240 Gardner:
…I think that the Godbold Atki is the most powerful one out there at 350bhp, unless anyone knows different?
I’m sure Terry told me that he had wound it back to around 320bhp but it was around the 350bhp mark originally. Not that 30bhp makes much difference - it’s still very quick!
marky:
My Dad worked for H&R Ainscough then Allied Mills for a total of 23 years and also never took a single picture. All their fleet was straight-8 until the E290 ■■■■■■■ started to be supplied in the ERF C-Series. The fleet engineer fought a long and bitter internal battle to keep running Gardner sadly to no avail.As a result the vehicle replacement was stretched from 3 years to 6 years to get every last penny out of them, seeing as the 2nd hand value was so poor compared the Gardner-engined equivelents.
well, I thought that the second hand 8LXB-engined 400 Series shunter that we bought for shuttling between two local industrial estates was pretty numb… until the day that I took a trailer across to Preston with it at almost 49 tonnes gross (I was set up, by the way!). It never needed low range, even for climbing out of Blackburn, which is not the flattest town in the country.
I voted this “thread of the year” so come you atki fans, lets see if we can make it win! 
Mal:
I voted this “thread of the year” so come you atki fans, lets see if we can make it win!
I didn’t know we could do that! How do we vote for it??
240 Gardner:
Mal:
I voted this “thread of the year” so come you atki fans, lets see if we can make it win!I didn’t know we could do that! How do we vote for it??
I had my suspicions 240, you come straight to ‘Old Motors’ and ignore everything else . Must say it keeps you out of trouble, unlike some of us 
.
Mal doesn’t mean voted, that hasn’t taken place yet, he has nominated this thread. Must say it comes close for my vote, but I did enjoy the ruckus on Rob’s ‘quid a mile’ thread.
Check out the ‘Best of 2005’ forum.
Salut, David.
Thanks for that explanation David, I never explain anything right!
Ok, so I promised Mal some more pictures. Lets start with this one.
Hard to believe it was taken six years ago! Waiting to leave Bowkers yard at Bamber Bridge for the Trans Pennine Run.
killsville:
Ok, so I promised Mal some more pictures. Lets start with this one.Hard to believe it was taken six years ago! Waiting to leave Bowkers yard at Bamber Bridge for the Trans Pennine Run.
Is that a Pennine Run pic? I’d always thought that this shot was from when I took it down to CCMS at Crick. Must be something to do with me: it’s tied down with not a ratchet strap in sight!
240 Gardner:
killsville:
Ok, so I promised Mal some more pictures. Lets start with this one.Hard to believe it was taken six years ago! Waiting to leave Bowkers yard at Bamber Bridge for the Trans Pennine Run.
Is that a Pennine Run pic? I’d always thought that this shot was from when I took it down to CCMS at Crick. Must be something to do with me: it’s tied down with not a ratchet strap in sight!
I took that photo before we set off to Astley Green. It was the year you and Kev took the Beaver and I took the stepframe with two cars on the back. Peter drove 34 with Keith & Ian taking Ethel solo.
You wouldn’t be able to take a picture like that now in that yard - it’s stuffed with motors at the weekend.
FH Volvos everywhere (some with MOL boxes behind them 
)
Thats a fine looking animal there Andy, thanks for posting it, classic lines!
Mal:
Thats a fine looking animal there Andy, thanks for posting it, classic lines!
yep, it looks a lot better than when we dragged (and I mean dragged!) it out of the farmyard Christmas 1993!!
Bowker’s Technical Director accused us of fetching old wagons back faster than he was getting rid of them!
Mal:
Thats a fine looking animal there Andy, thanks for posting it, classic lines!
One of my better pictures! I usually can’t be bothered to kneel down to take a picture so I must have had my ‘creative’ head on that day.
Here’s another one. Taken at Charnock Richard M6 Northbound on the way back from 1999 Cheshire Steam Fair. (More affectionately known as the Ice Cream stop!)
killsville:
Mal:
Thats a fine looking animal there Andy, thanks for posting it, classic lines!One of my better pictures! I usually can’t be bothered to kneel down to take a picture so I must have had my ‘creative’ head on that day.
Here’s another one. Taken at Charnock Richard M6 Northbound on the way back from 1999 Cheshire Steam Fair. (More affectionately known as the Ice Cream stop!)
So did my test trailer slow your Atki down a bit then??
Hey 240, does that Bowker motor belong to you then??
Another nice pic Andy, especially in a sort of working scenerio. Im going to hit a few meetings meself when Im recovered and get some pics, actually Im going to get some film of runs with video cam, you get the sounds aswell then!
Mal, you mean you’ve never heard of the East Lancashire Big A Team? I am amazed…
34 is owned by three people, one of whom is 240.
You should’ve been in the shed when we were putting 34 back together last March - you’d have heard some noises, I can guarantee that!!
Especially when the back windows were being surgically inserted by one of the co-owners. It got particularly tasty for a few minutes and we all stopped breathing…
No Marky, I aint heard, it’s all news to me! Im not very knowledgeable about them, or the scene. I really know nowt apart from I did the job for a while in a few of them many years ago, but as a motor, theyve allways flicked my switch!
240 Gardner:
So did my test trailer slow your Atki down a bit then??
Just a bit! I only overtook one vehicle between Knutsford and Charnock - an old Scammell Explorer doing about 15mph!
marky:
…Especially when the back windows were being surgically inserted by one of the co-owners. It got particularly tasty for a few minutes and we all stopped breathing…
It was just the same when he put my winscreens back in. I’d never seen one fitted in such a violent manner until then 
Mal:
No Marky, I aint heard, it’s all news to me!
You summed it up perfectly for me too Mal. I have neither the time, the money, the expertise, the patience, or the proximity to take anything other than a voyeurs interest in all these motors, all of which I driven at some time or another, and some of them for many miles.
Salut, David.