Froggy55:
Fergie47:
Few Dam and Blast moments…" Wasn’t my fault Govner"…I’m wondering how the Debeaux Berliet (1st pic) managed its way in what looks like a canal, and why it didn’t sink in the mud. Moreover, it doesn’t even look especially dirty!
Dunno Froggy, use to go into their depot south of Lyon and there was a canal /river at the end of the yard, whether that’s where this happened I don’t know, but somewhere I’ve got a pic of it being lifted by crane…dam shallow canal / river though…
Thanks Dave , around the right time period !!
Fergie47:
Old nostalgic pic from (last week) …
Nice one Fergie 
Evening all,
superb pictures fergie, pete, michel, and patrick, thank you for posting.
The canal was part drained when that Debeaux picture was taken , to help recover the outfit…But there is very little damage to her in that shot, and it seems remarkable that the outfit is still coupled up cleanly. Must have “flown” in at some speed?
PV, I was thinking when I saw the picture of the Nygaard 10x4 Titan, just how many times the name Titan has been used…Leyland motors Titan, the Mack Titan, the Mercedes Titan range, even the Nissan Titan…and there are no doubt many more…but I was also thinking about that elusive French Titan…that so exasperated George Terberg…when Bernard Bouverans took his basic design, and then improved upon it to create the really exotic range of ultra heavies from his modest works on Rue Paul Claudel, in Villefranche .
8x4, 8x8, 10x10, rigids and tractors, articulated 3, & 4 axle dump trucks in collaboration with Dutch builder Werklust, and in the case of the Renault cabed 3 axles with Panien Both partnerships ended with only a limited production run, but what magnificent machines, the 4 axles with Detroit deisels, Allison auto boxes, central pivot chassis, the 6x6s with Renault 06.20.30 power, Allison auto boxes and again central pivot frames.
But the first Titan that I saw, one cold , wet, horrible day in a coal mine in northern France operated by Dunkerque based Guy Beels was simply awesome! Fitted witha short “Club” day cab, as fitted to the G range Renaults, sitting on four Sainte Etienne produced driven SOMA axles, its 340 hp R340 engine grunting under a 50 tonne payload, easily directed by its 9509 9 speed Fuller, with the assistance of a ZF WSK400 Torque converter…somewhat like a balerena on steroids…but with no loss of grace! A magnificent vehicle indeed.
Guy Bels was a strong supporter of Titan, his work demanded utter reliability…but early Titans, more akin to the Terberg were less so…untill Bernard Bouverans recruited Noel Perez, (the surname is the clue…the son of the Perez, in Perez et Raimond, inheritor of the Willeme TG range). It is quite interesting when one looks at all the heavy haulage products that have originated in mainland Europe, and the same individuals names crop up, wherever the product is built. And so many worked from the basic Willeme TG range design!..irrespective of the cab that they wore!
Some Titans that you may search out may have Volvo cabs, from the Fserie, as well as Volvo F serie mechanical underpinnings, but my friend the late Antoine Lohéac supplied Titan with some of his , (rather basic) fibreglass cabs for Societe Le Nickel, whose previous Volvo F cab Titans were slowly corroding away!..But I bet the drivers found a difference in comfort behind the wheel on a long shift!
Titan, a very specialist lorry builder, often constrained by capital and component supply, (the trailer business was sold to UK based Fred Davies`s York Trailers in the 1980s), but the builder of some spectacular lorries.
But its late, and more bale carting tommorrow, so,
Cheerio for now.
Another wonderful post John. I realise now I had never fully appreciated the Titans before now. Thanks.
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Fergie47:
Old nostalgic pic from (last week) …
Been there, done that, it’s an overrated experience!
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newmercman:
Fergie47:
Old nostalgic pic from (last week) …
Been there, done that, it’s an overrated experience!
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
And now for something completely different…
I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but on another forum the converted bonneted Scammell’s that were used in the Heanor heavy haulage fleet were mentioned.
Does anyone here knows anything about the decision to use Volvo cabs instead of the Scammell cabs? Bit of a long shot maybe, but I reckoned since there’s about 300 years of experience and wisdom on here, surely there must be one person who knows what I’m on about… 
Cheers, Patrick
I know nothing about HHT heavy haulers other than they existed and had Volvo cabs.I’m sure I saw at least one on the Dinorwic power station project.This may help :
classictracksandtrucks.co.uk/HH.htm
Sir +:
I know nothing about HHT heavy haulers other than they existed and had Volvo cabs.I’m sure I saw at least one on the Dinorwic power station project.This may help :
classictracksandtrucks.co.uk/HH.htm
Really interesting post sir+ , thank you.
Sir +:
I know nothing about HHT heavy haulers other than they existed and had Volvo cabs.I’m sure I saw at least one on the Dinorwic power station project.This may help :
classictracksandtrucks.co.uk/HH.htm
Thanks for the link Sir+.
Done some digging today about the subject and found some info in a Bob Tuck book;
Peter Searson of Heanor Haulage in Derbyshire is probably the King of heavy hauler conversions. He shook the industry in 1976 when he produced OHN 686P, as no one had seen anything quite like it. HHT 1 started life as PNU 772K, a fairly standard 6x4 Scammell Contractor. After investing 20.000 pound Sterling (!) in their new 8x4, Heanor had exactly the vehicle they wanted although in practice it wasn’t a total success and the extra axle was later removed.
I’m still curious though why they replaced the original cabs by Volvo cabs, more comfy perchange?
Just four were build, last one apperently under restoration…
Cheers, Patrick
Heanor fan with photo collection here stephenpotter.smugmug.com/Heavy … r-Haulage/
Cheers
Oily
Something I’ve always liked about a 6 wheel rigid with tandem rear end, they always look neat and in proportion, so here’s a few oldies …
Hiya,
The left hand Star guy looks like a nice boy.
thanks harry, long retired.
oiltreader:
Heanor fan with photo collection here stephenpotter.smugmug.com/Heavy … r-Haulage/
Cheers
Oily
Nice found Oily, cheers mate
French lorry drivers always seem to pose with a hand on the hip. Surely they can’t ALL come from Nancey?
Retired Old ■■■■:
French lorry drivers always seem to pose with a hand on the hip. Surely they can’t ALL come from Nancey?
" Shut that door" Ooooo “I could crush a grape” Anon 1.
Evening all,
Fergie, its the same with me, I always admired those 6x2s, and the integral bodied van versions were real lookers, whichever bodybuilder built the coachwork. What the pictures do not show is the size of the lorries. Sitting universally on 1200x24 rubber, and with big power for the day…even as high as 180hp…for their legal 26000kgs…(and in many cases that was the starting weight…boy, could they handle some weight)…as a comparison think back to a 1950s, or even a 1960s UK 8 wheeler at 24tons, they were quite “stunted” in comparison.
The cab on those Saviem 6x2s of Meledo, Bourgey-Montreuil, Bouliou and STEF were nice workplaces, but the Berliet Relax cab on Queré and Chemins vehicles was simply earth shattering in its day. There was simply nothing quite like it, a bit like the KB2400 range that followed it, a place where the drivers well being simply was the aim…pity our lorry builders never understood…until Leyland`s Ergomatic!
But the best driving experience would have been in one of those Chereau from Avranches integral fridges, …talk about the State room of an ocean liner…much as I loved my S20 Foden, the first time I rode in a Chereau integral like the Star picture…wow, and wow again…simply out of this world…it may have been the fact that it had power steering…(something I was not used to)…and the fact that the refrigeration plant was quiet…yet right above your head…(though you would never have guessed).
Fergie, those are beautiful Bretagne lorries…they always were the best lookers…and ROF the drivers only trying to look good, like his lorry, and that really is a good looker!
Cheerio for now.
Morning Fergie,
Hope you are keeping well and out of trouble with Mrs Fergie?
Had an influx of them Fergies round here in the last couple of weeks, lad who does some repairs for me has bought a TVO for his lad to restore and one of my drivers has bought one as well! I’ve come to the conclusion they cannot afford to go upmarket and buy a Cropmaster!
Here is a picture of Len Cranes (R.I.P) F10 and his Fowler engine that worked in John Thompsons boiler makers in Wolverhampton, Cheer’s Pete
pete smith:
Morning Fergie,
Hope you are keeping well and out of trouble with Mrs Fergie?
Had an influx of them Fergies round here in the last couple of weeks, lad who does some repairs for me has bought a TVO for his lad to restore and one of my drivers has bought one as well! I’ve come to the conclusion they cannot afford to go upmarket and buy a Cropmaster!
Here is a picture of Len Cranes (R.I.P) F10 and his Fowler engine that worked in John Thompsons boiler makers in Wolverhampton, Cheer’s Pete
Smithy…yep, keeping well thanks, and trust you and Mrs Smithy also ?.. and I’m avoiding Mrs Fergies wrath by doing as I’m told, her archery has improved which is worring as I can’t run, duck, and, dive as quick as I use to, and those arrows are sharp !!!..
Two more old Fergies being saved, that’s good, cheap and plentiful spares, and recognised every where, unlike those Cropduster thingys with big seats for big buggers, admittedly, they do have scrap value I suppose… 
Nice pic, that F10 looks stunning, and it’s load must be worth a few shillings…
Gotta go, busy day ahead, going sailing with posh pals, this retirement gets so boring sometimes… 
