Wow!
An AEC ‘Topliner’.
The driver of that must have been the envy of his firm, or at that time…the country’s trampers.
There were some on FB probably new drivers slating that Mammoth Minor they obviously had never been in the other British offerings of the time
Yep as I’ve said before, new drivers today don’t know they are born in terms of truck quality.
They now get a Megagiggspacetoplinereurotrotter to do day runs to Tesco today, in the old days you appreciated it vastly if you were lucky to have a bunk in the cab as a tramper 
Did you bring it back? 
And an early one at that. That and a stiff breeze - no thanks.
It’s front-wheel drive, obviously 
Yes, but only because I had used my last match lighting the stove to make tea 
. After that trip I had a policy of always refusing to take a day cab abroad.
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Can anyone do anything with the photos to make them of more use.An old Foden i saw this morning on my travels
Top trumps here.
At least you had a big old box van to sleep in, I was stuck with a TK flatbed …(I often slept under the sheet made into a tent on top of load in summer.)
I don’t know about that! It was an artic box trailer, not a rigid, and the load took up all the space. I slept on a parcel shelf behind the seats: super narrow - never again!
Outside Ashbourne?
Yep that’s right taken this morning.
Yeah I spent many a night on that (4’ 6’‘? )parcel shelf, at 6’ 1’'…not great.
Could it be front driven?
I don’t know the answer about transmission on that vehicle, but can imagine some solutions to keep it rear drive.
A straight propshaft under the load deck could be driven from a conventional gearbox by using Using a series of transfer gears. Think of a simple gear wheel on the end of the gearbox and another on the drive shaft and mount one above the other. Same ar rear to get the drive up higher again. Enclosed in a casing of course.
To keep the gear wheel diameter smaller use a series of them and encase all in a casing.
Similarly two chain wheels and a chain drive at each end.
Using multiple prop shafts looks like at would need too steep an angle. Links with bevel drives might be possible but more complicated (expensive)
Also possible to use chain drive, or hydrulic pipes. I hesitate to suggest elctric though as I don’t want to induce any heart attacks. Possibloe but not likely at that time I would have thought.
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I was half-joking earlier about FWD, but it’s possible.
Assuming it’s a Mk3 Mammoth Major (I’m not very good at older wagons), all the photos I’ve seen of them suggest to me that this was either a conversion or a special build (the wheelbase alone is odd). In either case, who would’ve built it?
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I think I’ve discovered what this is: it’s the AEC Crocodile 18-tonner. From the December 1935 edition of Commercial Motor,
…one of three similar machines that have just been built by the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., Southall, Middlesex, for Pickfords, Ltd. It is specially constructed to carry a concentrated load of 18 tons […] It will be observed from the picture that the centre portion of the frame is dropped, the height above ground level being actually 2 ft. […] the distance from the front axle to the rear-bogie centre being 23 ft. 3 ins
Yes, it was rear-drive, the only detail provided is:
The rear axles incorporate one-piece steel casings. Both are driven by worm gears affording a reduction of 10-k to 1, and between the final drives there is a third differential
So there you go.
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Thanks to both of you! We know every detail now!
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