bubbleman:
Hello,more cuttings…apologies for any duplicates.
Nice to see this - they are about to restore their very last Octopus soon!
It had a few mods over the years- it’s now known as the CONSTRUCTOPUS!
the story: The Constructopus was one of the last ( if not the last ) TL11 Octopus off the production line in about 1981/2. We bought two. The first went on the road in 1982 as a ‘Y’ reg (UUJ 840Y) and was run till 1988, when the body was removed and fitted to a Mercedes 8 wheeler F830 BUJ. The Constructopus was fitted with a new body straight away, but was not registered until 1986 and went on the road as D567 PUX. It was straight away an old lorry, as the Constructor was out then. We ran it for a few years with the ergomatic cab, but then i had the hairbrained idea to update it with a cab off a Leyland Cruiser tractor unit - BIG mistake. It never was much good after that and so after numerous breakdowns, i had enough one day, and took it off the road.
bubbleman:
Hello,more cuttings…apologies for any duplicates.
Nice to see this - they are about to restore their very last Octopus soon!
It had a few mods over the years- it’s now known as the CONSTRUCTOPUS!
the story: The Constructopus was one of the last ( if not the last ) TL11 Octopus off the production line in about 1981/2. We bought two. The first went on the road in 1982 as a ‘Y’ reg (UUJ 840Y) and was run till 1988, when the body was removed and fitted to a Mercedes 8 wheeler F830 BUJ. The Constructopus was fitted with a new body straight away, but was not registered until 1986 and went on the road as D567 PUX. It was straight away an old lorry, as the Constructor was out then. We ran it for a few years with the ergomatic cab, but then i had the hairbrained idea to update it with a cab off a Leyland Cruiser tractor unit - BIG mistake. It never was much good after that and so after numerous breakdowns, i had enough one day, and took it off the road.
Hi Bubbleman and everyone - just managed to find time for a quick look again.
Thanks for the Taunton Meat advert with the Old Man’s Merc 1418 - more memories.
That nitrogen refrigeration worked ok but - I’ve probably said before - when that rig was parked outside our house people used to come and knock on the door to say it had a puncture because they could hear the hissing noise. TMH soon went back to Thermo King and Petters.
Keep up the good work all…
Bewick:
Cracking shots of the Atkis Bubbs especially our old Bewick tractor ONL482M.A bit of history on this old girl,I picked her up via a dealer pal direct from Atkinson at Club St. Bamber Bridge in late '74.It had been regisered by Atkis and placed in the Waugh fleet in Newcastle as a demo,but as the “brothers” were quite active at the time the Shop steward “blacked” it ‘cause it didn’t have power steering!So it was parked up at B/bridge with very little mileage on her.When we put it into service in Jan 75’ it joined the McGuffie fleet and it ran on nights to Daventry and back and days,initially,to West ■■■■■■■ where the day man tipped new 45 gal drums in Marchon and either re-loaded there or ,more often than not, out of Workington Steel for Lancs/Cheshire with Rail for the docks or pig iron for Midland roller makers at Crewe maybe.It did a couple of years on this job then it was replaced with a late '75 Sed/Atk 8LXB.The spec of the Atki was 220 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 9509/Kirkstall HR.Its a pity that the tractor didn’t have P/S but then we wouldn’t have had a sniff at it I suppose! But it was a cracking tractor for us and it never put a foot wrong! Bewick.
Someone has commented on a pic of ONL 482M on Flickr, Dennis:
“Waugh road services of benton square newcastle upon tyne had this vehicle from new the driver was Stu Cartwright and it had a vibration through the transmission from what i can remember you could feel it when it was pulling up through the tyne tunnel Atkinson tried all sorts of things to cure it but they replaced it in the end great to see it still on the go.”
Unfortunately, he was commenting on a pic from the same event - I presume it’s suffered the hot spanner since then?
Nice to see one of Ron Osborne’s motors (father of Pete for anyone who didn’t know) - I used to sub Spanish work to him, firstly on the strength that they ran left hookers, just a sign of a firm serious about the job IMO, although Ron was a wee bit of a rough diamond along with Brian Else who ran the transport. The cockney John Earl was a proper dodgy geezer though
Bewick:
Cracking shots of the Atkis Bubbs especially our old Bewick tractor ONL482M.A bit of history on this old girl,I picked her up via a dealer pal direct from Atkinson at Club St. Bamber Bridge in late '74.It had been regisered by Atkis and placed in the Waugh fleet in Newcastle as a demo,but as the “brothers” were quite active at the time the Shop steward “blacked” it ‘cause it didn’t have power steering!So it was parked up at B/bridge with very little mileage on her.When we put it into service in Jan 75’ it joined the McGuffie fleet and it ran on nights to Daventry and back and days,initially,to West ■■■■■■■ where the day man tipped new 45 gal drums in Marchon and either re-loaded there or ,more often than not, out of Workington Steel for Lancs/Cheshire with Rail for the docks or pig iron for Midland roller makers at Crewe maybe.It did a couple of years on this job then it was replaced with a late '75 Sed/Atk 8LXB.The spec of the Atki was 220 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 9509/Kirkstall HR.Its a pity that the tractor didn’t have P/S but then we wouldn’t have had a sniff at it I suppose! But it was a cracking tractor for us and it never put a foot wrong! Bewick.
Someone has commented on a pic of ONL 482M on Flickr, Dennis:
“Waugh road services of benton square newcastle upon tyne had this vehicle from new the driver was Stu Cartwright and it had a vibration through the transmission from what i can remember you could feel it when it was pulling up through the tyne tunnel Atkinson tried all sorts of things to cure it but they replaced it in the end great to see it still on the go.”
Hiya Chris,interesting that reason given by ONL482M’s N/Eastern conections! As the operator of the unit for many years (and having driven said unit on many occaisions in its early years with us) I can vouch for the fact that the transmission (G/box & Drive axle)were untouched by us throughout its service life with Bewick Transport.It gave us sterling service and if it had been fitted with POWER STEERING it would have been as perfect an Atki as you could have wished for.I tend to agree with the reasons given by Atki’s at the time we bought it!!!It defo did not have any vibes!! and anyway a lot of motors would appear to have vibes and rattles going at speed through a “Pipe” come on!!! Cheers Dennis.
Unfortunately, he was commenting on a pic from the same event - I presume it’s suffered the hot spanner since then?
Bewick:
Hiya Chris,interesting that reason given by ONL482M’s N/Eastern conections! As the operator of the unit for many years (and having driven said unit on many occaisions in its early years with us) I can vouch for the fact that the transmission (G/box & Drive axle)were untouched by us throughout its service life with Bewick Transport.It gave us sterling service and if it had been fitted with POWER STEERING it would have been as perfect an Atki as you could have wished for.I tend to agree with the reasons given by Atki’s at the time we bought it!!!It defo did not have any vibes!! and anyway a lot of motors would appear to have vibes and rattles going at speed through a “Pipe” come on!!! Cheers Dennis.
So has it had the “hot spanner”, or has someone saved it??
Bewick:
Hiya Chris,interesting that reason given by ONL482M’s N/Eastern conections! As the operator of the unit for many years (and having driven said unit on many occaisions in its early years with us) I can vouch for the fact that the transmission (G/box & Drive axle)were untouched by us throughout its service life with Bewick Transport.It gave us sterling service and if it had been fitted with POWER STEERING it would have been as perfect an Atki as you could have wished for.I tend to agree with the reasons given by Atki’s at the time we bought it!!!It defo did not have any vibes!! and anyway a lot of motors would appear to have vibes and rattles going at speed through a “Pipe” come on!!! Cheers Dennis.
So has it had the “hot spanner”, or has someone saved it??
ONL482M,seen here in its double shift days circa 1975 stood at the side of the A6 in Milnthorpe ready for its night shift on a summer evening.All three motors are loaded for Bowater Scott’s RDC in West Thurrock.The two Atki’s will go to Daventry and back and the ERF will go back to Dudley at around midnight.There was nothing “vibrating” about ONL it went like a “train” day and night,it was only cold at the weekend!
What is really sad about this thread is the lack of companies who do have instant recall and photos to back them up. Dennis Smith has a really interesting thread of his own and manages to surprise those who are interested in yesteryears haulage. No one will see the like of this again, with wrapped plain Scanias and Volvos with plain or hired curtainsiders which could be loaded with Timber, Whisky or Toilet Rolls. No one would ever know.
Bubbleman and many others should be knighted for services to our industry.
Wheel Nut:
What is really sad about this thread is the lack of companies who do have instant recall and photos to back them up. Dennis Smith has a really interesting thread of his own and manages to surprise those who are interested in yesteryears haulage. No one will see the like of this again, with wrapped plain Scanias and Volvos with plain or hired curtainsiders which could be loaded with Timber, Whisky or Toilet Rolls. No one would ever know.
Bubbleman and many others should be knighted for services to our industry.
Only trouble is ,in my case,"Wheel Nut"one or two “nuckle draggers” on here would want to use a wheel brace to knight me with!!!But thanks for the kind comments! Dennis.
Wheel Nut:
What is really sad about this thread is the lack of companies who do have instant recall and photos to back them up. Dennis Smith has a really interesting thread of his own and manages to surprise those who are interested in yesteryears haulage. No one will see the like of this again, with wrapped plain Scanias and Volvos with plain or hired curtainsiders which could be loaded with Timber, Whisky or Toilet Rolls. No one would ever know.
Bubbleman and many others should be knighted for services to our industry.
Only trouble is ,in my case,"Wheel Nut"one or two “nuckle draggers” on here would want to use a wheel brace to knight me with!!!But thanks for the kind comments! Dennis.
hi wheel nut,
you just hit the nail on the head there sir .totall agree with you.
regards andrew
