rapidgem:
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And finally,who on here remembers these things
Before tachographs and didgi’s way back in the 60s these were the spy in the cabs,come on then you old buggers tell us how you fiddled them
Hey Bubbs, it would seem that the spy in the cab has been with us since the dawn of time, here’s an ad I came across in ‘Motor Transport’ mag February 28th, 1927, Price 3D:-
Sorry, bit behind, haven’t looked in for a few days, the missus keeps finding me jobs to do!
Think I mentioned these on another thread. Remember my dad being given one when he delivered new cars from the Morris works at Oxford. Before the days of Transporters they drove the cars to distributors individually. I think they measured the time of movement, then they could work out if they had exceded the 30mph running in speed that was imposed at the time. Wasn’t long before someone had made keys for them and I can remember dad sitting in our front room, watching the 12" black & white tele, shaking the clock and looking at the chart from time to time. So everybody was happy!
When I first started for Brit European in the early '70’s,before I went onto m/e work,I spent the first few weeks pulling unaccompanied trailers out of and back to Dover.You learned very quickly what you needed to carry with you at all times as you never know what state of trailer you would be picking up.
As well as your own winding handle,you had to have,a full set of light lenses,(All Rubbolite round or rectangular type),and bulbs,and a set of coupling adaptors as most of the trailers,but not all,were French spec with palm couplings.
bestbooties:
When I first started for Brit European in the early '70’s,before I went onto m/e work,I spent the first few weeks pulling unaccompanied trailers out of and back to Dover.You learned very quickly what you needed to carry with you at all times as you never know what state of trailer you would be picking up.
As well as your own winding handle,you had to have,a full set of light lenses,(All Rubbolite round or rectangular type),and bulbs,and a set of coupling adaptors as most of the trailers,but not all,were French spec with palm couplings.
A very familiar set of gear! But no air line for inflating trailer tyres from the red line??
bestbooties:
When I first started for Brit European in the early '70’s,before I went onto m/e work,I spent the first few weeks pulling unaccompanied trailers out of and back to Dover.You learned very quickly what you needed to carry with you at all times as you never know what state of trailer you would be picking up.
As well as your own winding handle,you had to have,a full set of light lenses,(All Rubbolite round or rectangular type),and bulbs,and a set of coupling adaptors as most of the trailers,but not all,were French spec with palm couplings.
A very familiar set of gear! But no air line for inflating trailer tyres from the red line??
Nothing so technical until I started doing the m/e where that was just part of the stack of kit we used to carry.
bubbleman:
Hello there,Big thanks to Pat for posting these smashing photos on here…heres one for you mate.
Right then thats todays offering,now who remembers these things…Palm couplings
I can remember my old chap using these,I know they still use them on the continent,Dad had them on all the units he drove in the 60s and I remember a pole behind the cab with a rusty spring holding the air pipes up,these weren’t the curly whirley ones like today…and who can remember everyone had their own winding handle to raise the landing legs cos none of the trailers were fitted with them,these were kept on the floor on the passenger side,and also who ,like me has had the misfortune of picking up a trailer dropped too high and using the afore mentioned winding handle to select the lowered gear option that stuck out of the leg…no air suspension those days but plenty of swearing
Oh yes - palm couplings! All of Bowker’s trailers run on palms, continental style. And, as the Technical Director pointed out, when the self-sealing couplings came in around 1989, they were fail-safe, whereas you could have a situation on the yellow line (still 3 lines then, of course!) where the male coupling was missing the pin to operate the plunger on the trailer, so you could couple up, release the brakes on the red line but have no trailer brakes. Nu such problems with the palm.
And Pandoro curiously used a palm coupling on the blue line instead of the larger C-type coupling. I remember, too, from my Pandoro days, that every driver had his own winding handle as you say, Marc. But they were so jealously guarded that they drivers took them home overnight and at weekend! Normal routine Friday night/Saturday morning was to see drivers wallking to their cars clutching kit bag and winding handle
When they wouldnt seal properley, a bit of spit smothered around the washers used to do the trick.
When i first run into TNT @ Kingsbury for Mat and they wouldnt let us put the trailers on the bay(shunters job) . .
Drop trailer and wait for "can i borrow a palm "? . . . No
Only read through the first couple of pages but WOW. Someone with the foresight to do what many more of us should have done.
I’m keen on photography, I always carry a camera and have done for years. But clearly the usual day to day work isn’t going to interest anyone. Is it?..
And as for mags, had a mountain of 1970s CM and also Which Bike which my mam slung out. Wish I’d had the foresight.
When I first started for Brit European in the early '70’s,before I went onto m/e work,I spent the first few weeks pulling unaccompanied trailers out of and back to Dover.You learned very quickly what you needed to carry with you at all times as you never know what state of trailer you would be picking up.
As well as your own winding handle,you had to have,a full set of light lenses,(All Rubbolite round or rectangular type),and bulbs,and a set of coupling adaptors as most of the trailers,but not all,were French spec with palm couplings.
Well some things don’t change, I recall this was the situation in the mid 80s when I started. Not sure on names but I used to carry a set of lenses where there was a cup shaped red one and a cone shaped orange one with two small and two larger bulbs. But of course someone had to be awkward and we also had a set of those that were square red and square red/orange. Same bulbs did mind.
As for the winding handle OK you guarded it, but nothing like as much as you guarded the bolt that went through the slots in the winding handle and the shaft on the trailer. Cos it didn’t matter if you had a billion winding handles, if you didn’t have that bolt, you were shafted. I seem to recall trying all sorts. Including twigs
Lonewolf Yorks:
Only read through the first couple of pages but WOW. Someone with the foresight to do what many more of us should have done.
I’m keen on photography, I always carry a camera and have done for years. But clearly the usual day to day work isn’t going to interest anyone. Is it?..
And as for mags, had a mountain of 1970s CM and also Which Bike which my mam slung out. Wish I’d had the foresight.
Young drivers TAKE NOTE!!
Well put think that says it all
If you take your time and start at page one it should only take you about an hour and a half to trawl through them all.
Drove this old girl back in the late 60’s out of Southampton depot. Had a 180 ■■■■■■■■
Two major drawbacks with this one, as oppossed to the normal colours Smiths had.
Short stubby very loud exhast underneath the front bumber, hardley hear yourself think, it glowed red at night. They fitted longer ones on the later models.
No dodggy nights out, as it was the only one in white / orange / red, it stuck out like a sore thumb, no matter where I went, where I delivered, someone, had seen me somewhere !!
The pic of the Palm Couplings reminded me of something that’s been bugging me for years, where did the term ‘Susie’ originate, I know they first came into use around 62 and if I recall correctly it was the electrical line that was coiled before the air lines so the name may have something to do with an abbreaviation on the electrical coiled line. However if anyone knows different then let us know.
Franky. Great pics again Marc, surely you must have the answer in all those mags you have!
Hello,really pleased to have put up Fergies Guy and Frankie…I’d love to know too why suzies are called suzies
Heres todays offering,the first ones for Pat,I expect he remembers this lorry as he went to school in short trousers and a cap …Hey Pat you missed the Meachers AEC on the last page …youre slipping mate,I blame the golf!!
Just a nostalgic look at a bridge that carried a lot of motors over the years.
Of all the pic’s that you’ve put up, don’t you think that this Guy Invincible epitomises the Lorry.
It’s in perspective, it looks right, well balanced with the trailer, nice lines, purposeful, and tough, no frills, yet ready to do a good days work. ? So I’m biased, I’m a driver of the 60’s, and although I later enjoyed the comfort and power of the later “trucks” I don’t think they looked in perspective. Too big, and ■■■■■■■■■■■ out of proportion.
So, below the Invincible, neat tidy lines, and below that a Scania, like a block of flats, and must be strange to drive with all that space, like driving your front room., Hooked up to a low or semi-low loader it just wouldn’t carry the same neatness.
Getting old, and grumpy, and probably get stonned for the above comments, but …………………….!!
So, what wagon do you, and the other lads think reflects a “lorry” as opposed to a “truck”
Of all the pic’s that you’ve put up, don’t you think that this Guy Invincible epitomises the Lorry.
It’s in perspective, it looks right, well balanced with the trailer, nice lines, purposeful, and tough, no frills, yet ready to do a good days work. ? So I’m biased, I’m a driver of the 60’s, and although I later enjoyed the comfort and power of the later “trucks” I don’t think they looked in perspective. Too big, and ■■■■■■■■■■■ out of proportion.
So, below the Invincible, neat tidy lines, and below that a Scania, like a block of flats, and must be strange to drive with all that space, like driving your front room., Hooked up to a low or semi-low loader it just wouldn’t carry the same neatness.
Getting old, and grumpy, and probably get stonned for the above comments, but …………………….!!
So, what wagon do you, and the other lads think reflects a “lorry” as opposed to a “truck”
It’s always a “lorry”, unless it’s a “wagon”. A “tr*ck” has forks on the front.
And, similarly old and grumpy, a Mk.1 or 2 Atkinson does it for me.
(although I do quite like an F7, or a B Series or an FL10 or an F12… )
My AEC Mercury four wheeler was a great lorry for me, even better with home made sleeper cab
This was the best Scania 110 I had bought off Brian Oliver(RIP) from Rochdale went everwhere in Europe brilliant unit
But the old 143 now 21 years old we run is up there with the best of them bought it in 2001 (Worth more now than when I bought it!!!)and it has not missed a beat since, just a few running repairs such as clutch, brakes and replace bottom end shells, It is also used on special types at up to 85 tons gross!!
Pat.
The Mercury was a good wagon in it’s day, and a sleeper was a luxuary !! But the 143 at 21 years old and still working,is a credit to you for the regular maintainance, and to the driver for looking after the old girl. Long may she continue !
Stravaiger
This was a later Invincible, as it had the air cleaner outside, ( I did drive one with the internal filter, what with the noise from the exhast under the bumper, and the air cleamer, no wonder I’m half deaf !) and unusually , she had an up-rated 205 ■■■■■■■■
Regular night runs from Stockton-on Tees to Southampton, returning the following night, and shunted both ends during the day, meant that by the time the photo was taken around '72-'73 she was a tired old girl, but still pulled like a train. Over the years she must have done a huge milage, and in those days, 6 mpg was good for a ■■■■■■■ !
Hello again,nice to see Pats 143 again and I agree that it must take some looking after and work her hard on abnormal loads.good one mate. Fergie posed the question of what saperates a lorry from a truck…As you all are probably aware I have a love affair with all lorries,but if you tie me down to what floats my boat then I must admit a pic of a LB76 Scania ,a 1 series Scania or anF86 with a tilt trailer on its back…will do it for me
More Leyland group pics today
This last pic has always puzzled me,its a V8 Mandator so its got a walk-thru cab so why was it nessasary to to jack the cab up like a Leyland Buffalo …see the bit between the wing and the door…this is the only AEC I’ve seen like this.
