of winter… 
Hiya how about this Stoke to Glasgow 32 mph in 1967
Tideswells,as well known on the roads. they did whey from Devon up to Glasgow with wooden Barrels
they run a fleet of these 8 leggers until the plateing (MOT) of lorries was introduced in 1969.
Tidesewell,s still have this lorry in show condition today along with one 4 wheeler(ex Bowaters)
that was one of Tideswells drivers trying out the old lorry. many on TN will know him from Ro Kold
Hiya it isn’t as we were idiots to drive these lorries there nothing else to drive. the uk used wood and aluminium
to build cabs because there was a shortage of steel due to the war…then fibre glass took over well into the 70,s.
John
You forgot the boiler suits and bib n brace…lol but always a polished pair of boots…then there was the scraping of your shins as they ran across the wheel trip during wet weather and whilst on that subject, in winter dragging ropes through the wet slush, and rolling up frozen sheets, where even today your fingers tips split in cold weather due to this practice…okay i`ll carry on, night out money was paid before you went, and there was enough to pay for a few beers and some fish and chips before going to your digs where we slept sometiumes 4/5 to a room, in bug infested pits with matresses made of straw or horsehair…ah the good ol days !!